Features
Across the Atlantic to Mexico and Venezuela and visiting disabled people
(Excerpted from Memories that linger:
My journey in the World of Disability by Padmani Mendis)
My main finding was that the Manual had been adapted and translated into Spanish before the project started and this was a distinct advantage. Community health workers appeared to make use of it in the homes visited. I was particularly impressed with the use they made of the package on play activities. They taught mothers how to give extra stimulation to their children who had disability, involving the whole family in the process. In this way they were careful not to show a difference to the disabled child.
In one home, we met a three-year old child who had multiple disabilities with difficulties in learning and moving. He had not been able to sit unaided. Now after some weeks he was walking, pushing a home-made cart. The father said he had made this by adapting the drawing in the Manual.
In another home we met a five-year old child with cerebral palsy who also had difficulty moving. When the community worker found her she could only sit up. She was now walking with minimal help after the same period of time. In both homes, all the children in the family sat together with their parents to talk with us.
Another finding was that the packages on communication for both children and adults brought poor results. Individuals and families found these difficult to use. Although with most individuals with this disability, learning to communicate does require time, it appeared to me that this first draft did not contain enough specific material. We revised these extensively when we prepared the second version of the WHO Manual “Training the Disabled in the Community”. We used our field learning such as this to make significant changes that would bring better results for users.
I was happy that I had the opportunity to experience this project in which Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) had, within this time frame, been included in Primary Health Care apparently successfully. On the whole, the disabled people being visited at home appeared to show early and rapid improvement. The Manual, it seemed to me, showed the individuals and the families what can be achieved in spite of disability. When this had been realised it provided the motivation called for to work on the tasks that the disabled member could not yet do.
Venezuela – an adventure on arrival in Caracas
From Mexico, Dr. Hindley-Smith had arranged for me to go to Venezuela. Here I was to meet with persons in rehabilitation and in Primary Health Care. My task was different – in Venezuela I was to assist in planning a project to introduce CBR and to field test the Manual.
My counterpart was Dr. Jose’ Arvelo, the Chief of the Department of Medical Rehabilitation in the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare. This is the first time I met him. I was to meet him again soon when we participated as members at the Meeting of the WHO Expert Advisory Committee on Disability and Rehabilitation held in Geneva the following February. The expert group was small, five to six members as such meetings usually are. We talked often about what was happening in Venezuela.
My arrival at Caracas Airport was something of an adventure. The WHO office in Caracas and Dr. Arvelo had not known about my flight and expected time of arrival. All due to difficulties in communication at that time which was by fax. These were not always to be depended on. Further, Dr. Arvelo had no idea where I was coming from.
Added to that the flight was delayed. Dr. Arvelo had meanwhile gone to the airport to meet three flights in the hope that I may have been on any one of them. I was not. He had given up in desperation not knowing what to do. Eventually my flight arrived at Caracas that night at 3 a.m. There was of course no one to meet me. Nervous and afraid, I approached a taxi and asked the driver to take me to a hotel. Fortunately, the driver was a good man. He took me to a small hotel in the city and I checked in. The room was rather dirty. The bathroom was no better. But the room, once locked, gave me safety.
Dr. Jose’ Arvelo
The next morning I contacted the WHO office in Caracas which in turn informed Dr. Arvelo where I was. He told me how worried he had been and how relieved he was to see me safe. He was sorry I was in such a sordid hotel. And one, apparently, with a “reputation.” He had me check out immediately and took me to one that was larger, newer and safer. It was moreover situated in the heart of the city.
It was in this hotel that I experienced my first earthquake. I awoke in the early hours one morning to feel myself on my bed, in my room, swaying from this side to that about five or six times. It really did not last long enough to frighten me too much. When I told Dr. Arvelo about it the next morning, he told me there had been an earthquake across the border in Columbia.
