{"id":65009,"date":"2017-04-08T00:20:38","date_gmt":"2017-04-08T06:20:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=65009"},"modified":"2017-04-07T15:01:03","modified_gmt":"2017-04-07T22:01:03","slug":"repeating-the-ginger-for-chillie-error","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2017\/04\/08\/repeating-the-ginger-for-chillie-error\/","title":{"rendered":"Repeating the Ginger for Chillie error"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY MALINDA SENEVIRATNE<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n
\u00a0There was a time when victory over enemies was about bashing heads in, seizing their women and enslaving their children.\u00a0 It still happens of course.\u00a0 The cost-effective way is for the powerful to dictate, the weak to submit, hands to be shaken with the key representatives of the respective parties facing the camera, a show of bonhomie and crisp statements about long-standing historical friendships.\u00a0 Heads don\u2019t get bashed in, but enslavement is what it is all about.<\/div>\n
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Well, \u2018enslavement\u2019 might be too harsh a word actually.\u00a0 But let\u2019s say privileged access to resources, terms of exchange skewed in favor of the mighty, drafting or vetting policy regimes or rather using the word recommendation for what is really directive, and a general do-as-I-please on all matters\u201d.\u00a0 Students of politics would call it colonialism or, in the poli-speak of diplomacy post-colonialism, the \u2018post\u2019 affix being sweetener. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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This, however, is not a comment on the nature of subjugation or the exercising of hegemony.\u00a0 It\u2019s about India.\u00a0 India, we know.\u00a0 Only too well.\u00a0 We need not enumerate the many instances when India demonstrated friendship.\u00a0 Just mentioning the acronym IPKF would do to nudge memory of all the politics that came before and after that noun entered the political discourse of this country.<\/span><\/div>\n
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And yet, as they say, beggars cannot be choosers.\u00a0 Pride needs to be swallowed.\u00a0 Most importantly, self-aggrandizement aside most political leaders in this country have had little qualms over pride-guzzling, especially since they stood to lose very little.\u00a0 And so, as per the ideological predilections and political maturity\/naivete of the particular set of people running the country, both in the name of expedience as well as for the most frivolous of reasons, we\u2019ve seen \u2018the robber barons\u2019 being invited (that\u2019s J.R. Jayewardene\u2019s pithy capture of his government\u2019s thinking by the way).\u00a0 Again, as per preference, the enemies of the particular friends of the moment, were cold-shouldered or vilified.\u00a0 When reality knocked on the door of course, there was a lot of stammering and stuttering, the giving of assurances and an embarrassing re-submission.\u00a0 That\u2019s China, by the way. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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But this is about India.\u00a0 The Government has clearly indicated that despite running to China (\u2018looking East,\u2019 it said when Brexit burst the bubble of delusion about the West\u2019s ability and willingness to help) India\u2019s interests will not be ignored. \u00a0<\/b><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n
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Interests.\u00a0 Interesting word.\u00a0 In bilateral relations that are marked by a power imbalance it refers to two things: business and strategic imperatives.\u00a0 The encomiums notwithstanding it\u2019s not about those lovely little things such as love, friendship, shared histories, good neighborliness etc.\u00a0 Business and strategic imperatives, let us repeat. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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Just consider the draft MoU between the governments of India and Sri Lanka.\u00a0 The objectives are spelled out in the language of give-and-take and signatured with notions of equality: \u2026To achieve greater economic, investment and development cooperation in a progressinve manner, through joint ventures and other cooperative activities that will ensure the well being of the people of the two countries on the basis of equality and mutual benefit.\u2019<\/span><\/div>\n
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There\u2019s nothing about any projects on India in which Sri Lanka is to get involved.\u00a0 So what\u2019s the benefit to \u2018the people of India\u2019?\u00a0 Profits and strategic advantages, what else!\u00a0 The entire document is about Indian involvement in key sectors such as energy and entrenchment in key strategy locations such as Trincomalee. \u00a0<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
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Smuggled into a bunch of line items related to power plants, storage facilities and refineries is India\u2019s long-standing interest in securing a lot more than a foothold in Trincomalee by way of taking over the oil tank farms.\u00a0 Here\u2019s the wording: \u2018to form a Joint Venture to develop the Upper Tank Farms in Trincomalee, while signing a land lease agreement for 50 years in favor of Lanka IOC Ltd. for the Tank Farm\u2019.\u00a0 Need we say more? \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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Throw in Indian \u2018largesse\u2019 in \u2018fostering better understanding between the two militaries\u2019 (note the \u2018neutrality\u2019 and the \u2018equality\u2019 implied!), the \u2018generosity\u2019 in undertaking a hydrographic survey for Sri Lanka, the supply (they don\u2019t use the word \u2018sale\u2019) of Indian helicopters and other lovely things, and we are essentially talking about a patron-client relationship in the making. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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The key advisor to this government on economic affairs, R Paskaralingam has revealed that India wishes the said MoU to be inked during the forthcoming visit to that country by the Sri Lankan Prime Minister.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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To his credit, Paskaralingam has stated that \u2018after discussion it was decided to consider the proposals of India initially.\u2019 \u00a0That’s diplo-speak of a kind. \u00a0The easy-read version is this: ‘I don’t think it is a good idea!’<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
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India\u2019s High Commissioner, Taranjit Singh Sandhu, in a speech made recently, has said that Sri Lanka can sign agreements at its own chosen speed.\u00a0 He\u2019s a diplomat, let\u2019s not forget.\u00a0 Paskaralingam has put things as bluntly as his bureaucratic training permits.\u00a0 Reading between the lines, as we must, we have to conclude, \u2018bad news\u2019. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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The Sinhala people always knew what\u2019s what of \u2018bilateral relations\u2019.\u00a0 They laughed it off with adage but the wry humor said it as it is.\u00a0 For example, the well-known saying \u2018inguru deela miris gaththa vagei\u2019 (it\u2019s like exchanging ginger for chillie), meaning \u2018an injudicious exchange\u2019. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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That\u2019s about ditching one invader for another.\u00a0 There is that play in the game involving the West (led by the USA), China and India, and it would be useful to assess the most favorable terms of enslavement (beggars can\u2019t be choosers, we already said that).\u00a0 We\u2019ve had a bellyful of Indian chillies.\u00a0 That much can be said.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY MALINDA SENEVIRATNE \u00a0There was a time when victory over enemies was about bashing heads in, seizing their women and enslaving their children.\u00a0 It still happens of course.\u00a0 The cost-effective way is for the powerful to dictate, the weak to submit, hands to be shaken with the key representatives of the respective parties facing the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-malinda-seneviratne"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65009\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}