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Once the people awake to the fact that they are the fourth branch of government - that they are the bosses and the elected officials and bureaucrats all work for them - then they may see some real change in their government. Eventually people will realise that they, united in a common cause and through a majority vote can veto the executive, the legislative and judicial branches of Government. When that day dawns, people will understand the true independence that this country is supposed to represent

by Lionel Wijesiri

Fifty-four-years of independence inspires pride and confidence among all of us. We liberated ourselves from British rule and established a democratic polity through our Constitution which represented modern ideas of governance and the rights and liberties of the people.

We blended them with advanced ideas of social equality and justice, integrating them all into our age-old social values and cultural heritage. It was the end of our first struggle.

Our second struggle began for economic independence and social transformation soon after the independence. Indeed this second struggle is even more arduous and prolonged than the first one.

Our objectives of national construction, social change and the uplift of our people from the abyss of illiteracy, ill-health, economic deprivation and social backwardness, became the driving force of our development. Today, on the fifty-fourth anniversary of our independence, it is appropriate to reassess our progress and advancement and reflect on our failures and shortcomings.

In spite of a number of impressive achievements we are still plagued by poverty, ignorance, disease and superstition. Our policies, programs, plans and other developmental efforts as reflected in our economic liberalisation, have not been adequate enough to ensure basic needs to our population even after more than five decades of independence.

The common man and woman have nursed the lingering feeling that they have yet to taste the fruits of independence.

New vision

Today, when most Sri Lankans welcome the new Government, they are hoping for a swift and surgical operation to cleanse the body politic from the mafias that control it.

A brief assessment of the present situation indicates the scale and magnitude of the grave predicaments that confront our society. Out of the present 19.5 million estimated population, 50 % live below the poverty line. At the present growth rate, our population is likely to reach a figure of 27 million by the year 2020. Already, 50% of the total population is below the age of 25.

Our political parties and leaders, since independence, were incapable of effectively solving our national problems. More than that, they have not even begun to identify the issues and problems to be addressed. The characteristics of efficient leadership, clear vision, creativity, innovation and ethical behaviour; seem to be absent.

What are the reasons behind our lack of effective leaders? Could it be a fundamental flaw in our educational system? Like many emerging nations, Sri Lanka has adopted a rote learning approach in education, which has remained unchanged since formal education was first practiced. Is it surprising, then, that we cannot turn out citizens and leaders who demonstrate clear vision and independence?

Sri Lanka's formal education system is just one point of a triangle. The others are our religious and cultural values. Together they form an integrated, self-supporting unit, forming our identities and directing our actions as Sri Lankans. The education system of Sri Lanka is not designed to develop leaders, original thinkers, learners, creators, inventors or innovators.

This fact is not just true at pre-primary level, but also, sadly, at our country's universities. The system creates citizens who have memorized a 'solution' for each 'problem'. But in real life, we constantly face and must respond to new problems that we have never met before. Can we find the answers to these problems in books, or among the existing solutions? Each situation we encounter is new. So should be its solution.

This country's leaders are also the products of the same society. These leaders were taught to seek a ready-made solution for pre-defined problems. When our leaders encounter problems, they look for solutions that worked in the past, or worked elsewhere.

But today is not yesterday. They think that 'if it worked then, it will work now'. How can we avoid repeating past mistakes in the future? If our formal education system were to focus on teaching students on how to learn - rather than feeding them soon to become obsolete information - we might have a chance.

In fact, we would have more than a chance. By educating the children of today - now - to be flexible, inquiring and creative - we will be guaranteeing citizens of tomorrow who will be the caretakers of our cultural identity. Is it too much to dream of a Sri Lanka that is an academic centre of excellence? It only takes one generation.

Today the best schools in Sri Lanka are judged by their GCE (O-Level and A-Level) performance, which forces them to follow rote / examination-oriented learning, whether they like it or not. All apparent attempts to improve the education system are superficial and will prove futile unless there are fundamental changes in the education system at the national level.

The people expect the new Government to do it and rescue the Sri Lankans from this counter-productive and obsolete system. The only thing we seem to know is how to import ideas from other countries without doing our homework first. And while we are copying our neighbours 'answers'; it never occurs to us that they might have got it wrong.

We must move from adaptive learning to creative learning and from a convergent to a divergent problem solving approach. We must let go of our negative approaches and perceptions, and embrace the positive. We need an education system that is appropriate to our own national context and our own needs.

Economy

We need an education system that is responsive to the environment, national vision, and value system that we want to promote. We must promote divergent and creative thinking.

If we miss this opportunity, we put our children's future at risk. They will experience the results of the choices we make today. The shrinking economic opportunities present gloomy employment prospects for a huge and untrained workforce ready to enter the labour market.

The overwhelming majority of the population endures an extremely poor quality of life in terms of health care, sanitation facilities, and a continuously degrading environment.

