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The entire country is embroiled in a terrible crisis over its staple
food and different parties are reacting viciously to gain political
mileage while the hard pressed consumer is further strangled by the
unscrupulous traders who constitute the largest segment of the private
sector in Sri Lanka.
In this background, the Government in desperation has invoked the
price control regulations to give some relief to the consumer. While it
is not certain whether it would provide the expected relief to the rice
consumer, it is pertinent to briefly examine the reasons for this
situation.
The UNP is quick to blame the Government for this crisis, while
maliciously suppressing the fact that the entire rice business is
handled by the private sector under the liberalised trade policy
introduced and propagated by their own party.
It is no secret that they sold almost all state enterprises to their
cohorts for a song and promoted the theory that the private sector is
the engine of growth and it should be entrusted with the task of
developing and bringing prosperity to the Nation. Thus, the entire local
and foreign trade is now exclusively handled by the private sector
except for the import of a few items like petroleum.
Rice, from the point of cultivation to the point of disposal to the
consumer (from farmer to retailer) is almost entirely handled by the
private sector.
Though their contribution towards improvement of rice production in
Sri Lanka is minimal, except for raking in large profits through
marketing of environmentally catastrophic fertiliser, insecticides etc.,
they totally monopolise the processing and marketing aspects of rice
production.
Even here, the Government is compelled to move into protect the
farmer from the private trader by fixing a guaranteed price for paddy.
However, it is now visible as to how the private sector has
manipulated the affairs to bring about a severe crisis throughout the
country.
In this instance it is necessary to remind how the UNP dismantled the
entire State sector rice processing and distribution network by selling
all its resources to their stooges for a song.
Regarding the shortage of rice that the country now experiences, if
it is genuine, the private sector could have imported sufficient stocks
well in advance, to avoid this crisis without waiting till the Minister
goes to Burma.
As we all know, it is the duty and responsibility of the private
sector, in keeping with their self proclaimed efficiency and expertise,
to avoid such a crisis as the Government had by then allowed import of
rice duty free.
As for private sector management expertise, it is appropriate to
highlight herein that Sri Lanka being a country surrounded by sea, fish
was never available to the general public at a reasonable price and all
know the plight of the poor fisherman who risks his life in the high
seas and provides the catch to the private trader, which is a prominent
component of the private sector network.
Another glaring example is the total failure of the private bus
service in Sri Lanka which has earned the wrath of the public,
continuously since privatisation. Marketing of fruits and vegetables is
no better.
It is again a case of fleecing both the producer and the consumer.
In the sale of pharmaceutical products, the Government is compelled
to bring in laws to protect the poor patients from the private sector
and promote the sale of drugs by generic name.
Some cases are now being heard in the Courts show the extent of
corruption and malpractices involved in the privatisation process in Sri
Lanka.
While some of the culprits have taken refuge in the Government to
cover up their misdeeds, others are striving hard to make a comeback to
continue the process.
Meanwhile, it is no secret that the private media which is trying its
best to bring their political masters back to power is openly shielding
the private traders and some politicians in the guise of providing the
truth and unbiased news.
In this context, all are aware that the media make great profits
through advertising which in turn contributes heavily towards the price
escalation of consumer items. Incidentally, some of the advertisements
bring disgrace and humiliation to the entire womanhood, while some
others are extremely harmful to all children and youth.
The rice crisis is another example of private sector mismanagement
and corruption and this fact is further confirmed by the announcement
made by the Head of a leading Trade Chamber in Sri Lanka recently that
he private sector is greatly responsible for the spread of corruption in
the country.
Meanwhile, the private media which appears as paragons of virtue
hardly highlight this fact but is quick to spotlight the public sector
misdeeds and deficiencies.
M.S.I. SAMARASINGHE,
Colombo 13
The first two generations of independent Sri Lanka were still
struggling under the influence of foreign rule and like most Asian
societies the mental colonisation achieved by the British could not be
fully eradicated from the minds of people.
People still thought like clerks waiting to follow someone's thought
process. We left original thinking and started making experiments
following Western models of development. The social and cultural
differences between the West and Sri Lanka led to failure of many
systems and we are not really roaring.
With more and more doors opened for Western investors, Sri Lankans
are merely becoming clerks in the hands of the investors.
People working for multi- nationals get huge salaries, cars and many
other perks but lack any authority to make decisions, to climb up the
corporate ladders in Sri Lanka. They are the working classes in the eyes
of the investor.
The working class in the multi-nationals has the same colonised minds
that were limited by many barriers.
This time the colonisation is in the minds of the working class Sri
Lankans if not at political level.
Western societies were pushing the lifestyle through the media,
especially films and television and all international brands are
available in the local market hampering the sale of local goods
severely.
The colonised mind of buyers, this time, is looking at buying those
brands in place of the local products. We are finding more pizzerias and
burger joints than places selling local authentic food.
The riches we are making through the colonised work are going back
into their own doles through spending on international brands.
What we, in Sri Lanka, are getting mere experience of using expensive
international branded products and creating a more and more economic
divide among citizens.
The average Sri Lankan is thinking to make his children great by
pushing them into engineering colleges, computer science trainings and
medical studies to make money, to travel abroad and live his/her life in
the style that cannot be thought of by him as an average Sri Lankan.
The average Sri Lankan is not aware that by pushing children towards
vocational studies and colonised environments they are hampering the
future of the country.
Today children know more about Valentines Day than Vesak or Diwali.
They are representing freedom in terms of what they eat, wear, think and
read but unfortunately the freedom of thinking is missing.
The westernised freedom and westernised solutions are leading our
thinking. More and more elected representatives and public servants are
visiting developed countries to follow the model of development from
providing amenities to citizens to beautification of cities.
How difficult it is to perceive that the public require better
transport on busy roads or single window facilities to make their
utility payments without visiting any developed country?
If we start creating the attitude of analysing the problem and
finding original solutions for the creative inheritance we got from our
great past it should not be very difficult to become original.
What we see in Sri Lanka today are more like the Latin American
cities of the late seventies and early eighties.
We saw what happened to them in a 10 to 15 years time frame. We may
head towards such a downfall as well. Even if we do not fall down, we
definitely might degenerate as a society if we do not teach original
thinking to our children.
The new liberalism and economic reforms should lead us into original
thinking and action rather than more and more dependent scenarios where
we just end up being workers and the cream, profits and intellectual
property goes out of Sri Lanka.
T. M. SABARATNAM,
Mullaitivu
It goes without saying that breaking the rules is the commonest cause
of accidents. It is very irritating that some drivers, when they have to
turn onto a side lane at traffic lights, come up the lane next to the
fast lane, and just stay there till the colour lights change.
This happens more and more often now, specially at the Dehiwela
traffic lights at William Grinding Mills, vehicles impudently drive up
the slow lane and wait to turn into the Hospital Road. The vehicles
behind have no way of overtaking them as other vehicles are passing in
the next lane, and cannot go forward either.
These errant drivers just ignore the rules in spite of repeated
horning. The traffic police turn a blind eye on them.
This is a severe infringement of road rules and must be curtailed.
DR. MAREENA THAHA REFFAI,
Dehiwela
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