Editorial

28th December 1997

Quo Vadis Sri Lanka?

While we will talk of our hopes for the New Year and of our future in our next issue, let us pause for a moment to reflect on yet another year in the Isle of Paradise.

As city folk tuck into their Christmas cake or turkey the country has been gripped with a sudden shortage of flour. Shades of a dubious French Queen’s infamous quote that if you don’t have bread eat cakes.

The government is insisting that despite a hiccup in shipments, there’s sufficient flour now. Bakers are complaining that there is a sufficient quantity but the quality is low - so, there’s a sufficient quantity of low quality flour!

Items like flour are usually imported keeping a three-month buffer stock. If we have suddenly run short, it shows that monitoring of food supplies to the people is not in order.In the recent past, Presidents Jayewardene, Premadasa and Wijetunga themselves kept a personal watch over essential food imports. Whether the incumbent president is now responsible or whether it is the Trade Minister somebody had erred despite early warning signals from importers. That seems to be the general malaise today - of a country just drifting along from one crisis to another and somehow hoping things will work out at the end.

Quite similar to the cake and no-flour contradiction, is the absurd contradiction of a public witnessing Generals awarding medals to themselves in Colombo, while the foot-soldier is losing his life and foot in a bloody war in the jungles of the Wanni. Last week one person was awarded a medal for an old military campaign by the President when her own Secretary a former Army Commander, a former IGP, a one-time Air Force Commander and the Additional Solicitor General had found that very individual guilty of dereliction of duty and a complete lack of responsibility. What a crazy country we live in! Without being sacked, the Commander-in-chief pins a medal on him.

If that is not enough - the highest in the land when asked at a news conference why the Customs Department appears to be hushing up a major import-export fraud because it involves a financial supporter of the government, shoots back at the question saying, “why are you all asking about him?....and mentions the names of three firms all of which continue to do business with the government and rollicking business at that..

Yes - what about them? But no, instead the Commission set up to investigate bribery and corruption indicts a school principal for soliciting cups and saucers and then withdraws the case themselves. And, apart from investigating each other, has nothing else really to show.

So, with these bundles of contradictions, we go into the New Year when we celebrate 50 years of Independence having to ask ourselves Where are we heading?

There were those who recently made public their admiration for rising, thriving economies of South East Asian countries like Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia and Thailand. Many argued that a little bit of totalitarianism was required for this economic miracle. That the freedom of the press is an unwarranted luxury that crony capitalism is what made the economy tick.

We see for ourselves before the year is out in what a shamble these countries are in today. Utterly uneconomic projects were initiated on political friendships and self-glorification only to stop in mid-air. The many Sri Lankans taking advantage of cheap holidays in those otherwise expensive destinations is a testimony by itself.

The PA came into office shouting out at the top of their voices about crony capitalism of the UNP, only to do one better. Look at the way tenders are being awarded. Have a good look at Eppawala.

Quo Vadis dear Lanka?

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