By Jayadhamma Athukorala –

As a contribution to the on-going civic discourse, I wish to set down my thoughts on the current political situation in Sri Lanka. In order that what I say here will be viewed in the correct perspective, I think I must first acquaint the reader with my relevant systems of belief. Those who do not share my basic beliefs will naturally fail to understand me. Before everything else, I must reveal that at the Presidential election I voted for Ranil W because I considered the economic issue to be of paramount consideration at that moment – as it still is – and that Ranil was following just the economic policy that I as a student of Economics understood to be the one that had to be followed. However, as I was not sure that Ranil had a chance of success, I cast a second preference for Anura Kumara Dissanayake because I had a hunch that he was sensible, trustworthy and is likely not to act rashly. As the counting had to go for a second round my preference vote did count finally. I am glad that as I expected AKD is following a sensible and rational economic policy. At the Parliamentary Elections I unhesitatingly voted for the NPP because the President needed to be given the parliamentary support he required.

In my student days at Peradeniya I attended the study classes of both Doric de Zousa of the LSSP and N. Shanmugathasan of the yet undivided CP. Thereby I believe I acquired an acquaintance with the basic tenets of ‘scientific’ socialism or Marxism. Later I enhanced such knowledge with the reading of the Marxist classics – Das Kapital, the Communist Manifesto, Socialism – Utopian and Scientific (Engels) State and Revolution (Lenin) etc. However with the study of Economics and independent reflections on a changing and developing world, I came to realise that the orthodox Marxist worldview needed modification. The severe exploitation of human labour (including child labour) in the England of early industrialization, that Marx so graphically brought to light (with excerpts from official Factory Inspectors’ reports) has now ceased to be. in the developed world, although it does continue to some extent in the developing world. Western societies have also learnt to tame economic recessions and depressions so that the ‘apocalypse’ that Marx predicted (on the basis of the facts of his day), ending in the final collapse of capitalism, is unlikely to ever come about. Indeed, if Marx who was a realist, had lived into the 20^th century, he might have considerably modified his prognosis, In fact some Marxist theoreticians of today like Prof. Richard Wolfe of the US, have so modified their thinking that today they don’t even invoke the almost ‘sacred’ Marxian term ‘dialectics’ as the motive force of societal change, instead substituting it with ‘over-determination’, a muti-faceted agency of change.

Another aspect of the matter is that Marx, being the scientific thinker that he was, refused to be considered a ‘prophet’ for all of humanity, for all times. In a  letter to the editor of a Russian newspaper of his day he once protested that a detractor of his was trying to depict his “ …historical sketch of the genesis of capitalism in Western Europe (my emphasis) ”  as “ ..an historio-philosophic theory of the marche generale [general course] imposed by fate upon every people, whatever historic circumstance in which it finds itself in” [I am sorry I have misplaced my note regarding the source of this quote] This clearly shows that Marx never expected his theories to be applied everywhere without regard to their specific historical circumstances. In developing countries like ours where capitalism  had not even fully developed, the basic economic problem is still that of under-development and not that of capitalist exploitation of labour. Therefore our efforts must be directed mainly at developing our existing and potential resources to increase our national wealth and not to fight capitalist exploitation. And, talking of capitalism, one should not forget that one of the highest compliments that capitalism has ever received is found nowhere else than in the Communist Manifesto: “The bourgeoisie, during its rule of scarce one hundred years [ i.e counting from Marx’s day] has created more massive and more colossal productive forces than have all preceding generations together….What earlier century had even a presentiment that such productive forces slumbered in the lap of social labour.”  Of course, capitalism has to be regulated in the public interest. That is the business of the government.

One other relevant aspect of my belief system relates to the ethnic issue. I am a firm believer in racial and religious amity. We can progress only as a united nation. The building of a united nation must be high in the government’s agenda. Any tendencies opposed to that, must be swiftly crushed democratically and lawfully.

Coming now to the present situation in Sri Lanka, the foremost thought in my mind is that since Independence we have experimented enough with regard to governing parties. India stuck to the Congress for a long while under wise leaders like Nehru, during which period, among other things, a solid base was laid in heavy industry. A solid base was also laid in respect of modern technological knowledge, through a country-wide network of Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) rivalling the prestigious MIT of US. Malaysia also laid strong foundations under the long reign of Mahathir’s UMNO. Singapore continues without a break under the no-nonsense, rational People’s Action Party and has thus forged ahead from the Third World to the First (which incidentally is the proud title of Lee Kwan Yew’s book)  Meanwhile, WE have been experimenting from election to election and every succeeding government has tried to change everything that the predecessor had done, while playing to the gallery. Government’s have been childish enough even to change the names of programmes (witness the metamorphoses of Janasaviya – Samurdhi – Aswesuma). Ranil’s Regaining Sri Lanka socio-economic development plan, which was developed even with a Harvard University input was dropped like a hot potato by the succeeding government. A wide-ranging Human Resource Development Plan developed with the active participation of wide sections of the public service under the leadership of a former Vice-Chancellor (and Oxford Economist) during a MR regime was similarly dropped by the next government. What wasted effort all this meant! How can a country progress if every 5 years the policy regime undergoes a cataclysmic change. How can external actors like foreign investors do business in such uncertain circumstances.