It had caused some damage locally, but no deaths. I should have mentioned that I was on the 20th floor of a very tall hotel.I experienced another earthquake not much later when I was on the 12th floor of the Holiday Inn Hotel in Manila. That shook more and really scared me. Many years later I experienced tremors while staying in a hotel in Kandy, Sri Lanka. It was very mild. There have been a few since then in the Kandy area. Are these a prediction of earthquakes to come?
Dr. Arvelo’s concern for me throughout my stay was most touching. He and I spent a great deal of time together during my three weeks in Venezuela. Because it was he who took me everywhere, driving himself. As the Chief of the Department of Medical Rehabilitation in the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare he held a very important position in the country.
Within a few days of my arrival in Caracas, Dr. Arvelo took me home to meet his wife and three lovely young daughters. We got on well – there was so much they wanted to know about me, my work and my country. After that I became a frequent guest in their home. I had no time to be lonely and homesick in Caracas.
What I liked most about the hotel was that it had a Juice Bar situated just across from it. So in the morning for breakfast I would walk across for a deliciously fresh, cold, large fruit juice. And the same in the evening after a tiring day. In the mornings I would have avocado or guava, both heavy on the stomach. In the evenings something lighter, may be orange or pineapple. I can still taste those delicious flavours. Nalin and I often wonder over breakfast why it is that fruit does not have the same particular flavours that they did when we were young.
Collecting information for a CBR development project
Dr. Arvelo had arranged a programme for me with two broad aims in mind. One was to inform me of the present availability of rehabilitation services for disabled people. In the urban areas, Venezuela had a wide network of rehabilitation services staffed by well-trained professionals. From this we could ensure that selected project areas will have technical support.
The second was to enable me to know the pattern of Primary Health Care that was being developed in the country. This would enable us to decide on the feasibility of incorporating the field trial into this system. And the where and the how of doing it.
With these aims in mind we met and talked with people at all levels of the two systems. Professors, managers, disabled people, specialists, medical officers, therapists, social workers, teachers, consumers and others. We covered the areas of cerebral palsy, mental retardation, psychiatry, psychology, paediatrics, rehabilitation, physical medicine, visual impairment, hearing and speech impairment, leprosy, cardiac and chest disorders, drug addiction, mental health and psychiatry.
We also met the presidents and members of the National Associations of Physiotherapy and of Occupational Therapy, the Permanent Presidential Commission for the Care of the Mentally Retarded, and the National and Regional Institutes for Dermatology which looked after Leprosy. We had meetings with officials in the Ministry of Education and in the regional directorates of education. Sometimes we met these people singly, often in small groups.
To meet a selection of these people there were times when we travelled by road such as to Maracay in Aragua State and Barquisimeto in Lara State. At other times we flew as we did when we were headed to the Andes Mountain areas.
Primary Health Care
The urban – rural population ratio at that time was said to be 80:20, the opposite of ours. The country had a good hospital-based health care system for the urban population. Primary Health Care (PHC) was being developed for the 20% rural population. At the grass roots, it was being delivered by auxiliary nurses based in rural dispensaries. These served a population of 100 – 1,000 persons.
Auxiliary nurses were supported through visits by medical officers or registered nurses. Both worked at health posts, each serving a population of 10,000. They in turn were supported by health centres which had some specialised services and about fifty beds for in-patient care. The health centres in turn were supported by hospitals, each with up to 300 beds and more specialised services. PHC was also called simplified medicine just as CBR was called simplified rehabilitation in many South American countries.
I am still asked the question as to why CBR went into Primary Health Care in many countries. The answer is simple. It was the only development strategy at that time that reached people in their homes. Which had a support and referral system. WHO’s visionary Director-General Halfden T. Mahler made clear the difference between medical care and health.
Medical care is concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of disease. Health care is much broader. It was at that time defined as having four components, namely promotion, prevention, treatment and rehabilitation. Through this fourth component disabled people were clearly recognised as partners in the PHC strategy.
Selection of Project Areas and introduction
Under this project CBR was to be included in the Primary Health Care system in Venezuela. Within a few days, we had visited Aragua and Lara states and had spoken with people there. They had already made plans for the project. It was to start with training PHC personnel in their states. The Manual was available in Spanish from Mexico so this was no problem.
