Liberal economy the way forward, says Razeen Sally
International economist and expert Razeen Sally highlighted the country’s dire situation where the Sri Lanka’s leaders are liberally spending money that the country cannot afford.
He blamed leaders on both sides of Parliament insisting that they were all responsible for the current situation noting that there was not a single politician in Sri Lanka that represents a liberal way forward. Mr. Sally was making these observations at the opening of the two-day 2019 Asia Liberty Forum organised by Atlas Network together with Advocata at the Hilton Hotel in Colombo on Thursday.
Mr. Sally said that President Maithripala Sirisena is a lifelong socialist and believes in collectivism and identified him as a “disastrous” head of state.
He noted that under the Rajapaksa government collectivism and illiberal democracy dominated the economy with an increasing dependency on China and Sinhala Buddhist chauvinism.
Mr. Sally observed that unlike the President, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe have spoken about liberalism in Sri Lanka but pointed out that these leaders did not seem interested in pursuing their promises on this front.
The political leaders have continued to act like populists spending more than what the country could afford noting that: “It’s a comprehensive failure of the political elite.”
Four years on it just has not happened, Mr. Sally complained pointing out that the Prime Minister and President were appointed with the objective of bringing about some change with a leniency to the West and an improvement in India relations and with the hope that liberalism would flower in the country.
Going forward towards the upcoming elections this year, he noted that Sri Lanka would be facing something bad or even worse as options to choose from.
In this sense, Mr. Sally who is also an advisor to Advocata pointed out that such institutions were a magnet for young professionals who wanted to do something for the country by changing public thinking.
Also addressing the opening of the event was Brad Lips of Atlas Network, US who said that the Atlas Network was involved in spreading freedom through education, research and advocacy in its capacity as an independent think tank.
One of the original partners of the forum, the Centre for Civil Society has been carrying out work on behalf of low budget independent schools across India endangered by bad regulation, he said.
In addition another aspect of their work involves liberalising trade policy to lower costs of food, and this aspect also could be a huge boon to poor families in Indonesia.
In Sri Lanka, Mr. Lips pointed out Advocata has been protecting the rights of women and most recently helping to bring about a lifting of the tax on sanitary napkins.
Atlas does not accept government funding and thrives on support from donors that invest in the entity since they invest in pro-liberty projects.