On March 31, in Tokyo a leading steward was carrying in a pouch, money collected from inflight bar sales — some US$ 1,963 of which US$ 650 was in travellers' cheques and US$ 810 and some 62,000 yens in cash. The pouch was stolen from his cabin bag as he made a last minute phone call before checking out of the hotel in Tokyo.
Claim made by AirLanaka to Insurance Corporation of Ceylon
He was later asked by AirLanka Chairman Harry Jayawardena to reimburse the money due to the company within 24 hours and told he would be only on 'turn-around', flights with no layover, for a period of eight months. This is a temporary punishment ploy of AirLanka with inflight crew as it serves to restrict meal allowances. Afraid of being interdicted, the flight steward in question paid back to the company the full money lost in three instalments.
However, it was later revealed that AirLanka had also submitted an insurance claim to the Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation for the said amount of which a payment was made and accepted by AirLanka on 13.8.97. Cheque number '281737' for the sum of Rs.111,891 was released to AirLanka for the loss of staff carrying cash in Japan on 31.3.97 off UL flight No. 455 Tokyo.
Ironically, this cabin crew member made his final instalment of payment on 19.8.97 to the Airline after the said cheque had been released to the company on 13.8.97 by the Insurance Corporation as full payment for the monies lost on 31.3.97. Here too the lack of diligence to duty is seen as a staff member at AirLanka who made the initial calculation for the claim, miscalculated US$100 less than the total, omitting to include the exact currency value of the US$ rate at the time. Mr. Jayawardena said he could not believe the steward's claim that he was robbed. He said that subsequent investigations had shown he could not have been robbed so easily. Mr. Jayawardena conceded however that no circumstantial evidence exists to prove the said steward committed theft. But has AirLanka also committed theft in the process?
Inflight and other employees of the local bird of Paradise have been in for a shock in more ways than one since the new chairman took office. The bombshells began to fall as disciplinary action was fast initiated against alleged miscreants of the airline.
Widely rumoured for being a strict disciplinarian pulling no punches Harry Jayawardena has not wasted time in making his presence felt as he cracked the whip even among cockpit crew who are generally considered the elite of AirLanka. "I will not delay a flight due the whims and fancies of a pilot," Mr. Jayawardena said referring to a recent incident where some members of the cockpit crew reported late for a flight. A fine was imposed for which the pilots have complained saying the alleged flight time had been haphazardly rescheduled and they had not been duly informed.
Mr. Jayawardena in an interview with The Sunday Times vowed to "clean up AirLanka" claiming that corruption in the airline had existed from the purchase of 'planes to pins'. "I cannot fire them all," he said adding that all those 'crooks' would be duly apprehended and personally charged with misappropriation of company funds and insubordination.
Mr. Jayawardena said an accountant in AirLanka was fired recently for allegedly holding some 3000 invoices without making payment. Such malpractice has become the acceptable approach in an airline rampant with dishonesty, he said.
AirLanka trade unions, meanwhile, have begun to rumble with discord as the president of the Cabin Crew Welfare Society was grounded permanently and transferred to another department for displaying an article on a British Airways cabin crew strike. "The article displayed on a notice board paid for by the Welfare Society, resulted in the union head, a chief steward with17 years of service, being 'grounded unfairly," charged angry inflight crew. Repeated requests to meet Mr. Jayawardena have been turned down while a disgruntled crew alleged no official inquiry had even been held into the incident.
Mr. Jayawardena commenting on this incident said the matter was being looked into. He conceded that the steward in question was a 'good boy' and the matter would be duly settled. Mr. Jayawardena however said he could have got him arrested under emergency or the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) for displaying the said article.
Mr. Jayawardena needs to recognize and respect that a democratic society requires individuals who champion different causes openly and not covertly. People will attempt to try and mobilize against certain policy decisions. This however is a fundamental right which as long as it is practised openly and honestly should be duly accommodated instead of victimizing an individual.
Yet another incident involving inflight crew allegedly took place in South Africa where due to a bomb scare, cabin crew are reported to have hurriedly left the aircraft without locking the bar carts. On returning to the aircraft the contents of one bar cart had been stolen. The Leading Steward concerned was forced to pay for the entire contents of the said Bar Cart. He was also punished by being taken off all European flights and put only on short middle-eastern and regional flights. In this instance however it could be argued that the locking of a Bar Cart could be accomplished within a matter of seconds.
The axe has certainly begun to fall for Leading Stewards in particular, who are responsible for inflight duty free sales.
Harry Stassen Jayawardena
In a separate incident, a cabin crew member was handed a dud note of US$ 100 by a passenger who had purchased a duty free item. No mechanism exists on AirLanka flights to check for false currency. The note was detected later at a cashier's counter in AirLanka. The Steward in question was asked to make a statement to the CID, pay back to the airline the said US$100 and was further punished by being taken off all 'stopover' flights.
