Preserving Sri Lanka’s ‘gems’ – Comment
View(s):Today’s issue of the Business Times carries a feature about Weweldeniya and the struggle by residents of this once-popular cane village on the Colombo-Kandy road to survive in the face of foreign competition, politics and a bureaucratic permit system.
The village population of 1,500 families, many years ago, has dwindled to a few dozen families with residents leaving to find other jobs to sustain their families. While to them it has been the means of a livelihood, to the country at large, policymakers and ‘understanding’ politicians, this should be perceived as the future of a craft at stake.
Like many arts and crafts, these skills have come down the ages from ancestors who acquired it from colonial rulers and others. Batik skills and traditions came from Indonesia while handwoven Beeralu (pillow lace) and lace was an art derived from the Portuguese invaders.
Ironically, these skills and traditions acquired from foreign rulers are now under threat from foreign products viz imports of cane furniture from Malaysia or Indonesia, one of the reasons for the collapse of Weweldeniya. While the Business Times feature reflects the anger, frustration and desperation of the few Weweldeniya residents who are sticking it out – some who are making cane furniture themselves after closing workshops that employed 20-20 people -, this is a malady that could affect many of Sri Lanka’s traditional crafts.
The Government needs to step in and protect these crafts-persons and their traditional villages where such arts and skills have been kept alive. While traditional batik, handloom weaving, lace work, wooden masks, pottery and coconut shell-ware are works that still attract foreigners, most Sri Lankans would prefer a foreign product for the simple reason that it is cheaper.
Thus how does a country protect these ‘gems’ from the people? One simple way is to look at the experiences of other countries where special villages displaying traditional skills are profiled as a ‘must-see’ for tourists. Apart from the ‘protectionism’ given to traditional arts in some Asian countries through various schemes and incentives, Western Europe also protects its traditional arts and crafts and there are many well-maintained places to visit for this purpose.
For example, if there was a Visitors Centre at Weweldeniya, it would have been a stop-over for tourists and domestic travellers to learn about cane, its origins, cane weaving and its fine art. That would have helped the locals and improved the profile of the village, and provided the know-how to withstand foreign competition.
In its tourism development agenda, policy-planners, local authorities and the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) need to go beyond the usual development of new areas for tourism with infrastructure facilities, etc and examine the need to support and sustain villages where arts and crafts are their livelihood.
Today’s tourism product is all about experiences, adventure, mixing with local communities, learning about food, culture, habits and traditions. Gone are the days where travellers would sit in the hotel, relax on the verandah and spend hours on the beach or the swimming pool.
At a recent international tourism gathering in Colombo, a branding expert David Keen said what the new traveller would like to see in Sri Lanka is not only the usual sun, sand, beaches, wild life and Sigiriya but also “kids going to school, devotees in temples, churches, chatter on the streets, lifestyles, cooking a curry”.
He said today’s young visitor defined as the New Age Traveller (NAT) has different needs and looks for experiences, not traditional offerings. Traditional crafts’ villages should not only be for foreigners to visit but also for locals with good examples being the crafts village at Battaramulla and the nearby Good Market.
There are many villages across Sri Lanka where residents are involved in promoting traditional arts and crafts as a livelihood and needs more support from the authorities for its sustenance. In Kandy, the Naththaranpotha Kalapuraya (Craft village) is synonymous with wood carvings while tucked in the hills, also in Kandy, is the Thalagune Uda Dumbara village which showcases weaving.
From the south, comes the art of Beeralu lace picked up from the Portuguese which has become a vital source of income for rural women of the south coast. Ambalangoda is famous for traditional masks, very much a part of the country’s folklore. The art of gem cutting and polishing gem stones is the preserve of the ‘city of gems’ – Ratnapura. Coconut shell-ware is another art made famous by craftsmen mostly on the west coast.
Occasionally a story appears in the local press highlighting the problems and issues of local crafts-persons, their families and the villages they live in. However there is not much support from government agencies – apart from handouts by local authorities – to sustain these crafts-persons with decent wages.
Similar to the state patronage of the crafts village at Battaramulla, the authorities should seriously consider protecting villages like Weweldeniya as the ‘gems’ of Sri Lanka. Foreign competition, no doubt, cannot be stopped and protectionism is not the answer as the customer must be able to get the best price, whether local or an imported product. However preserving ancient arts and cultures is not about economic need and numbers but it’s about safeguarding the future of the country through traditions for generations to come. That’s a legacy that cannot be frittered away for economic gain.