A well, respected Sri Lankan business leader has listed free speech, statesmanship, education, a disciplined society and a solid industrial policy as the pillars for the country to grow on in the post-war age.
Singer Chairman and Managing Director Hemaka Amarasuriya, asked to cite what was lacking today in Sri Lanka growing to its full potential in a war-free environment, said without hesitation: “Freedom of expression.”
He said people should be allowed to freely express themselves so that it would lead to creativity, which is sorely lacking today. “People should be allowed to express exactly what they feel. The sense of fear should be removed from society, altogether,” Mr Amarasuriya, who retires as Managing Director/CEO on June 30 but will continue as a non-executive chairman, told the Business Times in a wide-ranging interview.
Stressing that the leaders of the country have a key role to play, Mr Amarasuriya, who has used a set of home-spun values and discipline to chart his company to being the best known brand in Sri Lanka today, believes that everyone should ‘feel wanted’ in society. “From the richest to the poorest, they must be given a chance to be a part of the development process. Any person doing a job, big or small, in government or outside should be treated with dignity and equally,” he said.
The Singer chairman steps down from a successful tenure at the top since in which he saw the company chart giant steps during a period in which the multinational also obtained the services of this acclaimed Sri Lankan personality to drive some of its overseas operations. Mr Amarasinghe has served as an Area Manager, on Singer’s global board of directors, and once chaired the Singer Global Business Council which was responsible for guiding the policies of the global brand, an accolade few Sri Lankans have shared of driving the destinies of a multinational corporation. All that was done while mostly based in Sri Lanka, Mr Amarasinghe said at his office in Colombo.
In the interview (see Page 8 for a longer version), the Singer chief, who believes ‘walking the floor’, regularly meeting customers and suppliers rather than sitting behind a computer going through historical data is the way to run a successful company, was outspoken in his view on why Sri Lanka has failed to achieve greater heights.
The country will boom if the right policies are in place, he says, adding that Sri Lankan entrepreneurs are talented only if they are allowed to be creative while pointing out the need for a proper industrial policy.
He firmly believes that the government and the opposition should stop bashing each other. “There is no need for this to continue because for the next few years, the ruling party will govern and both sides should try and make ends meet. Statesmanship should emerge and the responsibility for this lies equally with the government and the opposition,” he said, noting that the opposition should not always oppose but agree with some of the good things being done. “There lies the formula for success.”
Mr Amarasinghe says the real test of statesmanship will come with the proposed constitution reforms -- where the support of all political parties are needed similar to 1972 when the then Constitutional Affairs Minister Colvin R de Silva got consensus from all parties to present a new Constitution.
“I see the same pattern emerging: Formation of a constituent assembly where they move out of parliament,” he said, adding that a bipartisan approach is a challenge to the leadership and the President has a parliamentary majority to do it. “This is a great chance just like what J.R. Jayewardene had in 1977 but he muffed it,” he said.
Referring to the rights of the minorities, he prefers not to use the word minorities because “I feel they shouldn’t be called minorities as everyone is equal.” But he points out that if people are deprived of their basic rights then there’s going to be a rebellion again. “Surely that would happen.”
He sees the end of the war and a return to political stability as another opportunity, 33 years after President Jayewardene’s sweeping win in 1977, to positively change the course of events but urges other smaller parties – some ethnic, some nationalistic – too also come together on a common platform.
Education, Mr Amarasinghe says, is another key issue if Sri Lanka is to succeed to the next level. “If we have all these ingredients, we would be one of the strongest countries in Asia. We have the people, we have the resources, and we are a beautiful country. We only need the right policies to develop.”
Appalled by the level of indiscipline in society, the respected business leader says the wrong signals are being sent to the younger generation that anything can be done – even if it means breaking the law.
For example if I do something, that’s considered wrong. But if you do the same thing, it’s considered right. There is a sense of partiality and rules are not applied equally. What then do you expect people to do? They will also want to break the law and find someone to protect them. All these factors have to be corrected,” he says. |
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