Did you know what ‘contextomy’ meant?

My apologies for not being able to update my blog for the past three days. That is because I did not know how to make that happen through an iPad. Am back now and invite you to taste my postings as you did then.

By Renton de Alwis

Written in late November 2010, this article was a sequel to and earlier column I wrote  on gaming, based on the experience of Macau SAR, earlier Portuguese Macau, now a special administrative region of China. The response was to how most misunderstood the rationale I made and did not bother to understand the detail with I discussed the issue. That made me look up, the word contextomy for its meaning and venture to further explain the logic of my arguments. I present it to you now for your critical review with a request that you read it in full. 

 

I must confess I did not. At least not until last week, when I dug into the idea of what I thought was ‘quoting out of context’. This has now become a favourite pastime of many among us in our country, where only headlines and highlights are read and only bits and pieces of what is said here and there, is heard. Not bothering to understand or hear out concepts and ideas in full, these ‘readers’ and ‘listeners’ arrive at or rather ‘jump’ to conclusions, about what they imagine has been said or have been heard. Often than not, these selected ‘quotes’ are far from what the writer or the speaker, had intended to present or portray. Often than not, the opinions formed also represent ‘party lines’ and / or prejudices, embedded in the minds of those that form them.

I had to search for what to call this ‘disease’, having read a comment in an Internet Blog referring to an interview I had given and an article I had written a few months ago. Interestingly, I learnt that the terminology used to describe the phenomenon is ‘Contextomy’.

An integrated resort

The intent of what I said and wrote about, was to suggest to decision makers for Sri Lanka Tourism, to use the concept of an ‘Integrated Gaming Resort’ in a specific area (a limited portion of the over 4,000 acres of land, it had acquired at Kalpitiya). My contention is that some of this land can be spared for such activity, without touching other areas of it there and elsewhere, which are in a relative sense, ecologically, culturally and socially more sensitive. The fact is that most land in these areas is threatened by the impact of rising sea levels as a result of on-going global warming. This is because the location contours of most of Kalpitiya peninsular and the adjacent islets are similar to that of the Maldives and may have a span of about 50 to 60 years for its productive utilisation, before it will begin to feel the heat of inundation by rising sea levels.

The other was the proximity of the area to the International Airport at Katunayake. Access to Kalpitiya by sea (including fast-ferries), rail and road is easy and the time spent in rapid transportation is reasonable. It also offers routes that do not take gaming custom all over the country but specifically from the airport to the resort area and back, upon entry and exit.

Pragmatic model  

The idea was to suggest a pragmatic and rational model for Sri Lanka Tourism to achieve its stated objective of having several millions of tourists and earn foreign exchange rapidly, which in turn can be used for the country’s development and for conservation of the country’s sensitive and valuable resource base. It was to ensure that any denudation of resources will be contained within a presently barren designated area, without imposing negative impacts on all our other rich cultural, natural and heritage resources. It was to prevent millions of tourists roaming all over our beautiful country threatening the thresholds and carrying capacities at existing and other new sites and the resources therein. My intent was to present a practical option to what Sri Lanka was seeking in earning much needed forex through tourism development, focussing on a market segment of tourists who are avid gamers or casino-goers that mainly consist of the affluent East, Southeast Asian and Indian tourists. My experience observing operations in areas like Genting Islands in Malaysia, Sands Resort in Singapore, City of Dreams in Macau or at Hotels in Kathmandu, Nepal is that it is possible to contain several millions of gamers in limited areas and within buildings where artificial environments are created for them specifically for that activity. It was not to be the models of Vegas or Reno in the USA, or at reservations where native inhabitants of that land, were providing concessions to operate gaming resorts.

Managing resources

The Blogger referred to earlier, had picked on my thoughts at random in bits and pieces or without reading it in full and had excelled in the practise of ‘contextomy’. He or she had presented it to justify what he or she wanted to achieve, in passing judgement on what was to be a pragmatic solution on how to handle millions of visitors to Sri Lanka, while ensuring that we are otherwise able conduct an upmarket, high yielding and quality tourism operation. The position taken was that my proposition would lead to the destruction of an ecologically sensitive area, without understanding the rationale behind it, ignoring that it indeed is an attempt at preserving and better managing our resources. In ‘contextomy’ terms, it was an attempt to discredit its real intent and to serve as justification of a ‘position’ the Blogger wishes to hold; i.e. that the government’s recent legislation to regulate gaming activities was undesirable.

 

Drawing room gaming

In my article and at several other forums where this proposition was discussed, I touched on what hypocrites we can be as a nation, when it comes to dealing with such issues. While, huffing and puffing on the ills of regulated and contained integrated casino resorts for tourism, most among us, sit together each night in front of our television screens, often with children by our side, taking on the gaming pursuit we know as the lottery. Coming in all forms, names and colours, with sponsors and advertisers’ messages supporting the events, the spinning of numbered ping-pong balls by bilingual presenters, make both the ‘sweep’ ticket purchaser and the dealer win hundreds of thousands and even millions worth hefty cash prizes. The sellers of these game sweep tickets are all over public places and often come door to door. In effect, it had become a national past time, as much as the ‘Turf Accountants’ outfits and  ‘Bookies’, that enable locals punters day in day out, to seek fast riches by betting on horses that run races in other countries.

