No pluses for punctuality
The First in the Land is always
the first at public fora and that too well ahead of schedule.
This is a truth about President Mahinda Rajapaksa, which should
be known.
However, not very many, officials are famous for their
punctuality and their alacrity to "rise and shine".
We hope everyone holding public office would accept the
challenge of being on the spot always and in time too.
This is a pointer to the enthusiasm and readiness of a
country to measure up to challenges emerging on the path of
development and progress. However, the sad truth is that we, as
a people, are notorious for our lassitude and our so-called
easy-going ways.
As the old saying goes, 'all work and no play makes Jack a
dull boy', but the problem with most Lankans is that they
dislike to push themselves too far. As a result the economy is
lacking the dynamism expected of it. We would not be wrong in
saying that the majority of Lankans would not mind allowing
things to drift dangerously - so complacent and smugly satisfied
with our lot are we.
No doubt, glowing examples of hard work and punctuality from
"the top" would set the required bench mark in this regard for
the rest of the country. We hope that every Minister and public
official would model themselves on the President in this
respect.
The extent to which we are lagging way behind in punctuality
could be gauged from an incident revolving around a Lankan VIP
in New Delhi recently. It is said that the latter kept an Indian
VVIP waiting for nearly half an hour at an important
inter-governmental meeting. This amounts to letting Sri Lanka
down in the eyes of the world.
The Lankan VIP has indeed proved that Lankans could not be
counted on to be dynamic and energetic.
Sri Lanka should guard against being lulled into a sense of
complacency. Abstract figures on economic "growth" could be
extremely misleading, given our poverty levels. "Growth" is
concentrated predominantly in the Western Province, with the
rest of the country lagging behind in material wealth.
We could make a deep dent in the problem of underdevelopment
if we forge steadily ahead with the task of material
advancement. That is, work with great enthusiasm and gusto and
that too without counting the cost too exactingly. We need to
ask what we could do for the country rather than call on the
country to do things for us.
We could launch ourselves on this "Long March" by, first,
ensuring that we are number one in punctuality. We need to be
time-conscious and prove expert time managers. Without these
attributes our development dream would prove a mere bubble.
Discipline needs to flow right down the line, from the
highest rungs of the public sector to the humblest levels of
society; in the farms and factories. These humbler levels tend
to model themselves on the upper reaches.
If the latter is wanting in discipline, much could not be
expected in this regard from the former. So, let the "top" be
exemplars, is what we urge. |