Training in PHC in most countries at this time used the “trickle down” effect. We met professionals from the rehabilitation institutions and other training centres for school teachers and the local administrations to discuss their role in training and implementation. We returned to Caracas to inform the people there as regards how and what the States of Lara and Aragua would do to initiate CBR in Venezuela. The projects had the support they required from Caracas.
Rehabilitation of people with leprosy
At this time Leprosy was very prevalent in Venezuela. Dr. Arvelo wanted me to experience how people who had leprosy and leprosy care were included successfully in the community. We flew to the Andean region and visited the capital city of Merida in Merida state, San Antonio and rural areas of the state of Trujillo. In these areas, we were at the northernmost part of the Andean Mountain range that ran down the coast of South America through seven countries.
I could not imagine that I was here, so far away from my own country. It was often windy and quite cold. I was not prepared for this either and Dr. Arvelo often lent me his coat to keep me warm. He told me potatoes and tobacco had originated in these parts of the Andes. I asked him about the rubber plant because I knew it came from South America. He told me it would have come to us from Brazil.
Leprosy was endemic in these states. In these areas, rehabilitation departments worked closely with leprosy services to provide comprehensive care to individuals and families. There had never been special centres for leprosy in Venezuela. All people who had leprosy were treated as they continued their normal lives within their family and community.
The visit to the home of one particular family comes to mind. The mother came out of her home to greet us. She was wiping her hands on her apron. It was apparent that she was attending to her housework. She was happy to talk with us about her condition. She related to us how she found herself having leprosy on a routine visit to her doctor.
She did not know how she had got it, but there were many people in her town who had leprosy before she did. That was some three or four years ago and she had been on medication since then. A person from the health service visited her regularly at home. At first the health visitor told her what care she should take of herself, and also when she looked after her family. Now the health visitor had become a friend and came routinely to make sure she was keeping fit.
As she talked with us, her children, about four or five, came running to where we were, appearing, as it were from nowhere. They clung to their mother as she spoke. They said they had been playing in the yard of a neighbour’s home.
There were indeed many lessons to be learned here by countries in Asia and Africa. We had, when leprosy was diagnosed, isolated and segregated our people in institutions located far away from their communities. To such an extent that stigma and fear was propagated and myths were created by the condition. As in my country, many people with leprosy were imprisoned in these institutions for life. Their families, fearing the disease refused to take them back. These were and are, forever their homes. Still isolated. Still segregated.
Combating money laundering:
Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe has said combating money laundering and countering financing of terrorism will help improve the credibility of the financial system, increase FDIs, enhance access to international financial markets, promote good governance practices and strengthen national security. Accordingly, a Financial Intelligence Unit has been given the opportunity to conduct further investigations into suspected transactions and activities related to money laundering and financing of terrorism.
Money Laundering: A Global Menace
Money laundering is a pervasive global issue that threatens financial systems and undermines the integrity of economies. It involves disguising the origins of illicitly obtained funds to make them appear legitimate. Criminal networks, terrorist organizations, and corrupt officials frequently employ this technique, exploiting weaknesses in financial regulations and enforcement mechanisms. Today we examine the concept of money laundering, its mechanisms, and its impact, supported by notorious examples worldwide, highlighting the need for robust anti-money laundering (AML) frameworks.
Definition and Mechanisms
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) defines money laundering as the process of concealing the illicit origins of funds through a series of transactions designed to obscure the money’s true source. The process typically involves three stages: placement, layering, and integration. Placement introduces illicit money into the financial system, often through cash-intensive businesses or smuggling. Layering involves complex transactions to obscure the trail, such as transferring funds through offshore accounts or shell companies. Finally, integration reintroduces the laundered funds into the legitimate economy as clean money.
The main methods of money laundering include:
Layering: This involves complex financial transactions designed to obscure the origin of the illicit funds. Layering can involve transferring money through various accounts, converting it into different currencies, or using shell companies. The goal is to make tracing the money difficult.