End the trap

What was proposed by me was to limit gaming at exclusive Integrated Resorts to visitors and not to nationals and to have them, contained in an area where there are no schools, places of worship and other local community activities, where our children get exposed to them. The incomes we generate from these activities can support Sri Lanka end the trap we are in, where most of our hundreds of thousands of our mothers and sisters in low income groups are taking on employment as house-maids and in other menial jobs in the Middle-east and other countries at huge social and personal cost to themselves, their families and the nation. Please do not get me wrong, I am not suggesting that they all be employed in the gaming resorts. What I suggesting is that incomes generated therein, be utilised for providing alternative opportunities for them, so they do not need to leave our shores for these pursuits.

In my opinion, it is time that we in Sri Lanka take on this new phase of our development shunning prejudices, taking on ‘party lines’ in evaluating and understanding options before us. But do it with deep study, avoiding ‘contextomy’ and think and act rationally and pragmatically to build a nation that we all can be proud of, where we can seek true reconciliation and lasting peace.              

 

Trees for life and for learning lessons

By Renton de Alwis

 

Written during the first week of November 2010, it was a call for carting for Mother Nature, in our nation building efforts. Am presenting it again for your critical evaluation of where we are, in this domain in our drive towards achieving sustainable development.

Just the other day, we watched a group of excited pre-school children. They were looking at a few bean seeds they had dropped in bottles of water, a few days earlier for sprouting. Their teachers were giving them an early lesson about life. The children, we were told were asked to observe the growth of those sprouts each morning. Now a few days into its growth, in each bottle, an ivory coloured sprout was making its way up. The bean seed was split and the faces of the children showed much excitement, joy and hope.

They were indeed learning their first lesson of life. A seed, a sprout, a plant, tiny green leaves, sound healthy growth, food, joy, smiles and life itself. Brought out of the bottle, nourished with rich soil and the rays of the sun, they will observe how, like them with nourishment of food, values and education, the sprouts will blossom to be bean-stalks, bearing harvests of things good.
 

Gentle giants

That was about sprouting plants. Trees are larger and do more for life than plants. When these tiny tots grow bigger they will learn about photosynthesis, the green-house effect, how energy giving fossils and fuels came about, balance, imbalance, climate change, global warming and all other features and functions of trees and their role in giving and maintaining life on our Mother Earth.

They will learn of the value of these gentle giants in agriculture, in industry, in commerce, in forests and jungles propagating and sustaining wild animal and plant life and in our home gardens, by our road and riversides, in the villages and the cities. They will learn of the role trees play in protecting our life giving water resources and the top soil and what we must do to ensure that we protect our forests with all our might. They will be taught how mangrove stems which grow on salty coastal swamps, help propagate marine life in our oceans and how coastal vegetation protects our beaches from erosion. How trees give shelter to travellers, protect us from the sun, from rain, help the poor and the rich alike and have been sources of inspiration for all time. 

Due gratitude

They will learn of how Gauthama the Buddha attained enlightenment having meditated under a Bodhi tree, and for several weeks thereafter paid due gratitude to that tree with animisa locahana pooja (insightful meditative offering). They will learn of the ata visi Bodhi (28 trees of veneration) for the role played in supporting lesser Buddha’s in their attainment of Buddhahood. They will learn that in Christian teaching at Revelation 22:2, trees of life are symbolically described such as having curing properties for resolving conflicts among peoples "and on this side of the river and on that side there were trees of life producing twelve crops of fruit, yielding their fruits each month. And the trees were for the curing of the nations.”

Sacred groves

They will learn that all religions and civilizations place the value of trees at the highest level of esteem and taught that growing and guarding them was meritorious and noble. Ancient Mayan civilization had designated “Sacred Groves” as areas of forest, not to be touched by humans for they were dedicated to the Gods. In our own traditional social system, fear of gaining the wrath of deities who lived in large trees, was used as a tool to ensure its conservation as the story of the Goraka Yaka, illustrates. We symbolically bathe Bodhi trees with fresh cow’s milk and incense water and erect gold-plated fences and branch supports to protect them in demonstrations of our caring for them.  

The concept of a ‘Tree of Life’ is prevalent in reference to the story of Adam and Eve, in ancient Egypt, Assyria, China, in the Turkic world. It also has references in the Baha’i, Mormon, Jewish and other faiths. It was Charles Darwin who presented the idea that phylogeny, explained as the ascent of all species through time, was expressible as a metaphor he termed the Tree of Life of Human Evolution. The modern development of this idea is called the Phylogenetic Tree.

Away from the conceptual basis of the value of trees, we as simple human beings like trees for they have a way of making our lives joyful and pleasant. When in a grove of trees or a forest, we feel tranquil, cool in comparison to being in a parched, treeless desert like environment. Beyond simply admiring the beauty of trees we feel safe, at home and at peace in a forested area. Trees also have therapeutic properties and scientific research has proven that patients with views of trees and forests to cure more rapidly than those who do not.

