Not bothered
In the first place much of the once thriving garment industry of this country is already history with many of the industrialists having literally bolted to greener pastures abroad, where costs are cheaper.
What with some of the world’s highest electricity tariffs, taxes etc and Lankan women here increasingly preferring jobs in other sectors, many of these industrialists have quietly invested in countries including, Bangladesh, Madagascar, Mauritius, Jordan, Egypt and Malaysia. According to some experts, thanks to globalization these Lankan investors have invested as much as one billion dollars in other countries in various ventures. Bangladesh is said to be the country attracting the most number of Lankan garment industrialists because of cheap transport, low wages and low cost of living all due to the discovery of tremendous reserves of gas in that country coupled with its new found stability with a caretaker government. So, much of the garment industry that still remains in the country, is multinational investments especially from the West, which pay premium salaries and provide the best working conditions. As one local industrialist put it, for EU to remove the GSP to punish Sri Lanka would be like cutting the nose to spite the face as their own investors are benefiting from it.
Permanent interests
It was Lord Palmerston who initiated the dictum: there are neither permanent friends nor enemies, but only permanent interests. This fact is now amply proven in Sri Lanka. The West which frowned on the government victory over the LTTE in the East and even avoided meeting the newly elected TMVP Chief Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, is quietly leading the way in rebuilding the East, obviously to prevent China or India from filling the void. Now more than two dozen bridges are being built along with numerous roads there mainly by European donors.
Korean learning
for Easterners
The talk of a general election by the Government and the Opposition may have died down after President Rajapaksa emphatically ruled it out, but the TMVP in the East is said to be earnestly preparing for it.
It is seen as an ideal opportunity for TMVP leader Vinayagamoorthy Muralitheran alias Karuna Amman to enter parliament. And there might be a big helping hand coming their way in the form of 2000 jobs for Easterners in South Korea courtesy the Central Government.
Very soon we are told there will be two centres in the East to teach the Korean language in Tamil. | 
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