Financial Times

Moving beyond statements and rhetoric
By Random Access Memory (RAM)
Hope is the most valuable lifeline we have during troubled times. We live in the hope that our leaders will see the light of day and deliver us to the land they promise us, at least during those rare spells when they remember that we the people exist. It seems that most of the time they are too busy to reflect on our hopes. Somewhere, somehow their own hopes for a better future for themselves, seem to takeover the need to deliver on ours. 'What's in it for me', is said to be the basic human need that drives us all to move forward on the fast-track growth path, and we are mere minions, unable to pin blame on anyone who seeks the 'what's in it for me'.

Long years ago studying the subject of economics of conservation, RAM learnt that conservation very simply meant 'postponement by humans, the present use of resources, to the future'. This means that people would be motivated to conserve our natural, financial (saving) and other resources only if we had a reasonable degree of certainty of what the future holds for us. Deep levels of uncertainty, is considered the key contributory factor that result in non-conservatory practises leading us to plundering of resources, corruption, disorder and even anarchy. Living from one crisis to another, one conflict to another, simply thriving in crisis and conflict resolution will not at all, bring us a reasonable degree of certainty of the future.

How can we expect the public at large to behave rationally and in a conservatory manner when they are unsure of what even the immediate future holds for them? How can we expect our political leaders to think rationally of the long term good, when they are unsure if they will survive even the term of a few years that they have been elected to serve? How can we expect our business leaders to be oriented to the long term, if they are unsure of the relative stability of the environment in which they can do business? How can we expect those who enforce the law to deliver without fear or favour, when they are uncertain that the system will not stand up to support them for fair -play, meritocracy and transparency?

What good will it do to conserve our natural heritage of coastal wetlands, the virgin rain forests, all richly endowed with very high levels of bio-diversity, if we knew that the short-term designs of the powerful among us, may lead us to its destruction anyway? What good will it do for our more sensible within the coastal communities to think of conserving our rich marine life, if they are not too certain that these resources may not last for too long, due to coral mining, over fishing, poaching and dynamiting? What good will it do for us to conserve our life giving water resources, if we knew that our access to this public good will be determined by our ability to pay dearly for it? Simply, what good does it do us to maintain the complexity of the web of ecological systems, if we were unsure how that will all bring a better future for our children, their children and thereon?

To some, all this is mere wishful thinking, too simplistic and devoid of the reality on the ground. Some of our grass-roots leaders claim that we will be able to create a state of relative certainty, only if we get our basics right. They claim that we need first to establish a base within communities that hold strong moral and ethical standards. This indeed is a noble long-term goal. Since we have had a long 'Waiting for Godot' scenario since our independence, is it not time now to act and act strong, to drive some sound sense into the minds of our 'elected' leaders?

Presenting rational investment oriented budgets, setting in place 'efficient' resource management systems and actively pursuing avenues for developing consensus on issues on the basis of co-habitation are all necessary conditions for minimising uncertainty. But the sufficient conditions come from a more basic base of values, actions and setting in place ethical and moral standards for governance. Such a base necessarily demand good leadership; leadership that permeates the hopes and aspirations of the people upholding a system that is driven by meritocracy and transparency.Have we not waited for far too long hoping that Godot will come?

annot a force of positive thinking people, creating a body of positive vibes, move the minds of our current leaders to take a 'good look in the mirror' and join in with the more rational community and business leadership, to work towards creating a culture in Sri Lanka that can bring us relative certainty? The need of the hour is to transcend beyond statements and proposals focussed on sectoral specifics. What is needed is to move towards a holistic national agenda of strategic actions that are for the common good presented on a unified, unbiased and consistent platform.
In so doing, the negative forces can be negated and the positive strengthened and enhanced.

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