Give it to the “Sakala-man”
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Disciplined society: At a railway station in Japan, people line up in two queues, one for this train and the other for the next train. Pic by Janith Kodithuwakku
After studying and working in Japan and living there for some years, Vernan Perera decided to come back with his wife and son and settle down in Sri Lanka. He and his wife wanted to serve the motherland, while educating their son in the Sri Lankan way.
He decided to renovate his ancestral house located away from Colombo, which was in a dilapidated status, while staying in a rented house in the suburbs of Colombo. However, living here was not as disciplined as in Japan so that the “orderly behaviour” that they have got used to in Japan didn’t go well here. Even on occasions when he naturally followed that orderly behaviour, it looked awkward and the experience was unpleasant.
When he stood in an orderly manner to get into a train or a bus, for instance, others used to rush and push him aside and jump ahead. Compared with the living environment that he got used to in Japan, he felt that the living environment here was rather messy.
Bribe for trash
One of the unusual customs that made him quite uncomfortable was “bribing” the garbage collectors employed by the local authority. In Japan, the garbage truck comes as scheduled in the calendar which had been distributed among the residents by the local authority. The truck has only one employee, the driver, who gets down himself and collects garbage packed in designated bags. Any wrong way of placing garbage was notified to the resident, with a red sticker placed on the bag and not taken away.
In his locality in Sri Lanka where he rented a house, the garbage truck comes with a group of employees; when you hear their shout calling for garbage, you need to bring the garbage to the road and, hand it over and in some cases with a bribe.
When Vernan first moved to this rented house, he talked to one of the garbage collectors in order to understand the system here: “Which dates of the week, do you come to collect garbage?”
“It’s not possible to tell you a particular date, sir”, the employee answered and explained the reasons, saying: “Sometimes, our boss would ask us to go somewhere else. The vehicle might get broken or it might be gone some other direction; so, we can’t say a date!”
He continued further, while throwing the garbage bags to the truck: “For you also sir, it’s not possible to leave them on the roadside, because there are cats and dogs which would tear off garbage bags”. Everything he said implied one thing – residents must meet the garbage collectors personally in order to hand over garbage; well, without meeting them personally, how do you offer cash? But by implication, it means that somebody must stay home during the whole week, keeping the garbage bag and wait for the truck!
One day, Vernan’s wife was all alone at home when she heard the shout. She hurriedly put the garbage bag outside, pulled the gate and closed the door. Alas! They didn’t take their garbage bag that day, because there was no ‘santhosam’ (offering)!
Hiring “Sakala-man”
When I met Vernan who is also known to me for a long time, it was about three years after his return to Sri Lanka. As we had enough time to talk about his life in Japan, and now in Sri Lanka, he was able to explain all the above. Then, I asked him about his housing project – renovating the ancestral house.
He has been travelling quite often to his native town over the past two-three years in order to make arrangements to renovate his ancestral house. Even after two years of running and being exhausted, he was unable to get the approval process completed, while he had to visit a couple of local government and central government agencies and their employees. The main issue was that he was not used to bribing which he avoided all the time and as a result, the approval process was still in the process even after two years.
“As the project was not moving ahead, finally I hired a professional, called Sakala-man”, he told me.
I responded with a surprise: “What professional? Sakala-man?”
He clarified: “Yes, Sakala-man! He knows everything! You may not find this ‘professional’ in other countries, but here in Sri Lanka. When the government machinery doesn’t work, you must hand over your project to the Sakala-man, who has the ability to do everything about it – what to do, where to go, how to get things done, and finally above all that, whom to bribe and how much to bribe; his charges include all that”.
“These professionals exist at all levels – local, national and international levels. Even foreign-funded mega projects or foreign investors can hire the Sakala-man, who has access to all levels from top-to-bottom, and who gets a percentage of the investment as commission; imagine their income from that commission, even if you count just 1 per cent from a few 100-million dollar projects!”
Wholesale business
“You don’t know how much I learnt about this system for the past three years.” Vernan continued.
There are three modes of approaches to get your work done. The first is the “VIP mode” under which you have access to anywhere you want. You need just a phone call to that place, and your work is a done-deal! VIP mode depends on your power and authority so that it’s not for everybody.
The second is the “network mode”. You look for somebody from your network who is connected there or, perhaps, even working there. Many would follow the network method depending on their connections; big people connect with big people, and small people with small people. The third is the bribe mode, which is also quite common. If you don’t want to bribe, you must find one who can do it for you or a respectable way of doing it, like providing a “commission”.
“Because I didn’t live in this country for a long period, my network is very small.” Vernan continued. “So, the only mode available for me is the last one, which I can’t do; I hired Sakala-man who can do all things”, he laughed!
Because our leaders never thought of eliminating corruption, rather they too nurtured it and even made use of it for themselves, corruption has become “institutionalised” as an integral part of our system. A few decades ago, corruption was a minor issue in Sri Lanka – a retail business. Over the past few decades, it has become a “wholesale business” with political patronage.
Million-dollar question
Last week I focused on corruption at top level; I brought the example of eliminating corruption at top level which was one critical factor that has driven Singapore to become a successful country in Asia. The countries that tolerated and nurtured corruption, on the other hand, have fallen.
The question that we need to find an answer is why Sri Lanka ignored addressing the issue of corruption until it became institutionalised. The short answer is that it requires “political will”. First, it was allowed and tolerated, and second the leaders also started making use of it for themselves. In that process, naturally the democratic institutions that are to be dealt with corruption also got paralysed.
Now, the issue is that how could we expect an elimination of corruption at bottom and middle levels, while ignoring it at higher levels? Even though the IMF says that Sri Lanka has to work in order to “reduce corruption vulnerabilities” of the economy, it applies basically to the area of public finance only.
Would there be a genuine effort in the future to address corruption first at the top level, and then at the middle and bottom levels? Do we have the “political will” to do so? It’s a million-dollar question at this juncture, as we anticipate becoming a developed nation within the next 25 years.
(The writer is a Professor of Economics at the University of Colombo and can be reached at sirimal@econ.cmb.ac.lk and follow on Twitter @SirimalAshoka).
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