Placement: This is the initial stage where the illegal funds are introduced into the financial system. It often involves depositing large amounts of cash into banks, purchasing assets such as real estate, or using the funds for gambling or investments in legitimate businesses.
Integration: In this stage, the illicit money is integrated into the economy in a way that makes it appear legitimate. This could involve purchasing high-value goods, transferring money across borders, or setting up fake businesses to funnel money in and out.
Smurfing:This involves breaking up large amounts of illegal money into smaller, less suspicious amounts and depositing them in different accounts or financial institutions to avoid detection by regulators or authorities.
Use of Shell Companies:
Criminals create fake companies (shell companies) that don’t engage in any real business. These companies are used to hide the ownership of illegal funds, often moving them through multiple jurisdictions.
Trade-Based Money Laundering:
Criminals manipulate trade transactions, such as over- or under-invoicing, to disguise the movement of money. They may falsely report the value or quantity of goods to justify payments or receive excessive payments from foreign entities.
Cryptocurrency Laundering:
With the rise of digital currencies, criminals use cryptocurrencies to facilitate money laundering, often through exchanges or by using privacy-focused coins to obscure the transaction trail.
Real Estate Laundering:
Criminals buy high-value real estate and then sell it, using the profits to launder the illegal funds. This may involve inflating property values or flipping properties for a higher price.
Casino Laundering:
Money launderers may use casinos to launder funds. They could gamble with illicit funds and then cash out with a “clean” check or claim winnings, making the money appear legitimate.
Terrorist Financing:
Though not exactly money laundering, terrorists sometimes use similar methods to move money around, often utilizing donations, front organizations, or international financial networks.
Preventing money laundering involves stringent regulatory controls, such as Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures, anti-money laundering (AML) checks, and monitoring for suspicious transactions.
Notorious Examples of Money Laundering
The Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) Scandal
The BCCI scandal of the 1980s and early 1990s remains one of the most infamous cases of global money laundering. BCCI was accused of laundering billions of dollars for drug cartels, terrorists, and corrupt officials across multiple countries. The Colombo branch of BCCI was acquired by Seylan Bank and restructured it with the help of the CBSL.
Danske Bank Case
Danske Bank, Denmark’s largest financial institution, became embroiled in a money laundering scandal in 2018. Investigations revealed that its Estonian branch had facilitated the laundering of approximately €200 billion, involving funds from Russia and other former Soviet states.
Panama Papers
The Panama Papers leak in 2016 exposed how Mossack Fonseca, a Panamanian law firm, helped individuals and entities worldwide evade taxes and launder money through offshore shell companies. Notable figures implicated included politicians, celebrities, and business magnates.
The MDB Scandal
Malaysia Development Berhad (MDB) fund was established to promote economic development. However, investigations revealed that billions of dollars were misappropriated and laundered through luxury purchases, real estate investments, and shell companies. High-profile individuals, including Malaysian officials and international bankers, were implicated.
The HSBC Case
HSBC, one of the world’s largest banks, faced allegations in 2012 for facilitating money laundering by drug cartels in Mexico. The bank’s inadequate AML controls allowed billions of dollars in illicit funds to pass through its accounts, resulting in a $1.9 billion settlement with U.S. authorities.
Impact and Challenges
Money laundering has far-reaching consequences. It erodes trust in financial systems, fuels corruption, and enables organized crime and terrorism. Moreover, it creates economic distortions by misallocating resources and undermining fair competition. Countries with weak AML frameworks often become attractive destinations for illicit financial flows, further exacerbating economic inequality.
However, combating money laundering presents significant challenges. These include the complexity of tracking cross-border transactions, the rise of cryptocurrencies, and the use of sophisticated techniques by criminals to evade detection. While international bodies such as FATF and national governments have implemented stricter regulations, enforcement remains inconsistent.
