Features

Some personal insights and a broad brush canvas of Ena de Silva

Published

2 years ago

2022/12/4

Thilina Walpola

Ena de Silva’s 100th birth centenary fell on

Excerpted from
Exploring with Ena by Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha

Towards the end of 2019 I spent a couple of days at Aluwihare, where I had had many happy times with my aunt Ena de Silva. Since her death in 2015 1 tried to get there twice or thrice a year, not just for sentiment, but also to provide company for Piyadasa and Suja who have lived and worked there for many years.

The Matale Heritage Centre Ena established, for batik and embroidery, still continues on the premises, but the girls – some who started work there over 50 years ago – go home in the evenings and Piyadasa and Suja are left alone. Family members sometimes visit and occasionally stay overnight, but this does not happen often. And Piyadasa and Suja relish company and appreciate the fact that I now go up there to stay more than anyone else. So too Ena loved my frequent visits in the last years of her life. Ena’s daughter Kusum, who lives in California, thanks me but gratitude is unnecessary, for it is always a pleasure to be there, though one still sadly misses its chatelaine.

Piyadasa started at Alu in 1976, looking after Ena’s father, Sir Richard Aluwihare, and then took care of the house himself for around five years after he died in December that year. He then served Ena who went to live there in 1981, two years after her husband Osmund de Silva died. She had not wanted to continue in the home they had lived in for over 20 years and went off to the Virgin Islands as a Consultant, to adjust, shortly after she was widowed. When she came back, she moved to Alu and lived there for 34 years.

Suja came to cook for her in 1983, not able even to boil a pot of water in those days, according to Ena. But she turned into a marvelous cook, carrying out Ena’s wonderful ideas for the most delicious concoctions, ranging from polos sandwiches to Alu chicken, with a sauce combining sugar and spice and all things nice, as indeed the sandwiches did. And, though Ena claimed she had no expertise in puddings, Suja did well with Humbug, a pudding I was served when I first went there in 1993, and had often since though it always tasted different.

In 1983 went there with Nigel Hatch, whom Ena’s driver of those days, Sena, thought he recognized as the nephew when he was sent to pick us up at the bus stand. Nigel did look a bit like my Uncle Lakshman who had visited Ena two or three times after she moved there, coming up from Kurunagala where he was Bishop on his rounds of inspection of the clergy in his diocese. I think Sena saw him just the once, for he died in 1983 but, tall and handsome as he was, he had obviously made an impression.

On my visit in 2019 Nigel joined me on the second day, coming up on the early train from Colombo and then getting a bus from Kandy. That afternoon, after the statutory snooze after Suja’s wonderful lunch, we went up to the rock for tea which Piyadasa brought up on a tray, carefully negotiating the now slippery steps after the incessant rain of the last few weeks.

The rock was a natural feature which Ena had had cemented in 1989, so that the poruwa ceremony for her daughter’s wedding could take place high above the garden in front of the house, above too the upper terrace to which steps led from the garden . Bells had been strung up on the edge of the rock, to ring when the wind blew, and the sound would come to us for the next 25 years before the last bell fell away, shortly before Ena died.

And then, before it got dark, following Ena’s advice that we always be careful about what she described as creepy-crawlies, we went along that cliffside to the graves at the other edge, a little enclosure with inscribed stones for her parents over the vault where her ashes lie with theirs. Behind are inscriptions for her husband and her sister and brother-in-law and her son, though the ashes of the first are not there for they were scattered at the confluence of river and sea at Mutwal as he wished.

In the evening we sat out on the terrace over beer, and Suja’s vegetable patties, before going in for an Alu chicken feast. It was then that my driver Kithsiri, who had grown devoted to Ena in the 22 years he knew her, suggested we drive next day to Wireless Kanda. That was what she called Riverstone, the highest peak in the hills opposite, which we had often driven to in the eighties since Ena was always keen to go loafing.

So next morning, after breakfast, we set out, climbing through Rattota to the steep slopes beyond. With Ena it had initially been an afternoon drive, leaving early though so that we could get back before the descent of the mists that swirled round the hill at tea-time. And now, though it was morning, we had a sense of what we had experienced before, as rain started dripping down when we approached the peak.

