Sri Lanka’s experience and its lessons for the world

Text of the speech by External Affairs Minister Prof G L Peiris at the China Institute of International Studies, Beijing on August 12, 2010. Prof Peiris was elected a Distinguished Fellow of the Institute

Sri Lanka, at the time we received Independence from the British in 1948, was regarded as a model for economic development in the whole Commonwealth. We were so described as by no less a figure than Li Kwan Yu, the architect of modern Singapore, in his famous autobiography “The Singapore Story: From Third World to First”. In that book he says that in the early years, in his public speeches, he used to ask the question, why cannot Singapore develop like Ceylon, as the country was then called?

Minister Prof G L Peiris

In the late 40s and the early 50s Ceylon had the highest per capita income in South Asia. We were ahead of Malaya, ahead of Thailand, ahead of Korea and we were just a few dollars behind Japan.

What held us back thereafter was one problem and that was the problem of terrorism. Whatever we tried to do during that period, however hard we tried, however pragmatic our policies were, there was a point beyond which we could not succeed, with regard to investment, with regard to trade or tourism because of the violence in the country.

Battlefield

The difference now is that this constraint has been consigned to the past, our country has been able to eradicate terrorism. It might seem to you and indeed it is, a singular achievement. It is, therefore, worth pausing to reflect for a moment on how this became possible, because the gloomy prophesy that we heard all too often from the international community, was that it was simply not possible to prevail against the Libration Tigers of Tamil Eelam in the battle field.

We were told, no doubt with good intentions, by countries which had a whole reservoir of military expertise, that terrorism could not be defeated militarily. The experience of Sri Lanka demonstrates the contrary, so the question is, how was it possible for a small country with very limited resources, with a small Army, Navy and Air Force to succeed, where other larger countries with far more substantial resources at their command, failed? What is the explanation of this remarkable phenomenon?

I think there are certain lessons of universal validity which can be learnt from the contemporary Sri Lankan experience.

One of the most important lessons is that, if you are to succeed in an endeavour of this kind, the effort has to be made by the country itself. There is no way that you can call in the armies of another country.

To be continued