The Sri Lanka Air Force has installed a hotline for the public to inform it of any sighting of suspicious-looking aircraft or flying objects, press reports say. The public cooperation, no doubt, must be solicited in safeguarding national security interests. Information provided by the vigilant public has so far led to several successful raids on LTTE sleeper cells, arms caches etc. There have been instances of even suicide bombers being arrested on tip-offs. But, the problem with the LTTE aircraft is that they come at night. So, how can the sleeping public be of any assistance to the SLAF? If they are to be useful, they will have to spend the night under the stars, armed with flashlights, as Jeffrey’s cartoon on this page pointed out yesterday.

The right thinking people of this country, who abhor terrorism and look forward to the day when democracy will flourish with the people of all ethnic communities living in happiness, appreciate the services of the SLAF, whose men and women are risking life and limb for the country. However, we cannot but bracket the hotline in question with that siren distribution project, which is purportedly aimed at protecting the villages prone to LTTE attacks. Of what use are sirens, when a village is surrounded by the LTTE death squads? Such remedies exemplify the popular local saying: ‘Using amude (loincloth) as a treatment for dysentery’.

When the late President J. R. Jayewardene found it difficult to ensure public safety, he infamously said in his inimitable way the people had to take care of their own security—thamange arakkshawa thamanma bala gannna ona! It looks as if President Mahinda Rajapakse, who unveiled JRJ’s portrait in Parliament and paid a glowing tribute to him recently, had borrowed a leaf out of his book in dealing with the latest LTTE threat.

Minister Anura Bandaranaike chose to call the government a Carnival of Clowns, after he was removed from the Cabinet. He later rejoined the same Carnival. That’s a different matter. His opinion of his colleagues doesn’t seem to be all that wrong. They are capable of entertaining the public, as could be seen from the hotline scheme. And some of them are really funny—both funny ha-ha and funny peculiar.

Why isn’t the government doing what needs to be done to meet the latest threat? The SLAF’s handicap in countering the threat of air terror is of Indian origin just like its source, the LTTE. The biggest problem is the absence of a sophisticated radar system to detect intruding aircraft. The government is wary of going for the best equipment from China—a 3D radar system—because India perceives it as a threat of sorts to its southern airbases, as we said the other day. Military experts are not satisfied with the first generation equipment that India has provided in lieu of what Sri Lanka really needs. How can the SLAF win a derby with a donkey?

The time has come for the government to take a decision without doing a Prince of Denmark. It cannot dither any longer with the threat of a bigger LTTE sortie looming large. It ought to take up the matter with India and find a way out shortly. If it fails to acquire the required capability due to India’s objections, then it should at least invite Indians to come here in their numbers and take turns with Sri Lankans to watch the night skies.

The biggest threat to a country stems not from the determination of its enemies to destroy it but from the indecisiveness of its rulers in defending it. The naked eye, the government should realise, is hardly a substitute for a state-of-the-art radar system. We are at a loss as to how the scheme to involve the public in detecting enemy aircraft is going to serve any purpose for the Air Force. However, that is not totally devoid of benefits to the armed forces. It might help the Air Force with recruitment at a future date. How? When the people keep awake in darkness to detect flying objects, there is the possibility of the country witnessing a baby boom. Some of those babies, when they come of age, might, out of gratitude, want to join the Air Force, if the present government fails to finish the war once and for all, before long, by defeating the LTTE and solving the problems that the LTTE is exploiting to justify its terror, politically.

Successive governments have deprived the people of many things because of the war. The only solace available to the people, today, is a good night’s sleep, mostly on empty stomachs. It looks as though the government were going to rob them of that comfort as well by urging them to function as human radars at night.