Time To Take Stock
January marks the second year since the Rajapaksa regime was deposed of and the foundations of the Government for Good Governance was laid and completed in a remarkably short time. The pace of progress at which the government was created, however, has not been matched in the near two years of its existence. It is time to take stock.
Its initial efforts have been directed in trying to restore a rule based government and dispense justice to those who are alleged to have looted the country of its resources. The national government comprising two historically opposed political parties has tried to adhere to the due processes of the law in dispensing justice to miscreants but politicians and the bureaucracy have stumbled on some occasions in trying to do so. Nonetheless, its commitment to the democratic process remains steadfast and this is evident in the frequent anti-government rallies permitted on the streets in Colombo.
Almost all significant moves made by the government of national unity have been opposed by raucous crowds in the streets and this had been permitted till the critical point is reached when water cannon and tear gas have been resorted to. The paradox is that the government appears determined to be democratically tolerant while the Opposition wants the government to be anti-democratic to score at the polls. While the Opposition protests unreasonably on many issues, it will be prudent on the part of the government to heed criticism on issues that seem to be justified.
The slow economic progress in the last two years is a major issue which government leaders are well aware of and have to concentrate their efforts on. The global economic growth rate is muted even in the Lands of the Rising GDPs and today developing countries are not as fortunate as they were in earlier decades where concessionary loans and grants came from friendly developed countries. Foreign investments are seen as one way out of the impasse but the Opposition is doing its damnedest with their protests to create an unfavourable scenario for investment.
In such dire economic conditions developing countries are compelled to pull themselves up by their bootstraps through their own efforts. Austerity measures and use of indigenous resources are strategies resorted to. Even though these measures may not result in generating or saving much wealth, they do inspire impoverished people to put the shoulder to the wheel in development efforts instead of directing their venom at government.
President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe have been trying hard to obtain concessions in trade such as the GSP+, foreign assistance and investments. Even though there have been quantum leaps in development in foreign relations of powerful Western nations, the state of economies of potential donors do not permit such largesse towards a Third World country.
While such assistance hopefully will come through, a country has to develop through its own efforts. The phoenix like rises from the ashes of countries such as Japan, South Korea and Singapore has been through indigenous efforts and good international relations.
Sri Lanka is an agro based country and its future lies with agro based industries on its products like tea, rice, rubber, coconuts, and medicinal herbs. All this has been said and realised decades ago but our failure has been in the act of implementation.
Austerity has always been a dirty word in Sri Lankan politics and national effort is paid only by lip service. Instead we love ostentation and subsidies. How else could we explain that monumental lunacy in piety of constructing the tallest Christmas tree in the world on Galle Face Green? The instant reaction of foreign governments and foreign investors would have been: These guys have plenty of money; they don’t need assistance or investments. For once sense and sanity prevailed and the idiotic project was called off.
But sense and sanity is not always with us. For what purposes are massive allowances and salary hikes being paid to parliamentarians in addition to donation of duty free cars? The main purpose is for meeting expenses in serving their electorates, it has been said. Before conferring such windfalls on the servants of the people, the people should be asked whether they have even seen their MP since elections two years ago. The fact is that most voters do not know who their MP is because under the proportional system of voting where a batch of MPs is elected for the entire province. It is only at election time candidates identify themselves to voters. The only purpose for this parliamentary largesse appears to be to keep MPs happy and hopefully loyal.
Fidel Castro, whose admiration cuts across political barriers in Sri Lanka, left behind a lasting legacy: No monuments, statues, roads, streets, avenues, by lanes or footpaths to be named after him. There will be no Fidel Castro harbours, airports, stadia, highways or anything of the sort created or named after him, the Commandante has ordered.
What a lot of money Sri Lanka would have saved had we gone the Castro way!
