Sri Lanka celebrated its 74th anniversary of Independence on Friday (04) amidst an unprecedented economic crisis, which has caused it to teeter on the brink of bankruptcy. Faced with the worst-ever foreign currency crunch, it has had to curtail expenditure even on essential imports to avoid a sovereign default. The Opposition is pressuring the government to suspend external debt repayment and utilize the scarce dollar reserves to look after the urgent needs of the people instead, but the country will find it extremely difficult to borrow from any external sources even at exorbitant interest rates in such an eventuality.
Sri Lanka finds itself between the devil and the deep blue sea. But President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, in his address to the nation on Friday, sought to strike a positive note and sound optimistic. Admitting that the country was facing multiple crises, he said they were not long-term, and all challenges could be surmounted if a concerted effort was made. He was ready to provide leadership for such a campaign, he declared, calling for public assistance. The people too had responsibilities, he added in the same breath. “The greatest benefit from freedom is when everyone fulfils their duty to the country. It is not appropriate to speak of rights only whilst forgetting responsibilities …. We can find solutions to them with an optimistic approach. There is a role that each of us can play to expedite this process. We must all endeavour to do our utmost for the country by fulfilling our responsibilities in a proper manner.”
Reading between the lines, one can see that the implication of the President’s above-mentioned statement is that if the country fails to come out of the present crises, the blame will have to be apportioned to the people as well. The President’s line of thinking is interesting, but the question is how fair it is to expect the people to share the onus for national development when they have no say in the affairs of the government. Some Cabinet ministers have publicly complained that they are kept out of the loop. Three members of the Rajapaksa Cabinet—Ministers Wimal Weerawansa, Udaya Gammanpila and Vasudeva Nanayakkara—have moved the Supreme Court against a mega energy deal the government has struck with a US company; they insist that the Cabinet was kept in the dark about it. Besides, almost all constituents of the ruling SLPP coalition say they are not consulted when vital government decisions are taken. SLFP leader and former President Maithripala Sirisena has said in a recent press interview that the government is run by a handful of persons, meaning the members of the Rajapaksa family.
Leitmotifs in presidential speech
The President’s speech on Friday had two main leitmotifs—positive attitude and optimism. “We can make our way forward successful only with a positive attitude that looks optimistically towards the future.” A few weeks ago, the President called upon a group of senior journalists to help bring about a positive mindset among the public instead of disseminating all negative news.
In his address interspersed with references to positive thinking and optimism, the President declared that pessimists had not changed the world. In a bid to support his argument, he got on his hobby-horse—national security. “When pessimists maintained that terrorism could never be defeated in war, brave military leaders like General Denzil Kobbekaduwa and General Vijaya Wimalaratne instilled a positive attitude in their men that terrorism can in fact be defeated. Later, under the right political leadership, we were able to vanquish terrorism in as little as three and a half years because we had belief in our own capabilities.” His argument sounds tenable, but the challenge before the President is to emulate Kobbekaduwa and Wimalaratne in motivating the members of his own government to work hard to achieve the country’s development goals.
Positive thinking key to success
President Rajapaksa seems to think a positive frame of mind is the key to success of any nation. He said: “Social progress in all developed nations has been possible due to the positive thoughts of their leaders and the people. Our own kings in the past built vast stupas such as Ruwanweliseya, Jethavanaramaya and Abhayagiriya in this same positive attitude. We had an excellent irrigation technology that created Minneriya Tank, Kala Wewa, Parakrama Samudraya and Yoda Ela.
Ancient Sri Lankans kings who built such engineering marvels must have had a very positive outlook on life, but there were other factors that made their achievements possible. They put the country before self, and their integrity was never in question. Needless to say, they had zero tolerance for corrupt practices, and maximum possible punishment was meted out to the corrupt. Nobody ever dreamt of stealing from the royal treasury or doing shoddy construction work. Besides, there was a national work ethic; rulers set an example, and the people were industrious. From the king down to the peasant, everybody toiled for the sake of the country. Today, rulers steal from the state coffers, and so do many of their officials; ordinary people are not working hard enough as they lack motivation and inspiration. No wonder the country remains underdeveloped even though 74 years have elapsed since it gained Independence.
Swipe at critics of govt.
Looking down on pessimists, the President went on to say, “They do not even have the capacity for it [changing the world]. Those who habitually criticize without proposing a solution to a problem do not have a vision for the future.” This could be taken as a swipe at the critics of the government, which has drawn a lot of flak for its bungling on many fronts. Ironically, what he has blamed pessimists for—habitually criticizing [the government]—is exactly what the current leaders did while they were in the Opposition. They only inveighed against the yahapalana government without proposing any solutions, and turned public opinion against that administration to win elections. The current Opposition is doing likewise. This is the name of the game in politics.