With debt servicing alone consuming almost the entire annual revenue collected by revenue collection machinery, little is left for investment in human development. The lethal combination of extreme poverty, limited economic opportunities, and poor quality of life makes a perfect recipe for a time bomb ready to explode.

Endemic corruption promoted by successive past governments is eroding the fundamental values of society so essential for peace, harmony, and prosperity. A distorted system that does not reward honesty and hard work has forced a mass exodus of the best brains of the country.

Contrary to the claims of the forces of status quo who counsel the government to go slow on accountability for fear of losing investment, the institutionalised corruption has brought domestic and foreign investment to a standstill.

For corruption leads to an ensuing high cost of capital, spiralling utility rates, and high borrowing costs. The overwhelming reliance on indirect taxation for revenue generation has made the life of the majority unbearable, thus forcing an unprecedented number of people to commit suicides.

The need

At a time when radical surgery is needed to establish credibility so essential for public mobilisation, a mere tinkering with the system would not do. The politics of patronage and corruption has created powerful vested interest groups, which are not ready to relinquish power and privileges easily.

What we need in Sri Lanka is a conflict of interest law. Any holder of public office, whose wealth increased while he or she was in government must be prosecuted for corruption and barred for life for holding public office again and his/her assets confiscated and auctioned.

More than 50 years after our independence, there is little evidence of the freedom that we have been promised. With every change in the government, the people of Sri Lanka are led to believe of an imminent transformation in their status.

The system has only been altered to the point of being tinkered, just to keep the curiosity of ordinary citizens alive who wait in vain for a genuine change. The insatiable greed of the elite to grab a bigger slice of the shrinking economic pie to maintain their privileged status is leaving the vast majority of the nation in a state of growing chaos - a kind of turmoil that inevitably engulfs every one.

The quality of political leadership has to improve if we stand a chance of recovering from near abyss. The independent Election Commission, that has the capacity to stringently enforce electoral laws could help bring some credibility to an otherwise flawed electoral process.

However, without an open electronic media policy that allows unfettered debates between all shades of public opinion on radio and TV, the vested interests would continue to hoodwink the people in a country where the majority are not newspaper readers and consequently cannot enlighten themselves through the print media. The journey on the road to real freedom cannot even begin without a major change in the nature and character of the political machinery.

Sometimes it seems we are surrounded by a war of words: Diversity, Unity, Patriotism, Pluralism, Ethnicity, Multiculturalism. Words tap deep feelings, and they can mean very different things to different people. But the conflicts we face are about more than words.

The tensions that come out in our language reflect varied concerns and ideas about where we should go as a country. These pressures are visible in many of our most complex public issues and are evident in daily life - whether in open conflict among groups, or in tensions and misperceptions simmering just beneath the surface. Caught in these real-life complexities and divisions, some people are even questioning our ability to live together.

But this is also a time of hope. The new Government of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, along with a growing number of leaders, are exploring ways to bring all people together, across differences, to work through issues of diversity. In the process, people are finding that they have common concerns, and that they can work together to address them - even on the very issues that are related to their differences.

It is the conviction of these leaders that, in a democracy, the only successful resolution of these questions and tensions is one that every person actively takes part in.

"We the people" can and must find ways to move toward a more perfect union in an age of diversity. Many community leaders, from every sector and racial background, believe that this is a critical time to consider what we hold in common, what keeps us apart, and how we can work together to build a strong, better place for all of us.

The purpose of this conviction is to help people have the honest, productive, democratic conversations that are the heart of beginning to live and work together well.

Awakening in politics is not like a sudden Zen slap of awareness, but a very slow incremental process and it continues apace among people. People saw how each Government cranked up massive propaganda efforts to convince them that the economic freedom was just around the corner.

The three recognised branches of the government have become so ingrown and tyrannical that they treated people as badly as the old European Royalty treated their subjects.

Once the people awake to the fact that they are the fourth branch of government - that they are the bosses and the elected officials and bureaucrats all work for them - then they may see some real change in their government.

Eventually people will realise that they, united in a common cause and through a majority vote can veto the executive, the legislative and judicial branches of Government. When that day dawns, people will understand the true independence that this country is supposed to represent.

It is indeed a tribute to the present Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe that he has prepared a plan for mobilising the people themselves to protect their rights and to realise their basic needs and change their living conditions. After all, democracy is a method of enlisting people's participation.

Howsoever deprived and distressed our people are, when mobilised, they have shown remarkable initiative to participate in civil society to fight against social evils, poverty, corruption, environmental degradations and a host of other ills gravely affecting their daily lives.

In fact the silver linings in the dark clouds of backwardness and deprivation are the new Government's initiatives which will serve as crucible of new ideas and methodologies for nation-building.

The renowned US Supreme Court Judge Learned Hand once said "Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; (if) it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it." Coming back closer to home, Mahatma Gandhi said, "if the people will help themselves, then the Government is bound to move and that is what is real freedom and real democracy which are built from below".

So, with the passing of yet another Independence Day, let us contemplate what true independence is - and what isn't.

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