Anger against politicians
Questions on “Selling SriLankan Airlines” and “Governance” drew the most number of comments from the polls. The following are two comments from a respondent who appears to have some knowledge in the airline transport industry, and another on governance:
Selling SriLankan Airlines
The government should allow a professional management to steer the airline out of the mess. This should include: A thorough evaluation of the existing resources including landing rights in the various countries; An evaluation of all equipment and resources owned and operated by the airline and whether accounting procedures followed conform to internationally accepted standards. A study should be done of the RPK (Revenue Passenger Kilometres) on the different routes over the past 10 years. A thorough study should also be made of the competitive environment globally. A study should also be made to ascertain whether the decision to acquire and divest aircraft over the past 10 years has been done in an objective and transparent manner, and if not, whether any losses incurred as a result can be recovered and from whom. A similar study should be done to ascertain the causes and remedies for all other losses within the airline. An evaluation should also be made of the staffing at SriLankan Airlines to justify every position within the airline. A study should be done on SriLankan's conformity with various regulatory requirements and guidelines including EASA Regulations and conformity with Sri Lanka's labour laws and international norms on flying crew change-overs and rest periods. Free and discounted travel allowed to all others including government officials, ministers and members of parliament should be withdrawn and the government should pay SriLankan for all such travel from the various entities originating the travel. Even the President should pay the airline for travel by the President and presidential staff.
On Governance
Civil society and people should express disapproval of street protests and industrial action. Firstly nothing much will change in Sri Lanka because the UNP and SLFP are a bunch of thieves whose main aim is make money at the cost of the ordinary people. Can anyone buy an apartment for example in Mount Lavinia at Rs. 27 million or in Colombo 3 for Rs. 50 million? Many of the politicians have already bought this type of property. This is the situation in the country. The media has to encourage the best and brightest in our country to enter politics. We should be looking for a Sri Lankan Lee Kuan Yew. Sometimes I feel that the politicians deliberately neglected education to rule over the uneducated ( this literacy thing is a myth). Wise people will realize that free education in our country is a disadvantage because there is no quality in it. I have seen so many so- called "thought leaders" and "experts" give their theories for the last 30 years but things have actually got worse. The apartment example above is indicative of this.