Written without fear or favour

By Fr.Sydney Knight

T.D.S.A. Dissanayaka, The Politics of Sri Lanka (Volume IV)-The Presidential Election 1999, Swastika (Pvt.) Ltd. March 31, 2000, Price: Rs. 595/=

"Written without fear or favour, with malice towards none and magnanimity to all," the author states. This, indeed is the spirit in which the book is written.

It is not only clear that the author has worked hard to get his material, but, also in a sense, this book like his previous publications, is autobiographical. He allows the reader to have a peep into his own life and share some aspects of his life too.

By travelling, attending political meetings and talking and listening to people of all types, the author gives the reader the context, the background, the campaign and the verdict of the electorate, in the Presidential election of December 1999. The refreshing message is "My fellow countrymen, please do not put your trust in our politicians. Whatever, their politics may be...."

The author has recorded recent political happenings in the country while acknowledging the freedom to chronicle and narrate them. Therefore, he appreciates the freedom that he has and the freedom that Lakshman Perera (UNP MMC for Dehiwela Mt. Lavinia) and Richard de Zoysa did not have.

He has provided observations which should be the take- off point for others. In condemning party politics, he endorses the view that politicians have destroyed the country. The sky is the limit for examples.

Therefore, a book like this ought to encourage civil society to take over the management of the affairs of our island home, for power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

This book is a must for all those interested in the affairs of our nation. The observations there should coax all those who love our land, to participate fully in its politics. Not party politics, but politics as understood by the Greeks of the city states.

Labai, labai, Lanka labai

A constant worry of Sri Lanka's political leaders and economic planners is the trickle of foreign investment that has come into the country. While other developing countries have been able to attract foreign capital, both direct and portfolio, Sri Lanka has lagged behind.

Despite having several attributes that other countries looking for foreign investors would have welcomed, we have never been able to attract more than one percent of GDP at the best of times. On average it has remained around one per cent of GDP.

But there is little doubt in the minds of government politicians and planners that foreign investment is vital for our economic development, because if we are to reach the level of those East Asian countries growing at the rate of about 8 per cent annually, Sri Lanka would have to invest 40 per cent of its GDP.

Even if peace comes and we are also able to invest that five per cent of GDP now eaten up by the war, there would still be a shortfall of another five per cent.

So domestic savings and investment would not be sufficient if we wish to replicate the successes of the East Asian economies.

It is not that Sri Lanka did not have the opportunity or the means to achieve steady growth and forge ahead as the East Asian Tigers and others did. It was simply that for decades we decided to subsidize food.

But that, as we know, is another story and the sooner the lessons are learnt the better would be our understanding of national priorities.

It is now almost impossible to catch up with countries such as Malaysia and Singapore, which adopted more prudent and far-sighted policies.

Malaysia, for example, was quick enough to realise the importance of moving from plantation agriculture to industry and then value-added manufacture, while we were still struggling with socialist shibboleths.

If by some miracle our decades old conflict is ended and the budget deficit wiped out and investment pushed up substantially, we would still need to fill that five per cent gap and that can only come from foreign investors.

But the crunch is here. Foreign investment has to be raised by five times the present level to meet that requirement. Sri Lanka was the first in South Asia to adopt liberal economic policies and strongly sell the notion of free trade.

For all that, the level of foreign investment in the country has been minimal. Now there is a move to establish a special office in London whose primary, and perhaps only, task would be to "sell" Sri Lanka vigorously and credibly in order to attract foreign investors from Britain and perhaps the region to Colombo.

Sri Lanka's High Commissioner to the UK, Dr. Lal Jayewardena, a strong vocal advocate of the peace dividend — the benefits that accrue from a settlement of our internal conflict — has suggested the opening of an investment office here.

The Sri Lanka Government made a proposal to the Commonwealth Secretariat for technical assistance to make a feasibility study on basing such an office in London.

A two-member team from the Commonwealth Secretariat is due to travel to Colombo in mid-April to study the project.

In the team is Dr. Ganeshan Wignaraja, son of Dr. Ponna Wignaraja, the well-known development economist and social scientist. Wignaraja junior is in the economic policy side at the Commonwealth Secretariat.

The team is expected to spend about a week in Colombo talking to officials of the Board of Investment and others before returning to London where it will also take a long hard look at other countries that have established such offices here to promote foreign investment and how they function.

Among these countries are South Africa, Singapore, Ireland and also Taiwan which Beijing insists is just a renegade province of the People's Republic of China.

The fundamental question that will face the team is whether Sri Lanka needs such an office. If there is justification for it, then who is going to fund it and who is going to man it?

Even if donors can be found to help finance the office, it is vital that knowledgeable and competent persons are posted to it.

If it becomes another sinecure for the kith and kin of government politicians or their political acolytes to spend time abroad at somebody else's expense then the whole purpose of setting up such an office will be defeated.

Not only that. No donors will come round again to bale Sri Lanka out of the morass into which it is continuously slipping because of stories of dubious deals and other shenanigans that are in circulation.

Sri Lankans have been privy to horrendous tales of double and even treble dealings where politicians and their cronies have had their fingers in several pies. This is one reason why foreign investors have kept away from Sri Lanka. True, the war troubled them very much.They were constantly wondering whether their investments would be safe.

