Bonanza for our Diplomats and Doctors, VAT for the Rest - EDITORIAL

Hooray to the diplomats and doctors of our country. The government has granted diplomats a bonanza for the new year. The government will waive previously introduced austerity measures on the payment of school fees and other related expenses of diplomats’ children. 
Meanwhile, children of ordinary parents in our country are finding it difficult to even send their children to school, thanks to the ever-rising cost of living and tax burdens. 
The East Asia Forum points out since the Covid-19 pandemic followed by the economic collapse, Sri Lankan families are not only unable to afford sending their children to school but can also barely afford to feed them. 

Diplomats’ children will therefore be among the very few children in our country whose education will not be threatened by sky-rocketing costs, taxes and the newly enhanced VAT.
Bonanzas or recognitions are paid to categories of society whose contribution has enhanced its good name or for some outstanding performance which brings recognition; as for instance, our teenage athlete who won a gold medial at the recently concluded Asian Games.

Our diplomats sadly have had a continuous record of failure in their tasks. For instance, during the ethnic conflict, where the US itself had described the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) as the most violent terrorist group in the world, our diplomatic wing was unable to counter the propaganda of a bunch of non-government organisations supporting the LTTE. 
Today, the government is involved in a struggle to contain the growing drug menace in the country. 
Yet we have the US Ambassador and even the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights of the UN condemning various actions taken to control the drug menace, and raising issues of possible human rights violations.

While Ambassador Chung is stressing that law enforcement operations here, must adhere to the principles of the rule of law and due process, the US, whom Ambassador Chung represents, is supporting genocidal attacks carried out by Israel on an unarmed Palestinian population. 

To date, at least 23,357 civilian Palestinians have been killed owing to Israel’s bombings and missile strikes. Among them, over 9,600 are children and 6,750 are women, whilst more than 8,000 are missing in the rubble of bombed out buildings. Additionally, over a million Palestinians have been displaced, courtesy US-supported Israeli attacks of civilian targets.
The British-based charity Oxfam said on Thursday (11 January), the daily death toll of Palestinians in Israel’s war on Gaza surpasses that of any other major conflict in the 21st century. It added, “Israel’s military is killing Palestinians at an average rate of 250 people a day, which massively exceeds the daily death toll of any other major conflict of recent years.” 
For comparison, the charity provided a list of average deaths per day in other conflicts since the turn of the century: 96.5 in Syria, 51.6 in Sudan, 50.8 in Iraq, 43.9, in Ukraine, 23.8 in Afghanistan, and 15.8 in Yemen.

Sadly, our diplomats and the Foreign Ministry are failing our country once again. No questions regarding the double standards or Ambassador Chung’s eligibility to speak on human rights anywhere in the world, given the US collaboration in the commission of genocide in Palestine. 
Doctors in government service too have been recipients of government largesse. The government has approved to double the Disturbance, Availability and Transport (DAT) allowance for doctors by Rs. 70,000.

On an average, a family of four, with a working mother and father receive a total income of approximately Rs. 80,000.
Yet, the doctors who received this government bonanza are condemning other strata of medical workers who are also demanding an increased DAT allowance. Doctors conveniently ignore the fact that in addition to their government salaries they also earn a minimum of another Rs. 5,000 per day via private practice.
No one opposes the need to raise wages in the face of the cost of living. What many contest however is why bonanzas are limited to the two higher earning sectors rather than cushioning those at the bottom of the social ladder.