By Siri Gamage –

Dr. Siri Gamage

Many Sri Lankans -as much as authorities- are grappling with the social, economic and political realities created by decades of misplaced government policies and aggressive commercial expansion including from the global corporations in a limited space, crowded cities and roads. When one walks about streets of Colombo or Kandy for example, you can experience this reality first hand. It is not a pleasant one. On one hand the country is faced with high population including the emerging young generation. On the other it is faced with an unacceptable level of vehicles of all types on the roads in cities and outside.

While this period of festivities is exceptional due to many who want to buy clothes and other materials for the Sinhalese new year, on other days also people have to grapple with the reality of over population, over commercialisation, limited space, over motorisation of the roads without more public transport by using the rail network, and over competition. As a result very competitive society has been constructed where the value of buying power has declined drastically. Whatever the statistics will show, the human experience tells that the value of a RS.1000 or 5000 notes is minimal in the current context. Those who are able deal in hundreds and thousands of rupees are able to make living easier. Others survive hoping that a better day will come with the many promises made by the new government.

No matter what happens and what did happen, the family unit and social networks are fundamental to human survival. So are the daily routines prescribed by the social reality and cultural norms. When the systems fail, people rely on family networks and friends to achieve their goals whether it be getting some consumables, consulting a doctor, doing repairs to a house, travelling or meeting cultural and ritualistic expectations from the temple. Exchange of goodwill and finances is not excluded. So is exchange of information about the right thing or way to do in certain circumstances. Ultimately, your knowledge about the place, system, what works and what does not work, who to contact and who not to contact, and the affordability of certain things come into play in making daily decisions in the domestic sphere.

The world that has been created collectively with every passing decade comes to haunt us even when we are trying to enjoy the fruits of globalisation, commercialisation of services, complex government regulation, and fulfilling our aspirations in life. Aspirations of Sri Lankans are far-fetched and not ones that could be achieved in the short term or with the methods prescribed by the system. For example, building a better house or buying a better car or even undertaking foreign travel have become expensive. Nonetheless, when the system in place is contracted, it is natural for the people to look for other options to achieve their dreams. Thus, comes corruption and out migration to the picture.

It is here that the new government has a key role to play in understanding how the system has become oppressive and what needs to be done to address such oppressive conditions? Over populated and crowded roads, cities, service centres like hospitals are making daily life difficult for many. An academic colleague tells that there are over a million three wheels (tuk tuks) and over 5 million bicycles. Smaller cars and vans are also in abundance. Many have chosen to travel to work on motorbikes or three wheels due to the space and cost issues. The buses are also full and crowded. For example, the road leading to Kandy from Peradeniya side (Upper road) has only two lanes whereas there should at least be four. There is no room to expand the road to make it four lanes due to the already established buildings on either side. Signs of past efforts to build a by-pass remain but unfulfilled. Thus, in this space people are navigating their vehicles in every possible way by passing rules. When you are driving on one lane, suddenly you face a three wheel or another vehicle cutting you across quite unexpectedly. Yet you give way to avoid clashes. People are showing remarkable tolerance on roads and other public places perhaps with the knowledge that the reality they are facing is not changeable?

Changing the physical facilities to make life easier and comfortable is a big challenge before the government. It could be introducing more comfortable buses and trains to begin with. The intercity train between Kandy and Colombo is the one imported during Sirima Bandaranaike days. It still works but if this is the best the country can offer to locals and tourists who want to experience the resplended Lanka, god help us. The sound created by hitting steel with steel is unbearable. Movements up and down and sideways are intolerable and tiring. It is good as a reminder of bygone days but it is urgently required to be replaced with a modern more comfortable train. This may be the case elsewhere also on other key destinations. Transport costs have also gone up. Hiring a three wheel to go somewhere is not cheap unless you use Pick Me service online. Those who cannot use internet and mobile phones find it difficult to use the latter service. So, they have to rely on regular three wheels on the road at any cost.

Though the leaders from political and cultural spheres tout the importance of preserving our cultural identity, natural environment and changing the system, I cannot imagine the government being able to change physical space and facilities in the short term. Reality on ground is so oppressive on one hand but due to the limited resources and expertise available locally the government will find it difficult to change the reality as such so easily. Outside assistance is a must not only in planning but also in plan implementation. Some expect things to improve after the local government elections. The fear is that then there has to be provincial council elections also. Will the NPP say that nothing much can be done until PC elections are also held?

Still the education and higher education are oriented to so-called international education and training (though it really is Western education). They have been privatised as with other services. International providers have flooded the market place with their over powering sign boards on either side of the road, explaining the virtues of their particular brand over the others. In the state education and higher education system, it looks like more of the same. No real proposal or plan for reform. There don’t seem to be even a discourse about changing the system. As the government has decided to continue with the existing neoliberal economic system, it seems it is willing to continue with the inherited education and higher education systems with cosmetic changes? If this is the case, we will not be seeing a major overhaul in our teaching, learning and research systems. While the government is appointing committees for everything else, there is no sign that a committee or commission will be appointed to look at the reforms necessary in the education and higher education systems that the country so badly need.

With everything happening around, many people survive with simple things in life. I can see an elderly lady who is running a stall in front of our house in a small town in Kandy selling hoppers, wade, fruits, and tea. She also sells beautifully wrapped betle nuts (Bulath vita). Three-wheel drivers are the main customers for the latter. I am told that her children are not looking her after that well so she decided to set up her own small business to make a living. She has a sense of cleanliness. She cleans the place and outside every morning to move the fallen tree leaves aside. When she finishes for the day she hires a three-wheeler to take her stuff home. Come next day morning with the cooked food and tea in a big flask to sell. I have not seen her for a few days though. I can derive some energy from such people rather than hundreds and thousands who arepretentious or trying to go with the flow and routines constructed for us by the system.

This is where the localism comes into play in the face of expanding globalism. There are some including school children who get carried away with Pizza places, Kentucky fried chicken and other foreign outlets selling junk food. Kandy and Colombo are full of such outlets trying to market food produced elsewhere to the local population. They cost more compared to local outlets. Many middle-class households are installing CC TV cameras in their houses in the face of potential robberies. An App allows you to watch your house and surroundings from anywhere -day and night.

There are local solutions to local problems and issues that are not necessarily expensive or need foreign assistance. It is here that the new government can capitalise on local knowledge and experience to gather such solutions instead of running to international lending agencies. Sri Lankans are smart, intelligent and capable people. There is a reservoir of knowledge and experience including from the diaspora, that can be tapped provided there are necessary mechanisms in place. For the creation of a beautiful Lanka a system change is required on the basis of people’s aspirations and needs not necessarily as determined by a higher authority as was the case in the past.