Dont gamble with Sri Lanka

Editorial-Sunday, April 27, 2014

A rose by any other name smells as sweet, and as far as the Government is concerned, a casino by any other name is expected to rake in the shekels !his week, the Government passed in "arliament the Ga#ette notifications legalising casinos, all the while insisting that it was only enabling $associated facilities within three mega integrated leis%re pro&ects ' witho%t specifying what they are !he "resident ass%red editors of national newspapers that no new casinos wo%ld be permitted, b%t at least one of the prospective investors in A%stralia, a (%estionable casino owner, has gone on record that his pro&ect in Sri Lanka is nothing b%t a high-end casino !esting the "residents word f%rther was the deed by the Government in re&ecting an )pposition demand that the Ga#ette specifically state that the $associated facilities will excl%de casinos and prostit%tion !he Government is clearly p%lling the wool over the p%blics eyes by the %se of semantics !hat the Government has already pledged to the wo%ld-be casino mog%ls plots of land in downtown *olombo and advances taken is now p%blic knowledge +e have seen that this Government has the gambling streak in it !his week, the A%ditor Generals report made the st%nning revelation that the ,"- .,mployees "rovident -%nd/, the virt%al pensions f%nd for private sector employees, has s(%andered more than 0s 11 billion in 2311 alone by playing in the Stock 4arket !he news has sent shivers down the spines of millions of people who were, and still are, forced to s%bscribe to this -%nd by law !he fact that the 4aha 5ayake !heras have protested against the bid to start mega-casinos in Sri Lanka seems to be water on a d%cks back to this Government 6et, if they t%rn the searchlight inward, Government leaders wo%ld see that despite cracking the "arliamentary whip demanding all its 4"s vote for these Ga#ette reg%lations, the scorecard for the A%ssie casino read only 137 votes in favo%r .less than a "arliamentary ma&ority in a 228seat 9o%se/ and 118 did not vote for the Ga#ette !his incl%ded 81 :"-A 4"s Going by the logic propo%nded by the ,xternal Affairs 4inister after the Geneva :590* vote, as ;; voted against the Ga#ette and there were <1 absent d%ring voting, so the reg%lations were defeated !hose who absented themselves from the vote incl%ded *abinet 4inisters !hey seemed to m%ster a modic%m of co%rage to keep away b%t only one among them co%ld s%mmon the g%ts to vote according to his conscience and oppose a move that wo%ld alter the traditional socio-

c%lt%ral fabric of this co%ntry and pl%nge it into the vices that plag%e some other modern societies !his m%st nevertheless send a signal to the Government hierarchy that what it is doing does not have the s%pport or indeed approval of all the people =n o%r editorials of A%g%st ;, 231> .?*asinos may t%rn tables on Lanka@/ and )ctober 23, 231> .?*asinosA *%sp of a new era@/ we said that when the ill-effects of large-scale casinos start making themselves felt B as they inevitably will, the co%ntry wo%ld know whom to blame !he !reas%ry Secretary said not long ago that laws wo%ld be prom%lgated to reg%late this ind%stry ' like in Singapore +e see no s%ch reg%lations, or reg%lator, and we probably never will *asinos are always associated with corr%ption and organised crime syndicates worldwide !his co%ntry had a br%sh with it in the 1773s, and Government leaders, the then "resident of the co%ntry no less, learnt a bitter lesson C%t how many learn from historyD !he internet is awash with links between gaming, money la%ndering, tax evasion, dr%gs, prostit%tion, crime etc , b%t the Government has chosen to overlook all this in its eagerness to (%adr%ple to%rist arrivals with all the hotels coming %p in *olombo !he powers that be feel this is a golden money and employment spinner 6et, the tax concessions given to attract the investors belittle some of the pro&ections of reven%e collection =n any case, it is known that these operations are remote-controlled from safe havens overseas, and precio%s little reven%e wo%ld, in fact, trickle into the States coffers Government 4inisters speak of the high-spending *hinese to%rists who wo%ld patronise these e%phemistically called $leis%re centres )n the other hand, the cases making the headlines are of to%rists getting m%rdered and their assailants being granted bailA of women with tattoos of the C%ddha getting l%gged to detention centres attracting travel warnings from co%ntries where the b%lk of the to%rists have long been coming +hile a Government sponsored $4athata !hitha programme disco%rages alcohol cons%mption and the anti-tobacco lobby wants graphic pictorial warnings on E3F of cigarette packs, Sri Lanka is fast becoming a narcotics centre and now, a gambling den G%o vadis ) LankaD Are we prepared for air, sea disastersD !he still missing 4alaysian Airlines flight 49><3 and the sinking of the Sewol -erry off So%th Horea have t%rned the spotlight on glaring deficiencies in Sri Lankas own maritime disaster management capabilities .please see o%r =5S=G9! report on page 13/ =n the event of similar tragedies occ%rring within this co%ntrys -light =nformation 0egion .*olombo -=0/ or 4aritime 0esc%e Ione .40I/, Sri Lankas search and resc%e capabilities are weakA have lowlevel preparedness and bare-bones reso%rces to deployA that too, within limited range of the shoreline +hen it was estimated that 49><3 might be at the bottom of the So%thern =ndian )cean, international a%thorities asked Sri Lankas permission to cond%ct the search in part of its -=0 !he Government gave the consent for foreign aircraft to enter the co%ntrys airspace As it transpired, the search never came this far C%t it bro%ght home the point that, sho%ld a disaster

occ%r at sea within the *olombo -=0, Sri Lanka has no air and naval craft to cond%ct or assist a resc%e operation in keeping with its international obligations +orldwide, -=0s are demarcated by the =nternational *ivil Aviation )rganisation Aircraft entering these #ones pay a fee for a range of services incl%ding air traffic control, comm%nications and, cr%cially, emergency services !o cond%ct search and resc%e operations within the area of its -=0, Sri Lanka needs high-end%rance aircraft At present, the Air -orce has &%st one of these 5aval capabilities are only slightly better After the ts%nami, Sri Lankans woke %p to the need for disaster management on the gro%nd C%t m%ch needs to be done by way of disaster management at sea, partic%lar in an island nation like o%rs A Search and 0esc%e *oordinating *entre was almost def%nct %ntil the 49><3 catastrophe &erked the a%thorities awake 4%ch needs to be done to safeg%ard the lives and interests of those who place their safety in the hands of o%r civil aviation a%thorities !he Government seems to be r%shing pell-mell to promote to%rism, air travel and heightened traffic at airports S%rely then, it m%st serio%sly take cogni#ance of its responsibilities towards those very people it is wooing