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"We have got to live with the consequences of our actions and we are
responsible for our own people and we take the right decisions for them.
You look at the old Philippines, the Old Ceylon, the Old East Pakistan
and several others.
I have been to these countries and places. When I went to Colombo for
the first time in 1956, it was a better city than Singapore because
Singapore had three and a half years of Japanese occupation and Colombo
was the centre or HQ of Mountbatten's Southeast Asia command. And they
had sterling reserves.
They had two Universities. Before the war, a thick layer of educated
talent, so if you believe what American liberals or British liberals
used to say, then it ought to have flourished. But it didn't."
This is what Lee Kuan Yew mentioned in his recent published book
known as 'The Singapore Story: Memoirs of Lee Kuan Yew'.
First it was Sri Lanka. The rest of the world looked on in disbelief,
and then awe, as the Sri Lankan economy began to take off before the
1980s at what seemed like lightning speed and the country positioned
itself as Asia's economic power at that time.
Throughout India's history, the vast majority of its people lived in
desperate poverty. As recently as 1985, more than 90 per cent of Indians
lived on less than a dollar a day. Yet India is poised to undergo a
remarkable transformation.
After the country began reforming in the early 1990s, economic growth
jumped to about 7 per cent. About 54 per cent of the population or 103
million people moved out of desperate poverty.
In China, rising incomes have the potential to lift over a hundred
million people out of poverty. In 1985, 99 per cent of the urban Chinese
population lived in households earning less than $3 per person per day;
by 2005, the number had dropped to 57 per cent (McKinsey Global
Institute).
There is some concern expressed about the country's income
distribution and a widely held view is that the rich have grown richer
and the poor have grown poorer.
These yields towards us are going opposite direction of India and
China. Urban Sri Lankan population is going toward worse rather than the
better man of the future.
The growth stories of China and India have always been different -
China is well known for being the world's factory, while India's new
wealth has been built on information technology services. But the result
is the same.
As Sri Lankans we cannot say we are born without silver spoons, but
we are efficient in services as well as in factory field. Room for
improvement remains, in this both sectors in our motherland.
"Which is the best way approach to economic development?", is not to
be found at the national level. You have to look at what's going on in
individual industries. And when you do, you find that supportive
Government policies that encourage competition drive good performance.
Both China and India have some sluggish, inefficient industries that
are heavily regulated and lack competitive dynamism. But both countries
also have successful industries that thrive unfettered by poor
regulation. Strong regulation country like Sri Lanka is not developing
mainly due to without sweatshops; we can't make so much money.
We are hoping that one day Sri Lankan economy will be the fastest
growing in the world and the country's citizens twice as well off-if its
policy makers embraced a deeper, faster process of economic reform.
FAIZ MARIKAR,
Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology
The average working man's promenade, the pavement sidewalls of
Colombo Galle Road stretches (Mt. Lavinia to Fort) is a lamentable
pathetic story indeed for the folks pursuing constitutionals and doctor
prescribed walks, - the only recourse being the pavements is a sorry
alternative too - the health fad nor the convalescent can ever expect
any measured sustained walks work out.
Apart from the constant project diggings, pot holes and the irregular
haphazardly-paved concrete slabs, uncleared hardened imperceptible
innocent-looking concrete mounds left unscrupulously outside shops after
some building work inside by various shop owners also adds to the misery
and inconvenience of pedestrians.
This same uncivic-minded business people also have their wares
overflowing onto the pavements further obstructing smooth movements. The
authorities should take action. Ironically, a glaring example of a lapse
by the authorities themselves can be seen at the very busy bus stand
(Mt. Lavinia and Maharagama route no. 138) opposite the Regal Cinema
Colombo, which has many unfinished concrete mounds with deep gaps to the
hazard of the commuters.
The authorities checking road pavings regularly with repair crews
should be a must. We will await the streamlining planned and promised by
our Mayor on assumption of duties years back.
W. Meadows,
Dehiwela |
