By a Special Correspondent

Sadly, a large section of Sri Lankan media, more specifically the electronic media, that only has a political and business agenda rather than reporting balanced news to the public, has come out in vengeance to attack the re-export industry and the logistics industry of Sri Lanka which is striving hard to bring in new logistics solutions to the country to compete with regional giants to convert the very same aspiration that all governments of Sri Lanka have been promoting for the last two decades.  

For the last 10 days, a mountain out of a molehill has been created by attacking a 140-year-old export conglomerate for an international shipment that is only provided with logistics services and earning foreign exchange and creating hundreds of jobs to the economy. The word ‘garbage’ has been used to poison the people of the country in a convenient manner to hate the company and to dismantle the logistics services growth in Sri Lanka. The product shipped by the international supplier has been sent for transit and transshipment with a process and is certainly not a banned item under the Sri Lankan law and is a globally traded product where United States of America is one of the biggest buyers of used mattress from EU for recycling.

Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater

Above is the famous idiom, media knows that emotionally charged Sri Lankans can reject the favourable along with the unfavourable if poisoned properly and it is exactly this that some are trying to do with this situation due to a bankruptcy of a business in the United Kingdom that exports mattresses for recycling to third countries using Sri Lanka as logistics hub. 

In a civilised world what should be done is to understand the whole process, the law and rectify any errors and follow due process to expand logistics services in Sri Lanka. People of this country must stop believing media institutions that have lost total ethics of media itself and are working on different agendas rather than balanced investigative reporting.

The question is now some people are making noises to scrap the law that allows Sri Lanka to convert itself into an Indian Ocean logistics hub, because some media fellows who don’t understand jack of the subject or have not read the gazette or simply working for the media institutions owners’ agenda are using very few unionised customs officers who are not happy that they cannot meddle with these international shipments not bound to the Sri Lankan economy to make life difficult to traders and make a buck out it. 

Good work by BOI

In this instance the company has made certain procedural errors in processing this shipment, and the BOI has been very professional in handling the situation and now clarified the position and issued a press statement (http://www.ft.lk/front-page/BOI-clarifies-import-of-post-consumer-goods-for-re-export/44-682332). The company also has accepted that the said consignment was mishandled and there has been an oversight in the processing and the storage of the said recyclable mattresses. The BOI has always seen the value of this concept and has been promoting it as the lead organisation, some officers have been so progressive they have been giving new solutions to the industry investors to attract more business to Sri Lanka for logistics services. 

Politicians and customs union

As usual a few politicians are trying to blame each other to try to score marks out of this situation, it is hilarious that Mahinda Rajapaksa camp is trying to blame this on the Singapore- Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement and the SOFA, etc. While those MPs are not aware that the hub operations law was created by President Rajapaksa as the then finance minister as well by amending the finance act in 2013, indeed it was a very progressive law and attracted many investors to the country. The public now gets a good insight of the uneducated lot inside MR camp who doesn’t know any subject but only knows to make noises like a group of exited monkeys.

Then comes the governing party MPs, whose Prime Minister wants to make the country the hub of the Indian Ocean for logistics and finance. Unfortunately it seems that they have not listened to their leader who once requested them to go to the library of the parliament and read and understand before making comments on subjects they don’t know.

In this instance the UNP members are trying to put a very progressive law into the dustbin by accusing MR regime of passing a law to bring garbage.

They have forgotten that in 2013 when Mahinda Rajapaksa announced the said law in the budget Ravi Karunanayake as a then opposition MP mentioned to electronic media that the hub concept was the only progressive thing that was in that budget and ironically in 2015/2016 when Karunanayake was the minister of finance he rightfully announced to expand the hub concept around all international ports and airports. I hope the PM and the opposition leader both will enlighten these immature troop of MPs to stop coming into media without real facts, but just fight like a group of monkeys let loose in the name of democracy, damaging the country image over and over again and giving wrong signals to investors.

Customs union

The public of this country knows that sections of the customs are into major corruption with unscrupulous trades and some politicians. They are now trying to put the face of the military war heroes as the protectors of the country’s trade using this incident to attack the logistics industry operations where only transshipment and transit cargo is handled. These are the very same unions who are against full automation of the Customs, and modernisation of the 200-year-old customs ordinance that allows under valuation and power to unduly harass the exporters and the importers of this country to take bribes which is not a secret. 

The customs union has called to remove the hub law, then the GOSL will have to stop transshipment in the port of Colombo as it is a similar operation that happens along with entrepôt trade, multi country consolidation operations happening inside the port of Colombo. Few customs officers want more physical controls so that they can make an extra buck by harassing the trade. 

If needed media can interview exporters and importers along with service providers, they can find how some of the customs officers behave and harass the trade on a daily basis; in fact the famous ‘Karunka’ operation is also done with the knowledge of customs officers who manipulate the computerised systems of the customs. We hope the genuine customs officers will come forward to expose the corruption that happens at the customs and help DGC to clean up the institution first before joining the media which has political agendas.

Where are the chambers? We need pragmatism!

What are the business chambers of this country doing at this moment? These are members of their own organisations who are being unfairly treated by the media and politicians and a few customs officers. Chambers have the right and the obligation to come forward and explain the truth to the people of the country before more wrong signals go out to the international platforms to harm the interest of the country and its people. 

Silence of business chambers will certainly not help Sri Lanka to progress in the right direction with investment. We hope over the coming weeks chambers will do the needful to take on these crackpot media groups, politicians and unions. The need of the hour is pragmatism and help the country to move forward which is just getting out of the 21/4 debacle of terrorism on the tourism sector.

The simple message to the policy makers is “don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater” and “not to kill the goose that laid the golden eggs”.

Commercial Hub Operators Association saddened by unfair treatment, lack of appreciation