The UK under the new Labour government is committed to pursuing a ‘balanced foreign policy’ with the rest of the world. It is for fostering strong ties with major countries and regions, going forward.

The above were two insights that were provided into the current foreign policy of the UK by the latter’s High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Andrew Patrick at the Pathfinder Foundation’s third Ambassadors’ Roundtable held at the Hotel Taj Samudra’s Colombo Club on August 30. Among the participants in the forum were officials of Sri Lanka’s Foreign Ministry, local public servants, journalists and media personnel, think tank representatives and others.

At the Q&A that followed H.C. Patrick’s presentation issues of considerable salience to the UK’s ties with Sri Lanka and the global South were fruitfully discussed. It was apt that Sri Lanka’s economic ties with the UK came in for detailed discussion.

Regardless of Sri Lanka’s past status as a colony of the UK, this columnist is inclined to the view that Sri Lanka’s post-colonial ties with Great Britain have, on the whole, been very wholesome and productive. The UK has been mainly instrumental, of course, in introducing Sri Lanka to Western civilization and culture and although opinions may differ locally on whether this has proved a good or a bad thing, any impartial observer would be compelled to concede that the UK’s continuing cultural influence in Sri Lanka in particular has accrued more to the latter’s benefit than to its detriment.

The beneficial influence continuing to be wielded by the British Council Library on Sri Lanka, alone, clinches the point. It could be unhesitatingly stated that higher education in the Humanities and the arts, in particular, is impossible in Sri Lanka without the sustenance and support of the British Council Library. It is a resource base that just cannot be ignored by those aspiring to be educationally well-rounded men or women.

Moreover, the English Language is currently the widest used international language and is crucial to the conduct of global relations in a multiplicity of spheres. Truly, it may be said that minus the English Language a self-sufficient existence for countries is inconceivable today.

Thanks to the Library’s English Language teaching programs, quite a number of local primary and secondary school students are being enabled to be proficient in English. In an assessment of how the Library is benefiting Sri Lanka, these teaching programs should not be glossed over.

The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) to be held in Samoa in October ought to prompt the governments and publics of the UK’s former colonies to re-assess the importance of Britain in their foreign policy thinking and to reflect deeply on the foregoing things.

Thus far, the British Commonwealth of Nations has remained largely intact as a collectivity of mainly the South and this fact testifies to the continuing relevance of the Commonwealth and it usefulness, for Britain’s former colonies in particular. All things considered, the latter have found it advisable to remain within the Commonwealth fold.

The British Commonwealth’s continued existence and vibrancy is also proof of the ‘balanced’ nature of British foreign policy; a factor that H.C. Patrick thought it fit to stress. This aspect of British foreign policy should be considered as being manifested in the comparatively unobtrusive character of the UK’s dealings with the rest of the world. It does not follow from this premise that Britain would not be forceful in its international relations in matters that touch crucially on what it sees as its best interests. It cannot be otherwise.

H.C. Patrick’s subsequent comments to the effect that the UK was seeking to re-connect with the EU and other global players that matter needed to be seen as reflecting the UK’s efforts at conducting a ‘balanced foreign policy’. That is, these initiatives are an extension of the current UK foreign policy of maintaining an equidistance, so to speak, between it and other global powers.

Among other notable ‘takes’ from the H.C.’s presentation was the comment that Britain is placing an emphasis on strengthening its ties with India. This is welcome news for the democracies of South Asia in particular in view of India’s growing stature as a global ‘Swing State.’ It is only those democratic powers that are capable of influencing world developments in a beneficial direction that are credited with a ‘Swing’ status and growing positive ties between India and Britain are bound to be welcomed by democratic opinion the world over as presaging a global power balance more in favour of the world’s democracies.

On the economic development front, what was of principal interest for the developing world in the H.C.’s presentation was his mention that the UK’s Developing Countries Trading Scheme (DCTS) has now come to replace the Generalized Scheme of Preferences (GSP), which had hitherto played a pivotal role in regulating developing countries’ access to UK export markets.

From the Sri Lankan viewpoint in particular what would be of importance in this context is that, for instance, Sri Lanka would have improved access to the UK market. Specifically, some 99 percent of its exports would be eligible to zero tariffs. Needless to say, this is a considerable boon for a struggling economy.

Besides the above ‘positive spinoffs’ on the cultural and economic fronts for Southern states, such as Sri Lanka, from improved ties with the UK, the South would also do well to study long and deep Britain’s Race Relations Act, which has over the decades helped it considerably in effectively managing its identity conflicts. While it is true that Britain is no stranger to racial violence, it is equally true that it is also home to a vibrant Anti-Racism Movement that springs into action in the face of such disturbances. The mentioned legislation apparently goes some distance in motivating the public to say ‘No’ to race hate.

