Sasanka De Silva Pannipitiya

Colonial subjugation is no secret to many in the Indian subcontinent, and Sri Lanka is no different.

Talking about how much they have presumably looted from us is of no use now, after seven decades of independence.

There are many numbers circulating on many social media platforms suggesting the wealth taken away from us runs into billions of dollars.

How those numbers have been computed has no significance, but I have yet to see any credible number of the absolute value of the things the masters left behind for our use.

When the masters left, they left the country with no foreign loans taken in our name, and instead left a surplus of money in the treasury.

In fact, it is a known fact that Ceylon was able to loan some large sums of money to the United Kingdom to enable them to pay back some of the money borrowed to run the WW II effort.

They left us a functioning democracy.

very viable education, health, and legal systems.

Functioning rail and road transport systems.

Many airports are dotted around the country and two major harbour facilities.

we are not forgetting the fuel storage facility in Trincomalee.

I have seen many former Ceylon artefacts on display in London museums.

At least they are there for us to see and take some pride and consolation simultaneously.

Just imagine the plight of these artefacts if they were left in our care.

The Colombo Museum burglary and many other well-known artefacts have gone missing while they were in our care recently, which is no secret.

There are many more.

But what happened to those left for us to use and take care of?

Now it’s all in shambles.

Is it because they have taken away wealth from us or because we have squandered the facilities left for us to use, take care of, and improve later?

I see no reason to blame someone for their own mistakes.

Let us get our house in order first.

Improvement in the wealth of facilities left for our use can be addressed later.

Sasanka De Silva

Pannipitiya