Over million trees

It is fitting that mid this month, for the first time in the history of this nation (or was the first late President Premadasa) , a President has taken on the task of planting over a million trees, plants and seedlings at the time he is sworn in to take on stately duties. This is the second term in office for him and a time when the nation’s economic and social development takes centre stage, leaving difficult times of gloom and doom behind us.

There were of course other Presidents, Prime Ministers, Ministers and politicians before him who planted trees. They were projects that made varying degrees of impact and one significant effort was that of Late President Premadasa. For most others, the planting of a tree was a mere symbolic gesture. At a time when climate change and the need to generate modes of absorbing more and more of the harmful gases that affect the planet’s atmosphere, planting a million trees within a few minutes, in a collective national mobilisation effort, is beyond being symbolic. It is indeed an act of substance and much meaning, not only for Sri Lanka but for the world at large.

 

Taking responsibility

Making sure that a good majority of the trees planted will blossom in full is indeed a challenge before all of us. We as a nation and its collective conscience will be put to the test, as we take on the responsibility of steering and gearing this noble action putting aside our petty political and other differences.

A tree as the children would have learnt will not differentiate between Sri Lankans of different races, cast, creed or status when it offers us shade, flowers and fruit, while guarding us against the ill-effects of global warming. A lesson we must indeed learn when we take on the next phase of our development, where justice, dignity, opportunity and a peaceful environment for all, will need to be the collective guiding force in ensuring the sustainable development of this nation.    
 Pix Credit: Self

Terrorism, justice and lasting peace

By Renton de Alwis

 

Written in end October 2010, the article then called for unified action to ensure a lasting peace identifying the need for justice, fair- play and a common goal in seeking national reconciliation for us all, as Sri Lankans. Have we strayed away from some of it with unnecessary diversions, extravagance and waste, standing dominant over the many desired and expressed goals articulated a little over two years ago by the leadership? It is interesting to revisit some of these issues after this lapse of time, to re-examine how and where we stand with them today.

“Peace is not the absence of war, but the presence of justice”, says a Harrison Ford quote that I came across recently. I quote it here, for I think it aptly describes our current socio-political situation. For nearly 30 years we waged a war against terrorism.

Hard won effort

That movement at its roots began with the cause of Tamil Sri Lankans calling for dignity and honour. Yet, its operations took a turn with a call for a separate state, with the use of terror as the means for achieving that end. Though some may claim that the end justifies the means, there is no way any reasonable human being can condone terror as a means to achieving any end. Thankfully, the determined leadership effort by our President, his team that shouldered the burden of that effort and our armed forces, supported by the majority of our people, were able to put that lengthy phase of terrorism behind us.

There is no doubt in any reasonable person’s mind or there need not be any argument, that we must make that hard-won end to terrorism stay and last. That it must transform into a state of lasting peace. There should also be no issue on the need for us to ensure that justice prevails at all times in our midst, to enable us to get there. That must transform to mean justice for all innocents; regardless of race, creed, colour, rich, poor, level of influence, affiliation or the might one may command. It must be at all nooks and corners of this land and be real and be perceived, sensually touched and felt by all as being real. That must be the task we all must work on single-mindedly, while taking ownership of the process of its making.

Steer and cheer

Justice, defined as the ‘quality of being just or fair’ must prevail where, every Sri Lankan who has not committed any crime under the law of the land, can live with equal dignity and honour. In the context of a just and fair society, we all must have access to opportunities and the unhindered ability to make a better life for each of us, our families and be able to pave the way for those that are yet to be born.

Justice and peace therefore goes hand in glove. This is where we must steer and cheer the process of getting there, when it is right and denounce and jeer, when it is wrong. It is sad that it is not so with most of us. We seem to be divided on many fault-lines. They appear as political party affiliations, blind loyalty based support, considerations of personal or corporate gain, cast and creed-based actions and /or dominant belief-led outcomes.

Lack the tools

It is often we see that the same position taken by two different entities being dealt with in two different ways by those who look at it with their tainted minds or tinted or coloured lenses. It is true that most happenings around us can not be defined as being black or white, but grey. But it is also true that there can not be any line of compromise between what is just or fair. Yet, there is a marring of our views, as a result of the prejudices, loyalties, likes, dislikes, affiliations and detachments each of us hold within us.

In most instances, I find that we lack the analytical tools to understand the working of those who are driven by different ethos to that of ours. A good way to describe it, is the more popular parlance used by the elite of our society a few decades ago to describe a person who was not akin to their ways. The term used then was ‘godaya’. Though the term is not in use today as widely as it was then, the sentiment that led to its formation still exists among many. It has to do with our almost blind acceptance of the dominant western cultural values and the shunning of our own (ape kama) as being backward or archaic. 

Repeated appeal

Here I must share with you two recent examples that can serve to illustrate my point about the prejudices we carry. During the last two weeks, I received eight emails forwarding me the speech made by George Willy, the Houston based immigration lawyer of Sri Lankan origin. He spoke in English in the presence of our President, during his recent visit to the USA and called for him to follow the Buddhist principles of compassion, truth, and justice. His repeated concluding appeal to the President was “Your Excellency, return us to Paradise… Return us to Paradise”. 