Therefore my thinking is that once we have in place, as now, a government which appears to be composed of honest men and women ( whatever other failings and inadequacies they may have) we must stick with them for a long while, if the government follows a rational and intelligent over-all national policy – even if there is a salt shortage once in a while and an immature cub politician shoots his mouth occasionally (Come to think of it, under which previous government did such things NOT happen?) What leads me to think that these people are honest is the fact that they have an ideologically  determined outlook in contrast to the self-centered outlook of the vast majority of other politicians. They have shown that they are prepared to make extreme personal sacrifices for what they believe in. They have come through the fire, they are tested men. If their thinking is a bit wonky at times (it is) there is a possibility of that being corrected, but born rogues cannot be transformed over-night (or over 5 years in the Opposition for that matter!)

Everything depends on leadership. In my frank estimation the following are the only politicians in the field at present who have the intelligence and the broad world-view necessary to lead a country: Ranil, Patali, Dilith, Harsha and AKD. Harsha though, does not have  (in my estimation) the charisma to be a leader of men. Ranil is unfortunately beset with a past – real or fabricated I am not sure, that he cannot get away from. He is also handicapped by having only two or three, at most, honest and capable people around him, as became evident during his presidency. Patali is mainly a loner and does not appear to be a team-man. Dilith though a capable and intelligent man, has unfortunately fallen into the lap of racists. That leaves only AKD who also happens to be the man elected by the people at the moment.  I don’t think he can justifiably be tainted with the follies of the erstwhile infantile JVP of Wijeweera. As said before, he is backed by a party of ideologically committed men and women ( though many may require a re-education and rounding-off)

The following actions of AKD give reason for being hopeful of him: (When former Minister Ali Sabri recently said in a post that he wished him success he must have taken all or some of these into consideration)

* He continues the Ranil government’s sensible economic policy to stabilize the economy ( before a growth path can be entered into);

* He has declared unequivocally that he is for national reconciliation and appears to be fostering that objective;

* He has selected recognized non-party professionals like Hulangamuwa, Hans Wijesuriya etc etc. as top advisers ( In this context the present furore regarding the appointment of an Auditor General is distressing. It is hoped that the allegation of a party favorite being proposed is not true or will be abandoned. The President’s present standing among right thinking independent people will depend on this.)

* He has by now met with 3 important Heads of State or Government in dignified manner and has entered into fruitful co-operation with those countries. The prospective visit to Germany, the first western country he will visit is very important and is a wise step.

* He has correctly identified digitalization as the key to modernization of governance and has brought the subject under his personal charge. Although one does not hear much about what is going on, one hopes much planning is in progress.

* He has seen to it that the anti-corruption drive is re-launched in a vigorous manner. Many high profile suspects are now being brought to face the law.

I kept till the last, what I consider his most important initiative – CleanSrilanka. This is something that no Srilankan leader before him has ever thought of. I listened to his speech in Parliament and read the text ( including the English translation) very carefully. Therefore I know that what he is aiming at is not cleanliness of the physical environment alone but something that is not short of a re-generation of Sri Lankan society, all round. Such national re-generations have sometimes occurred elsewhere in the world. The most well known of them is the regeneration of Japan after what is known as the Meiji Restoration (read the Wikipedia article on the subject) After its all round spurt of development beginning around 1868 Japan became a world power within the space about 3 decades, capable of beating in battle the mighty Russian empire of the day – after having being a feudal backwater for centuries (though culturally more advanced even then than  Sri Lanka – Kabuki, NO, Novels etc). Symbolic of this transformation was that even the Emperor cut off his konde and started wearing western clothes, resorting to the kimono only on some ceremonial occasions. Our country badly needs such an all round re-generation – clean physical environment, courteous habits, rational thinking, minimized corruption and minimized organized crime (crimes of passion are largely unavoidable) etc etc. (In Tokyo a taxi driver once declined the fare I offered to pay him, saying that he had already been paid by a government office I had visited) I hope the people put in charge of this vital programme are dynamic people with imagination.

