Financial Times - Business fails the nation

Just a few days before this newspaper hit the streets last week, the saga of Dr Ziyard Mohamed, the harried director of the Tea Research Institute (TRI), came to an end when President Mahinda Rajapaksa directed his reinstatement and instead ordered the sacking of the TRI board chairman.

The latter was the one who had instigated the flimsy charges of misappropriation of public funds, leading to the TRI official’s shocking arrest which a court overturned later and cleared him of all charges.

Dr Ziyard was treated like an ordinary criminal just after returning from Tokyo where he helped persuade Japan to lift a ban on Ceylon Tea imports. Last week’s editorial comment raised many issues about the accountability of the secretary and the minister in this whole episode but it took the President to step into the matter for justice to prevail.

This week we return to this saga not for anything else but to raise more pertinent questions as to whether the private sector, in this case the tea industry, failed the nation by not standing up for Dr Ziyard’s rights.

While private sector officials from various spheres of the tea sector alerted the media to his arrest and urged newspapers to fight for his innocence, not a finger was lifted publicly in his defence. What we reliably understand is that Dr Ziyard had to fight his own case and get his job back.

Except for one association, much smaller than the big guns – exporters, traders or brokers – the others didn’t publicly protest nor persuade the authorities to stop harassing the TRI director. At least publicly nothing was done or seen to be done.

The industry, even through that fast-becoming-defunct body, The Tea Association of Sri Lanka should have issued a strong statement condemning the treatment meted out to Dr Ziyard. If associations were reluctant to do it as an individual group, they could have done it as a joint group. Or was it just lethargy on their part – as the private sector is prone to behave whenever there is a crisis or action called for?

Shouldn’t the industry have created a bigger rumpus over the Dr Ziyard saga instead of meekly calling friends in the media and asking newspapers to fight the TRI official’s battle, which the media in fact did?

Another top public sector official, highly respected and a hard worker, is also under pressure to work against regulations and moral obligations. He has so far tactfully managed his work without offending his masters but at the same time keeping his integrity intact. But how long would he last? Will he meet with the same fate as Dr Ziyard and be called upon to fight his own battle?

As our WOO columnist has repeatedly said on many occasions: wake up Mr Private Sector and make sure at least this time you have the guts to fight for what is right and make sure another honest official – a rare breed nowadays – doesn’t bite the dust because he did his job and what he felt was right.

The private sector has always been found wanting when it comes to social responsibility. When it should have stepped in during the height of Sri Lanka’s conflict, it chose to stay aloof, saying instead: We pay our taxes; it’s the government’s job to maintain law and order. We will not get involved.

This, at a time when civil society – who also pay taxes – was actively involved in trying to persuade the protagonists in the conflict to stop the war and start negotiations. Accused of being selfish, the response of business leaders was: “We have to satisfy our shareholders. We have to make money for them. We can’t do social service.”

That changed in 2001when garment exports to the US were taking a beating. This was followed by the Katunayake airport attack and on top of that the bloody attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York. The local private sector was shattered; its bottomline was gradually eroding and that led to the formation of Sri Lanka First, the business peace initiative that stills exists today though more low-key than before.

When the media was called for an informal press conference to announce the formation of this body, the first question thrown to the promoters was: “Where were you guys when thousands of people were dying on the streets or getting displaced?” Yet rather than flogging a dead horse, this paper commended that effort saying it was “better late than never for the private sector to get involved in the path towards peace.”

Another pathetic and appalling showing by the tea industry has been the way it has responded to the government downgrading the important Plantations Ministry portfolio to that of a non-cabinet ranked ministry. And this in a sector that in real terms, is the higher export earner for the country, for decades mind you. Now did the industry do something about it? No they did nothing.

A few weeks back, a group of private sector industry officials grumbled about this to a reporter whose immediate question was: “So didn’t you protest to the government for downgrading this ministry?” The response (your guess is as good as mine): Embarrassed smiles and scrambling for excuses.

Last week a newspaper reported that one of the tea industry associations had protested over this issue. At least: better late than never.

Finally, we repeat what we said before. The private sector is lethargic and selfish. The fate of the Tea Association of Sri Lanka is a good example of putting self before country. Yet, again we repeat: it’s never too late; Make sure the other tea official referred to in this comment doesn't meet the same fate as Dr Ziyard.