But there was a big difference, in that 30 years before we had been the only people heading that way. Now, even on this rainy morning, there were crowds. It was obviously a popular place for a Poya day excursion, and at the turn-off to the peak there were heaps of cars and loud music.

Still, the drive brought back many happy memories. And it was on the way back that I thought that perhaps I would go through my diaries and set out the various journeys Ena and I had been on, starting with the excursion Ena had suddenly proposed to Nigel and me when, as she later put it, she had assessed us over lunch, way back in 1983, and decided that we were game to go loafing.

In doing this I am making use of what I wrote for The Moonemalle Inheritance, the book I produced for her 90th birthday in 2012. The second part of that book recorded travels with her over the preceding 30 years. Some of this is reproduced here but I have added so as to make clear what great friends we were, and the enormous fun we had together, not only travelling but sitting together and talking, at Aluwihare and elsewhere.

Some of this will read like a catalogue, but I wanted to record all our times together at Aluwihare, and much more that we did together. And I will try too to make clear the impact of her work, and how much she contributed to arts and crafts in this country.

It was only in 1983 that I got to know her properly. Having heard about my adventures at S.Thomas’, she decided that there was another unorthodox person in the family and invited me to stay with her at Aluwihare. It was 18 months after she had gone there at the end of 1981 that I made, in May 1983, the first of what were to be frequent visits to her.

Ena was not an especially close relation. Her mother Lucille was a Moonemalle, whose father’s sister was the mother of my maternal grandmother, Esme Goonewardene. But the two cousins, Esme and Lucille, both born in the last year of the 19th century, remained close, perhaps because they both married Civil Servants who were senior administrators in the last years of British rule.

My grandfather Cyril Wickremesinghe however died young and could make no contribution to independent Ceylon. Sir Richard Aluwihare, who had been five years younger, survived into the late seventies. He had retired in 1955 and moved to the new house which he had built on top of a hill in Aluwihare village, looking eastward towards the Gammmaduwa Hills. But a year later he was drawn into politics, contesting the Anuradhapura seat where he had served as Government Agent after my grandfather.

One of their predecessors had been a Britisher called Freeman who had won election to the Legislative Council on the strength of his service to the area. But there was no such gratitude in 1956 and Sir Richard was roundly defeated in the sweeping victory of S W R D Bandaranaike’s MEP colaition. Also defeated, in the Matale constituency in which Aluwihare lay, was Sir Richard’s brother Bernard who had crossed back to the UNP. In 1951, when Bandaranaike left the UNP government to form the SLFP, he had been one of his few aristocratic supporters.

His departure in 1956 was unfortunate, for had he stayed he would undoubtedly have been Bandaranaike’s deputy, and succeeded him as Prime Minister when he was assassinated in 1959. As it was, the Deputy belonged to a caste which others in the party considered unsuitable. That led to vast intrigues, an interim Prime Minister who was a disaster, a hung Parliament in March 1960 so that the UNP Prime Minister (Bernard was his deputy in that Cabinet) dissolved Parliament when he was defeated on the throne speech, and the emergence of Mrs Bandaranaike as leader of the Socialist United Party and Prime Minister after the July 1960 election.

Meanwhile Bandaranaike had offered Sir Richard the position of High Commissioner to India, and he served in New Delhi from 1957 onward. Lucille however died there early in 1961 and, though he soldiered on, he was not really in control and his daughters persuaded him to give up and return home. So in 1963 he went back to live at Aluwihare. When he died, in December 1976, his daughters found he had left it to them to divide up his property as they wished. Phyllis, whose husband Pat was a Ratwatte, at the top of the Kandyan aristocratic tree, took the properties in Kandy while Ena got Aluwihare. To everyone’s surprise she decided to retire there herself after her husband Osmund de Silva died, a couple of years after her father.

