Faces sans smiles: Lanka’s emerging reality
Despite external invasions, and long periods of internal turmoil, our country is known as a paradise isle peopled by friendly, happy, smiling natives.
This state of affairs is about to end. I, for one, wear a permanently bewildered and disgusted expression brought about by the antics of our politicians.
One of the more intelligent amongst them now rants and raves about halal- labelled products, insisting on their ban.
Halal should not affect a good Buddhist, as beef and chicken, one presumes are not on his menu.
If he cares to read the Prophet’s pronouncements, he will see they have a scientific basis.
The eating of pork is prohibited, as pigs are scavengers, and there- fore prone to be carriers of bacteria. There is a serious problem in West Asia, where pigs are infested with the parasite “cysticercosis” which could cause a fatal disease, when transmitted to man.
Similarly, draining the blood from a carcass will minimise the incidence of bacterial infection.
The more powerful Mafia of politicians, who consider Sri Lanka their private property, are guilty of far more than letting off “hot air”.
Their egoistical ambition is insatiable. In the massive ‘development’ enterprises undertaken [several of them redundant egoboosting projects], they have lost sight of the people.
Consider Colombo for instance, certainly it looks beautiful now, but for whose benefit is this facelift?
Population enclaves which have occupied areas for over three decades are being displaced.
Third and fourth generation householders in suburban seaside areas had their walls ‘come tumbling down’ without notice. They [ several of them in their seventies] now, sans security, are at the mercy of house- breakers and thugs.
According to a news item, the environs of Beira Lake will be transformed by a massive development project. The whole area will be ringed by hotels. There will be the inevitable ‘ jogging path’, with its attendant landscaping.
I feel that in the not too distant future there will be more hotels in Colombo than private residences and more jogging paths than joggers!
This is not America, where jogging is a national pastime.
In the meantime, we see recently renovated roundabouts being reconstructed and perfectly good pavements being shattered. Do our rulers delude themselves into thinking they have the Midas touch? By spending millions of dollars of borrowed funds for purely cosmetic purposes, the people are given short-shrift.
Some 80% of Sri Lankans, who are struggling to survive, derive no benefit from this tourist oriented development.
But of course, there is the Divineguma scheme devised for the uplift of the rural masses! It distributes seeds to householders amid much publicity. Its aim is for each householder to achieve selfsufficiency where vegetables are concerned.
What will be the fate of the poor vegetable farmers, comprising a large segment of the rural population?
As it is, he is unable to sell his produce, due to the non- performance of the Government, in the collection, storage, and distribution process, whereby fresh vegetables can be marketed with minimum wastage.
No wonder the smile has disappeared from our faces! Premini Amerasinghe
Kandy