{"id":118956,"date":"2021-10-07T00:12:31","date_gmt":"2021-10-07T06:12:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=118956"},"modified":"2021-10-06T17:08:05","modified_gmt":"2021-10-07T00:08:05","slug":"sri-lanka-rudderless-and-clueless-or-is-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/10\/07\/sri-lanka-rudderless-and-clueless-or-is-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Sri Lanka; Rudderless and Clueless? Or is it?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Raj Gonsalkorale<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Ask\nnot what you can do for the country, but what the country can do for you<\/em> \u2013Pandora revelations<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nPandora revelations have shown how much some political leaders have loved\nthemselves and the extent of their greed. Perhaps they have found a way to take\nthis wealth to their next life as well. In the context of the revelations, John\nKennedy has probably turned in his grave with the Pandora revelations paraphrasing\nof his famous quote Ask not what the country can do for you, but what you can\ndo for your country\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From\nRoyalty to Prime Ministers and ministers and businessmen & women, it\nappears that a few have robbed the wealth of many to fatten individual coffers.\nA program on ABC TV in Australia stated that the Pandora revelations showed\nthat this shadowy off shore economy accounted for 10% of the world\u2019s GDP and\ndeprived countries across the world billions of dollars in tax income, and\nmoney that could have helped to reduce the gap between the haves and have nots\nand improve basic services to millions of people at the lower end of the scale\nin societies throughout the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri\nLanka too is in the headlines but for the wrong reasons. Nirupama Rajapaksa, a\nclose relative of the ruling Rajapaksa family, and her husband, Thiru Nadesan,\nhave been named as being amongst the people found in the Pandora box. This is\nunfortunate for Sri Lanka and it is a serious hit on its credibility when it is\ntrying hard to attract much needed foreign investments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unless there is a full, independent investigation and any wrongdoings exposed and wrongdoers taken to task, Sri Lanka will suffer the ignominy that this revelation is only the tip and not the berg of potentially a huge iceberg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\nrevelation could not have come at a worse time for Sri Lanka which appears to\nbe in a situation that may be described as one of being up the river, without\na paddle\u201d, meaning, the country is in an unfortunate economic situation, lost in mid-stream, unprepared and\nwithout much resources to remedy the matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The COVID pandemic has without doubt exacerbated\nthe situation, with two major sources of foreign currency revenue, tourism and\nremittances gravely affected as a result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Short of a major long term infusion of funds via\nthe IMF, the country looks set to enter into numerous short term credit\nagreements with several countries to secure supplies of food, medicines, petroleum\nand other essentials. Whatever way one looks at it, belt tightening may have to\nexceed the levels advocated by Dr N M Perera in the early seventies when the\ncountry experienced a serious financial situation on account of what was then referred\nto as the oil shock\u201d when OPEC countries decided to raise the price of oil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The prospect of an avalanche of tourists and\ntourist dollars, and a mighty rush to resume activity in the Middle East that\nemployed so many Sri Lankans, is very unlikely. This will leave a yawning gap\nin foreign exchange earnings for a considerable period of time. With\nagriculture product exports of tea, rubber, coconut, spices etc, IT related\nservice exports, garment exports being the main stay for foreign income, the\ncountry will have to seek borrowings, to fund its imports and to pay existing\nloans and interest on such loans. The governments ambitious Foreign Direct\nInvestment (FDI) targets are yet to come to fruition. The Pandora revelations has\nmade it much worse. The pandemic itself shows signs of abatement with\nvaccination rates progressing at a fast pace. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the attendant toll, in income\ndisruptions for a vast number of person\u2019s dependent on a daily wage, or those\nin the tourist industry, has been severe and still is. Besides this, basic food\nshortages, steep prices of some essentials have hit the lower, lower middle and\nmiddle income households very badly and their struggles with the pandemic have\nbeen compounded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this tumultuous and unstable situation, many\nare concerned, very concerned, about what appears to be a government that is\nshowing signs of being rudderless and leaderless, and signs of internal\ndissention. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Differences of opinion within is obviously\ndifferent to dissention from within, and it is a healthy sign of\ndemocracy.  