Osmund had succeeded Sir Richard as Inspector General of Police though, as Ena told the Queen, who expressed some surprise when introduced to the father and son-in-law as the head and deputy head of the police, that that was his profession. Sir Richard was a Civil Servant who had been brought in when the first Prime Minister of independent Ceylon decided that the British head of police had to be replaced. Ceylonese officers were not however senior enough to take over so Ossie, as the most senior of them, had to wait until his father-in-law retired before heading the force.

Ena had run away from Ladies College to marry Ossie. He was from a different caste and her parents, who had found him excellent company as a police officer when they served in distant districts, were not comfortable at the idea of him marrying into the family. There was a court case at which, Ena said my grandparents were been summoned as witnesses. The judge hit on the healthy compromise of asking a British priest to keep Ena until she was old enough to decide on her own if she wanted to get married. At the age she was when she ran away, she required parental consent.

To her surprise she found that the priest expressed himself entirely on her side, when she was sent to his house, but told her she needed to be patient. She managed to achieve this, and duly married when she could, and a couple of years later was reconciled with her parents after her first child was born. Still, she continued to have a reputation for being unorthodox, and she lived up to this when, after her husband retired she abandoned social life altogether and instead concentrated on what became Ena de Silva fabrics.

Ossle’s retirement had been premature. When he was appointed, the then Prime Minister Sir John Kotelawala had offered him a contract, and when this expired Bandaranaike did not renew it. Ena claimed that Ossie had made it clear to him that his allegiance was to the law and not the government. He was not helped by his colleagues, all angling for the post, though Bandaranaike characteristically trumped them all by appointing his bridge partner Abeykoon, another senior public servant, as IGP. Sadly several of the senior police officials then entered into political intriguing, culminating in the 1962 coup attempt.

There had been attempts to inveigle Ossie too into joining, and Ena would frequently cite his brusque response to Aelian Kannangara, a UNP stalwart who had been part of the conspiracy. Ossie had told him, ‘We are not the Praetorian Guard’, a line Ena relished. She also noted that he had firmly rejected Bandaranaike’s apologetic offers of other positions, embassies as well as the Chairmanship of Air Ceylon. Interestingly she claimed that the only relation on her side who appreciated Ossie’s position was her mother Lucille, who had been most opposed to the marriage, but who was a Moonemalle with rigid standards of public conduct.

Osmund de Silva died a little over two years after Sir Richard. Ena was devastated, and needed to get away. Friends, notably Tilak Gooneratne she would later say, who had also married into an old Civil Service family and been a respected Civil Servant himself before going to the Commonwealth Secretariat in London and then becoming our High Commissioner there, arranged for a Commonwealth Consultancy. Ena thus worked for a year and a half in the British Virgin Islands. She handed over the business to Ossie’s nephew Keerthi Wickramasuriya, who was married to Thea Schokman whom I had known as the Librarian of the British Council in Kandy during my schooldays. But they soon afterwards went through an acrimonious divorce which also devastated the business.

Fortunately Geoffrey Bawa, the architect who had developed a remarkable collaboration with her after he designed a house for her in Colombo, had rented that house as an office for the many projects he undertook for the new government of J R Jayewardene, most memorably the new Parliament but also Ruhuna University. So that iconic house at least remained safe.

When Ena came back, she retired to Aluwihare. She had set up there a Batik workshop, one amongst many that fed the flourishing business of Ena de Silva Fabrics which she had started after her husband’s retirement from the police. Though she was unable to resurrect the whole business, she decided to do what she could for the Aluwihare Centre which had provided gainful employment over the years to the villagers, including several relations.

Over the next thirty years the Matale Heritage Centre, as I first suggested it be called, developed not only fabrics, with traditional embroidery added onto its trademark batiks, but also a carpentry workshop and a brass foundry. These were started when Ena decided that the young men of the village also needed work, else they would get into mischief. The claim was prophetic, for the young men of Aluwihare escaped the fate of many others in the country when the JVP insurrection of the late eighties took its toll.

