The importance of being unique

Last Sunday was the Binara Fullmoon day. Around noon, I was switching channels on the TV, when my attention was drawn to a Dhamma discussion. A young Buddhist monk was presenting a discourse different to what we hear in many similar discussions. The thoughts he shared were down to earth, practical and easy to grasp. His call was for us as a nation to rethink the way we live, based on the principle of Buddhist economics.

Long-term thinking

He questioned if we could find the answers we seek for what ails the modern world on the social and economic front, using paradigm of the dominant Western economic and business models? He questioned if we should not adopt a more back to basics approach in seeking solutions for them? Reference was made to the consequences the human race will face as we were surpassing the critical threshold levels of emitting CO2, causing global warming and sea level rises.

He queried if we had the resolve to reverse our excessively greedy ways and questioned if we were ready to look beyond the short-term to the mid and the long-term in governance and business decision making. His contention was that we should stop looking elsewhere for solutions and re-examine the models we use now.

The all important question was raised, if we should continue to be guided by greed driven Western dominant models or seek our own, designed after principles of prudent self-reliance, such as proposed by the Buddha as later articulated by E. F. Schumacher, Mahatma Gandhi and the King of Thailand (Sufficiency Economy). The danger of considering conventional wisdom as idealistic and ignoring the very core-values that sustained us for so long, was strongly articulated.

While these Asian ways of economic and business management could define a new paradigm and model, it was said that we needed to be mindful that it cannot be an appendage to the existing dominant Western model or used as part solutions to just to overcome hard times.

Mahatma Gandhi

E. F. Schumacher

The reason for that is the contradictory nature of the core-values in which the two models are built. One proposes that an economy must thrive on meeting excessive human greed, choice and craving for things material, while the other shuns excessive greed, focusing on building systems based on the collective good and on meeting basic and essential human needs. Although, thoughts are drawn from Buddhist principles, it is paramount that we realize that they are equally valid for all religious belief systems and ways of life as articulated in each of them.

Food for thought

Placed in the context of news we get of huge development projects of banana plantations, tourism and other infrastructure facilities within and in the buffer zones of our national parks and world heritage areas, growing intensity of the human-elephant conflict, forest clearing and the like, it is important that our policymakers, strategic planners, investors and business developers consider such discourse food for thought.

There has been earlier discussion that Sri Lanka is one wholesome theme park that does not need to have 'built structures' or set-up artificial dreamlands or resorts. Our many assets within a compact space; the Sinharaja, Knuckles Range, Horton Plains, the several wild-life parks and sanctuaries, can compete with the best of the built facilities, offering the world at large unique wonders.

Getting it right

What we do not do adequately, is to appreciate and understand the significance and value of these, for us to be able to present them not only to visitors, travellers and tourists, but for our own, with courage and confidence. We need to develop simple but quality facilities to make these experiences enjoyable such as information signage, comfort centres, toilets, safe walk-ways and roadways heeding the needs of the elderly and others with special needs as well.

We should not rush to harness the potential of the North and the East to meet the fast-paced demand that seems to emerge, if we are to take on unsustainable models of infrastructure and other development. Our focus could be on gaining the highest possible yield from each of the activities we undertake through exercising least pressure on resources.

And that would mean a shift from short-term assessment of feasibility of project led growth to a long-term assessment of need based social development. Attention need be placed on gaining direct benefit in foreign exchange earnings for the country and our people.

We must ensure that a substantial portion of the forex we earn is retained within the country, by both minimizing the need for input imports and plugging the avenues available for leakage and non-retention of earnings.

Stand tall

It is important, as the learned monk opined, that we realize that there is much economic value in our natural assets, when they are left as they are.

Many have suggested that we learn from the complex workings of natural ecosystems to form our ways and offers in the thought processes of governance and business decision making. That could enable us to see the immense value propositions we have in protecting the pristine state of these resources.

It can also help us seek ways to celebrate the unity within our nation's diversity of natural, cultural and heritage assets. At this time when we seek to be the 'Wonder of Asia', our ecological diversity and uniqueness will stand in good stead to help us 'stand tall in the crowd' in comparison with other many build environments we find in our midst.

[email protected]