Fear to change will ruin the nation

Inertia in the state machinery has become the primary obstacle that the current government is fighting against to achieve its professed objective of system change

Against the backdrop of the National Transport Commission (NTC) having announced that it will be mandatory for bus drivers to wear seat belts starting from today, July 1, the Lanka Private Bus Owners’ Association (LPBOA) has urged the Government to provide standard seat belts to private buses at concessional prices before enforcing the regulation that makes seat belts mandatory for bus drivers.

LPBOA President Gemunu Wijeratne had told the media on Sunday that the government must provide standard seat belts, as there is no point in wearing substandard ones that do not ensure safety. He added that the Government should provide those seat belts at concessionary prices for private buses, especially if they are being given free of charge to State-owned buses.

Unlike Wijeratne’s argument about standard seat belts, which is undeniable, his demand for concessionary prices and his comparison between the Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) buses and private buses point to the private bus operators’ mindset towards change. From what he demanded, one would conclude that standard seat belts for buses are not available in Sri Lanka, despite drivers of hundreds of private buses plying on expressways and who carry tourists wearing them. 

It is an acceptable rule throughout the world that seatbelts are a safety tool for the drivers and the passengers, as the case may be. However, by demanding a concessionary price, Wijeratne is attempting to portray that the government is trying to gain something from drivers’ wearing them. This is an amusing demand when the price of a seat belt is compared with the income of a bus, especially in the context of the duration of such belts and in whose interest they are being worn.  When regulations are brought in for their safety, they are demanding financial concessions for their implementation of them.

Earlier, in January, when the transport ministry issued a regulation to remove hazardous decorations in buses, they created a big fuss and got the implementation of it postponed for three months, which has been silently forgotten for another three months now.

This is nothing but the hesitation for change, which is called “inertia” in science. Nevertheless, it would be unfair by the bus operators and bus crews, if only they are singled out for this mindset, the “psychological inertia,” as it is a common malady with a common heritage in almost every sector in the country. A casual Google search on psychological inertia leads us to various branches of it, which interestingly explains the rationale behind the current pathetic situation in various sectors and groups, from communities to the state, in the country. 

Inertia in the state machinery has become the primary obstacle that the current government is fighting against to achieve its professed objective of system change. Earlier, in January, the government initiated a programme named “Clean Sri Lanka” mainly targeting addressing of psychological inertia within the state machinery and among the people. However, the success of it seems to be insignificant for now. Hence, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake had to warn especially the officials and the employees of the public sector several times in this regard during the short span of his tenure. 

Ministers of the government led by the National People’s Power (NPP), which assumed office in November last year, pledging to turn the political culture of the country upside down, were compelled to grumble within weeks, first over the psychological inertia within the officialdom driven by the fear of losing shady gains. Then President Dissanayake came up last month and openly told the public officials, “either you change, or we will change you.”  

Basically, ours is a community that still suffers from behavioural inertia. Many people dispose of their garbage bags on the nearby road. Many of them are still reluctant to revise their confidence in political decisions and groups, even when an unprecedented bankruptcy has ruined the economy a few years ago.

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