Mechanisms to Prevent Money Laundering: Existing Measures and Proposed Controls
Money laundering poses a significant threat to global financial systems and economic stability. Preventing this illicit activity requires a combination of robust regulatory frameworks, international cooperation, and technological innovation. We examine existing mechanisms for combating money laundering, evaluates their effectiveness, and hope to propose enhanced controls and remedies to address emerging challenges.
Existing Mechanisms to Prevent Money Laundering
1. Regulatory Frameworks
Governments worldwide have established laws and regulations to combat money laundering. Key frameworks include:
Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Laws:
Laws such as the US Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and the European Union’s Anti-Money Laundering Directives (AMLD) mandate financial institutions to implement controls for detecting and reporting suspicious activities.
Know Your Customer (KYC) Policies:
Financial institutions are required to verify the identities of their clients, ensuring transparency in transactions and reducing the risk of illicit activities.
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs):
Institutions must file SARs with relevant authorities when they identify transactions that may involve money laundering.
2. International Cooperation
Money laundering often involves cross-border transactions, necessitating international collaboration. Organizations like the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) set global standards for AML measures and facilitate cooperation among member states. Additionally, mutual legal assistance treaties (MLATs) enable countries to share information and coordinate investigations.
3. Technology and Data Analytics
Advancements in technology have bolstered AML efforts. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are used to detect anomalies in transaction patterns. Blockchain technology also enhances transparency by providing immutable records of financial transactions.
4. Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs)
FIUs, such as the US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), analyze financial data to identify and investigate money laundering activities. These agencies act as intermediaries between financial institutions and law enforcement.
Effectiveness and Limitations of Existing Mechanisms
While existing mechanisms have had some success in curbing money laundering, challenges persist:
Evasion Tactics:
Criminals continually devise sophisticated methods, such as trade-based money laundering and virtual asset exploitation, to bypass controls.
Regulatory Gaps:
Variations in AML standards across jurisdictions create vulnerabilities, particularly in countries with weak regulatory frameworks.
Resource Constraints:
Many financial institutions and enforcement agencies lack the resources to implement advanced AML measures effectively.
Proposed Controls and Remedies
1. Strengthening International Cooperation
Enhanced collaboration among countries is essential to close regulatory gaps. Establishing a unified global AML framework, supported by real-time data sharing and joint task forces, can improve enforcement.
2. Leveraging Advanced Technologies
AI and Predictive Analytics:
Develop AI-driven tools capable of real-time transaction monitoring and predictive analysis to identify suspicious activities.
Blockchain Integration:
Promote the use of blockchain in financial systems to improve transparency and reduce opportunities for laundering.
3. Addressing Cryptocurrency Risks
Cryptocurrencies have become a preferred medium for laundering due to their pseudonymity.
4. Capacity Building and Training
Provide financial institutions and enforcement agencies with adequate resources and training to stay ahead of evolving laundering techniques. Awareness campaigns targeting high-risk sectors can also enhance compliance.
5. Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs)
Fostering collaboration between governments and private sector entities can improve AML efforts. PPPs enable the sharing of intelligence, resources, and best practices.
(The writer, a senior Chartered Accountant and professional banker, is Professor at SLIIT University, Malabe. He is also the author of the “Doing Social Research and Publishing Results”, a Springer publication (Singapore), and “Samaja Gaveshakaya (in Sinhala). The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the institution he works for. He can be contacted at saliya.a@slit.lk and ww.researcher.com)
by Professor Emeritus,
I M Dharmadasa
Sheffield Hallam University, UK
This article summarises the history of solar energy development in Sri Lanka that I have been involved with, over the past 40 years and my thoughts on the present situation in the country. As an active solar energy conversion researcher in both academia and industry (British Petroleum Research in London), I have seen the maturity of this technology since the late 1980s and started to promote it in schools and community events in the United Kingdom.
I then extended this work to my native country, Sri Lanka, in 1991, by initiating a UK-DFID (UK Department of Foreign and International Development) funded and BC (British Council) managed Higher Education Link (HE-Link) programme. This is how I met all renewable energy promoters in Sri Lanka. This article brings back my memories from the work done in collaboration with various people, starting in the late 1980s.