The workshops were followed by a Restaurant, or rather two, when Ena decided she should do something the middle aged women of the village too. They were known as Alu Kitchens. She had begun by supplying meals on order in a custom built kitchen on her own premises, designed with fantastic views by Anjalendran, Bawa’s best apprentice. This was K1 (kitchen one) and then, deciding she had to expand into the village too, she set up K2 as a small guest house in a property by the road that belonged to the family of her cousin Alick. He it was who had succeeded Bernard as the UNP candidate for the area, lucky in that, when Bernard died suddenly, his son had been too young to take over. The UNP, anxious for any Aluwihare, had found Alick, the youngest son of Bernard’s step-brother Willie, the most suitable of those willing, though he had nothing like the educational or intellectual qualifications of Bernard or Sir Richard. But he proved an active constituency MP and in turn established his own dynasty.

Ena herself steered clear of politics. Though the family was strongly committed to the UNP and indeed Chari, the oldest son of her sister Phyllis, had been active in the 1977 election campaign and occupied increasingly important administrative roles in successive UNP governments, she was strongly critical of J R Jayewardene and his behavior. I suspect one reason we got on so well was my forthright opposition to Jayewardene when this was not at all popular in Colombo circles. In fact she proved even more deeply critical of his legacy, suggesting when I finally decided to vote for the UNP, in the General election of 2001, in the belief that its leadership had reformed and would do better, that she was not quite so optimistic.

Though she claimed to know nothing of politics, she was an extraordinarily sharp observer of political developments, both in Sri Lanka and abroad. She had a few strong prejudices, but these often tallied with my own. The few things we differed on included both President Premadasa and, ironically given Premadasa’s own dislike of India, the role of India in Sri Lankan politics. I was myself a late convert to Premadasa, having come to appreciate his obvious devotion to rural development, as well as his very healthy approach to the rights and the welfare of the minorities. But Ena thought he had ridden roughshod over too many and, though she granted he was a better leader than either his predecessor or his successor, that did not make him acceptable.

Ena’s attitude to D B Wijetunge I think summed up her very practical if idiosyncratic view of politics. She claimed that she was never so frightened for the country as when he was President, because he was so clearly an idiot. That very healthy and no-nonsense approach was in marked contrast to the absurd panegyrics about the man by the old elite, which had resented Premadasa’s ascendancy, and it confirmed my view that an ounce of Ena’s prejudices was worth a ton of anyone else’s analysis.

About India she was less rational. Though she was quite critical about what she saw as the extreme Sinhala Buddhist prejudices of her husband, she had certainly absorbed something of his views in her hostility to the Indian Tamil presence in the hills which she claimed had been at the cost of the Sinhala peasantry. This was certainly correct, and we agreed in noting the responsibility of the British in having so altered the demography of the country, but she thought I was too indulgent in claiming that much more had to be done for them once they had been granted citizenship, and also that depriving them of citizenship in the forties had been unjust.

She was also convinced that the efforts of Tamil politicians to obtain greater autonomy were excessive, and we had to agree to disagree about devolution. But her essential fairness never left her, and she quite understood the enormity of what the Jayewardene government had done in 1981 and 1983 in unleashing violence on Tamils, and how this made Tamil demands for greater control of the areas in which they lived more understandable. But she continued to believe that India had stirred the pot out of pure self interest, and that Indian efforts to broker peace were not to be trusted.

Such criticism trumped even her awareness that the Jayewardene government had engaged in unnecessary confrontation with India in its effort to align itself with the West in the Cold War. For, interestingly given her elite upbringing during the colonial period, Ena had an even stronger distrust of the West and its efforts to control other countries. She had no illusions whatsoever about its self-serving agenda, and this made her a strong ally in recent years when, once again, the urban elite supported Western efforts to derail our struggle against terrorism. I was glad then that I was able to convince her that India had played a positive role in this regard, though I believe she continued to wonder what benefits India expected to derive from its support.

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Features

Why agriculture insurance is key to avoiding food shortages

Published

23 hours ago

2024/09/16

Thilina Walpola

Indra Rupasingha

Securing Sri Lanka’s farming future:

By. Lalin I De Silva

Indra Rupasingha, a senior value chain consultant at Vivonta Green Tech, has collaborated with the World Bank on intercropping spice crops, coffee, and tea. His expertise, enriched by Scandinavian and European agricultural systems, includes environment-controlled agriculture, organic production, and animal husbandry. His extensive experience is further demonstrated by his roles as Director at Sri Lanka State Plantations Corporation, General Manager at John Keels Plantations/Elkaduwa Plantations, and Managing Director at Lipakelle Plantation.