Sri Lanka has been plagued for long decades by racial violence but has to date done nothing constructive to bring it within manageable limits. Legislation on the lines of the UK’s Race Relations Act would enable Sri Lanka to manage its race relations better and lay a durable basis for sustainable development which is inconceivable without internal peace and harmony.

by Jayasri Priyalal

Recognition of every one’s cultural identity, religious beliefs and value systems becomes an important fundamental right in modern societies. Similarly, casting one’s vote in a democracy, too, is a fundamental right particularly at the elections. Democracy is the best mechanism humans have come up with for navigating the trade-offs and weaknesses inherent in different socio-economic systems. Democracies allow inevitable conflicts to be resolved in a way that maximises fairness and legitimacy and that broadly reflects society’s views.

An individual’s choice given in an election formulates a mandate expressed with an opinion for a party or a group of alliance to govern the state forming a government. An elected government secures a mandate to restrain freedoms of the citizens within the rules respecting the fundamental rights of citizens. As such all democracies are functioning as rule-based societies. Since gaining independence one might wonder whether it is rule of law or rule of lawyers that interprets how the freedoms and democracy take effect in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka has fallen into the current desperate situation because of short-sighted policy making by those who got elected to govern, by deceiving the electorate with all unrealistic promises purely to steal their vote. In the eve of another crucial presidential election this essay addresses the issues that are contributing to widen democratic deficiencies leading to frustration amongst the citizens. The trust that electorates demonstrate by way of expressing their choice on various opinions put forward by political parties giving their mandate to govern gets distorted when political parties conceal their true identities. Over promising at elections and under delivery at execution is common in many democracies across the world.

Distorted brand images of political parties in Sri Lanka

Political parties are the force behind driving the process of democracy in society, particularly in the countries where the governments practice multiparty democracy. Traditionally political parties have developed a unique brand image based on their political ideology. Since the advent of the Industrial revolution in the 18th century there were clear distinctions between the left and right divide amongst the political parties in Europe. Left wing parties promoted and propagated policies aligning with socialism and communism whereas the Right-wing parties followed a liberal and conservative policy formulations. Both ideologies contributed immensely for social well-being and greater human emancipation. Coalition building was a common phenomenon amongst the like-minded as the parties were aligned with a particular ideology.

Having inherited the British Westminster style of parliamentary democracy, we in Sri Lanka, too, formed political parties with the ideological differences. As such major political parties developed a unique brand image and propagated policies in line with the basic propelling ideology or the political thinking. Although Sri Lanka has changed its constitution; election system, governing systems, the constitutions of these political parties remain still in the 19th century structures. They have not changed with the times remaining as Jurassic. Typically, hierarchical. There is no space for meaningful stakeholder consultations to realise the ground realities and expectations. On the eve of elections all political parties come up with election manifestos with catchy phrases just to tap the emotions of the electorate. No one is keen to read the manifestos to decide whom to vote for; it is not a worthy document anymore.

Sri Lanka adopted the proportional representation election system with the introduction of the 1978 constitution. Has any of the political parties changed its constitution to reflect the principles of proportional representation in choosing the candidates for elections? Being a multicultural society the best way to accommodate cultural identity, religious beliefs and values system, is to accommodate candidates proportional to the population mix in the society. Aside from the cultural differences, at least the proportion should be made mandatory for political parties to nominate candidates to represent women, youth and senior citizens reflecting the population statistics. Many political parties project they are concerned with the interest of those segments in the society only on campaign platforms. Once securing the power it is the political party hierarchy or the respective politburos drives the decision making. This system needs a change to put an end to the political dynasties ruining the democratic space in the country. To drive this change, the election commission needs to initiate a social dialogue and propose the necessary changes. Just remaining neutral or independent without original thinking is meaningless.

Convergence of Politics with Economics for Globalization of Democracy

However, when the 4th Industrial Revolution era started to dominate the socio-economic conditions across global markets with the advance ICT technologies with the invention of Smartphone and the internet, the left-right division between the political parties got replenished with the open and close system ideologies. These evolutions were possible as the post WWII western dominated economies and multilateral agencies propagated the neo-liberal policy directions driving the liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation trends weakening the dominance of the nation states and strengthening the Multinational Corporations.

Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and President Ronald Regan enabled the convergence between politics and economics with the introduction of Thatcherism and Reaganomics setting stage for smaller states and leaving the economy to toggle in market fundamentalism.