Lawyer Willy, like many other Sri Lankans living abroad or most living in Sri Lanka, may not have known that the President, on several occasions earlier had articulated the need and desire to unify Sri Lanka’s twenty million people as one family, based on the same principles. One instance is the recent speech he made in Sinhala and Tamil (not in English) to the children of Sri Lanka at a recent ‘Mother Sri Lanka’ programme presentation. No one sent me an email attachment of that speech. It is sad that many in our midst do not or choose not to, see, hear or accept that there is genuine effort expressed here, away from the political rhetoric and cat-calls made by opportunistic opposition.

Good Sri Lankans

 

Then there is a recent satellite television statement by Prof. Karthigesu Sivathamby, made at the award ceremony when he was honoured with a Life Time Achievement Award for Sri Lankan Literature, which I must bring to your attention. Touching on the need for the emergence of a truly Sri Lankan literature, he said, “There are very good Sinhalese, very good Muslims and very good Tamils I know, but not one good Sri Lankan”. 

I guess that sums up the dire need we have today, when we take on the long journey before us, in seeking justice for all and lasting peace. Like the good Professor said, we perhaps need to take a good look in the mirror to see if we see a good Sri Lankan first, so we could then be the good Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims, SLFPers, UNPers, TNAers, MCers,  Marxists, JVPers, JHUers and the like.

 

Pix credit: Lanka Gaurdian

 

 

Between two worlds

By Renton de Alwis

Written in late September 2010, the article relates to a personal experience I had, of what now has developed to be the World’s largest Gaming Resort in terms of earnings. With a visitor volume of over 22 million a year, this ‘space wise little’ Chinese Special Administrative Region (SAR), provides an interesting model of how an area of little over four square kilometres has been turned to be an almost unbelievable extreme example of spinning money. Macau has created a ‘world’ of its own for satisfying the greed and lustful ways of the majority of human beings. While no attempt is made here, to either justify or condemn the efforts of Macau, it is presented as an interesting model for us to examine for tourism, where all the ‘damage’ from having large visitor numbers can be done restricted to a small area, while earning the hoards of money ’desired’ by economic and social planners in developing nations such as ours. This is not an endorsement of the model but a statement of what is available for us to examine. On the very aspect of casinos and gaming, this also should serve us as a reminder that most of us here in Sri Lanka and as a ‘nation’ sit in front of our TV screens each night to ‘gamble’ (play casino) on the many and various lottery tickets bought during the day from vendors from all nooks and corners of the country. The incomes generated also form a fair part of the revenue for the government’s coffers. Yet there is an overdose of hypocrisy looming in most of our minds when we are asked to examine such options, to ensure the conservation of our most valuable heritage, natural and cultural resources now used to generate tourism experiences for the progressively growing numbers of tourists. My suggestion is not to have huge numbers of tourists traversing the whole island, but to have the real discerning visitors (traveller tourists) go to our valued sites such as in the cultural triangle but have others who seek mere fun and enjoyment be contained in a smaller area called a RESORT. Planners may call this a type of zoning.

“City of Dreams” is what the world’s largest gaming (Casino) city calls itself. Today, with 28 millions visitors (almost a million a month) coming to Macau (SAR) China, it is touted as being largest area in volume of casino business done in the world, over-taking the much talked about Las Vegas, USA. Its main customer base consists of millions of Chinese mainlanders, people from Hong Kong SAR (Special administration region of China) and hundreds of thousands from the rest of the world.

 

No day or night

 

I am writing this column seated in a room of one of seven mega hotel complexes that form a new growth area in Macau of which some are yet being built. Don’t get me wrong, I am not here to gamble at the casinos. I am here to speak at a seminar of the Pacific Asia Travel Association’s (PATA) Annual Travel Mart and attend a series of meetings of the association. I did traverse through several casinos and shopping mall after shopping mall displaying luxury branded goods, each morning and afternoon to get to the meeting rooms form the hotel I was staying in for several days. The walkways are designed to take you through what was indeed for me, a dream experience.

A 24x7 operation is what it is called. The casinos or the thousands of people gaming within them do not sleep. There is no indication if it is day or night. They arrive in coaches from the airport, from the ferry terminal from Hong Kong or by road from Southern China and go straight to the air-conditioned complexes, exchange their money for chips and begin to play. It is a hive of activity in each of the many halls. Many, electronically operated one-arm bandits and the old style roulette, black jack and other gaming tables are all busy with ‘get rich fast’ gamers and casino dealers fighting for supremacy. A fellow PATA colleague walking with me through one of these halls said ‘It’s the casino that always wins’.  

Call for support

At the meetings we discussed sustainability issues in tourism including the need to maintain the earth’s bio-diversity and noted trends that showed that tourism was doing good on the eastern hemisphere. Delegates from Pakistan talked about the devastation that country was facing as a result of the recent floods attributing it to effects of climate change and called for support to revive its tourism industry after things settle down.