Sri Lanka’s agricultural sector, the backbone of the nation’s economy and food supply, faces unprecedented risks due to climate change and unpredictable policy shifts, such as the abrupt push for organic agriculture, which led to a national crisis. As the 2024 presidential election approaches, it’s imperative that candidates prioritise the creation of a robust, transparent, and effective agricultural insurance system, learning from successful models like those in Canada, New Zealand, the United States, and France. These nations have demonstrated how a well-implemented insurance system can not only protect farmers but also secure the country’s food security. Sri Lanka must follow suit to shield its farmers from disaster and encourage them to continue cultivating for profit.

Sri Lanka’s Agricultural Insurance: A Critical Need for Food Security

In recent years, Sri Lanka’s agricultural sector has suffered heavily from natural disasters and ill-advised policy changes. The overnight shift to organic farming, which lacked proper planning and execution, left farmers in disarray and the nation teetering on the edge of a food shortage. While Sri Lanka has the National Insurance Regulation Authority, it has yet to truly serve the needs of farmers, burdening them with convoluted insurance agreements and inadequate protection. With 29 insurance companies operating in Sri Lanka, only one openly shares its Net Promoter Score (NPS), leaving the rest to operate under a shroud of secrecy. This lack of transparency has eroded trust and failed to provide the safety net that farmers desperately need.

But what if Sri Lanka could learn from other nations that have successfully mitigated agricultural risks? Countries like Canada, New Zealand, the United States, and France have all developed effective agricultural insurance programmes that offer timely payouts, use advanced technology, and provide farmers with peace of mind. Implementing such a system in Sri Lanka could help the nation avoid food shortages and promote continuous, profitable cultivation.

Learning from Canada, New Zealand, the US, and France

In Canada, the AgriInsurance system is a federal-provincial partnership that leverages satellite imagery, AI-based risk assessments, and real-time data monitoring to ensure fast and accurate crop loss evaluations. Farmers in Canada are particularly satisfied with the programme because it is transparent, affordable, and provides swift compensation, allowing them to recover quickly from natural disasters and resume cultivation.

Similarly, New Zealand’s FMG Rural Insurance focuses on customer-centric services, allowing farmers to use mobile apps to report losses and track claims. This ensures minimal delays in payments and fosters trust between insurers and farmers. In the United States, the USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) works with private insurance companies under federal oversight, providing quick and standardized claim processes. Their use of satellite technology and cloud-based systems ensures accurate monitoring and dispute resolution.

In France, Groupama Agricultural Insurance integrates digital platforms that allow farmers to monitor real-time weather data and crop growth. With highly automated claim processes, French farmers enjoy efficient compensation, minimal delays, and high satisfaction.

Justifying the Need for Agricultural Insurance in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka’s agriculture sector is critical to the country’s food supply and economic stability. However, the risks associated with climate change, fluctuating market prices, and ad-hoc policy changes threaten to destabilise this vital industry. Crop insurance can provide a safety net, allowing farmers to continue cultivation despite the odds.

One of the key barriers to implementing an effective insurance system in Sri Lanka is the bureaucratic red tape, leading to delayed claims and confusion over policy conditions. Farmers are left feeling unsupported, often burdened with agreements they cannot understand without legal assistance. A simplified, transparent, and technology-driven insurance model—like those seen in developed countries—could remove these barriers, instill confidence in farmers, and promote sustained agricultural output.

In addition to protecting farmers from natural disasters, agricultural insurance can also provide a buffer against policy-related risks. As seen during Sri Lanka’s overnight shift to organic agriculture, farmers were unprepared and left vulnerable to losses. A well-drafted insurance scheme would ensure that, even in times of policy shifts, farmers can rely on compensation and return to farming.

