‘Dirty’ Diana makes clean sense

According to Diana Gamage, the country’s recently appointed State Minister for Tourism, Mannar Island may be transformed into a bustling tourist destination. With plenty of entertainment attractions that accept tourists and their dollars; this can operate similar to the island Macau, off the south eastern Chinese coast.

Macau joins a lengthy list of ideal nations with sound single-anchor monetary regimes and a system resembling a currency board. After two years of money printing to lower interest rates, Sri Lanka is currently experiencing the greatest currency crisis in the history of the Central Bank.

Port City, the reclaimed territory supported by China off the coast of Colombo, has already been dollarised, with many foreign businesses setting up shop. This is expected to plug up the dollars that can be used for importation costs in the future. Although the Central Bank has now allowed rates to rise, restricted money printing and domestic credit, Sri Lanka now finds it difficult to import oil and other necessities, which has allowed the external sector to stabilise. Then come the naysayers on their high pedestals. This is why the need to think economically before passing moral judgments is needed.

What’s more, Sri Lankans have gotten used to traveling to other countries like Singapore, Bangkok, and Malaysia to spend their money on such tourism. The lack of venues to entertain at night is apparent as most venues’ close by 9 or 10 p.m., ironically in areas with large tourist footfall. Nations that have a night economy are all industrialised countries, with newly tourism centric countries such as Thailand and UAE following suit.

Adding to the list of profitable vices, two Gazette notifications recently announced President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s proposed regulations to normalise gambling under a 2010 law, awarding licenses for up to 20 years. Under the price of a five-year renewable license at 500 million rupees, businesses might request for extended terms in increments of five years up to 20 years with upfront costs. However, with gambling comes other issues to be kept in check. Licenses would have to ensure that there was no soliciting for the purpose of prostitution on casino property.

The same Diana Gamage made news headlines last year with a proposition of using marijuana to contribute to fixing the nation’s debt problem. Similar to how tobacco is a legal crop, she suggested that licenses be provided to those who wish to cultivate and export cannabis. She said that rather than being used as a narcotic, cannabis should be exported in order to generate foreign cash.

Today, several nations are cultivating it, according to Legislator Gamage. They are quite simple to cultivate in our nation. Through that, this nation may make a significant amount of foreign currency to pay off its obligations. In South Asia, cannabis was frequently used for cooking, as medicinal, and for leisure. It was first permitted by British Colonial officials as a customary cultural practice. Analysts claim that when Indian labourers travelled to the Caribbean, for instance, colonial Government officers there who were unfamiliar with the ganja culture were surprised and ultimately outlawed it. Later, the laws spread throughout the rest of the British Empire.

The issues surrounding nightlife tourism and gambling must be addressed. It is quite unreasonable to ignore the high correlation between such activities and the emergence of sex tourism and other illicit markets, that while morally dubious in the least, is not a tax or foreign income generator. However, as Sri Lanka has in the past been too quick to throw the baby out with the bathwater, the economic benefits now cannot be ignored either. Dirty Diana has made clean sense and it is time to listen.