General consensus and the dominant ideology were to give prominence for economic growth in all societies anticipating the trickling down of benefits to uplift the socially marginalised. The end results are bitter: the neo-liberal policies have failed to deliver the prosperity anticipated by those marginalised communities in the democratically functioning states. Aside from lifting people out of poverty and desperation there was no significant growth in the real economy, except fake prosperity for a few super rich highly politically connected groups. All such fake properties have been achieved purely by growing debt by excessive financialisation. It is estimated amongst the current global financial assets, only 30% represents capital stocks, the rest are all bonds and other securities (debt instruments). Although many promised to reduce the size of the state by pruning the state sector, even after four decades the role of the state has exponentially grown as the capitalist economies are now sustained on deplorable debt.

Neo liberal policies have widened the income, wealth, education, and healthcare deficiencies in many societies. Result is many of the large capitalist economies are grappling with debt and economic growth yielding prosperities to larger communities are completely out of sight. Current global debt level stands at around US$ 350 trillion. The exception to the norm comes from China, where 850 million was elevated out of poverty without blindly following the Neo-liberal dictum. The Communist party of China openly promotes State Capitalism and promotes ecological civilisation for shared prosperity. And China wants to be open and the west and the rest clamours to remain closed. The Chinese economy has its own share of challenges with an ageing population.

In these circumstances the electorates are confused which political party or their ideology that they should support to elect a government to resolve their desperate economic situations. Political parties of various ideologies are now confused, and they too align with the open and closed systems to usher prosperity in their societies. Across the globe, in all democracies there appears to be widening democratic deficiencies, and many have lost faith in the political parties and their leadership. This frustration drives citizens towards extreme nationalist, racist political alignments as many doubt the lifestyles their forefathers enjoyed are not possible in the future.

Election victories and political realities

In this era of digitalisation and the Artificial Intelligence (AI) divide led social media dominated election campaigns the victories are harnessed through managing the misinformation effectively. Although the social media hype is vociferous, the silent majority, too, have displayed their power, as experienced by the BJP in India. In this context, independent views, alternative political forces to have an edge for success in elections not confining it strictly with the ideological groupings. The real challenge is not gaining the mandate at election; but the execution of the people’s mandate for greater good when many are grappling with hopelessness and helplessness. The lack of originality to find meaningful and practical solutions in stimulating growth in the sagging economy will remain as a stumbling block. The socio political and economic challenges of the 21st century demands fresh thinking and novel ideas beyond the readymade 19th century led unsuccessful policy tools.

The Sri Lankan electorates are heading for a definite change at the forthcoming presidential election on 21st September 2024. A President will get elected as a leader; but demonstrating leadership to the nation will be a huge challenge as narrated in the essay. The outcome of the election will certainly signify the urgency and need for a complete system change to move forward.

Much in the news these days, especially on social media, is Selini Ratnayake, and that’s because she played an active role in the teledrama ‘Punchi Andare.’

Ninety (90) episodes of this teledrama were televised on Hiru TV, on weekdays, at 6.30 pm.

Selini was involved in the role of ‘Ransina’ – Andare’s sister-in-law – where Ransina loves Andare but another village girl loves Andare, as well.

Selini says all she had to do was to fight with that girl.

“Believe me, I got the most reactions to those fight scenes and some people even now call me by the name ‘Ransina’…even at school….”

The shooting of ‘Punchi Andare’ was done at Tissamaharama Ranminithanna.

“It was a very valuable experience for me… the surrounding area was very beautiful and we’ve collected lots of memories.”

Describing her involvement in this particular teledrama, Selini said it was her mother who sent her details for the auditions.

Selini went for the auditions and was selected which brought her lots of joy and happiness.

“Actually, I am very happy and proud that I got to enter this field with a lead role in this classical drama.”

Selini went on to say that she gets lots of support, for her acting career from her family – father, mother and little brother..

“My mother is like my shadow who accompanies me everywhere.”

Selini is 15 years old and studying at St. Joseph’s Girls School Nugegoda, in the English medium, and she will be doing her O/L next year.

She did her primary education at Dehiwala Presbyterian Girls College and represented the school English drama team that won the 2019 and 2020 provincial competitions.

“That’s when I started drama and I say a big thank you to all those who recognized my talent and gave me the encouragement to excel in this field.”

Selini is now practicing William Shakespeare’s ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’ drama for provincial competitions at school.

“I am playing the role of the fairy queen Titania.”

Selini also added that she balances her school work and her acting.

“I am hoping to participate in several TV commercials and do some short films, as well.”

Her future dream, she says, is to start her own business – textiles and beauty products – with an eye on the international market.

“Yes, of course, I will continue with my acting career but, probably as a hobby, if my business venture moves into top gear.”