Five key Recommendations to Make Agriculture Insurance Popular and Effective in Sri Lanka

Introduce a Farmer-Friendly Insurance Policy: Develop a simplified insurance agreement that is easy to understand, without the need for legal expertise. Make the terms and conditions clear, concise, and accessible in local languages to encourage widespread adoption.

Leverage Advanced Technology for Crop Monitoring and Claim Processing:Adopt satellite imagery, AI tools, and mobile apps to monitor crop health and assess losses. These technologies will provide real-time data, ensure accurate assessments, and expedite claim settlements, creating a transparent system.

Implement Government-Backed Reinsurance to Guarantee Payouts: Ensure that the government partners with private insurance companies to back up the claims process. This would help maintain timely payouts, build trust among farmers, and reduce the risk of disputes.

Tailor Insurance Solutions to Local Agricultural Needs: Offer insurance policies that cater to Sri Lanka’s diverse crops and regional differences. Whether it’s paddy fields or tea plantations, the insurance system should be flexible enough to cover various risks specific to each agricultural zone.

Government Subsidies to Make Premiums Affordable:Provide government-subsidised premiums to make agricultural insurance affordable for smallholder farmers, who form the majority of Sri Lanka’s agricultural workforce. This would ensure that all farmers, regardless of size or income, can access insurance coverage.

Conclusion

As the 2024 presidential election draws near, Sri Lanka’s leaders must recognize the importance of agricultural insurance in safeguarding the nation’s food security. By learning from global examples like Canada, New Zealand, the US, and France, Sri Lanka can create an effective, transparent, and technology-driven system that protects farmers and encourages them to continue cultivation in the face of adversity. Implementing these reforms will not only benefit farmers but also ensure the long-term sustainability of the country’s agricultural sector – an outcome vital to Sri Lankas future.

Lalin I De Silva, former Senior Planter, Agricultural Advisor / Consultant, Secretary General of the Ceylon planters Society, Editor of the Ceylon Planters Society Bulletin and freelance journalist.

Features

Charting a brighter future: Sri Lanka’s path to prosperity

Published

23 hours ago

2024/09/16

Thilina Walpola

By Dr Matara Gunapala

During the reign of King Parakramabahu (1153-1186), Sri Lanka earned the distinguished title of the ‘granary of the Orient,’ reflecting its unparalleled agricultural abundance. The island’s breathtaking landscapes, fertile soil, and bountiful resources—including precious stones, renowned tea, rubber, and coconut—alongside its strategic deep harbours, made it a crucial hub in maritime trade. These resources drew foreign powers’ attention, and Sri Lanka experienced successive periods of colonial dominance under the Portuguese, Dutch, and eventually the British from 1815 to 1948.

British rule shifted Sri Lanka’s focus to export-oriented plantations and infrastructure primarily to benefit colonial interests. By independence in 1948, the Sri Lankan rupee was valued at approximately Rs 3.33 to the US dollar. However, economic mismanagement in the 75 years, following independence, has led to unprecedented economic crises and currency depreciation. As of February 2024, the rupee has plummeted to around Rs 310 against the US dollar, with only a slight improvement to Rs 300 by August 2024, plunging Sri Lanka into the ranks of the world’s 22 most heavily indebted nations.

Since Sri Lanka adopted an executive presidency, a cascade of constitutional amendments has fostered an environment where corruption and misconduct flourish, compromising democratic governance, destabilising the economy, and undermining the rule of law. The urgency of the situation cannot be overstated. Politicians wielding excessive power have exploited their positions, undermining institutions like the Central Bank and judiciary, eroding accountability, and distorting justice, leading to degraded public services and denying equitable access to opportunities, a distant dream for ordinary citizens.

While those in power and their associates revel in luxury and foreign travel, many Sri Lankans grapple with soaring prices and shortages of basic necessities. Therefore, Sri Lanka must embark on a transformative journey without delay to restore its economic health and political integrity, paving the way for a prosperous future.