Strict restrictions are now imposed on all excess baggage too, as Mr. Jayawardena reiterated, here too, the issue at hand was being violated and full advantages taken of a weak administration.
AirLanka employees are up in arms. They allege "Harry is getting at the wrong people. All those others who helped negotiate the now infamous Airbus deal and several others who have been involved in corruption at an extremely high level are still 'sitting pretty," they say.
Tackling the giant that is AirLanka is a job not many in Mr. Jayawardena's position would have been willing to take on. While it is true, Mr. Jayawardena is tackling a much bigger macro problem, this however should not serve to hide the hidden agendas of those who yet wield influence in the corridors of AirLanka.
Some US$ 400 million was allegedly splurged on the purchase of just five Airbuses for Air Lanka. It seems in strange contrast to a situation that exists in the north where soldiers do not have helmets to protect their heads from the rain of bullets.
Contrary to views expressed by AirLanka employees, the airline apparently is not generating sufficient revenue to meet a long term debt of Rs. 400 million. This is yet another problem faced by the new chairman as he indicated, he has inherited all AirLanka's hidden skeletons when accepting office as chairman.
Perhaps the less attractive side of the success Mr. Jayawardena has made of himself and his business in his ruthlessness with those who do not toe the line. This includes not only those who are financially corrupt but also those who are insubordinate.
One such incident which apparently Mr. Jayawardena seemed to consider a form of insubordination, took place in July this year, a week after he took office as chairman. Mr. Jayawardena is reported to have phoned the Chief Marketing Officer. The officer's secretary wanted to know who was speaking. Mr. Jayawardena reportedly refused to divulge his identity but in the process of being connected asked her to pack her bags and go home. She received a letter of interdiction within two hours. The secretary has served 12 years at AirLanka. The new chairman's voice was not yet familiar over the telephone with most AirLanka staff at the time.
'Harry is doing a great job,' said one management executive of AirLanka, loyally defending a boss, who he remains in awe of, yet requesting anonymity in making this complementary statement. 'When setting afloat a sinking ship some rats need to be shaken off', he said. He refrained from elaborating when asked if some of these rats did not yet exist among some of the management staff of AirLanka.
A national carrier involves transporting people and cargo. Not only is it a prestige to the country it also provides employment to a large number of people and if it is properly managed it is revenue to the nation and the country. It is sophisticated, highly technical and surrounded by glamour due to competitiveness.
Due to political interference and massive red tape involved, an almost total lack of motivation exists among AirLanka employees, generating sometimes a demoralizing effect and resulting in a lack of growth. Employees complain experienced staff are not properly utilized and in some instances considered a liability rather than an asset. Viable avenues and routes have not been exploited for the growth of the airline, they said.
Salaries are at an all time low of around Rs. 5000 to Rs. 8000. In comparison with the mercantile sector, a large number of AirLanka employees remain the lowest paid. Looking at other airlines in the region, Singapore and Malaysian Airlines, the achievements of UL remain obscure and not of a competitive standard. Yet another important aspect to be addressed by the new Chairman.
Meanwhile it is not the only woes of AirLanka that beset its new Chairman. Last week the public were informed that Customs Officers conducted a raid on the offices of Mr. Jayawardena in Colombo. Jayawardena later issued a statement denying any wrong-doing.
Investigations however are continuing while in a separate incident a distilling outlet owned by Jayawardena's Distillery Company was raided at Kalutara on allegations of possessing adulterated liquor.
AirLanka it would seem requires a chairman who is very well equipped-a man of impeccable reputation, skill and power who can revitalize an establishment that is yet consumed with bribery and corruption conducted at unprecedented levels. A man with a vision for the future.
The following is an editorial comment that appeared in a recent edition of Hong Kong Standard
The unprovoked attack on a Chinese-owned cargo ship off the northeastern coast of Sri Lanka by the separatist Tamil Tigers early on Tuesday is yet another example of the high-handedness of this terrorist organisation.
The ship with its Chinese crew of almost 35 was doing nothing more sinister than loading mineral sands for export.
This is not the first time - nor is it likely to be the last - that the terrorist Tigers masquerading under the more respectable and sympathy-evoking 6LABEL of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam have proved a menace to foreign vessels operating in the area, even when they have been on humanitarian missions.
Filipinos, Indonesians and North Koreans were the previous victims of these so-called liberators when their vessels were attacked and some even taken hostage.
One vessel was engaged in ferrying minority Tamils displaced by the on-going war launched by the Tigers, back to their homes in the north.
On another occasion a vessel was transporting food to Tamils in the northern Jaffna peninsula that is now under government control.