Mega resort

The hotel I was assigned, courtesy the Macau Government Tourism Office and PATA, only opened for business in October last year. Until, 2002, much like the Genting Highlands of Malaysia where a 11,000 room exclusive gaming resort has been operating since 1971 for international visitors and non-Muslim Malaysians, Macau was known as the gaming capital of the Eastern hemisphere or the ‘Monte Carlo of the Orient’.

Then it had only one Casino complex owned by a Chinese business magnate called ‘The Lisboa’. Small in comparison to what is around today, but large enough then to create an impact. In 2002, two years after the handing over of Macau’s sovereignty to China, by the then rulers the Portuguese, Macau’s new administration decided to expand the casino concessions for the area, opening them to a few Las Vegas companies. The first to invest was the Sands Corporation of Las Vegas that developed the Venetian Resort, which is where the PATA Travel Mart was held. With US$ 2.4 billion spent on the 40 story, 3,000 suite type rooms and over two million square feet of other spaces including the casino, it is cited as the largest single structure hotel in Asia and the fifth largest building in the world. Interestingly, its architectural design resembles that of a Venetian religious complex with its domes reminding one of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace.

In a dichotomy

Coming back to places like Macau, where I have visited several times before this; its modern phase of development, places me in a dichotomy. I live in an island country rich with bio-diversity, heritage and cultural resources. I know that our future lies in making sure that we protect the resources we have not yielding to the glamour and glitter of some of the modern developments this dream world has to offer. Yet I think of other Sri Lankans who may not agree with me and will want to seek the dreams like everyone else to get rich fast.

While thinking about this, I came across the news that the 57^th Annual Session of the UN Conference for Trade and Development is taking place in Geneva at this time. I remember the early days of the UNCTAD, when it introduced concepts such as ‘Growth Vs Development’ and ‘Trade Before Aid’ in defining a desirable future for the then developing world. Those concepts still hold in the context of what is happening around us in the global economic agenda. The US is moving away from a consumption driven growth agenda to a exports led domain to get our of the downturn its economy is facing, while China is seeking to enhance its consumer spending while finding  the right balance in its growth of exports to maintain its growth trajectory as cited in the UNCTAD’s World Investment Report 2010.

Toxic threat

At the opening of the UNCTAD session it’s Secretary General Dr. Supachai Panitchpakdi thus stated “The multiple challenges now faced by the global community can perhaps be summed up in one word: imbalances. Imbalances in food, energy, housing and financial markets were allowed to grow during a sustained economic boom, becoming increasingly interdependent. … despite the massive amount of public resources that have been mobilized to deal with the resulting collapse, the underlying forces have been left untouched in the aftermath of the crisis. They remain a toxic threat to stable and inclusive growth and the sustainability of the recovery”.

In Sri Lanka, as we launch our own plans for development of our nation in the post-conflict era, there is much food for thought for us not to get into any one of the extremes of two worlds we witness, but to depend on our own design of our future, within the realms of these worlds.

Pix : From a Google image

Access to all is the call

By Renton de Alwis

This article written in September 2010 dealt with the resolve of a courageous campaigner for ‘access to all’ and the gains made in the area both here in Sri Lanka and internationally. While saluting his and others the like of him for their resolve and concerted effort, it is reproduced now on my Blog-site, as a reminder that there is much more which needs to be done.

 

On numerous occasions during my time with Sri Lanka Tourism, my friend from the early 1980’s Dr. Ajith Perera, complained to me about Sri Lanka tourism not doing enough to provide access to the disabled. I remember Ajith as an active and vibrant member participant at discussions at the Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science (SLAAS) and as a cricket enthusiast, who later qualified as a test umpire. He was denied his call to officiate at the first test match between Sri Lanka and New Zealand due to an accident; when a branch of a tree fell on the car he was travelling in.

Getting it right

His clear call, still active and vibrant is “enable us, we don’t want to be denied access to places where all must go, it is society that makes us disabled”. Those who know Dr. Ajith will know what a strong campaigner he is, for creating enabling environments for all. He has himself done a lot. Created an organisation that focuses on the issue and written guidelines on how to get it right. Gone to hotels, business houses, government offices and convinced some of them of the merits of providing access and advised them on where to begin. He appeals to architects and builders to rethink their plans when creating spaces for living and for business. He calls for enabled access at entrances to buildings, designated ways of moving about and easy access toilets with larger doors, space and special fixtures.

When I read this Monday morning, Imtiaz Muqbil’s ‘Travel Impact Newswire’ (TIN), an e-newsletter published out of Bangkok, Dr. Ajith and his relentless campaigning came to mind. Today, he is somewhat a winner. On the ending of the war with terrorism, there is rejuvenated interest in Sri Lanka to look after our disabled soldiers and initiatives taken by the authorities with them in mind to also help better facilitate, an enabling environment for all. But I know that Dr. Ajith would say ‘not enough, there is so much more to be done’. He would say that, ‘it must be a movement, growing not out of pity, but in recognition that it is a necessity’.

 

Global effort

The truth is that it is not only the estimated 650 million of the world’s disabled that need facilitation of access. The world’s population is ageing and we will have many, many more millions joining the ranks, sooner than later. Then of course, there are the many millions of the poor, also among the able, living below the poverty-line who need access to food, water, shelter, education and to a decent life.

