Ref."Is there a conspiracy by the International Community"

A reader.

Dear madam /Sir,
Regarding "Is there a conspiracy by the International Community, to keep the third world countries undeveloped and dependant on them" by Charles Perera, most of what he says is true. But we must first fight the enemy within. The situation between rich and poor countries can be compared to two retail shops at village level. Of course the more established shop tries to under cut the small one. The trick is the smaller bussiness has to be hardworking, vigilant, forward thinking and resourceful to overcome the odds.

Needless to say in this regard our society has much to improve. We are much in need of establishing rule of law, honoring hard and honest labor and having a sense of patriotism. Since independence it has been a downward trend, aptly accelerated by increasingly corrupt political leadership. Our able professionals, despite the public sponsorship of their training, could not care less for the welfare of the country and simply followed the lead of corrupt politicians for their own selfish gains.

Today our society is a poster child for what Buddha described in Parabhava sutta about a decaying society. An interesting article on this regard is (http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HK21Ak01.html). Although its content may be controversial, its starting statement ( Wars are won by destroying the enemy's will to fight. A nation is never really beaten until it sells its women), applies well to Sri Lanka.

Sadly due to the indifference of our politicians and professionals (despite being listed in 1950s as the most well placed country in Asia to prosper) we have degenerated to doing the latter and if we do not change our ways we will loose our will as well.

As bad as the evils of war, a silver line is it can be used to instil a sense of urgency in people towards developing a well disciplined society. Before we point fingers at others, we must first have our house in order. Despite many odds many countriers have achieved economic and social success through efficient political and professional leadership. Let us hope Sri Lanka will also be blessed with such leadership in near future.

Thank You
A reader.