The LNG deal, supposedly\napproved by the Cabinet, but the subject minister seeming to take a different\nview outside the cabinet points to dissention rather than a difference of\nopinion. The minister concerned is spearheading an effort to explore gas and\npetroleum reserves in the Mannar basin and one cannot but wonder whether this\nis not in the interest of some who hold a different view about how the\npetroleum and gas needs of the country should be met and the potential that\nexists for a vast infusion of foreign direct investments to exploit possible\nunder sea wealth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is not long ago that the major constituent of\nthe government itself called for the resignation of this particular minister\nthus helping to define what it is to be rudderless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a well-researched article titled The LNG Saga \u2013 Some unanswered questions! Urgent\nresponses needed <\/strong>by Eng. Parakrama Jayasinghe\npublished in the Island newspaper (https:\/\/island.lk\/the-lng-saga-some-unanswered-questions-urgent-responses-needed\/<\/a>), the benefits and pit falls of the\nagreement has been well articulated. The LNG Saga\u201d as Eng Jayasinghe has called\nit is not good news to potential investors and FDIs. This saga appears to\nportend dangers that arise from being clueless deliberately or otherwise on\nmatters of such importance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is\nconfusing is the subject minister voicing an opinion contrary to what is\nunderstood as a cabinet decision of which the minister concerned is a member.\nThis leaves onlookers with an impression that there are two cabinets in the\ncountry. A cabinet and an inner cabinet and that transparency is selective\ndepending on which cabinet makes critical economic decisions. In the context of\nthe Pandora revelations, the concerns that the general public will have on the\nprocess of governance, decision making on projects involving huge amounts of money,\nwill increase and provide fodder to social media usurpers to misinform the\npublic on matters of strategic importance to the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this\nsomewhat seemingly disjointed governance climate, the statement made by the\nForeign Minister in Parliament, which could be interpreted to be a re set of foreign\npolicy of the country, should be welcomed. One hopes that the minister has\narticulated the view of the entire government and not sections of it. It is\nalso hoped that the Opposition political parties too are in agreement with the\nviews expressed as bi partisanship of foreign policy is an important element of\ngovernance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\nstatement appears more than a foreign policy re set and more like an economic\npolicy re set revolving around internationalisation of the country\u2019s economic\npolicy. It recognises the importance of global economic alignment and the\nsuperfluous nature of modern political non alignment. Virtually every country\nis economically aligned to other countries, friend or foe, although political and\nsecurity alignment via numerous kinds of groupings, separates them. This\ndichotomy appears absurd and it does give rise to the scepticism that security\nconcerns are creations of the world\u2019s biggest industry, the so called defence\nindustry\u201d. Where diplomacy is practiced on the one hand for economic\nalignments, sabre rattling is used on the other hand for security threats\u201d\nwith the very same countries. Sri Lanka of course cannot do any sabre rattling\neven if it wanted to, and the Minister has rightly stated that diplomacy will\nbe sharpened and fine-tuned to serve the country\u2019s interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this\ncontext, the ministers statement on the need for a multinational, multi-lateral\ninvestment climate is implicit although not explicit. He has rightly implied\nthat the age of Parakramabahu was a golden era while the world is a different\none today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inter\nconnectivity via technology and technology in general has transformed vistas of\nprosperity and it is making existing and past notions of nationhood with\nphysical borders and conventional security means increasingly obsolete. In the\ncontext of internationalisation, opportunities that arise to meet the needs and\nchallenges associated with it can be grasped only if countries look outside the\nwells they are in.  The need to address\nhuman rights issues, avenues for peacebuilding amongst communities, reaching\nout to Tamil Diaspora organisations and the need to engage them in economic and\nsocial development activity in the country, not just in the North and East, is\nvery explicit. What is needed now is specific action to address these issues\nfrom all sides.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Raj Gonsalkorale Ask not what you can do for the country, but what the country can do for you \u2013Pandora revelations The Pandora revelations have shown how much some political leaders have loved themselves and the extent of their greed. Perhaps they have found a way to take this wealth to their next life […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-118956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-raj-gonsalkorale"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118956","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=118956"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118956\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}