The e-newsletter had two stories, the first was quoting a UN news release which read “A senior UN official was calling on all UN Member States to become party to the world body’s landmark convention protecting the rights of people with disabilities, which has already acquired 146 signatories and 90 ratifications”.

"In the past year, the number of signatures and ratifications of this legal instrument has more than doubled," Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Sha Zukang told a recent meeting of ‘States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities’, which came into force in May 2008. "These results represent remarkable progress in a short period of time" he has said.

Not enough

Yet, noting that fewer than half of the member states have actually ratified the convention he further said “persons with disabilities are more likely to be poor and lacking access to equal social, health, educational and employment services. It is the international community’s collective responsibility to address these inequalities."

"We must advocate for increased recognition and protection of their human rights, including the right to education. We must adapt our communities to their needs wherever possible. We must also change the hearts and minds of the public about the abilities of persons with disabilities", he is reported to have said.

I am sure Sri Lanka would have no issue at all about ratifying the convention, if it is not already done. That should make Dr. Ajith and many other leaders calling out for our disabled soldiers and citizen’s welfare happy and hopeful.

Baby-boomers

We all know that with ratification of conventions, comes obligations. To fulfil these obligations we need focus, dedicated action at the policy and strategic levels to allocate resources in the right places and monitor its effective implementation.

UN brings focus on issues in many different ways. Some of them are more valid than others. Some become hobby-horses of some in powerful positions or of consultants. But here is an area that would impact on all. For, most of the world’s top leadership are of the Baby-boomer generation and this is an issue of direct relevance for their own future.

Access Tourism

The other story in the TIN made the day. That is the news of a tourism conference with a difference on “Access Tourism”. To be held in early October in New Zealand, it is organised by the New Zealand Tourism Research Institute. In an introduction to the conference, the organisers said “Access Tourism is tourism, travel, and hospitality for people with disabilities and seniors. The Access Tourism market is already a sizeable market worldwide, and is set to grow rapidly with the ageing of the large Baby Boomer cohort, because disability increases with age”

It also stated that this is a market that is virtually ignored in New Zealand. “Government and industry here seem largely unaware of the coming demand for ‘ ‘ ‘Access Tourism’ products and services, and there are no strategies to cater for this lucrative market. This contrasts sharply with the planned development of Access Tourism and/or the development of Access Tourism action plans by our major tourism competitors and in our major tourism markets”.

Potent partnership

In New Zealand, tourism has taken the lead, for they see good opportunity in it. There is a lesson for us to learn, and it is that we need to look much beyond the now to the future, take strategic directions. No matter which sector is in the driving seat, initiatives such as these bring benefit to all. In Sri Lanka, a partnership between tourism and defence services disabled welfare will be a good way forward to get it done right.

I hope Dr. Ajith will agree with me.

 

Pix credit: Island.lk

Kakkapalliye Pol Goviya

By Renton de Alwis

Written in August 2010 a few days after his death, this story is about a few encounters I had  Deshamanya Vidyajothi Eng. Dr. Phillp Ravatha ‘Ray’ Wijewardene, a very special human being. My first interactions go back to the early 1980’s when we met frequently at meetings of the Association for the Advancement of Science (SLAAS). Thereafter those ties were renewed during my days at Sri Lanka Tourism. This article is reproduced in memory of the work, achievements and the many lessons left for us by this doyen of a man, who wanted to be known simply as Ray Wijewardena.

 

It was an early Saturday morning just a little over two years ago. We had agreed to meet at a point in the Wennappuwa town to follow our hero to his estate at Kakkapalliya. Having met the week before at the tourist board again, like we had done on several occasions earlier to discuss how we could make another dream project of this doyen turn into a reality, we were gracefully invited to join him on his visit to the estate farm, during the weekend.

 

Precise instruction

 

That was for me a most memorable experience. I had heard and read that he had been daring in his ways and I was somewhat surprised at the way he conformed, to the convention of time. His instruction to us for that morning was precise. Exact spot and exact time. We were to meet by the roadside close to the turn to the govipola. We did not have to wait for him for he was already there with his driver, waiting for us.

 

We got there sharp on time. Yet he had arrived before us as a gracious host would.  He was 84 years old (or young) then and it was a lesson for the two young colleagues who accompanied me from the tourist board. They were impressed and that made me happy. It was a lesson for them for making their own futures bright.

 

Keeping the balance

 

Kakkaplliya is located beyond Wennappuwa on the North-western coastal belt of Sri Lanka and Late Vidayajothi Ray Wijewardene (VRW); our govi mahaththya (gentleman farmer) hero owned 150 acres of a coconut plantation there. Our car followed his white four-wheel-drive which bore his company logo. It was a sign that was similar to the symbol for recycling, with the difference of four arrows following each other.

 

He explained to me, when standing outside the tourist board’s porch, while I saw him to his vehicle after one of our meetings; the logo represented the four elements of Patavi (matter/solidity), Apo (water/flowing), Thejo (fire/heat) and Vayo (air/movement). The elements and its samadhi (concentration/equilibrium) he said formed the philosophy and conceptual base for the engineering and agricultural innovation and other sustainability options he adopted.  