But that was certainly not the only reason. During my 10 years in Hong Kong, I had often heard from investors and potential investors, the matters that concerned them most about setting up business in Sri Lanka.

One matter was the interference they faced from politicians or their hangers-on and some police officers. The manager of a well-known food factory, who was from Hong Kong, had a gory story about how he was almost killed by workers, over some demands.

Who would want to take up a job in Colombo or its outskirts, if his life is going to be in danger? I remember a foreign owned garment factory in Sri Lanka advertising regularly in Hong Kong newspapers for a manager. With the salary and perks offered whoever it was could have led a very comfortable life in Colombo. But there were no takers. Why? One doesn't have to look far for an answer.

West meets East

By Hana Borrowman

Lessons on impermanence

Following a brief but unexpected spate of homesickness and a weekend in Hikkaduwa with a friend and her children I'm back on track this week, my sense of adventure intact and with even more inspiration to 'find my feet' fully in this ever serendipitous land.

Having hit and passed the half-way mark of my stay I'm finding it hard to adjust to the fact that Sri Lanka may be my home for now, but this is after all, just a temporary stay. All those unfamiliar sights and sounds that have become an accepted part of my everyday life, the places I've been wowed by and sworn to return to, friends I've made, people I've met and experiences I've shared will, in a few months time, be consigned to mere memories and photographs.

It's a hard concept to contemplate. Particularly from where I sit in my bright and breezy apartment in Mount Lavinia, aka 'home' and a million miles away from the anonymous existence that you experience in big cities back in England.

The idea of returning to Manchester to dodge the rain between one set of four walls -my office in the city - and another - my small terraced house- is unimaginable. Here, the both literally and metaphorically 'open' aspect of life is a far cry from the 'undercover' existence we seem to assume nowadays in Britain.

Sri Lanka has certainly taught me a thing or two about 'opening up', something I think too many of us have forgotten how to, back in the 'rat race' lifestyle of the West.

Opening up to new experiences, to people and indeed to life itself. This is proved to me in simple ways on a daily basis, from my 'Uncle' and 'Auntie' landlord/lady delivering the odd food parcel from downstairs right down to the noisy neighbourhood crows and cat that sneaks in every night to curl up on my sofa.

All are accepted (in the cat's case quite literally) simply as part of the furniture - and we live together in relative harmony, despite their lack of contribution to the rent.

In fact with the addition of my flatmates, friends, a whole host of ants of all shapes and sizes, our beloved geckos and even the odd - less popular - cockroach we've joked about rivalling the Dehiwela zoo for our spectacular array of wildlife.

So it's hard to imagine heading back to a more closed-off life in Britain, and I'm relieved that I don't and won't have to for a good few weeks yet.

Throughout my stay so far I've been witness to many an emotional departure. It is inevitable as a visitor from foreign shores that I run into other temporary residents and that visas expire and people move on.

To quote a pertinent 'plane letter' from one such candidate - and a close friend I made here - on her way back to Britain after three months spent teaching in an orphanage in Matara:

"As I ascend into the skies I raise my pathetic excuse for a real cup of Lankan tea to my unique Sri Lankan experience. And as the country shrinks into the distance I realise that the true irony is that you only actually ever see Sri Lanka as the shape of a tear drop when you are leaving."

Back on terra firma, I can fully appreciate this sentiment. It's interesting then that my latest close acquaintance on these shores is of a rather more permanent status.

Similarly she arrived on a temporary voluntary basis to teach children English in an orphanage (albeit a rather heavily accented Australian version). This was seven years ago, however, and she now lives with her Sri Lankan husband and two children running a highly successful business in Colombo.

Proving my theory that dreams do come true in Sri Lanka if you simply try hard enough to realise them. Not only does her perfect Sinhala combined with an open and inquisitive mind offer ever-enlightening insights into the intricate inner workings of Sri Lankan society, but also the occasional personal triumph when she points out to not-so-innocent onlookers that she comprehends their comments and isn't impressed.

It's been inspiration enough to start to learn the language myself, but it's a long slow haul - especially when using English is the lazier option.

So far my communication skills in Sinhala are somewhat limited to greetings, apologies and the all-important bartering/shopping skills - and the women at my local bakery still giggle at my pronunciation. I can't help feeling however, that by the time I'm fluent enough to make basic conversation, I'll be well on my way to leaving the language and its country behind, the most useful phrase being 'I hope to see you again very soon'.

I keep reminding myself that it will be a great lesson in 'impermanence' when I leave, but I'm still trying to make sure I savour every moment so as not to miss out on the 'once in a lifetime experience' of all this.

As is my mother who has just booked her second trip out to Sri Lanka to visit (me?) over April, staying in the same Cottage Garden guesthouse that she put her roots down, on her initial trip back in January. Her excuse might be the opportunity to experience an encore of New Year celebrations on these shores but I suspect that she's been bitten by the same Sri Lankan bug as her daughter (not an inhabitant of my apartment this time). Which is yet more confirmation that it's not only me who has found a home from home on this welcoming little isle.

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