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by Oscar E. V. Fernando

Economic Zones (EZ) may be a solution to several problems facing Sri Lanka today, such as corruption, poverty and the ethnic issue.

Up to the late fifties commercial undertakings in our country were carried out by the private sector, leaving public utilities to be managed by the government. It may be correct to say that during this period it was considered that an elitist group with a foreign religion and a foreign language dominated the private and government sectors.

With the blossoming of parochial forces in the fifties, the first signs of shattering of this empire were evident. One may say that up until then, the so-called minority groups held sway. It may not be wrong to say that it was more as a solution to this social incongruity and not so much for a change in an economic ideology that the concept of government undertaking commercial activities came about.

Statutory Boards so formed, recruited employees mostly at the whims of politicians and consequently did very little, to generate production, which would have in turn generated more avenues of employment.

Simultaneously with this, the Sinhala Only Act was passed, and the graduates so turned out from the universities found themselves without employment, and also found that the few jobs available in the private sector required a knowledge of English. They soon found that the Sinhala only Act did imply, that it was Singhalese for all, and also English for a chosen few. From this was coined the word kaduwa which meant the sword that cut them off from society.

It may therefore be aptly said that this situation gave rise to the JVP and the LTTE. Generation of employment and learning of English may therefore be the most urgent need of the hour.

English Language

We can see that India with its sound knowledge of English is making giant strides in development. Suffice it to say, that in the sphere of information technology, they are now exporting software packages to the western world. And so it is, that they find the commercial benefit of learning English.

They have not been foolhardy to spite the English Language just because the British invaded (if that is the word) India and ruled them for centuries, thus stifling the development of their language, culture, civilization and technologies, which now, the westerners themselves re-discover to their amazement, both here and in India. Nevertheless, India has very wisely been pragmatic, and so should we, as English is now a world language and there is no reason why we should not study it for commercial purposes, though not at the expense of our language, culture and civilisation which should be made compulsory in our schools curriculum.

There was a laudable project of imparting knowledge of English commenced by the President during her tenure of government with a Presidential adviser who did a commendable job.

It now stands foiled. Could this be recommenced as an act worthy of co-habitation? In addition to giving guidelines to schools curriculum, this department could incorporate the private sector to get this across to the adults with the assistance of the British Council and the UK embassy.

This however requires funds and the international community by now may have realised the importance a link language like English plays in the development of the country, as well as in the peace process, and thus funds should be forthcoming to commence a rapid project for teaching English.

Now that efficient private sector personalities are appointed to manage foreign aid funds, unutilised earlier by most governments, this important project could commence at this opportune moment when the international community such as Italy is offering jobs to our graduates as well as others.

Private sector

Both the present government and the previous government have accepted that the private sector is the engine of growth. Both carried out privatisation of nationalised ventures. Most of these nationalised "ventures" were making losses and some were making profits due to the monopoly enjoyed before it was thrown to compete with the private sector.

Such corporations show profits due to the monies earned during the monopolistic era being deposited and now earning interest. This cannot be compared to generation of profits contributed by generation of production and employment, and therefore privatisation of these cannot be considered a national disaster. What about the several giant corporations that have run into colossal losses due to mismanagement and corruption? How long should the government subsidise payment of salaries and high perks to these employees with the taxpayer's monies, which could be diverted to other welfare measures, for the benefit of a greater majority?

Most government employees have got used to a lethargic attitude for work, and over and above this, is their mentality that they personify the realm and not just the obedient servant of old.

Just step into some branches of government departments to get some work done and you will get a taste of it. Is it for their benefit and continuation of a lethargic life style, that there is an objection for privatisation? In the matter of privatisation, could there be some understanding with our donor agencies to have some form of relief to those displaced, if any, during an interim period before they become gainfully employed again when the engine of growth starts functioning in full scale? This should now be practical with proper management of foreign funds by the body now set up for the purpose.

The international community should be sensitive to this aspect in a developing country they are attempting to assist, so as to avoid social unrest in an interim period, which could nullify their good intentions and thereby breed terror which they aim to eradicate.

It is one thing to preach that the trend of the world is against nationalisation of commercial ventures, and therefore, to privatise these in order to be eligible for aid, and another thing to make the shift to private enterprise with the consequent social unrest. By now, the World Bank the IMF and other aid agencies to which we have no alternative but to bow down under the circumstances we are in, should realise the gravity of this situation.

The world's experiment with communism, socialism and nationalisation of commercial ventures is now breaking up and giving place to private sector enterprises, whatever "ism" it is named by our local leftists.

The private sector is now accepted as the engine of growth and we hope it is with a human face in reality and not merely in words. It has to have regulatory mechanisms, which should be the role played by the government and not involvement with commercial ventures, which in turn would end up with corruption by way of tenders.

The regulatory mechanisms should ensure that there would be no monopolies and unbridled capitalism and that the enterprises are equitably distributed according to the ethnic and other aspirations of the people of each Economic Zone.

Ethnic issue

With the central political power so diminished, which of course will be the biggest stumbling block, and the Provincial activities taken over by the private sector, power sharing among provinces may become less cumbersome. With English as a link language, mobility of labour and commercial ventures from one province to another should not be much of a problem. An ethnic ratio in the armed services would also not pose many problems. Homeland theories, which have had hair-splitting debates over centuries whilst thousands of the minority group people were living with the Singhalese in the south and still continue to do so, would not pose a heavy demand for an Eelam nation overtly or covertly.

With the dictionary alluding to the word nation, a territory of people inhabiting within defined limits, and the word national connoting a citizen of a specified country, the word state being alluded to as, an organised political community recognised by a nation, we could only hope Sri Lanka, this little dot on the planet earth, will not end up as the United Nations of Sri Lanka as in United Nations (UN).

Or will it be called the United States of Sri Lanka? It would appear that much of this demand for separation could be diluted with the concept of Economic Zones and this portends well for all races in our country, having within eighteen miles of its boundary, the huge state of Tamil Nadu.

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