Constitutional Reform

The Constitution is the bedrock of a nation’s governance, shaping the balance of power and safeguarding citizens’ rights. In Sri Lanka, however, the Constitution has been amended over 20 times, often in ways that have concentrated power in the hands of politicians, eroded judicial independence, and compromised economic stability and public service effectiveness. These changes have frequently undermined ethno-religious unity and hindered equal opportunities for all citizens. Recent attempts to further amend it to delay presidential elections have only deepened concerns about the current Constitution and the need for its drastic reform.

A few have advocated for significant changes for constitutional reform. Former President Chandrika Kumaratunga, presidential candidate Nagahananda Kodituwakku, and the Collective for Democracy and Rule of Law (CDRL)—a coalition of senior academics, professionals, and activists—have proposed new constitutional reform. The National Peoples Power (NPP) party has highlighted the urgent need for constitutional reform in its policy statements.

For Sri Lanka to embark on a path to prosperity, a transformative new Constitution must: a) discard the presidential system of governance and curtail politicians’ ability to influence the public sector, limiting their responsibility for policymaking; b) strengthen checks and balances to combat mismanagement and enhance transparency, ensuring accountability with strict penalties for misleading the public or making false promises, c) strengthen judicial independence to uphold justice, d) fair representation to ensure equal opportunity of all ethnic groups in governance, promote unity, and give every citizen an equitable voice, e) ensure Parliament is not a burden to the country. An excessive number of parliamentarians (225 members and the President) has long been a focal point of criticism. Their extensive powers and privileges have frequently burdened the nation. The proliferation of politicians—alongside over 455 provincial councillors and nine governors—has led to inefficiencies and corruption, with many exploiting their ability to misuse administrative and financial powers for personal gain. Therefore, a new Constitution should:

Prevent malpractices by implementing stringent measures to curb corruption and misuse of power, ensuring that public officials are held accountable for every action and expenditure.

Reducing inefficiencies by streamlining the parliamentary system by reducing the number of representatives and establishing an independent body of experts to oversee political conduct, aligning governance with democratic principles and national interests.

Introduction of merit-based appointments

The current economic crisis and rampant corruption are symptoms of a deeper problem: many politicians lack the commitment and capability to serve the nation effectively. The mismanagement of nationalised enterprises has resulted in significant economic losses and weakened public services. For effective governance, members of Parliament and public officials must be selected, based on merit—education, capability, experience, and integrity—rather than nepotism or sectarian interests. Parliamentary members should possess qualifications comparable to a recognised university degree and demonstrate essential leadership skills, including collaboration, critical thinking, and effective communication.

Moreover, political parties must prioritise national unity and development, preventing sectarian policies and political dynasties. Leadership should be determined by merit, honesty, and education rather than family ties, race, or other divisive factors. Embracing principles of meritocracy, pragmatism, and integrity—mirroring the values that contributed to Singapore’s success—can help restore Sri Lanka’s status as the “Pearl of the Indian Ocean” and set it on a path to renewed prosperity.

Strengthening Judiciary

A strong and independent judiciary is essential for upholding social justice and ensuring fair governance, especially in a nation battling widespread corruption, mismanagement, crime, and racial divide. Recently, Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court has highlighted numerous individuals, including influential politicians and their associates, as key players in the country’s ongoing economic crisis. Yet, the judiciary has struggled to enforce the law effectively, allowing wrongdoers to evade accountability and enjoy government-funded luxuries. Consequently, Sri Lanka urgently needs a judicial overhaul to have an independent judiciary that will create an environment where justice prevails, public confidence in the legal system is restored, and governance is transparent and accountable, reinforcing the rule of law.

Education and Skill Development

Education is the cornerstone of a nation’s success, fostering strategic thinking, innovation, and entrepreneurship that drives prosperity and navigates the global landscape. A robust education system equips individuals with the knowledge and skills needed for personal and professional growth and promotes social cohesion. By ensuring that all ethnic and religious groups are represented in every educational institution, education can bridge divides and reduce communal tensions, creating a more unified society.

Moreover, providing opportunities for those who leave school early through technical and vocational training is crucial. These programmes enhance employability and contribute significantly to national development by preparing individuals for the workforce and addressing skill shortages.