It is a sad irony that the Tigers who claim to be fighting on behalf of the Tamil people are determined only to make life impossible for these civilians if they cannot keep the community under Tiger bondage forever.
The Chinese government must take serious note of this murderous attack on its shipping, as should the international community, for nobody would be safe as long as the Tamil Tigers are allowed to roam the world under various guises.
Organisations such as these should not only be publicly declared terrorist groups, but they should also be smoked out of their lairs in western capitals from where they plot murder and mayhem.
The government has launched a project to educate the masses on the devolution package with unprecedented vigour and hope that it will see a truly united and peaceful Sri Lanka.
On Thursday, the new secretariat office for the 'We are Sri Lanka, One Country- One People' programme ceremoniously opened at 260, Torrington Avenue will bring together top officials working hard at spreading the word of the new constitution, from the Presidential Secretariat, the Ministry of Justice, Constitutional Affairs, Ethnic Affairs and National Integration and of course those championing the Sudu Nelum movement.
The secretariat will be the co-ordinating office from which national awareness programmes like street dances, mobile exhibitions, video presentations and floats advocating the benefits of the devolution package will be disseminated to the people.
Reports in the state-run media were quick to point out that the seven caravans launched by the 'Thawalama' movement when the President officially inaugurated it on August 25 have made much progress in the weeks that followed.
Even as the momentum gathers, doubts are being cast by certain quarters about the origination of the 'catch phrases' used by the government to typify the package and its attempts at selling it to the people.
The book in question
Even as the flame flickered and died in the oil lamp lit by the VIP at the Torrington office last Thursday, questions arose whether the slogan 'one country - one people' was the government's original idea or if it was borrowed, from nothing less than a book for children published in 1994, illustrating the need for peace among communities. The book, printed in glossy colour is titled 'One Country And One People' .
Sharadha de Saram, the author of the book, said she was happy that the government was looking at the issue in terms of a single people - Sri Lankans in one country.
"I thought of the concept 'one country - one people' in 1993 as my own way of contributing towards a solution. The message I wanted to spread among the younger generation is that we are one people as a country although different in race, religion and culture."
She said it was extremely encouraging that the government was holding this view. "There were other political views. Some said even if we are one country - we are many people, from diverse cultural backgrounds."
The author
To quote a page off her book, 'we are all Sri Lankans in one country'. Although there has been no mention of her book in the government's publicity drive, "I am glad to share my concept with the government," Ms. de Saram said.
Only last week another controversy was stirred up when an ex-army volunteer officer claimed that the government had no right to use the name 'Thawalama' in its Package-propaganda drive. Lt. Col. A.S. Amarasekera, a staunch anti-package activist, claims the right of using the 'Thawalama' name was theirs, since they started a project to help border villages in 1993/1994.
Their project was aimed at mobilising people from the south and areas unaffected by the war to gather around and help their brethren in the villages constantly overshadowed by the threat of the LTTE. Lt. Col. Amarasekera's Thawalama ambled off from Horana - where he had collected essentials for the war-torn, with the help of 17 grama niladhari's - and made their way to Athawatunuwewa in Welioya.
He said that since then, many such efforts were initiated by the Thawalama Development Foundation.
He condemned the act of the government in misleading the public by adopting the 'Thawalama' name for a mission that stood against the very ideas of the foundation.
Preceding all this hue and cry, in 1995 when excerpts of the draft constitution were publicised, it was pointed out that the idea of Sri Lanka becoming 'a union of regions' was also borrowed - from a proposal drawn up by the TULF (Tamil United Liberation Front) in 1985. Dr. Neelan Tiruchelvam of the TULF was instrumental in designing the package together with its mastermind, Dr. G.L. Peiris.
'One country one people': questions have been raised about the origins of this slogan
The final draft of the package contained many ingredients that were found in the 1984 proposals formulated by the TULF, but most prominently, the declaration of the country's status as a Union of Lanka was seen as a concept borrowed directly from the pages of the Tamil party's resolutions, which they put together at the time and presented to the then lndian Premier Rajiv Gandhi.
This matter is extensively dealt with, in the political columns of 'The Sunday Times' of August 14, 1995. The TULF proposals state,
1. Sri Lanka that is Illankai shall be a union of states. Correspondingly the new reforms spell out that,
9.1 The constitution will provide:
a) that the republic of Sri Lanka shall be united and sovereign. It shall be a union of regions.
In this light the operation of formulating the package and that of spoon feeding it to a lacklustre public appear to be lacking of fresh ideas and brain waves on the part of the ruling party.
The government appears to be riding on the waves created by others in attempting slogans and phrases that would bring the package and all it contains close to the heart of the normal citizen.
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