Optimism and paranoia
Curiously, while urging the people to adopt a positive attitude to life, the President has indicated that he is not free from paranoia. “A nation’s leader has to constantly face many difficulties, calamities, problems and challenges. Leading a team towards a vision is not easy. Changing the existing ways, no matter how good the intention, is not easy either. On certain matters, both local and foreign forces organise against us. Sometimes it may seem that everything that happens around you is conspiring against you.” The incumbent President, however, is not alone in seeing enemies everywhere in certain situations. Conspiracy theories abound in politics. All his predecessors complained of conspiracies against them. Some of them even claimed that their lives were in danger, and launched witch-hunts against their political rivals.
The present government has also concocted quite a few conspiracy theories. Its ministers keep declaring that there are conspiracies behind gas-related explosions, power outages and even protests against shortages of fertilizer, and essential consumer goods.
The President, on Friday, claimed his political rivals were plotting to drive away foreign investors. “People need to be more vigilant of those who attempt to propagate incorrect public opinion against foreign investments, based on political motives.” Whether the Opposition is doing so, one may not know, but it is public knowledge that Sri Lanka has ceased to be attractive to foreign investors owing to corruption and bureaucratic red tape.
If corruption is curbed with politicians being held at bay and the state service made investor-friendly, foreigners will bring their money here, regardless of what the Opposition may say.
The President also complained of some unnamed forces bent on ruining the country. “Forces against a national leadership that values our indigenousness and protects the country’s sovereignty are subtly misleading the people through various false propaganda. I urge the people of this country to always act prudently. No one can mislead the people if they make inquiries based on fact, ascertain the truth and make decisions.” This may be seen as yet another instance of the President raising the bogie of external enemies to strike a nationalist chord with his support base, which have shown signs of disintegration.
Success of vaccination drive
President Rajapaksa, in his speech, also made specific mention of his government’s successful Covid-19 vaccination programme, which has enabled the country to keep the pandemic death toll low, and remain open. The government’s pandemic control project has not been without some flaws, though. The government made some wrong decisions, which led to huge increases in the Covid-19 transmission, causing the country to be closed, and hurting the economy. If it had followed expert advice and imposed travel restrictions last April, when people moved about a lot in view of the Sinhala and Tamil New Year, a surge in Covid-19 infections, the resultant increase in the death toll and the countrywide lockdown could have been averted.
However, the fact remains that, overall, the government handled the national health emergency well, and its efforts have yielded positive results, which have been overshadowed by numerous burning issues troubling the irate public.
Message to UNHRC
The United National Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has always been the bugbear of the Rajapaksa governments. That the prospect of hostile UNHRC action against Sri Lanka next month in Geneva worries President Rajapaksa has become evident. In his speech on Friday, he said something for the consumption of the UNHRC: “We are a nation that safeguards the rule of law and respects international conventions. Although some parties have attempted to make various allegations against Sri Lanka for narrow motives, the government has not condoned any type of human rights violations, and will not leave room for such incidents in future either.”
Mere words however will not be effective in softening the UNHRC’s position on Sri Lanka. The UN human rights arm is not devoid of politics, and its decisions are influenced by the western nations that rule the roost in Geneva through a strategic alliance. Sri Lanka is not in the good books of the western bloc and therefore has its work cut out in Geneva to counter hostile UNHRC action as regards alleged war crimes. But it will be able to present a strong case at the UNHRC, and neutralize UN pressure to some extent if it gets its act together on the human rights front.
No retreat
President Rajapaksa has demonstrated that he will not backtrack from his key policies that have backtracked mainly due to their improper implementation. The government has come under heavy criticism for the manner in which it carried out its green agriculture programme, especially the sudden blanket ban on agrochemicals, which has led to yield losses and incensed the farming community beyond measure.
The President said in his Independence Day address to the nation: “There have been no changes in the policy framework we presented in regard to identified priorities such as green agriculture, promotion of renewable energy use, education reforms compatible with the modern world, encouragement of local entrepreneurship, export diversification and value addition, and promotion of technology use for a new leap in the economy.”
If the government is wise, it will tread cautiously in implementing its green agriculture policy, making fertilizers available in sufficient quantities so that farmers’ resentment could be assuaged and anticipated food shortage averted. It is true that the overuse of agrochemicals harms both humans and the environment, and green agriculture has to be promoted. But hasty actions must be avoided. Most of all, obduracy does not pay in politics.
Wishful thinking
While listening to the President asking the people to act responsibly, make sacrifices and contribute to national development, one may have asked why he was not asking his parliamentary team to do likewise. He did so as he went on. “If we are to win over the challenges before us and accomplish our future goals successfully, then all of us have to make a change. We all have to make some sacrifices towards it. As the President of the country, I am ready to set the necessary example for it. I am already doing this to the best of my ability. I ask all Ministers, Parliamentarians and other politicians to act in an exemplary manner for the country at all times. If you set this example to the people, then the majority of the people will follow you.”
The President’s exhortation to the ministers, ordinary MPs and other politicians should not be scoffed at. He has said exactly what they must do if the country is to achieve progress, but one is afraid that he is only hoping against hope, given Sri Lankan politicians’ greed for power and wealth. But his request to politicians is welcome and likely to go down well with the public undergoing untold hardships while their elected representatives are living in the lap of luxury. Talking the talk is one thing, but walking the walk is quite another.
