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| Friday, 12 September 2003 |
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Please forward your letters to editor@dailynews.lk in plain text format within the e-mail message, since as a policy we do not open any attachments.
Getting on with the private sector In recent months a spate of articles in your journal as well as others have spoken of the engine of growth that is the Sri Lankan private sector. Many believe it's only a question of time before Sri Lanka is transformed into the economic hub of South Asia. Others draw promising parallels to countries like Singapore, that by dint of skill, creativity, knowledge and discipline have achieved first-world recognition and status. However, the recent trend has been to criticise the private sector for taking the concept of free-market capitalism too much to heart, with scant regard for social and environmental responsibilities and obligations. The private sector is being chastised for being too profit-oriented. On this point, the Sri Lankan private sector is no different to other nations, rich and poor, large and small. There is nothing wrong with any company being profit-oriented. After all, as Adam Smith famously observes in his monumental "Wealth of Nations" - "it is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest". Now, the Prime Minister has joined the chorus of discontent, and has urged them to "get on with it". Before the private sector can be asked, anything fundamental issues have to be addressed and resolved. One of these is a simple concept known as the "Rule of Law". Allow me to quote from the Dictionary of Political Thought - "the form of government in which no power can be exercised except according to procedures, principles and constraints contained in the law, and in which any citizen can find redress against any other, however powerfully placed, and against the officers of the State itself, for any act which involves a breach of the law". It is utter nonsense to talk of Sri Lanka being an economic powerhouse or believing it will join the vanguard of nations in the forseeable future when the Rule of Law is practically non-existent. No one can gainsay the Prime Minister's sincere efforts to bring peace to the country. The newspapers provide a social and economic landscape that is chilling: someone in Sri Lanka dies every 4.5 hours by road/traffic accident; a quantum leap in the reported cases of rape and murder; a thousand complaints pending with the Bribery Commission, a commission that, to the best of my knowledge, is yet to function; a private bus operation that maintains a stranglehold on the public because it is allowed to believe it is above the law; allegations of insider trading at the country's investor watchdog institutions that have been all but swept under the carpet; the Pramuka Bank fiasco; university raggings that have led to murder and permanent disability; massive loans by the State banks that are yet to be repaid because the political will to prosecute offenders is absent. One can continue with this litany. Add to this political instability and we have a recipe for both social and economic disaster. According to the Global Corruption Report 2003, Sri Lanka is the only country in South Asia that 'bucked the trend' by "neither proposing new legislation or making plans to create independent anti-corruption institutions". The private sector in Sri Lanka is inextricably linked to the public sector. Without one the existence of the other cannot be conceived. I would therefore urge the private sector to focus its attention on restoring the rule of law. No longer can it permit the luxury of claiming this is the government's responsibility. For the breakdown in the rule of law is profoundly inimical to productivity and wealth-creation. LOUIS ROBERTS, Nominations for Provincial Council elections During the past five decades our country had to face several problems, perhaps may be due to the wrong type of candidates been elected to Provincial, Municipal, Urban Councils and Parliament. Once these politicians are elected, some who were nobody becomes somebody overnight. The first thing they promote is their kith and kin for jobs, making appointments and placing square pegs in round holes and nothing is done thereafter, also appoint unsuitable persons as Justice of the Peace (JP). Some of these politicians do not have any basic educational qualifications, only money and gun culture. Today to be elected to any Council or Parliament you need not have any basic educational qualifications and age limit, whereas in the Public and Private Sector you need to have some minimum educational qualifications and age limit for any employment, and also a certificate from the Grama Sevaka and Police clearance. What the people want today is peace and stability in the country, so that they can go on with their normal work peacefully and develop the country for future generations. To achieve this the hierarchy of all political parties in the country should select suitable candidates to these Councils and Parliament with at least the following qualifications, if the country is to go forward. i. Candidates selected should have the minimum educational qualifications G.C.E. (Advanced Level), we have plenty of them in the country. ii. Good knowledge of the three languages Sinhala, Tamil and English. iii. Professionally qualified persons in all fields to develop the country. iv. Character certificate either from the temple, church, kovil or the mosque of the suitability of the candidate to hold high office in any of these Councils or Parliament in the country. v. Declaration of the assets and liabilities of the candidate. Plus points may be given to professionally qualified persons in the selection, as these persons need not require the services of the underworld thugs to campaign, as people will elect the best suitable qualified person. We must leave this world better than it was found, since we are only passengers in transit in this world. F.A. RODRIGO-SATHIANATHEN, It has been reported that there is a surplus paddy production of 38,000 metric tons - so gratifying to hear of this good news. It's then, one is prompted to recall those palmy old days of our ancient Sinhala kings. Sri Lanka exported rice, and it was called the 'Granary of the East' by the ancient Greeks. Just see! how the ancient Lanka was well-advanced in the matter of economic and agricultural production. It was self-sufficient. It was Veera Parakaramabahu the Great who said - "Not even a single drop of rainwater be allowed to flow into the sea as waste." He built tanks and stored water. Just see how prudent, practical and methodical that the ancient king was! The kings had raised Sri Lanka's status to the extent that it was praised to be the storehouse of grains. Don't you think that we should be proud of this. Due to foreign domination, our economy took a different turn. It's a pity - a country which exported rice has to import it now to feed its hungry mouths. And now we hear the surprising news of surplus production. It is expected that the figure would rise to 200,000 metric tons. It's encouraging indeed! We can export, and strive to maintain the same proud stand - 'the granary of the East'. Let history repeat itself. S. SABA SUBRAMANIAM, |
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