Financial Times

Of bees and lazy dogs
Growth lessons for Sri Lanka from Japan
Japanese Ambassador Akio Suda last week urged Sri Lanka to accelerate development and industrialisation but not at the expense of losing nature and the country's unique culture.

"People cannot happily live only on natural and cultural assets at this time of the economic integration of the world. So you definitely need to accelerate development and industrialization. But it is a tragedy or even a comedy, if you make the country just another developed country simply following others (and) neglecting Sri Lanka's uniqueness of blessed nature and culture, " he told a meeting of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce last week.

Suda, in recent times a forceful campaigner on the need for Sri Lanka to develop fast, said this unique challenge for balanced development of the country, entrepreneurs and business leaders are the major players. Speaking on Sri Lanka's future in the eyes of the Japanese, he said:

At a time when you need steady and efficient development of the country to lift up people's living standards, business circles are expected to play a significant role in a different way from politicians, bureaucrats, social workers, academics and mass media.

In this respect, I have noticed that business circles including the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce have been increasingly raising voices not only on economic, financial and development issues, but also on social and political issues of the country including peace and stability. If you argue only from the interests of your own company, it may not have a big impact on the society. But if you argue from the common interests of a business group, it would have more impact.

As the ambassador of Japan, the country which has long been supporting the development of Sri Lanka, I have reiterated, on several occasions the essential importance of consistent development policy on the part of the government, particularly in relation to fundamental infrastructure projects.

Sri Lanka has been losing many years in its development efforts by frequently reviewing and changing once decided plans of infrastructure projects. You should allocate sufficient time for transparent, objective and scientific checks of the draft plan by various groups and offices before formally approving the project. But, once it is approved through due procedures, it is to the benefit of the country to efficiently implement and complete the project on schedule.

To pursue sustainable development of a country, you certainly need to develop industries which are well-rooted in regions and the country. Foreign capital, technologies and services play a major role in the development of any country.

The question is how well you can utilize them to develop industries which benefit local people and the country at large through creation of employment, development of human resources, reproduction cycles, etc.

To talk about tourism industry as an illustrative example, there are many attractive tourism sites with first class hotels on beaches and in areas of cultural interests. The number of tourists to Sri Lanka seems to be nicely growing as the ceasefire basically continues.

It is questionable, however, whether such tourism is benefiting the local people, local shops and local community as much as it's supposed to. Unfortunately, I have seen very few tourism places in this country where not only big hotels but also towns, streets and villages are really flourishing with tourists for the benefit of local people.

Business is a tough competition or even a survival game for benefit. So, the major concern of investors or businessmen is how to make maximum profits for their own firms. But it is better for the whole country, if they can do that by getting many people involved locally rather than isolating themselves from the public.

I have had opportunities to fly over this island from Colombo to the Northern Province. What struck me during these flights was the abundance of greenery, particularly endlessly spreading primeval forest.

In the past, Japan or some other well industrialized countries had made a mistake of destroying a big portion of beautiful forest and built factories or golf courses, etc., simply because they yield money for a limited group of people. I do not deny the rational and necessity to use some part of the forest to build good industrial projects which bring about valuable benefit to the region and to the country for many generations. But, seriously, it is my instinctive belief that the abundantly blessed nature of this country, namely, forests, rivers, waterfalls, rocks, mountains, and wild life, are the country's assets of paramount value, which the people should be truly proud of and which the people cannot afford to lose in trade with narrow sighted business interests.

Another invaluable asset of this country is its culture, tradition and heritage. Sri Lanka's culture, tradition and heritage are extraordinarily valuable in its depth and uniqueness.

And when I say this, I mean they are valuable not just for the Sri Lankan people but also for people of other countries including Japan.

For example there are many traditions in this country which the Japanese have missed. I was told that the local people and officials in Sigiriya never use toxic spray to kill dangerous bees on the cliff of Sigiriya Rock however active they become and attack tourists, and instead wait for weeks until the bees calm down by prohibiting tourists to pass until such time.

If it were in Japan, local shoppers, travel agents and parents of school children would put pressure on town authorities demanding the destruction of beehives for business interests or safety reasons, and would have done it quickly. This is an example of traditions which Japan has missed and Sri Lanka maintains living along with.

It is also amazing and a bit embarrassing to see, anywhere in this country, stray dogs sleeping dangerously close to the centre of main roads as if they believe in the generosity of all human beings.

Those lazy stray dogs are an eloquent evidence to prove how admirably Sri Lankan people are kind towards other living beings.

Back to Business