Peace and prosperity in Sri Lanka

Dr Granville DHARMAWARDENA

Towards peace. File photo

Peace and prosperity in Sri Lanka is the dream of all patriotic Sri Lankans. Can we achieve it? Yes, we can. In a centenary oration that I gave in 1996 at the BMICH titled 'Towards the 21st Century' I explained the global trends in the 21st Century and the opportunities for Sri Lanka and made several predictions almost all of which have already come true. I explained that the LTTE was unable to withstand a concentrated assault by the Armed Forces and would be pushed into history.

It took longer time than I expected because some Sri Lankan leaders were not smart enough to withstand external influences and succumbed to LTTE tricks such as the cease fire agreement (CFA) presented through their Western allies. But within three years of concentrated assault under a smart leader who could not be swayed by western influences the LTTE got decimated. Next is the march towards economic prosperity which also needs a smart leader who will not dance to the sinister tunes of tricksters in the western world.

Economic development

The leader who can take Sri Lanka through economic development is a smart guy who understands the approaching trends that will arise in the world as we go further into the 21st Century and has the national culture and Sri Lankan traditions in his blood. He must be able to withstand sinister influences and pressures from foreign sources that are detrimental to our progress.

Fortunately, Sri Lankan people have elected a leader who is most competent and capable of performing this task effectively. Under Mahinda Rajapaksa leadership Sri Lanka will become a very stable country after the General Elections and conducive to investment, tourism and economic growth.

During the last few centuries economic development was in the West and the Western countries were the developed world. A few non-Western countries like Japan, which had Western backing, developed during the second half of the last Century. As a result, people in third world countries began to admire Western culture and Western ways. Leaders and elite in these countries tried to become Westernized or at least pretend to be so. Westernization gave them a higher status in society. They dumped local traditions and culture and embraced Western values.

Global trends

Many books have been written on the changing global trends and the prospects for Asia-Pacific countries. The Western world became the developed part of the world during the 17th, 18th and 19th Centuries. Sociologist Pitrim Sorokin, in his monumental work, has shown that civilizations rise to prominence, remain prosperous for a period and then deteriorate and fall. It is a cycle and that is how human and global dynamics operate. Civilizations, after they reach the peak of vitality, tend to lose their cultural steam and decline. An essential element of this breakdown, according to Arnold Toynbee, is loss of flexibility.

Western civilization's growth based on fossil fuel and science driven industrial revolution came next, reached the top, remained prosperous during the 18th, 19th and 20th Centuries and has begun to deteriorate.

Next opportunity is for the Asia-Pacific region. One of the most important developments that is happening today is the modernization of Asia that started in the 1990's. India and China are already developing very fast and they are going to be the world superpowers as we go further into the 21st Century.

The centre of gravity of economic, political and cultural dominance is now shifting towards Asia. This is already raising fears among Europeans. The new century that started a decade ago is being referred to as the Asia-Pacific century and the Chinese call it the Dragon Century.

Although some countries like Japan and Republic of Korea developed before the 1990's, the rise of Asia as a general phenomenon started in the 1990's and Sri Lanka could not get into that trend, at that time, due to weak leadership and the LTTE war. Now indications of Asian renaissance are seen everywhere. Cricket is one example. In the mid 20th Century no body could even dream that an Asian country could ever become the world champions in cricket. But after Asian renaissance started all cricketing countries in Asia, except novice Bangladesh, became world champions.

Asian traditions

Modernization of Asia in the 21st Century will not involve imitation of the West. It will happen in the Asian way preserving the cultures and traditions of Asian countries. In this venture Asian traditions, family ties and family values such as elder members of a family being looked after by the younger ones will help to control such social evils as crime, out of wedlock children and divorce rates.

In the past, economic development of Asian countries depended mainly on exports to the West. But in the future the consumption in Asian countries, which hold half of the world population with enlarged buying power, will be so high that they will have their own markets within the region. During the last two decades the intra Asian country trade grew in leaps and bounds.

Economic development of Asia will accelerate during the decade that started this year and it will be an Asian phenomenon. All trouble free Asian countries with strong leaders like Lee Quan Yew will go along with this trend and if Sri Lanka does not alight this development express we will be left behind for good.

Prosperity and opportunities for all are essential to eliminate ethnic differences and ensure peace. Peace, on the other hand, is a prerequisite for economic development and it is the golden gate for prosperity which Sri Lanka lacked since the demise of the Sinhala Kings. Now, at last, President Rajapaksa has opened the golden gate of peace and readied the island nation for rapid economic growth. Now we are at the "On your marks get set ...." stage of the race towards prosperity. The "....go!" stage must start in 2010. He must maintain the momentum already gathered by him by demolishing terrorism. It is vital not to allow any evil influence to divert the already gathered momentum in other directions and jeopardise Sri Lanka's march towards prosperity. It is important to understand the blunders committed by the past leaders and steer the country away from such blunders in the future.

Building a harbour in Hambantota, is a very important step forward. Having a harbour at the Southern tip of South Asia teeming with commercial liners is one of the most important requirements that is vital to stimulate economic growth. Other countries will discourage such ventures which are challenges to them. A leader who succumbs to foreign pressure cannot start such projects. Hambantota harbour should have been built immediately after we gained independence and if it was done at that time Sri Lanka would have been much more developed by now.

