On the road to development dotted with history

Sri Lanka is fast developing and some places with sentimental value have given way to new constructions aimed at boosting the economy (AFP)

It is a nation like SL which is importing textiles and clothing from countries like China, Hong Kong and India

During Sirimavo’s regime the cost of food imports spiraled while export earnings remained static

Much effort is taken by the present regime to put the country’s shaky economy in order. Commencing from the targets given to state institutions and the efforts taken to instill discipline on the roads we see that someone is trying to do something for a country which has enough natural resources to stand tall in terms of economic growth. That someone is President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. 

What is his policy? Economists state that Gotabaya wishes to reduce imports and increase local produce; hence realising a healthy ratio when it comes to exports. 

Gotabaya has concerns about those who don’t carry out his orders and those who fail to live up to his expectations. But one wonders whether the president is taking seriously Moody’s Investors’ Service which has degraded Sri Lanka’s long-term foreign currency issuer and senior unsecured ratings to Caa1 from B2 and changed the Outlook to Stable! 

Under all possible logical reasoning he wants the country to raise its economic profile. This thinking must be viewed positively. But what system he’d adopt and what drastic changes he’d make in the future are of concerns. 
Very recently the Prime Minister of his government stated that moves are afoot to ban cattle slaughter and increase beef imports as an alternative. This suggestion has not gone down well with the Muslim and Christian communities. That’s Gotabaya; a president who would not stop until he puts the country in a mold and keep working on it till he produces a model for the nation that’s viable. 

Sri Lanka as a nation has seen many leaders surface and attempt to revive the economy; which is said to have had a clean sheet when the British handed the colony back to its rightful owners who were the islanders. That is why the country’s first woman prime minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike restricted imports and encouraged local industries to produce. Her work philosophy was ‘produce or perish’. The result? The country didn’t wilt in terms of economics as of now, but the people were left starving. She was once quoted in the New York Times stating, “The Economic crisis has almost squeezed the breath out of us! We’re literarily fighting for survival”. During Sirimavo’s regime the cost of food imports spiraled while export earnings remained static. 

After a socialist model failed in Sri Lanka there came a period where the country’s economy was opened up by President J.R Jayewardene. Very recently the former statesman’s name was in the news because his 114th birth anniversary fell last week. There was a ceremony at the J.R Jayewardene Centre in Colombo organised by his grandson Pradeep Jayewardene. A notable segment at the ceremony was the launching of a new website of the J.R Jayewardene Centre. 

Present president Gotabaya and the late Jayewardene are different individuals. As much as Jayewardene (JRJ) got the country to perform he also ‘played’ politics. The outside world saw JRJ as one of the earliest Asian leaders to move towards an open economy. But the difference between JRJ and Gotabaya is that there was room for dishonesty in the former’s cabinet; it is alleged that the resignation letters obtained in advance at the time ministers accepted their appointment letters helped JRJ have a stranglehold on who was working under him. 

Even under JRJ the country couldn’t find the right economic model because formerly state owned enterprises like Ceylon Steel Corporation, Pugoda and Thulhiriya Textile Mills, Kanthale and Sevanagala Sugar Plantations, Valaichchenei Paper Mills and Kankasanthurai Cement Factory went bankrupt following the UNP government’s privatisation drive. 

Psychologists would say that a person’s mind can be read by studying the attire of an individual. Going a step further studying the fabric of the attire also provides valuable information about a nation and its people. History shows that ‘Ceylon’ already had a weaving industry when Prince Vijaya (His period of reign as king of Ceylon was 543-505 BC) landed in the island. It is a nation like this which is importing textiles and clothing from countries like China, Hong Kong and India. There are small incidents which serve as indicators as to what plans a regime has for an industry. Very recently the government decided to revert back to the system of offering material to school students to stich their uniforms instead of offering them vouchers. This move has been hailed by many because it shows that the state wants to see children wearing uniforms turned out from cloth produced by Sri Lankan entrepreneurs. If Sri Lanka enjoyed a golden era in the textile industry before the crashing of the Thulhiriya and Pugoda Textile Mills, textile merchants are of the opinion that this move by the government to obtain cloth from local manufacturers to stich uniforms for schoolchildren and security forces personnel would help the nation return to those glory days. In this regard the contributions made by Minister of Industry and Commerce Wimal Weerawansa has come in for praise. 

But concern must be shown when the government authorities engage in development at the expense of destroying history. Very recently, under the present regime, a huge cry by the public put a stop to the demolishing of an arachnological building in Kurunegala which was once used as the assembly hall of contemporary rulers. 

However this type of raising concern over questionable development might not be available for the folks in the north. We saw how old existing wall paintings on Colombo walls were erased to accommodate new ones under the present regime. There were hardly any protests for that nor when the work of established artists were copied in acts of plagiarism when new wall art decorated Colombo walls (example in Rajagiriya). New roads and buildings have come up to serve the people, but no feedback is obtained whether people are happy about this kind of development. 

Development must take place, but within a framework of decency, brotherhood and the preserving of that human touch.