A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
(Full Story)
Search This Blog
Back to 500BC.
==========================
Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Wednesday, August 9, 2017
Is Sri Lanka Descending Towards Kakistocracy?
On
the eve of Sri Lanka’s independence in 1948 and in the immediate
aftermath of that landmark event the island was an envy of many of its
Asian neighbours. Domestic harmony and economic prosperity with a
democratic polity was a rare combination in the Asian region at that
time. Sri Lanka inherited from the British a healthy economy with a
strong foreign balance, a robust democratic constitution reflecting the
country’s pluralism and an efficient civil service. When Lee Kwan Yew
visited the island in the early fifties he was amazed at the standard of
living of the Sri Lankans and the level of development of the nation,
and wondered whether the Singaporeans would ever reach that level.
However, the very same Lee turned around later in the 1980s and warned
Singaporeans, as soon as he detected symptoms of Chinese political
chauvinism raising its ugly head, and pointed to them the way Sri Lanka
was descending fast into an ethnic morass because of chauvinist
politics. In a strange twist of history, the late President JR Jayewardene after instigating the 1983 Tamil pogrom aspired to make Sri Lanka another Singapore.
The
historic political tranquillity and cosmopolitanism that prevailed even
before colonialism has been shattered by deliberately cultivating and
nurturing ethnic nationalism. In spite of the military victory over the
Tamil separatists, Sinhala-Tamil-Muslim ethnic nationalism has risen to a
new crescendo today thwarting every attempt at achieving national
harmony and returning to the pre-colonial cosmopolitanism that enriched
this splendid island. No amount of re-written constitutions is going to
bring peace and political sanity unless the political leaders and their
think tanks give up their parochialism and believe in the fundamental
truth that this country belongs to all its people irrespective of their
ethnic and religious differences. Numerical strength and weaknesses
should not be allowed to stand in the way of recognising merit, talent,
skill and enterprise. Nepotism, corruptionand the fear of the other have become the bane of this nation in recent decades.
When
political aspirants with mediocre talent and questionable personal
integrity are eventually empowered to become rulers in a plural society
that is a recipe for national disaster. This has been the sorry tale of
Sri Lanka’s political destiny over recent decades. Although there had
been nominal changes in the personalities of ruling regimes the
qualitative decline in their talent, integrity and dedication to the
nation has been an observable trend. One should only have to read
through the parliamentary Hansards to note the declining quality of the
parliamentary debates. What was once a delightful and enlightening
source of reference to political observers and university undergraduates
and independent researchers have become an embarrassing document of
riotous cacophony in print. Is there any better evidence to prove the
decent towards a kakistocracy (a Greek term for a government by the most
unscrupulous or unsuitable people) than to listen to a foreign minister
who pleads total ignorance of foreign affairs?
What
can one expect from a system where at the apex institution of the
country’s monetary management, the Central Bank, the governor is chosen
not because of his or her managerial and financial expertise but because
of political allegiance? What can ordinary citizens benefit from a
public service in which public servants are underpaid and are therefore
more keen to augment their income through personal favours and bribes
than to provide dedicated service to the nation? What justice can
citizens expect from the national judiciary when the judges themselves
are political appointees? The judiciary and the security forces that are
supposed to maintain law and order has become totally impotent even to
arrest and punish thugs in saffron robes who have become a law unto
themselves. Aren’t these evidence of a descent towards Kakistocracy?
On
the economic front, while nature has been abundantly kind to this
nation justifying the legendary description of a ‘pearl in the Indian
Ocean’, that nature’s benevolence has been recklessly squandered and
mismanaged with scant regard for costs and benefits. Populist politics
has been the driving motive behind many of these projects in recent
years. Several
development projects have enriched the politicians and their advisors
more than the people who are supposed to benefit from them. This may be
the reason why in one of the Middle Eastern countries politicians are
compared to cucumbers because both quickly get fatten. Mega development
projects with substandard professional input and funded by borrowed
money have not only turned Sri Lanka into a huge debtor nation but also
have endangered its natural environment. The Uma Oya irrigation project
is a classic example of this calamity. The people of Bandarawela have
been forced to sacrifice their drinking water to quench the thirst of
Hambantota farmers. In a latest revelation, this project is proving to
be a disaster to the ancient Mahayana Buddha statue at the Dowa Rajamaha
Viharaya. Like Uma Oya the Lakvijaya or Norocholai power plant is another fiasco.
What
were the government and municipal administrators were doing for years
when Colombo, the capital city, was fast converting into a garbage dump
in from of their eyes? I am aware of the clean-up campaign undertaken by
Gotabaya Rajapaksa under the former regime. Why was that campaign
discontinued? What is the use of crying now about the invasion of dengue
mosquitoes after allowing rubbish to flood the environment? Doesn’t a
stitch in time save nine?