People are queued up to get their vaccine at a vaccination centre in Colombo, as part of the government's goal to vaccinate its population to the maximum extent against the dreaded Covid-19 .

When the Government security forces fought the Tiger rebels, the island’s citizens were united in throwing their weight behind helping ‘good’ defeat the ‘bad’. Several years later the emergence of the Covid pandemic was viewed as a bigger challenge than fighting a terrorist outfit. But sadly the citizens of this country are divided when addressing this national issue. 

We hear false perceptions being spread that youngsters getting vaccinated would not be able to contribute to the task of adding to the population. These misconceptions spread rapidly and may even dwarf the opinion of medical experts. This half-baked mentality of the less educated is capitalized upon by the opposition and troublemakers. Hence the government’s target of seeing 70% of the population being vaccinated any time soon would be delayed. 

The government expects the media to report more on the Covid situation and vaccination programmes; from a positive perspective of course. The President himself had stressed that the media was unfairly reporting on the single mishap at a vaccination centre and not saying anything about the good work done at 499 other health centres. The President must take note that the media play the role of watchdog and must view things from a critical perspective. No book on journalism teaches rookie journalists to write sunshine stories. If the regime wants the government’s good work reported on it, must approach the government’s media arm for that purpose. Media institutes have also maintained that the reason to limit the time on reporting on Covid issues is because government parties come out with different opinions when giving views about the pandemic. This was confirmed by none other than the Media Minister Dullas Alahapperuma himself, according to reports appearing in the print media last week. 

"The government continues to be criticized for making a demand from the public to tighten their belts in terms of managing finances. It’s in this backdrop that Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa took flight to Italy to attend the G 20 Interfaith Dialogue. Many question the purpose of such a visit when Sri Lanka as a nation is battling financial constraints and its people are suffering back home"

The government continues to be criticized for making a demand from the public to tighten their belts in terms of managing finances. It’s in this backdrop that Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa took flight to Italy to attend the G 20 Interfaith Dialogue. Many question the purpose of such a visit when Sri Lanka as a nation is battling financial constraints and its people are suffering back home. Critics point out that such visit would give Sri Lanka little or no return. The sad part of it is that a divided Sri Lanka was even seen in Italy when one group staging a protest to expedite investigations into the Easter Sunday carnage there were groups which thought otherwise and showed support for the present regime by getting onto the street. 

We also see several high profile state officials and committee heads resigning from their positions. One such person to resign was Central Bank Governor Prof. W.D. Lakshman who has affirmed that though he was presented with the task of providing the ideological backing for the mapping of a policy framework at the bank, only a minority believed in him. There were so many government-appointed health professionals who also resigned from their posts. These are indications that the voices of dissent against the government are growing. There is speculation that the government would lift the countrywide lockdown on Monday (September 20). Newspaper reports state that the regime is looking at bringing down small batches of foreign tourists to boost the country’s earnings in the future. But still health experts are expressing concerns about opening up the country. This could be because our vaccination programme has not reached its desired goals. Another reason is that some citizens of European countries are protesting against vaccination and even the lockdown situations; hence they might give scant regard to health guidelines. Sri Lanka suffered immensely when some time back it tried to experiment with bringing down small batches of tourists when among them were Covid infected individuals.

"There were so many government-appointed health professionals who also resigned from their posts. These are indications that the voices of dissent against the government are growing"

 Disagreements aside; this is a time when everyone must do his/her part as a responsible citizen in the fight against Covid-19. Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa initially made the pledge to support the regime’s health efforts when the pandemic was raging. Now he wants the government to step down and hand over the reins to a capable ‘party’ to govern the country and supervise the handling of the pandemic. 

Human nature is to capitalize on a difficult situation for personal gain. When the pandemic was first reported America accused China of using coronavirus as a biological weapon to gain advantage of the global business world. Sadly the opposition here in Sri Lanka also tries to use the pandemic for personal gain. There is a saying that a person who survives a crisis gets a second chance or ‘innings’ in life. Sri Lankans living today and having survived the last two decades can underscore that they survived the tsunami and the civil war. There are a good number of citizens who fall into this category who did not contract the virus while scores of people have now returned home after being treated for the coronavirus. It’s left to be seen whether Sri Lankans who suffered from all this would have changed for the better.