CLASSIFIED | POLITICS | TERRORISM | OPINION | VIEWS

Investigating the causes of poor performance of Sri Lanka

Ben Silva

There are important observations in Asoka Senevitatne’s article, “The Mess Made by ...” ref. http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items07/020907-2.html. We need to ask the question , why are we lagging behind other countries, even though we have a civilised history of over 2500 years. Part of the answer may be destruction of our irrigations system by Tamil war lords. Another reason could be that we did not have democratically elected leaders, until after independence.

Mahinda Rajapakse’s Govt. has reversed the advance of racist LTTE.

They have to be given credit for it and we must not loose our focus on defeating terrorism and racism. I believe, we have to support the Govt. and if we do not, then we will indirectly support a group that allowed LTTE to grow in power.

Mahatma Gandhi has said, some thing to the effect, if you want to liberate a country, you have to influence the attitude and the mind of the masses. ie communicate with the masses. In Sri Lanka, where the masses may not have access to the internet or the TV, it becomes difficult to communicate with the masses. Our efforts may have use only if the readers of Lankaweb, communicate our ideas to the masses.

I would not put the blame, for the mess the country is in, on politicians alone, but put the responsibility of poor performance on all, perhaps not with the same degree. Everybody – citizens, private businesses, state organisations and political leaders – are responsible for the country's present plight. Ref: http://www.lankabusinessonline.com/fullstory.php?newsID=1678030326&no_view=1&SEARCH_TERM=1

We have to be thankful to President Rajapakse, his brothers and of course our security forces for reversing the decline. The Sinhalese may not have a country to worry about, if President MR did not liberate the East.

We have to ask the question, why are we lagging behind other countries? This question is important and significant and we should be honest in finding the answers.

Is it the religion that is stopping us from thinking freely ?
Is it LTTE terrorism that is bleeding the economy?
Is it our education system ?
Is it our culture?
Is it the lack of understanding of economics and politics by the masses?
Is it our lack of correct attitude or mindset ?
Is it our lack of will power to be self reliant ?
Is it that we expect a free lunch ?
Is it lack of strategic thinking and planning ?
Is it lack of a think tank and failing to act on predictions?
Is it lack of opportunity given to the masses ?
Is it corruption and lack of integrity ?
Is it lack of competitive spirit ?
Is it our lack of mass communication facilities?
Is it lack of time management skills ?

It could be the combination of all. But we need to analyse and identify the causes, before we can rectify the problem. I brought in time management, as I have seen many women in Sri Lanka spending the whole day in cooking and dealing with petty issues and hardly looking at broader issues.

Buddhism is a good Philosophy with good ethics. In the real world the law of nature is ‘survival of the fittest’. We have seen Buddhists in India being wiped out by Muslim Invaders. We have seen China taking over Tibet and now transforming Tibet to a modern country, rather than letting Tibet live in the past. Buddhism did not stop being taken over by hostile forces or being wiped out by hostile forces. If we want to survive and progress in the real world, we need very practical and realistic methods by which we can meet the powerful military and economic challenges that face us. This is why I mentioned in previous articles and mention again, we need self reliance on defence to survive. If we practice non violence and the other party, for example LTTE practice violence, then we will not survive, and simply move towards extinction.

Right now, the biggest threat we face is loss of territorial integrity of the country and we need to focus on resolving this. Remember, we have already lost the North and we have to liberate the North, to stop future wars. I think President, his brothers, the security forces and their leaders should be given credit for reversing the decline and saving the country.

We should not remain backward, as we could face the same fate as Tibet or go extinct like the Aztecs. We have to give opportunity to all citizens, if we are to avoid insurrections. Let us put aside petty issues and concentrate on liberating our country first.

Land purchase of Sri Lankans is an important issue. Sri Lankans cannot compete with high wage earning foreigners. So Sri Lanka should have a system similar to a scheme adapted by Malaysians. ie Allow foreigners to buy in high rise flats in specific areas close to the beach or selected housing schemes in good locations. I believe even UK has certain restrictions in certain localities that only locals can purchase housing.

This is an important issue Govt. should deal with.

The issues raised above are of national interest and national media ought to discuss and debate the issues.

Thanks for Lankaweb for dealing with important national issues.

Ref: 'Co-existing' with the apostle of violence’ Janaka Perera, Lanka Herald (2007/09/08)

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