{"id":220374,"date":"2021-06-29T21:55:45","date_gmt":"2021-06-29T16:25:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=220374"},"modified":"2021-07-04T17:46:15","modified_gmt":"2021-07-04T12:16:15","slug":"are-we-serious","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/are-we-serious\/","title":{"rendered":"Are We Serious?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Upatissa Pethiyagoda<\/a> –<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Dr. Upatissa Pethiyagoda<\/p><\/div>\n

Despite the puzzling confusion by hopefuls making comforting noises, and the hopeless foretelling gloom, and hard times ahead, the juggernaut of State rolls on undaunted. Tragically, the Foreign Exchange Reserve position is bleak to an extent that we may be compelled to default in repayment of loans, which apparently will lead to being declared not worthy of credit. This will be exacerbated by the possible denial of GSP+, earnings diminished by the certain decline export crop yields, displaced worker remittances and the rippling negative impacts of \u2018Covid-19\u2019. <\/i>Many are near to being completely confused with ongoing \u201cdiscussions,\u201d liberally strewn with doses of Economist jargon, as would a drunk leaning against a lampost \u2013 \u201cmore for support than for illumination\u201d. Or as one declared, \u201cEconomics is swiftly becoming the art of making commonsense difficult to understand.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

On the domestic front, widespread unemployment, increasing occurrence of Natural Disasters beyond our control, increased need for poor relief, the fire on \u2018X\u2019Press Pearl\u2019 and destruction of Fishing grounds for a community already impoverished. With all this, State profligacy continues. The worst being the curious order for some 226 Luxury vehicles (for MP\u2019s) for which, the inflexible Banking practices which disallow any changes, (as claimed by Kiriella, MP), is feeble and possibly false. With many (Opposition MP\u2019s) claiming that \u201cWe never asked\u201d and the Speaker\u2019s office maintaining a stoic silence the public is check-mated. Someone\/or more, is\/are being \u201ceconomical with the truth\u201d \u2013 who, we will never know. There is a precedent in the \u201cno-owner\u201d Malwana Mansion. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Let us see how we can help. I recall the story of a Wartime Council at top level, which sat down to discuss measures to combat the huge problem of German submarines, that were inflicting havoc on shipping in the English Channel. A bright young spark from the Civil Service spoke up \u201cWhy do we not just heat up the waters of the English Channel to boiling, when any submarines in the vicinity, would float up? Appropriately positioned artillery along the bank, could just blast them\u201d Everyone was speechless. \u201cThe chief of the Admiralty finally spoke up \u201cYoung man, tell us precisely how would you warm up the Channel?\u201d The strategist spoke up\u201d Sir, I am here to give you ideas. Implementation is your business\u201d. To execute the necessary reforms, persons of integrity and purposefulness are necessary. With our previous experience, this may be as elusive as Mermaids and the Lochness Monster. But let us give it a try. The following which might help are summarized below:<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Taxation.<\/span> Spread the net wider. Re-evaluate the needs for \u201cTax Free\u201d remunerations. Review the rates and thresholds of the top brackets. <\/span><\/p>\n

2. Ensure that <\/span>the VAT<\/span> levies are collected and correctly credited to Government. This is very unlikely in a system (IR Dept.), when it cannot handle just 200,000 annual payments, without thousands being in arrears, while needing to deal with probably millions, if not billions of daily transactions?<\/span><\/p>\n

3. LTTE Funds.<\/span> It was\u00a0 <\/span>claimed that the LTTE owned billions of dollars in hundreds of Banks and every other investment in all imaginable sectors \u2013 Bank, real estate, business, ships (19?) etc. Where are these now? \u2018KP\u2019 who is said to have been the custodian of this treasure trove, has been captive under the government for twelve long years. If the confiscated monies and gold, are recovered, it may rub out the entirety, or very nearly so, of our foreign debt burden. When \u201cKP\u201d was captured in Malaysia, all were jubilant that with this smart move, the treasure trove was now there to rescue us. But, Alas !!\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

4. Concealed wealth. <\/span> In the run-up to the last election, extravagant claims were made (most notably by Rajitha Senaratne\u00a0 <\/span>– \u201cmam waga keemeng kiyanawa\u201d) <\/i>about enormous accounts held in foreign banks by \u201cHonourables\u201d. Where are they now? In the newly opened Sri Lanka Bank in the Seychelles? If none of our Agencies are able to act, curious readers could surf the Internet to seek the \u201cten most Wealthy Sri Lankans\u201d or to be more focused, on the \u201cten wealthiest Sri Lankan Politicians\u201d. One would be amazed by some revelations. If they are not true, the information could be challenged (or at least contradicted ) The fact that it is not, suggests that the figures are true, even understated! Blocking the so-called Social media is not the answer. Ingenuity, way beyond that of the bureaucracy will thwart any such effort.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

