WHAT ARE EXPECTATIONS FROM THE NEXT PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: A STRONG CULTURAL DESIGN AND POLICY CORRECTION IN SRI LANKA
Posted on June 4th, 2019

By Edward Theophilus

While problems relating to the Easter Sunday attacks are diminishing, it seems that news media and politicians are openly talking about the next presidential election. What is real public opinion on the next presidential election is quite difficult to understand as emerging talks in the country, despite the major problems attempt to camouflage the real problems?  Emerging terrorism from time to time has been a significant problem since 1970 and such terrorist activities related to all communities, Sinhala, Tamil and, Muslim. Whether they were domestic productions or imported ideology cannot be determined by the public as investigators have not disclosed findings.

The recent explosion in Palali and the death of a soldier might be complicated the problem further, the accurate information was not disclosed and shows that Sri Lanka needs a strong and wise security system to protect people and collateral of the country.  People of the country without any difference have a fundamental opinion that the next president must be a person with a strong ability to tackle security issues. A part of Investigations into the Easter Sunday attacks revealed that the national security has relegated to uncertain politics and underestimated by politicians. For this purpose, Sri Lanka needs a person who can tackle the security problems as the successful candidate for the next presidential election. 

If we look back the major reason to emerge terrorism, it seems that brainwashing of young people using political or religious beliefs was the beginning of terrorism. Young generation is vulnerable to vicious ideas without critically examining whether they are right or wrong and has not gained and is not being gained critical thinking power from schools and universities and attitudes of them are based on bullshits in many instances, so there is a trend of aligning to revolutionary ideas or stupid religious philosophies and potential to acting on such ideas with a view to achieving the utopia. Rohana Wijeweera brainwashed poor rural youth and university students using five lessons copied from publications of Marxism and Kim Il Sung in North Korea, a speech of Sunethra Bandaranaike and a book of J.R.P. Surriaperuma. Prabhakaran followed bisection ideas of misguided Tamil leaders, and Saharan and his group addicted to revised Koran versions and teaching of manipulators of Islam after prophet Mohamed. Terrorism in Sri Lanka was purely a manipulation from outside theories and religious preachers than accurate or authenticated facts in above mention publications and understanding the practical environment of Sri Lanka.

The other vital fact is that Sri Lanka is subject to an international power play among India China, USA, Russia, Europe, and the Middle East. We have seen that this situation has been growing since independence.  Although Sri Lanka is not an economically powerful country to offer advantages to power players, there is some potential in South Asian region for military and trade purposes and some countries in the region want to block the economic and trade activities initiated by Sri Lanka with a view to attracting such gains and benefits to them.   I feel that those international players are attempting for zero-sum games using Sri Lanka disregarding what would happen to its people. Therefore, next president in Sri Lanka should be an excellent thinker, a strategist in relation to military and civil activities with an ability to make right decisions and reconcile the relations, especially with China, India, and the USA.

Political leaders including the past presidents did not initiate or openly discuss with the public about policy issues. Past presidents and their political parties and associated people endeavored to gain power misleading people without openly talking about the reality of the country. In 2015 presidential and general elections opened the hopes of people for good cultural design, but the political bias of associated people disgraced the good governance and the hopes of people.  In this environment, next presidential candidate must consider to making a good cultural design for the country, and it should be the main policy strategy with a view to maintaining harmony among ethnic and religious groups and international institutions. Policy correction and invention in relation to the economy, education, administration, racial and religious harmony, foreign relations and other areas in a good cultural design would be successful without aligning to temporary measures. Past presidents practically aligned to temporary measures rather than looking for medium- and long-term focus with a clear vision.  While giving leadership for such activities, the president should give leadership for modernization of the country.   Without a strong leadership for modernization, like emperor Meiji did in Japan, the country cannot go forward in the dynamic world.

After independence in 1948, Sri Lanka had a good opportunity to make a strong cultural design, which entirely changes the attitudes of people, however, the political leadership was unable to produce such a good design as they followed greedy politics with a view to gain power or to be in power. People have very much experience that many presidents withdrew good constitutional and legal provisions to maintain a just society in Sri Lanka.  When a group of people, who have no real public supports come to the road, leaders withdrew good measures.  The proposed cultural design should be based on one country and one nation with one law for all. People may be different from size, shape, color, political and religious beliefs, but people do share something universal, which is called “Humanness” as Aristotle stated.  When there is a good cultural design nobody can put hands to affairs of Sri Lanka.

What is a cultural design may be questioned to the public?  Sri Lanka’s political authority needs to understand the nature of laws and controls and how they should be effectively used in the country. After independence, people were not educated the way of designing a culture and how it should be consisting of and what is expected behavior in a good society.  Cultural design is making strong rules, regulations, and laws to stabilize the country giving equal opportunity for everyone and eliminating discrimination on Racal, religious, caste dictions and others. The yahapalana regime intended to do the cultural design, but within a short period, the regime changed the policies opposed and turned to a more vicious politics and corrupt practices.

In the process of policy correction, the economy of the country is the most important area.  In 1978 began the market economic system but it was implemented without disciplines and controls and the market economic system promoted an unbalanced growth networking bulk of investments to Western province.  Urbanization must be expanded to regional Sri Lanka to giving benefits to rural people.  Many economic problems are related to the macroeconomy, there may be artificial intelligent or microeconomic reforms important but macroeconomic policies are vital to shaping the economy.  Population control and unemployment should consider as a strategic policy correct because the size of population in Sri Lanka is too much for the size of lands and available services.  The population of Sri Lanka should be controlled to 1981 level ( Sinhala 75%, Tamil 15%, Muslim 7% and others 3%) giving the ratio of  the population had in 1981.

Education in the country must be effectively reshaped to reduce the cost associated with it and generate productive and knowledge nation in all contexts of education. The current education does not produce quality people from all context.

 The administration field generates unaffordable costs to the country.  Within an unliterary constitutional system, Sri Lanka needs administrative delegation to district level with strong coordination.

Ethnic and religious harmony will be depended on a strong cultural design, which eliminates discrimination and gives equality for all religious and ethnic groups.

Foreign relations should be focused on reconciling between power blocs and not aligning to a specific bloc. Sri Lanka needs to maintain a very good relationship with neighboring countries including India and China with other trading partners.

Policy correction will be successful only if current policies are properly reviewed.

The next presidential candidate must express his or her views on these major areas and be able  to give leadership with a strong military and civil experience.

2 Responses to “WHAT ARE EXPECTATIONS FROM THE NEXT PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: A STRONG CULTURAL DESIGN AND POLICY CORRECTION IN SRI LANKA”

  1. Christie Says:

    We had a strong foundation laid up to 1956 but unfortunately Banda sponsored by India and Indian Colonial Parasites won in1956.

  2. Dilrook Says:

    I can predict these with near perfect accuracy.

    1. Hakeem and Bathrdeen will be ministers under the next president too.
    2. Reconciliation as it is will be carried out by the next president too.
    3. If SOFA remains unsigned, it will be signed by the next president.
    4. There will be those who justify all these then but they find it faulty today.

    @Christie

    Not so. We had a strong foundation until 1972 until we started messing with the Constitution and the court. British Privy Council and the 1947 Constitution benefitted Lanka most. They never struck down useful nationalistic moves but prevented Indian interference and impositions.

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