Financial Times

Corporate show of strength
The private sector's frustration over the stalemate in the 'constitutional crisis' or power struggle between President Chandrika Kumaratunga and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe came out very clearly at the meeting of business leaders summoned by the Joint Business Forum at the BMICH last Thursday.

The gathering was the first of its kind and was meant to feel the pulse of the business community and to discuss what action could be taken to find a way out of the current political impasse. It is the launch of what is seen as a nationwide effort to mobilise public opinion against the intransigence of our political leaders and to apply moral and perhaps economic pressure on the two to come to some sort of compromise.

The business community's feeling of impotence was also very clear and there were references to the unsuccessful efforts of corporate bigwigs to knock some sense into the two political leaders, despite the fact that it is their own members who fund both the parties and individual politicians. Discussion about cutting off the cash that sustains politicians proved inconclusive given the practical difficulties in achieving such a consensus.

This newspaper has repeatedly called for more forceful action by the business community to find a way out of the current impasse, instead of restricting itself to making statements. The views expressed at last week's meeting and the proposals for more drastic action were heartening indeed.

As we have pointed out in these columns, the business community, which both the main political parties now acknowledge as the engine of economic growth, does not have the influence to prevail upon our political leaders to end their squabbling. The private sector is worried that the power struggle threatens to destroy the gains of the past two years of tenuous peace.

As J-Biz chairman Mahendra Amarasuriya described it, the outfit's proposals put forward to both the president and prime minister to arrive at some sort of accommodation have been "summarily dismissed".

It is in the context of such feelings of helplessness that some of those present advocated extreme measures such as downing tools and refusing to pay taxes. Some of those businessmen and corporate CEOs well known for their allegiance to the UNP proposed that the gathering come out strongly in identifying who is responsible for the current impasse and to ask the guilty party to 'get out.' That the guilty party was President Kumaratunga was inevitable given the pro-UNP tendencies of much of our corporate leadership.

Furthermore, some of the speakers bluntly pointed out that the private sector is not motivated purely by the 'national interest' or of putting 'Sri Lanka First'. It decides to act when its own selfish economic interests, or its profit margins, are threatened.

The impasse has affected the economic revival that had been gathering pace since the ceasefire came into effect, restrictions on the movement of people and goods between the north and the south were eased and business confidence restored.

A high level of economic growth and one that can be sustained is urgently required to prevent another uprising by disaffected, unemployed youth. Hence the government pressure on the private sector to even artificially create jobs and recruit some of the unemployed graduates.

One speaker warned that the voting public is becoming increasingly frustrated with the two main political parties and could turn towards a more radical and newer alternative in the form of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna at forthcoming elections. Such an outcome would not be to the liking of the business community because of the JVP's well-known hostility to the private sector and to the free-market economic system.

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