Education sector

We can remember the hopes and pledges received in 1977 from JRJ that he was going to take Sri Lanka to prosperity. But he made two major blunders and as a result the country went in the reverse gear for three decades. The major blunder JRJ made was to align too much to the West, particularly the USA, thereby antagonizing India. As a result India helped the LTTE to grow in strength and the LTTE devastated Sri Lanka for three decades preventing any form of development. He introduced free economy without changing the education sector to suit that.

Education sector continued to produce graduates suitable for the pre-free-economy era and to prepare graduates for the free economy he introduced international schools. If the differences between the State education sector and the international schools are not eliminated it might give rise to the next insurgency in Sri Lanka.

Ranil Wickremesinghe on the other hand committed a series of blunders during the short period he was the Prime Minister and will certainly continue that trend of blundering and bungling if he becomes the leader or advisor to the leader. He invited the Prime Minister of Portugal to Sri Lanka to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Portuguese invasion of Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka was a sovereign country with a King when the Portuguese illegally invaded it, persecuted and killed thousands of Sri Lankan people including women and children, captured coastal areas, divided the country and established their own government in parts of the country. Portuguese were the first people to divide Sri Lanka after King Dutugemunu united it. For Sri Lanka it is an occasion for mourning, but Ranil Wickremesinghe wanted to celebrate it with the Portuguese Prime Minister.

The next big blunder Ranil Wickremesinghe committed as the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka was to support the illegal invasion of Iraq by the USA and the UK. President George W Bush (GWB) invaded Iraq to kill Sadam Hussein to settle a personal vendetta and to justify it he concocted the story of weapons of mass destruction. Sri Lanka should never have supported it.

CFA

When such a person signs a CFA presented to him by a foreigner without consulting the President of the country, the Cabinet of Ministers and the clergy it's a very grave and devastating blunder. The CFA was prepared by the LTTE and presented to Ranil through the Norwegians. CFA was a dangerous document that would have established a separate State within Sri Lanka if it remained in force for a few more years. This writer together with an eminent lawyer studied the CFA in detail and briefed the Mahanayakas on its dangerous aspects. Scrapping the vacant government sector job vacancies on the advice of a foreign economist was another big blunder Ranil committed.

That delivered a terrible blow to the job seeking youth. Sri Lanka should not accept all advice given by all Westerners. All above blunders were committed because Ranil never consults anyone before committing such devastating blunders. We have read such behaviour in Mahadenamutta stories. The practice of the principle of accepting all advice given by all Westerners and ignoring all advice given by all patriotic Sri Lankans or not consulting any Sri Lankans at all during the Ranil Wickremesinghe era was devastating for Sri Lanka. The very important quality of not losing balance under very trying circumstances, which is essential for a leader was clearly demonstrated by President Rajapaksa who under intense pressure from western powers never changed his plans to eliminate terrorism.

Western influences

Credit for eliminating terrorism and preparing Sri Lanka for the march towards economic development must go to three people and without the contributions made by these three people it would not have been possible. Firstly credit must go to President Rajapaksa for giving overall leadership, providing the needs of the Armed Forces and continuing to the end without being out manoeuvred by intense Western influences. Secondly, credit must go to Basil Rajapaksa for negotiating with India and Western countries and keeping them at bay without allowing them to thwart the war effort. Without his contribution the war would not have gone on to the finish. Thirdly credit must go to Gotabhaya Rajapaksa for guiding the Armed Forces and giving them leadership. They happen to be brothers, but they were capable and did the job that no one else could do. It was the coordinated effort of these three people that made victory possible. What Sri Lankan people were interested in was the end result. This trio has laid the foundation necessary to march towards prosperity.

Global challenges

To go forward from here Sri Lanka needs a leader who can stand up to the global challenges of the 21st Century and only a person with the following qualities can stand up to this challenge. He must be a strong leader like Lee Quan Yew and not bow down to foreign pressure. Once when an American boy who had obliterated a car parked on the roadside in Singapore was sentenced to receive some lashes as punishment the President of the USA used the maximum influence within his reach to get the boy back to the USA without facing punishment.

Lee said that the law is the same to every one and the boy could go home only after receiving the lashes. Can we think of any former Sri Lankan leader who could have stood up to such American pressure? Future leader of Sri Lanka must not be a Westernized person because a Westernized person will soon be an outdated person in the emerging global scenario. He must be a person with local culture and traditions at heart and must uphold such values. He must not have interests, alignments and stakes in other countries because such a person cannot have the interests of Sri Lanka at heart at all times.

Asia-Pacific countries

He must be a person who can promote ties with Asia-Pacific countries, take Sri Lanka to the Asia-Pacific Forum and make Sri Lanka a member of APEC. He must be a person who can understand the heart beat of both the rural and urban people. People have already elected a competent leader who can perform this task very effectively for the next seven years. In order to succeed in the march to prosperity to the end President Rajapaksa must groom suitable successors to take over at the end of his term.