When Ceylon became a Crown Colony in 1805, the first British Governor, Governor North, wrote thus to the Home Office in Britain,"no remuneration within the bounds of reason will induce a Sinhalese man to work if he hss two coconut trees and one jak tree". This, pithily illustrates the attitude of the majority community's lackadaisical attitude where nation building is concerned.
As I write, I have on my table an article published in the Island newspaper of 11th Feb 2019 which is titled, "Sri Lanka's debt ridden economy", where it is estimated that Sri Lanka's loan repayments between 2019 and 2022 will amount to $22 billion. Note that 70% of our foreign exchange earnings come from the maids who are tortured, and at times even beheaded. Is this something to be proud of?
The Governor of the Central Bank, in an independence day statement, said that, "Sri Lanka has had no fiscal discipline since independence". To say the least he was trying to be very polite. If one reads deeper into the statement it means that Sri Lanka has been nose diving into chaos; financial, political, and social. To illustrate fiscal indiscipline, by one of the numerous examples available, take the Mattala airport. The revenue from the airport (if there is any?) was reported to be Rs 14 million per year and the expenditure to maintain it, Rs 13.8 billion. The entire cost of costructing this airport, which runs into billions, is a massive loss to the country. So, is the Hambantota Airport, Sri Lankan Airlines, the Port City and other similar projects which are constructed with absolute disregard to the economic benefits, but merely to satisfy the ego of politicians, while the majority of the population are struggling to survive: living in shacks and eating frugal meals.
Note that this fiscal indiscipline is not of recent origin. As the Governor of the Central Bank said, it started with independence; free education (very debatable); almost free transport; free rice and free healthcare, so that a lotus eating nation was further pampered.
Turn to the most disastrous policy of Sinhala only and the attacks on the minorities. The uprising of the largest minority community was the only response to the continual harassment by parochial minded political opportunists. I have worked with Tamil youth. Their dedication, commitment, and work ethics are unbelievable.
Move on to the social aspects of independent Sri Lanka. There are no work ethics, no discipline, no commitment, a total breakdown in law and order, and no desire to move on to a better future. These are compounded with rampant corruption, unscrupulous politics, and at times, total ignorance.
Some say that Sri Lanka would have been better off under the British. But this would have been appropriate pre Brexit. What is the way forward? The restoration of a rational political and governmntal system; an education system to prepare the youth to a technologically based economy; teach all three languages for meeting the challenges of the future, and, for reconciliation among the communities. Bring back discipline, law and order, superior work ethics, discard a rotten political system and a cabinet, which the man on the street calls, a "kanda haliya": a pot of porridge.
I will conclud this very short note with this: Grafitti written on a wall nea a New York metro station read, "God save America and please hurry up". Very appropriate for Sri Lanka.
Elmo de Silva - Feb 2019
No comments:
Post a Comment