During the six-year HE-Link programme, I worked with several universities (Peradeniya, Colombo, Kelaniya, Moratuwa and Ruhuna) and organised conferences, seminars and public lectures in schools and government ministries. There were only two or three small solar energy companies at that time, struggling to do business, and they all joined together to promote renewable energy initiatives in the country.
Among many interested academics, senior engineers like Dr. Ray Wijewardane joined all these events, and I met three notable entrepreneurs working in this field starting in 1985. They were Lalith Gunaratne, Pradip Jayawardane and Viran Perera. These three friends, who were brought up in Canada, visited Sri Lanka for a holiday after their marriages and decided to stay in Sri Lanka and start a solar energy business. Their starting work was a mobile solar water pump, but about 80% of the people who were not connected to the national grid asked for solar lighting rather than solar water pumping.
Sir Arthur C Clark also gave them a good helping hand and they started to install small solar home systems in rural areas. They also started to import solar cells and assemble SUNTEC 36 W solar modules in the country, but due to various barriers from outside, that project had to be terminated. There were numerous barriers within the country itself. I remember a newspaper article that appeared in Sri Lanka titled, “Solar Power Suitable for Lotus Eaters”. After all this fantastic work in the late 1980s, Lalith returned to Canada, Viren started an eco-tourist centre, and Pradip continued to work in the solar energy field.
Most of these entrepreneurs told me that the government authorities did not listen to them due to their vested interests. For this reason, I made the decision to promote renewables as a research scholar without any connection to a commercial company. This approach worked well, and I made two or three visits to Sri Lanka in some years delivering public lectures in ministries, universities and in schools. I also wrote numerous articles in the local press and completed many interviews on applications of renewable energy sources.
Solar home systems, at early stages, had about 50 W solar panels. These were combined with lead-acid batteries to store energy and provide 5-6 lights at night. This was also enough to power a black-and-white television for a few hours. Depending on the number of lights used, the cost of such a system varied between Rs 40,000 and Rs 60,000.
Meanwhile, the Ceylon Electricity Board also worked to expand the national grid under the country’s 100% electrification programme. As the national grid is available almost everywhere, the interest in small solar home systems gradually disappeared.
There were many people in the country involved in promoting renewables, and I was able to visit Sri Lanka every year to spend a few weeks at a time and work with numerous institutes.
I also personally met almost all Science & Technology Ministers, starting from Bernard Soysa, and some Power and Energy Ministers to introduce renewable energy projects. Although the government’s take-up was slow, the private sector developed very rapidly, starting many new companies for solar system installation.
Gradually, the main interest turned to the grid-tied larger solar systems installed on freely available rooftops. With the “Soorya Bala Sangramaya” programme introduced around 2016, solar roofs began to be connected to the grid via “Net Metering”, “Net Accounting”, and “Net Plus” methods. A few years ago, a 5 kW solar roof used to cost about Rs 14,00,000, but today, the cost has come down to about Rs 9,00,000. Each 5 kW solar roof installed in the country removes the need to burn 7.5 metric tons of imported coal, introducing numerous health and economic benefits to the nation, including reducing the country’s huge import bill.
I also collaborated with the ex-chairman of the Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority (SLSEA), Prof. Krishan Deheragoda, to bring two 500 kW solar farms to the country, introducing larger solar farms. After promoting renewable energy over four decades, I am pleased to see numerous large solar energy systems beginning to appear in the country, including “Floating Solar Farms”.
The current government’s interest in indigenous, hydro, solar, wind, biomass and bio-gas energy, as well as the contributions from over 200 private solar energy companies to power Sri Lanka, is a very encouraging sign.
As a result of the six-year HE-Link programme SAREP (South Asia Renewable Energy Programme), the Solar Asia Conference series and the “Solar Village” project evolved. Solar Asia Conferences have taken place twice in Sri Lanka, once in Malaysia and once in India.
