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| Wednesday, 17 March 2004 |
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Editorial | |
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| Please forward your comments to the Editor, Daily News. Email : [email protected] Snail mail : Daily News, 35, D.R. Wijewardene Mawatha, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Telephone : 94 11 2429429 / 94 11 2421181 Fax : 94 11 2429210 The 'growth' trap and good governance Matching economic growth with equity remains the central challenge for any government in this country and we are glad that the issue is being faced squarely by President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga. The key point in her recent address to the nation was that a future government under her would be pro-people, fully participatory in nature, "honest and civilized". It is important that these future tasks are broached in this fashion because decades of economic liberalization have altered very little, the lot of the ordinary people. Save for a perceptive few, most observers have been beguiled by our "slum and skyscraper" - style "development", which has held sway since 1977 when the then UNP government opened our doors to the "Robber Barons". On Monday we took pleasure in reproducing the proceedings of a seminar on the condition of estate workers which featured some pronouncements on these issues by Rev. Fr. Tissa Balasuriya of the Centre for Society and Religion. As he rightly pointed out, our "development" experience has witnessed a progressive enriching of the wealthy at the expense of the impoverished majority. In other words, in proportion to which the rich few have grown in wealth and power, the impoverished majority have sunk further into want and hunger. We do have a few "skyscrapers" in a sea of slums and poverty, but we would be blundering tragically to mistake this for development. We would be in a position to claim a degree of progress only when growth goes along with equity or redistributive justice and that too on a sustainable basis. We very badly need to change our model of development. Singapore-style development has continuously evaded us because wealth has not trickled-down to the poor. Wealth, on the contrary, has accumulated vastly in the hands of a few, including some top politicians who have been hitherto holding the reins of governance. These persons have been leading a parasitic existence, but the nature of the "system" is such that they have got off scot free. So what we need is genuine social democracy which will combine growth with equity. We urge the President to adopt this development paradigm and to crack the whip on corruption, lawlessness and misgovernance which have grown astronomically. We urge her to usher in an era of the common man which will see the latter actively influencing policy-making in keeping with his legitimate interests. Empowerment of women There are more women in Asian politics now than ever before, but it is still not enough to meet projected gender equality and women's empowerment targets. This view has been expressed by Erna Witoelar, UN special Ambassador for Millennium Development Goals. According to Witoelar, India and the Philippines lead Asian nations in getting more women into leadership positions while South Asia has fallen behind. Women in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand are not as well-represented in politics but have benefited from economic growth. The issue of 'women in politics' is very much in the news in Sri Lanka as the General Election looms ahead. Sri Lanka holds the distinction of having the world's first woman Prime Minister, Sirimavo Bandaranaike. Her daughter, President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, is the first woman to rise to the position of Executive President of Sri Lanka. Yet, the overall level of women's participation in local politics is still very low. There were only a handful of women MPs in the last Parliament. The situation is not much different in provincial councils, municipal councils and pradeshiya sabhas. Several women's organisations have requested political parties to give more nominations to women at all elections. Many parties seem to have listened to this request, though not up to the extent that women's groups would have envisaged. The next Parliament should consider bringing in laws that would make it mandatory for political parties to allocate more positions in their nomination lists to women, especially those in the 18-35 age group. Leadership roles are not necessarily confined to politics. Only a few women hold key posts in the public and private sectors. More opportunities should be created for women to climb the promotions ladder in the corporate sector as well as in the public sector. It would, however, be imprudent to treat this particular aspect of women's empowerment in isolation. The benefits of rapid economic growth have not reached women in most Asian societies. The education of the girl child is often neglected. Employment opportunities available to women are limited. Women are paid lower salaries in most instances. Social and cultural practices inhibit the progress of women. These are among a number of concerns that must be addressed in the quest for gender equality. In the end, having more women decision makers will help women to raise their voice for an equal footing in society. |
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