 

Standing by the vehicle door pointing to the sign on it, he said to me (then only 24 years his junior at 60), “Young man, this is what we must aim for. We must keep these elements in balance. That then, will mean we are being sustainable”. He was referring to an earlier discussion we had on the need to educate the young on adopting sustainable ways. Thank you, Comrade Ray Sir, for reminding me of that lesson in life.

 

At the farm, we drove through on the gravel road in the surrounds of lush green coconut palms, many other large trees and Gilicida plantations direct to the ‘Attalaya’. Attalaya was his self-designed farm dwelling; a modern version design of a tree-house in a dry-zone chena farm.  It was totally self-sufficient in its energy requirements. Solar panels were in place and the design ensured ample sunlight during the day. A free flow of cool air was blowing across the house and the bata-palali (bamboo screens) provided protection from rain-spray when necessary. It was an innovation of a small open concept adobe, three stories high.

 

Our own ways

 

He had an English university professor friend already waiting for him, at the Attalaya when we arrived. We all met on the top-most floor of the dwelling for tea, biscuits and a chit-chat before taking on a guided tour of the govipola. Here, the man was in his elements. He took on the wheel of the vehicle and had us sit with him. We were taken to a world that was, his own.

 

He told us to look around and compare the variation in the greenness of the foliage with the neighbouring estates. His was lush-green with no brown patches on leaves indicating the absence of any plant disease. “This is the result of eight years of endurance in not using any chemical fertilizer. The whole place nourishes on organic fertiliser alone and we now have 40 percent more yield, than all others in this area” he said.

 

We were then treated to an educational discourse on traditional methods of Kandyan garden agriculture he had adopted.  He showed us the rows of Gilicida plants grown along the rows of coconut palms. The gaps of pathways created between them were called the ‘Saru Alliya’ (path for fertilising and maintenance) and the ‘Gaman Alliya’(path for plucking and picking) he said. 

 

Rewarding success

 

“I had a time convincing these people,” pointing to his manager who had stayed through it all at the govipola, “that not using chemical fertiliser will yield results. It took us eight years more to learn that it works”. “Look”, he said emphatically and in child-like excitement “see the ‘gaddavilla pus’ (earthworm churned soil), it is only now they are back in action. They were all dead when we still used the chemicals”. Turning again to the manager he said “this man wanted us to go back to using those fertilizers several times and that was in frustration. I kept insisting and about a year ago, he admitted that we had succeeded. He stuck with me, when many others before him left, and I am grateful”. At the end of our tour we learnt that VRW had requested the manager to buy air-tickets for him and his family for a leisure trip to Singapore. That was his way of rewarding the faith the manager had in his wisdom that led to profitability.

 

The other highlights of the tour included inspecting the gasifiers where Gilicida branches were used as fuel-wood. This was to generate energy for operating machines that prepared and rolled coconut husks into coir-rope. The Gilicida leaves were used as the substitute for the urea fertiliser the coconut trees needed. They were soaked in water and mixed with the soil along the ‘Saru Alliya’.

 

Since his passing away last week, much has been written about this unique individual by several others. That he was an alumnus of Cambridge and Harvard, Chancellor of the University of Moratuwa, Chairman of several institutions, a creator and crasher of light aircraft, a daring pilot, an Olympian and an Asian Games silver medallist Yachtsman and the inventor of the Landmaster two-wheel hand-held tractor and more.

 

Dreams into reality

 

I dare not attempt to repeat reminisce all of his achievements, for that I imagine would not be what he would have wished of me. To me, the memory of this man will remain as the caring and humble humanist, who gave and wanted so much from life. He was a visionary dreamer and a realist all in one.

There is one other dream, I know of, he wished to see fulfilled and that was his desire to set up an innovation activity centre for the children of our land. We began talking about  it, but it yet to take off the ground. It is now left in our hands to explore how we could pursue his wish further. That, I think will be fitting tribute for persons the likes of Late Vidayajothi Rayvatha (Ray) Wijewardene; turning unfulfilled dreams into reality and learning lessons from the wisdom left behind.

 

 

 

Pix credit: Ray Wijewardena @ Nalaka Gunawardena.com blogspot.

Productivity as doing more with less in saner ways

By Renton de Alwis

We tend to make all sorts of New Year resolutions at this time of the year. This column written on New Year’s eve in 2010, focussed on a simple resolution we could all make. Given that our evening news is full of stories of village and national level follies of badly done infrastructure projects, wasted resources, corrupt practises etc., one is left to wonder if the focus on the bigness of projects we seem to undertake will ever take us to be the wonder we seek to be. As a nation we perhaps will need to begin to do the little things right, including preventive action on many fronts, without spending scores on fancy projects all at once .Within our traditional ethos we did have these systems well in place, yet have lost it somewhere, somehow. This dawn of the New Year may be a good time for us to reflect on such, that some may consider ‘trivia’ and get the basics right, before indulging in the galloping.