5. Declarations of Assets.<\/span> Every Government – paid employee is required to make an Annual Declaration of Assets. So are all elected Members of Parliament and others in Provincial and District Sabhas. Far too few do so. The simple method would be to deny nomination for non-compliance. This is not done. Why?<\/span><\/p>\n

6. Unexplained wealth of c<\/span>onvicted drug kingpins, and also undeclared assets, of whosoever, (Immediate family and Fixed Assets) to be confiscated, sold by open auction and the proceeds credited to the Consolidated Fund. Informants to receive rewards as a percentage. If the standard excuse is that it is not permitted by Law, then for heaven\u2019s sake, change the Law. Use the two-thirds majority for a good purpose. This should also apply to Party Funds and<\/span> election expenses. <\/span> Perpetual Treasury Millions? It is curious that Parties begging their supporters to jack up their contributions, suddenly stop doing so, spruce up their Offices and also lavish substantial awards to help defray election expenses of its members!.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

7. Lotteries and Special State funds<\/span>. Opportunities for fraud are very evident in the administration of monies collected by charities like the \u201cMahapola\u201d, and \u201cThe President\u2019s Fund\u201d and the many Lotteries operated by the State. Are they properly audited? Are the numerous Lotteries, in effect, frauds perpetrated on the buyers of tickets?. The majority of customers are from the poorer sections of our society, who dream of a bonanza. The upper segments are too clever to do so, perhaps recognizing that they are a \u201cRip Off\u201d. I believe that privately run lotteries elsewhere, are required to distribute a percentage of their takings as prizes (This, one may guess may be 30, 20 or 10%). When I extrapolated this to ours, it looked like 0. 00000(15 times) of 1%. I cannot believe myself! Somebody may check this out. If correct, this is scandalous.<\/span><\/p>\n

If swift action is taken on all or some of the above, it will endorse the Governments sincerity and also serve as a warning to others, that shady deals will be relentlessly investigated and the full force of the State will pursue them. Will we dare?\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":339,"featured_media":212306,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,46,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-220374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\nAre We Serious? - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/are-we-serious\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Are We Serious? - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[…]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/are-we-serious\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-06-29T16:25:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-07-04T12:16:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/People-2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Upatissa Pethiyagoda\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Upatissa Pethiyagoda\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/are-we-serious\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/are-we-serious\/\",\"name\":\"Are We Serious? - Colombo Telegraph\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/are-we-serious\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/are-we-serious\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/People-2.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-06-29T16:25:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-07-04T12:16:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/8b00cccdf169112357fc3c8ad0fd2d6e\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/are-we-serious\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/are-we-serious\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/are-we-serious\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/People-2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/People-2.jpg\",\"width\":900,\"height\":600},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/are-we-serious\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Are We Serious?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\",\"name\":\"Colombo Telegraph\",\"description\":\"In journalism truth is a process\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/8b00cccdf169112357fc3c8ad0fd2d6e\",\"name\":\"Upatissa Pethiyagoda\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/03afa5796b8f6bece910ef4d517a4384d486ce8dc9e7cfd00cceafa9d6e4dd04?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/03afa5796b8f6bece910ef4d517a4384d486ce8dc9e7cfd00cceafa9d6e4dd04?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Upatissa Pethiyagoda\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/upethiyagoda\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Are We Serious? - Colombo Telegraph","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/are-we-serious\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Are We Serious? - Colombo Telegraph","og_description":"[…]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/are-we-serious\/","og_site_name":"Colombo Telegraph","article_published_time":"2021-06-29T16:25:45+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-07-04T12:16:15+00:00","og_image":[{"width":900,"height":600,"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/People-2.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Upatissa Pethiyagoda","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Upatissa Pethiyagoda","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/are-we-serious\/","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/are-we-serious\/","name":"Are We Serious? - Colombo Telegraph","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/are-we-serious\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/are-we-serious\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/People-2.jpg","datePublished":"2021-06-29T16:25:45+00:00","dateModified":"2021-07-04T12:16:15+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/8b00cccdf169112357fc3c8ad0fd2d6e"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/are-we-serious\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/are-we-serious\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/are-we-serious\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/People-2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/People-2.jpg","width":900,"height":600},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/are-we-serious\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Are We Serious?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/","name":"Colombo Telegraph","description":"In journalism truth is a process","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/8b00cccdf169112357fc3c8ad0fd2d6e","name":"Upatissa Pethiyagoda","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/03afa5796b8f6bece910ef4d517a4384d486ce8dc9e7cfd00cceafa9d6e4dd04?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/03afa5796b8f6bece910ef4d517a4384d486ce8dc9e7cfd00cceafa9d6e4dd04?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Upatissa Pethiyagoda"},"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/upethiyagoda\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/People-2.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/339"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220374"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220374\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":220506,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220374\/revisions\/220506"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/212306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}