A pilot solar village started in 2008, and nine solar villages have been established in the country since. The concept of solar village is to empower rural communities by introducing a regular wealth creation method using solar energy and guiding them to develop themselves sustainably. This, in turn, contributes to reducing poverty and mitigating damaging climate change, benefits 80% of the Sri Lankan population who lives in villages, and paves the way for the prosperity of Sri Lanka. To attract external funding and rapidly replicate solar villages in Sri Lanka, a “Solar Village SDG” community interest company (CIC) was formed in November 2024.
According to the latest SLSEA statistics, Sri Lanka has 2000 MW of solar and 200 MW of wind installations. This is 2.2 GW and a good fraction of the total power production capacity (~5 GW) in the country.
The intermittent nature of solar and wind can currently be balanced using hydropower until the fast-developing green hydrogen technology is established in Sri Lanka. When solar power is at its maximum power production during the daytime, the hydropower can be reduced simply by controlling the flow of water without any technical difficulties. With the positive steps taken by the GOSL and the private sector, Sri Lanka could become a renewable energy island in the future, giving the country many health and economic benefits and attracting many tourists from around the globe.
To achieve this noble goal, every sector in the country should work together. The general public should understand the benefits of using renewables and install more systems in the country, perhaps via “Crowd Funding”.
It is now clear that ROI (Return on Investment) from a solar roof is greater than the interest earned by keeping the money in the bank. PV companies must improve their “after-sales service” to increase customer satisfaction and help their customers get the most from their investment by promptly rectifying any issues arising from these new technologies.
The CEB has a great responsibility to gradually improve the national grid by reducing energy leakages and replacing weak transformers and grid lines to move towards a smart grid, enabling the absorption of more indigenous solar and wind energy.
The Author, I. M. Dharmadasa, is an Emeritus Professor with 51 years of university service, over 40 years of active solar energy research, and over 35 years of renewable energy promotional work. He has supervised 30 Ph.D. students and published 254 scientific articles and two books in this field.
by Jehan Perera
Four months after coming to power, the NPP government is facing growing criticism from those in the opposition and also scepticism regarding its ability to make policies necessary to revive the country and its economy. The catchy stories in the media are invariably in relation to some mishap or shortcoming in the past of government leaders. Some of these relate to the inexperience of the new decisionmakers, many of them having spent their lives in academia rather than in politics or public administration. The criticisms that ring true to the masses of people relate to the economic difficulties they continue to experience in full force. Those who contributed to the economic catastrophe of 2022 by their own actions over the past decades have little credibility to criticise.
The promise of an uncorrupt government made at the presidential and general elections continues to keep popular support on the side of the government. There is a continuing belief that the government is sincere about keeping corruption under control and dealing with past abuses. But there is also disappointment that the promises the NPP made about renegotiating the IMF agreement and reducing its burden on the masses of people are not being realised in the short term. The gap between the rich and the poor continues to be very large with those who are owners of rice mills, hotels and stocks getting massive profits while those on fixed incomes and subsistence farmers eking out a living.
The basic problem for the government is that it inherited an economy that had been made to collapse by irresponsible governments of the past. The agreements that the previous government signed with the IMF and international bondholders reflected Sri Lanka’s weak bargaining position. This was why Sri Lanka only got a 20 percent reduction in its debt, whereas other countries got 50 percent reductions. The NPP government cannot extricate itself from the situation. The hope that a generous benefactor will extricate us from the difficult economic situation we are in underpins the unrealistic expectations that accompanied President Anura Kumara Dissanayake during his two state visits to India and China.
CAUTIONARY TALES
Nearly two centuries ago, in 1848, one of Britain’s 19th-century Prime Ministers, Lord Palmerston, declared “We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests is our duty to follow.” His speech was meant to explain and defend Britain’s foreign policy, emphasising that the country’s decisions were guided by its strategic interests rather than fixed loyalties to other nations or ideologies. It justified Britain’s controversial alliances and interventions, such as supporting liberal revolutions in Europe while maintaining colonial dominance elsewhere. This explains the inconsistent use of legal and moral standards by the international community that we see in the world today.
