Sri Lanka: Self-rule enriched politicians

What have we done with the Independence granted to us 70-years ago? Has stewardship over our own affairs ensured the social and economic development that should have been possible in a seven decade long period?

by Manik de Silva- Feb 4, 2018

Feb 4, 2018

( February 4, 2018, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) We celebrate today the 70th anniversary of our country’s Independence from the British with mixed feelings. There are those who believe that having a son of a British Queen, whose ancestors imposed the colonial yoke on this country by military means and exploited its many riches, as chief guest at this landmark event is not the best way to commemorate Independence. They recall that 2018 also marks the 200th anniversary of the Uva rebellion led by Keppetipola, branded a traitor by the British and proclaimed a national hero by the incumbent president of this country not so long ago. The scorched earth policy unleashed by the British in retaliation for the rebellion has kept the Moneragala district among the poorest in Sri Lanka to the present day. There are other viewpoints including the fact that the colonial legacy, including the English language in which this commentary is written, universal franchise and the parliamentary system as well as the modernization of our country and economy during the colonial period were positives of British rule. Negatives too abounded. These are too well known to require enumeration here.

What have we done with the Independence granted to us 70-years ago? Has stewardship over our own affairs ensured the social and economic development that should have been possible in a seven decade long period? Undoubtedly many formidable challenges including the over fourfold growth of our small population in 1948 had to be overcome. But as frequently pointed out countries such as Singapore, with far less natural and human resources than us at Independence, have forged ahead in the intervening years. We were once considered a model colony in the British Empire. But many Asian countries including war-wracked Japan and South Korea have done much more than us in giving their people the material well being and prosperity that ours lack. Undoubtedly the post-Independence period has seen the enriching of our political class. Self-rule and elected office has enriched the rulers in a manner that defies description. But it is we and no other who with our votes installed them in power.

It is during self-rule that a near 30-year civil war that held back our forward movement exploded. The Republican Constitution of 1972, replacing the previous Soulbury Constitution with its entrenched clause for protecting the minorities no doubt helped create the conditions that contributed to the disaffection of a considerable section of the Tamil community. This was preceded by the so-called Sinhala Only Act which its author, Prime Minister SWRD Bandaranaike attempted but was not permitted to moderate, all contributed to create the conditions that led to the civil war that cost the Lankan people so much in terms of lives and treasure. Undoubtedly both internal and external factors prolonged a conflict unleashed by a formidable separatist-terrorist group was finally defeated in May 2009. But both the promised fence-mending and reconciliation between communities is far from accomplished in the long years that have passed since the war ended. The messages from our leaders issued in connection with today’s event and the formal celebration itself focusing on communal harmony and reconciliation pay lip service to these objectives. But whether the political will exists to accomplish them remain an open question. Contending forces jostling for power are sadly ever-willing to exploit chauvinist (they see them as nationalist) sentiment in their quest for office.

We boast that Independence was accomplished without a drop of blood being shed. Events in India no doubt helped us to achieve self-rule as early as we did. Our first post-Independence government led by Prime Minister D.S. Senanayake, had much to its credit. Even before Independence when we had limited self-rule, he had begun the process of setting up the various colonization schemes to restore the dry zone of this country to its past glory as a granary of the East. But we have not yet achieved sustainable self-sufficiency in rice, evidenced by the needs for imports during adverse weather, though considerable progress had been made. But let us not forget Senanayake also disenfranchised the Indian Tamil plantation workers who had contributed much to this country’s development for electoral reasons.

Certainly the caliber of politicians in the early post-Independence years was far superior to those that came later. The old left provided moral and intellectual capital to the legislature although it was never able to capture power on its own. But it certainly contributed to winning the welfare measures that the country’s poor continue to benefit from although there are those who think that but for a strong left movement in the early post-Independence period, we might have attracted western investment that might have helped us to go on the road that Singapore took. But this, of course, would have been at the expense of distributive justice that welfare ensured. In sum, Independence and the resulting elections ensured, especially post-1977, galloping corruption and consequent enrichment of the political class.

In a thoughtful letter we publish in this issue, Ranjini Obeyesekere, a respected academic and intellectual who graduated from Peradeniya and has taught in universities both here and the U.S. has written about the unrepentant violence that key players in the current political scene have indulged in the post-Independence years, noting that there have been no apologies from anyone in that regard. As we shrug off the inconveniences of recent traffic snarls triggered by Independence parade rehearsals and await the television pictures from Galle Face next Saturday (all the world loves a parade!) let us also reflect on what our politicians have and have not done for us when the British passed the baton to the native ruling class.

( The writer is the chief editor of the Sunday Island, a Colombo based weekly newspaper, where this piece first published)