 

A bill board calling for entries for a poster competition on enhancing productivity caught my eye in Colombo. The theme proposed for this 2011 effort was “Productivity begins at home”. This triggered many memories in my mind’s-eye on what and how we may want to look at our efforts at productivity.

I remember about a decade or so ago, when I was living in Singapore, how I needed to get professional help in moving to a new apartment to fix nails on walls to hang paintings. A simple job, but like I may have done back home, I could not drive nails myself into the wall. My rental contract specified what I could and could not do. I was told by Mr. Lee (forgot his first name), the professional wall paintings hanger I employed for the job, that it was so to make sure that the electrical wiring embedded on the walls was not damaged, causing danger to oneself and to other inhabitants. He mentioned that both individuals and the state would save costs on hospitalisation and health care by preventing such accidents. “We could use that money for other more important purpose” he said. What a thought from a picture hanger professional.

No messy ways

What he did next impressed me even more. Out of his bag he took out his tool-belt and fixed it around his waist.  It had a drill, drill-bits, screw drivers, hammers, a hair-dryer like vacuum-sucker and a lot of other titbits, all neatly arranged in pockets. He then took out a few old newspapers he carried in the bag and neatly laid them on the floor at the point where he was to drill holes for fixing the paintings. Thereafter, he made sure the ladder was well-secured and climbed it. Upon marking the spot on the wall, he held the drill with one hand and the vacuum-sucker with the other and drilled the holes as needed. The vacuum-sucker took-in all the dust that came from the drill-hole and any large pieces of plaster that fell landed on the newspaper. When moving to next the place he made sure that the previous work place was clean and tidy without need to clean it once again.

Minimise effort

The morale of my explaining this event in such detail is to show that productivity is mostly about attention to detail and about preventive care. It is about not having to repeat unproductive tasks and to ensure that each step taken contributes to minimise resource use, effort and time taken to complete a task. Just recall the times we have seen our own plumbers, painters, carpenters, motor mechnics and some of us ourselves, searching for dropped tools, nuts and bolts, nails and go several times back and forth to bring things they/we need.  

Remember the good old saying in song “Do what you do, do well, Son”. That to me, is lesson one on how we could seek to be productive.

Saving lives

Just last week, I was told by a friend that a well-known Sri Lankan surgeon had mentioned to him that a good percentage of surgery done at our hospitals could be avoided and many lives saved, if we were to take a simple precaution on our roads at night. And that is about making it mandatory for all bicycles to have that little red piece on its mudguards that will shine when an approaching vehicle’s lights falls on it. A mandatory requirement of a luminous patch to be worn on the back of riders of all two wheel vehicles at night will be even better. Both inexpensive solutions to act as preventive measures in saving many lives lost on our roads at night and saving immense resources spent on surgery and care at our hospitals on such accident victims. Not to mention the impact such accidents have on the families of the victims, loss of opportunity to lead healthy, productive lives and the unnecessary burden placed on the heath spend of the State.

Nab violators

The other would be of reckless bus and other drivers that ply our roads who themselves cause or effect to cause accidents of pedestrians, cyclists and other law abiding drivers. Here it must involve sterner action by the Police, of drivers who flout road rules, regardless of how influential the owners of these busses and vehicles are or whose pictures they display on the back and sides of the busses. In other words, the drivers of productivity in this instance must be our Police officers, who must be encouraged to nab violators without exception.

That must also include some of the glitzy four-wheel-drives and security vehicles that often push other users off the road without any rational need for it. This is a totally unproductive exercise designed perhaps, only to impress us the voters, of the acquired powers of those we have sought to elect. They seem to forget that the terrorist threats of blowing up our leaders, does not exist any longer. We then, gladly tolerated such need, but today we do not see any productive purpose served by it.

Preventive care

Going back once again to Singapore, I remember how every painter there was carrying a clean white cloth on his work-belt hung around the waist. Each time a bit of extra paint dripped on a wall, door or window frame, they would wipe it clean with the cloth instantly, without letting it dry-up. In similar circumstances, I have observed many of our painters having to clean up the dried extra bits of paint with thinner, with additional effort, loss of work time and cost.

Good practises

We as a nation have been adopting the Japanese work ethic on achieving productivity through attempts at practising the Five ‘S’ principle of Seiri (to sort), Seiton (to straighten or set in order), Seisou (to shine or sweep), Seiketsou (to standardise) and Shitsuke ( to sustain). The other day, I was impressed with what I saw at the Divisional Secretariat Office at Ambalantota. They not only demonstrated on the walls of their office, that they practiced Five ‘S’ systems, but also demonstrated through actions, that it was indeed in effective operation. I am certain that there are many other organizations and institutions both in the state and private sectors in Sri Lanka, that effectively practice sound productivity initiatives. Yet, they still are exceptions rather than the rule.

New Year resolution

What we would need during this phase of our post-conflict development is to create and sustain a culture of productivity, that counts on doing more with less, where preventive maintenance, fair and right practices, prevention of waste and achieving high levels of sustained quality should be the rule, rather than the exception. It can indeed begin with each of us, within our families, extended to our work places and then on to the whole nation. When another new year dawns, we owe it to ourselves and to our future generations, to resolve to do more with less, in more efficient and saner ways.