The governmental administrative systems need an overhaul. Some senior bureaucrats of yester year will remember that a systematic effort was inaugurated for such an overhaul a couple of decades ago – largely on the initiative of many senior bureaucrats themselves and not  so much that of any  political personalities. That petered out due to many reasons. It is hoped that the President will now take this effort in hand along with his digital initiative with which it is very much connected. (Whether there is any activity in this direction in the Ministry in charge of public administration is not known to me, but certainly there is no such information in the public domain). Anyway this is an important enough a subject to be under the direct charge of the Head of Government. Years ago  some senior bureaucrats on their own initiative even started a ‘Clean Hands’ community to combat corruption in the administration. I mention this and the earlier mentioned reform initiative in order to alert the government to the fact that there were many public spirited public officers at one time, who sincerely wanted to ‘change the system’ and that means that there ought to be even now such an element within the public service which can be harnessed by the government to champion its effort at Systems Change. The President ought to address that element in the Public Service direct and elicit their support.

I wish to end this note with some thoughts on the ‘ethnic problem’. As I see it, this problem has two aspects. One is the aspect of the real day-to-day problems encountered by the minorities due to various government policies, practices and attitudes. The second is the emotional ethnic divide that prevails and the related behaviors in society, (In our childhood we did not sense such a divide. My father who was a Sinhala school master would refer to a Tamil doctor as a “yaapane mahaththayek” without any reference to his ethnicity. During the late 1940s my then maiden aunt who was a Textile Demonstrator i.e. trainer, spent an year or so happily in Jaffna only accompanied by her mother, training Tamil girls in handloom weaving. I had several respected Tamil teachers)  It is idle to expect that the present atmosphere of ethnic divide will go away any time soon, The ‘goons of 1956’ – Bandaranaike, Baddegama Wimalawansa etc – set alight a conflagration the possible long term effects of which even they in their idiocy probably could not foresee. Anyway, even the dying embers of that conflagration will not extinguish themselves for a long while. It will take a few more generations yet for complete ethnic harmony to be restored. It takes time for hearts to mend,. Therefore we should not despair the occasional minor explosions like the notorious Canadian memorial. However we should do everything in our power to eliminate any difficulties yet suffered by minorities under the first aspect mentioned above. For example, the stupid Land Settlement Order which has caused so much concern in the North could have been avoided if the authority concerned was sensitive to the difficulties still suffered by people in the war-torn areas. These are not problems of policy but problems of administration. (I can still remember a certain lady Additional Secretary who consistently neglected to issue at least an English translation of the Minutes of a monthly meeting for the benefit of 5 non-Sinhala senior officers, despite being directed by her Secretary)

A word about Devolution. To put it briefly (although I was an early enthusiast), I now consider it an expensive and cumbersome, yet unsatisfactory attempt at assuaging the Tamil people’s quite justifiable aspiration to share power. To begin with, only the people of the North and East aspired to any ‘sharing of power’ If our leaders had vision, we would have had sharing of power at the Centre and extensive decentralization at the real grass root level – the village. DS Senanayake had 3 solid Tamil MPs (2 ex-CCS men and a King’s Counsel – all Oxbridge men) in charge of Trade and Commerce, Post and Telecommunication and Industries. Wouldn’t ordinary Tamil people – not ambitious elites – then have had some  feeling at least of being in the government? In a Cabinet of, say 20, there should be about 5-6 Tamil MPs (representing Tamil areas) in charge of important national level subjects like Finance, Education and Health– not milk sops like Social Services and half-subjects like Fisheries. Then at the Grama Niladhari level there should be a local authority in charge of not just traditional local government subjects but virtually rural regeneration, with some supervisory role also over all government entities functioning in its area of authority (at least to inspect and report).  If feasible party politics should be debarred at this election since a choice of policies is needed only at the national level elections, Only competent and honest individuals known as such to the villagers should be expected to be elected. Direct elections will be only to this body and the National Parliament, thus cutting down drastically the present election expenditure at 4 levels. At the district level there will be a Co-ordinating body consisting of Chairpersons of the GN level bodies. This Co-ordinating body will also serve as an electoral college to elect 2 representatives to a national Second Chamber, with limited legislative power but an extensive consultative role (In the 2^nd Chamber all districts will have equal representation – like the US Senate). Providing representation to Professional bodies and national level TU federations is an option to be considered.

However all of the above is probably only Utopia because the Tamil people or the Tamil elites appear to be sold on the present system of devolution. To me it is saddening- a lost opportunity.