Policies instead of politician bashing
Parliamentary elections have been fixed for December 5. It is time for
intelligent citizens and professional organizations to suggest policies
for the new government to follow for the greater good of the country. This
would be more useful than the more popular "politician bashing".
The most important problems facing this country today are poverty and
unemployment. These are the main causes of the ethnic problem. The two
major races, the Sinhalese and the Tamils compete for the same limited
job opportunities.
A priority for the new government would be the establishment of a large
harbour at Hambantota. Two hundred ships bypass Sri Lanka everyday. Colombo
harbour is too busy to service them.
This project should be carried out before India has time to deepen the
Palk Straits and build a harbour on their east coast.
However, it would be a large undertaking and need massive foreign assistance
and the active involvement of the Cabinet and the Head of State.
The biggest success story of Sri Lanka in recent years has been the
establishment of garment factories. These have helped to provide employment
and also earn foreign exchange. The export of housemaids cannot be counted
as a success story since this creates a lot of social problems, disrupts
families and is resorted to only by the poorest countries. There are countries
in East Asia that have improved rapidly within the past 20 years. They
have started with the garment industry which is labour intensive and later
progressed to the manufacture and export of electrical and electronic items.
Our next step should be to establish factories to manufacture TV sets
and other simple equipment for export.
As countries become more developed their labour costs increase. We in
Sri Lanka have a cheap, intelligent, unemployed labour force. We should
make use of this Incentives should be provided for manufacturers like Sony,
Mitsubishi to establish factories in our FTZs. Our trade unions should
also understand that very militant trade unionism can be counter-productive,
force factories to close down and reduce employment in the long term.
We should establish more technical institutes to impart middle grade
technical skills and training to our youth. We have many university graduates
but our electricians, mechanics and carpenters have learnt their trade
on the job. If they were given a formal training, what could they not do?
Perhaps make better or cheaper equipment?
We need a more abundant and relatively cheap source of electricity.
We can switch off a few lights and air- conditioners in our homes but without
more power we cannot establish more factories. The exact source of electricity
should be left to the experts, the engineers.
Environmental factors should be looked into by a duly appointed authority.
This should be tackled by the government as a top priority.
It is true that the biggest problem this country faces today is the
ethnic problem. However everything else need not come to a halt until this
is solved.
Dr. V.P.H. Rajapakse
Kandy |
