{"id":111310,"date":"2021-02-03T17:58:16","date_gmt":"2021-02-04T00:58:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=111310"},"modified":"2021-02-03T17:58:16","modified_gmt":"2021-02-04T00:58:16","slug":"the-governing-way-and-style-of-mr-gotabaya-rajapaksa-consistent-with-the-expectation-of-the-public-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/02\/03\/the-governing-way-and-style-of-mr-gotabaya-rajapaksa-consistent-with-the-expectation-of-the-public-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"THE GOVERNING WAY AND STYLE OF MR.GOTABAYA RAJAPAKSA CONSISTENT WITH THE EXPECTATION OF THE PUBLIC PART 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY EDWARD THEOPHILUS<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

The\nmajor issue during the next five years to Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa will be how to\nreconcile the technical dualism between the Port City and the rural economy. Port\nCity is a good economic strategy for showing to the world, but the reality is\nthe provincial economy which consists of more than 70% of the macroeconomy\nmight clash with the project, and internationally, India might influence the\noperation of Port City as it associates with China. Although many people don\u2019t\nunderstand this issue the recent manipulation regarding the East and West\nTerminals of the Colombo Port reflected the complex nature of the issue.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To\ngain more votes the provincial economy is a critical factor for the Rajapaksa\ngovernment. Before the election in 2019, Mr. Rajapaksa talked about a\nprovincial development project, and no public service or planners of the\ngovernment planned and made blueprints for the project. It is a\nmega-development project that could successfully address human nature related\nproblems and arriving at a cultural design such mega projects which provide\nbenefits to all ethnic groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nCOVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted the development policies of the\nRajapaksa government. Foreign employment and the tourism industry have been\nplayed a key role in the economy since the 1970s, and the contribution from\nthese two areas have declined with the effect of COVID_19, and regaining such\nareas is vital and how could regain the economic benefits have become a\ncritical question. The changing of internal policy structure by reforming\neducation and using the provincial labour to contribute a higher pace in the\ndevelopment process is vital through an inter industrial plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nopposition political parties prefer to talk about soda bottle opening type\nissues and they have no solid policy structure that massively attracts the\nsupport of the provincial community and Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa must focus on\nthe use of provincial labour at an internationally competitive price. Why rural\nwomen go to the Middle East for domestic services because the price of labour\nof women in the country was comparatively lower and if Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa\nplans to give the right price to provincial labour and a reasonable value to\nSri Lanka rupee, many issues at the provincial level will be changed without\nchanging his power base at rural level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nvaluable practice of Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa is visiting interior rural villages\nand listing to poor people. This practice was done by previous presidents, but\nit was not a consistent approach or a productive way of public relations. The\nexperience of Mr. Rajapaksa as an army person has motivated him to maintain\ngood public relations and give quick solutions to the problems of rural people.\nAlthough the previous presidents visited rural people, they didn\u2019t give\nsolutions to highlighted problems. Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa demonstrates he is\npractical and give solution to problems. The significance of experience gained\nin the army reflects positively working with President Rajapaksa and the\nopposition parties have to close their opposition to Mr.Rajapaksa saying he was\nan army person. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\njoke that appeared in the opposition is Mr. Sajith Premise also visits people\nin the rural area and his talk with the innocent peasant (Churi archaic,\ncountrymen) that when he comes to power he will give a solution to the rural\nproblems and when he will come to power is unsure. In such a situation the\nopposition cannot attract the support of the rural people. It showed that the\nopposition shouldn\u2019t do all that the government is doing when it has no\npolitical power. Talking or promising to peasants is a style of politics in Sri\nLanka, and the countrymen know that they are just talking than honest planning\ndo so. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many\nreforms in economic and social sectors are essential and Mr.Rajapaksa promised\nto people effectively launch reforms before the presidential election in 2024.  The education reforms, reforms in the\nfinancial system, and the reforms in the socio-economic structure to attract\npeasants to productively participate in the economic process are essential\nareas and the administration of Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa needs to expedite these\nreforms. People in Sri Lanka understand that these reforms could not perform\novernight and they will take time.  Although\nnearly two years of completing in the power, talks on reforms are not\nsufficient and the short experience is suggested reforms are behind than people\nare expecting, and it seems the ball is passing one person to others and no\nchanges are being eventuated in the economic and social system. Many view that\nalthough the president has changed the bureaucracy has not changed consistent\nwith the policies of the president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Education\nreforms are key to make many changes, one significant point Mr.Rajapaksa\nhighlighted before the presidential election was incorporating vocational\neducation to tertiary education and allowing rural kids to gain quality\ntertiary education and the level of tertiary education be practical with the\nvast area of fields.  However,\nbureaucracy in the education field has poor knowledge and skills in the area\nand Mr.Rajapaksa needs motivating bureaucrats to expedite reforms.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nreforms relate to the financial system are crucial to converting Sri Lanka\u2019s\neconomy for attracting investors, and the experience since 2019 shows that a\nsignificant fluctuation in the financial system that is disadvantaged to the\ncountry. The banking and non-bank financial market require quick reforms to\nassure investors and users to stick in the system. As a regulatory authority,\nthe Central Bank of Sri Lanka needs to introduce reforms, and many times it\nshows the Central Bank\u2019s policies have limited to no actions talks only. I proposed\nin the late 1990s to make many reforms especially in the stock market and\nsuperannuation system,  but they were not\neffective and crooks were dominating in the system. The best example is recent\nrecords of the Colombo Stock Market which reported a quick boost and after few\nweeks the gains transferred to loose as short selling used by crooks to play\nthe game, and why Mr.Rajapaksa doesn\u2019t direct the Central Bank to change the\nlegal structure and allow rural communities to participate in the market operations.\nAs 70% of the economy of Sri Lanka is in the hand of rural people the Colombo\nStock Market could be boosted with rural cash if the policymakers do the\nneedful for changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Social\nreforms are essential to change the attitudes of people.  The government of Sri Lanka has failed to\neliminate social dualism that leads to technical dualism. If we look at the\nAsian countries where achieved stable economic growth and development in Japan,\nSouth Korea, and others the achievements have been centered on changing the\nsocial system with modernization and elimination of social dualism and\nintegrating all into one nation.  This\nfundamental concept has neglected policymakers in Sri Lanka.  What were the influential factors for this\nsituation? Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa needs to concern about this matter. The\nattitude of people regarding schooling has not changed the mentality of\ncolonialism dominates in attitudes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr.Gotabaya\nRajapaksa has a massive challenge and the deal with the challenge needs\nchanging attitudes of people.    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY EDWARD THEOPHILUS The major issue during the next five years to Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa will be how to reconcile the technical dualism between the Port City and the rural economy. Port City is a good economic strategy for showing to the world, but the reality is the provincial economy which consists of more than […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[124],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-111310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-edward-theophilus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111310"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111310\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}