When Sri Lanka engages with other countries it is important that we keep Lord Parlmerston’s dictum in mind. Over the past three decades there has been a noticeable shift in the practices of countries that have claimed to believe in the rule of law and universal human rights. There was a long period after the end of the second world war when the powerful countries of the world that had emerged victors in that war gave leadership to liberal values of human rights, democracy and justice in their engagements in the international arena. Together they set up institutions such as the United Nations, international covenants on human rights and the International Court of Justice, among others. But today we see this liberal international order in tatters with happenings in countries such as Iraq, Libya, Syria, Ukraine and Palestine reflecting the predatory behaviour of the strong against the weak.
According to international scholars such as Prof Oliver Richmond of the UK, the Liberal International Order (LIO) is losing its grip as global power shifts toward an emerging Authoritarian International Order (AIO). In his writings, he highlights how the LIO’s failures to resolve key conflicts have exposed its weaknesses. The prolonged failures like the Cyprus peace talks and the breakdown of the Oslo Accords in Israel-Palestine have highlighted the limits of a system driven more by Western dominance than equitable solutions. The rise of powers like China and Russia, who openly prioritise state sovereignty and power over liberal values, marks the shift to a multipolar AIO in which every country tries to get the maximum advantage for itself even at the cost to others.
Prof. Richmond warns that neither the liberal or authoritarian international orders, as implemented, are equipped to deliver lasting peace, as both are driven by geopolitical interests rather than a commitment to justice or equality. He argues that human rights, development, pluralism and democracy as the outcome of peacemaking and political reform that the Liberal International Order once held out as its vision is more just and sustainable for ordinary people than the geopolitical balancing, and authoritarian conflict management which is now crudely pushed forward by the proponents of the Authoritarian International Order. Without a new approach that prioritises fairness and sustainability, the world risks further division and instability.
NOT GENEROSITY
Following upon the stately receptions accorded to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake in India and China, there is much anticipation that Sri Lanka is on the verge of receiving massive support from these countries that will give a turbo-boost to Sri Lanka’s development efforts. In the aftermath of India’s unprecedented economic support of USD 4 billion at the height of the economic crisis in 2022, the promise of as much as USD 10 billion in economic investment from China reported by the media offers much hope. India and China are two economic giants that are in Sri Lanka’s neighbourhood who could do much to transform the economy of Sri Lanka to reach take-off into self-sustaining and rapid economic development. This accompanies the shift of economic power in the world towards Asia at this time.
Both India and China are keen that Sri Lanka should be in their orbit or minimise its position in the other’s orbit. They each have strong rivalries and misgivings about each other, especially regarding security issues. They have had border disputes that led to military confrontations. The Authoritarian International Order that Prof Oliver Richmond has written about would influence their behaviour towards one another as well as towards third countries such as Sri Lanka. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake appears to have been aware of this problem when he visited India and China. In both countries he pledged that Sri Lanka would do nothing that would be injurious to their security interests.
Lord Palmerston’s old dictum that countries act on permanent interests rather than permanent friendships is important to bear in mind when foreign governments make inroads into third countries. Sri Lanka needs to protect its own interests rather than believe that foreign countries are going an extra step to help it due to shared political ideology, age-old friendships or common culture or religion. Sri Lanka, its leaders and citizens, need to look at each and every offer of foreign assistance in a realistic manner. Each offer should be assessed on its own merits and not as part of a larger package in which generosity is imagined to be the sole or main motivating factor of the foreign country.
For Sri Lanka to emerge stronger, it needs to evaluate every offer of foreign assistance with a clear-eyed focus on its own national interests, ensuring that the benefits align with the long-term well-being of its people. Pragmatism, and hard headed analysis, must guide the country’s engagement with the world. This would be best done in in a bipartisan manner at the highest level, without being distracted by partisan party politics and narrow political and personal self-interest which has been our failure over time with a few exceptions.
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