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Continuing protests over the privatisation of state enterprises indicate that this nation is yet to settle the debate whether it wants to move towards a free market economy or not. Over the years this country has got used to patriarchal dispensation where the state is the provider of everything, from free education, subsidised food and fertilizer to lifetime jobs with pensions to cushion old age.

The wave of economic reform that took place in the late 1970s and the early 1980s did take us part of the way towards a free economy, but stopped short of total change. This has left the country in the incongruous situation where some laws encourage private enterprise and others inhibit entrepreneurship. Licensing is free, but companies, which hire large numbers in good times cannot trim staff and become leaner when foul weather blows.

Banks are so protected and averse to risk that even during a recession as was the case last year they do not take losses or a "haircut" in industry parlance. The State remains the biggest player in the economy and has proved beyond doubt that it is incapable of doing business. That the Ceylon Electricity Board simply cannot provide enough power and that the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, which enjoys a monopoly, makes losses and passes on debt repayments to the public and industry is ample proof that when such organs are under the control of corrupt politicians and officials they will be abused.

If we had competing electric companies, they would have run after the consumer trying to give us electricity and not impose power cuts. The resources of the state banks, which should be serving the people, have been channelled to political favourites or siphoned off to fund grandiose, unproductive schemes.

Enormous sums have disappeared as seen in the case of the Rubber Corporation, which is now under Police investigation. The government now has proclaimed that it will bring in the second wave of reform, which will ensure the freeing of enterprise while the state would take on a purely regulatory role. The way the telecommunication industry was deregulated under the previous government is a good model. The current government has been able to go further down the path that will bring more benefits to the consumer in this sector.

It is not that we advocate untrammelled privatisation that will have adverse effects on the public but what we need is a definite movement towards a free economy to unleash the full entrepreneurial power of our people while ensuring the protection of employee rights within a framework that will benefit the consumer.

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