Investment in higher education and research institutions is equally vital. Nations experiencing rapid development—such as the United States, China, South Korea, Singapore, the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, and various European Union countries—are notable for their substantial research and higher education funding. This investment drives innovation, economic growth, and global competitiveness.

Additionally, independent media is crucial in educating the public and informing citizens about significant issues. In Sri Lanka, information suppression has enabled corruption and misuse of power to flourish. An independent media sector encourages critical thinking and impartial analysis, helping to curb government inefficiencies and promote transparency. Independent media, in turn, supports socio-economic development and fosters a more informed and engaged citizenry.

Building a Disciplined Nation

A nation’s prosperity hinges on effective government institutions. Honesty, integrity, capability, and effective communication are essential for creating a thriving society. Despite having limited natural resources, countries like Japan and Singapore have achieved remarkable success primarily due to their strong sense of national discipline and robust legal systems.

In contrast, Sri Lanka has faced numerous challenges rooted in a lack of discipline across various sectors—from the streets to workplaces and even Parliament. This systemic issue has significantly contributed to the country’s struggles since independence. Building a disciplined nation requires a concerted effort to instil and uphold high standards of conduct at all levels of society. By fostering a culture of accountability and ethical behaviour, Sri Lanka can pave the way for sustainable growth and renewed prosperity.

Conclusion

Sri Lanka’s post-independence journey has been marred by corruption, mismanagement, and self-serving politics, culminating in a severe economic crisis. It has squandered countless opportunities for prosperity. Through comprehensive constitutional reform, Sri Lanka must curb politicians’ undue influence over the judiciary and public sector to reverse this decline. Establishing an independent judiciary and promoting disciplined behaviour across all levels of government and society enables racial unity and enhances good governance.

Investing in education, research, skill development, and entrepreneurship will unlock new opportunities and drive national prosperity. Additionally, safeguarding the environment and conserving natural resources are vital for developing Sri Lanka’s tourism industry and enhancing overall quality of life. Without transformative leaders like Mandela or Angela Merkel, it falls to the people to hold politicians accountable, driving them to embrace critical changes. Only then can Sri Lanka harness its true potential, restore integrity to its institutions, and forge a brighter, more equitable future for all its citizens.

Features

Countdown Week in Sri Lanka and Debate Week in the US

Published

2 days ago

2024/09/15

Thilina Walpola

An angry Trump and a lawyerly Harris

by Rajan Philips

As Sri Lanka starts the countdown week before its September 21 presidential vote, the US finished the debate week that is expected to set the campaign tones for the remaining eight weeks before its presidential election on November 5. In a riveting performance last Tuesday, the Democratic candidate Kamala Harris exceeded all expectations and with consummate lawyerly skill laid bare the utter limitations and disqualifications of Donald Trump to be America’s president a second time.

The incoherent and blustering Trump undoubtedly made Harris’s debate tasks a whole lot easier, but the pre-debate onus was on her to show that she could perform in an unscripted engagement just as well as she is showing herself to be in organized rallies and in delivering tele-prompted speeches. And she did that superbly.

As debate politics goes, the big US and little Sri Lanka are at extreme ends. Sri Lankan presidential candidates have studiously avoided the ordeal of a face to face debate in a structured forum and the challenge of responding to independently prepared questions. Instead, they are firing questions and making accusations about one another but only from the security of their own platforms and in front of their own cheerers and hangers on. President Ranil Wickremesinghe would seem to have taken this old approach to a new level in what is fast becoming his last hurrah.

A Lopsided US Method

In the US, on the other hand, self-serving media hype has turned presidential debates into the single most pivotal moment to establish the eligibility of one candidate over the other. The irony of it is that a single debate between two American candidates gets all the hype and attention in what is globally the most consequential political election. Even so, while doing well in the debate was hugely necessary for Kamala Harris to validate her credentials, it is not at all sufficient to ensure her victory in November.

Like her Democratic predecessors, Al Gore, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, Harris is certain to win the popular vote; that is the majority of the total votes in the election. But that will not be enough unless she also gets the majority 270 of the 538 Electoral College (EC) votes in the undemocratically calibrated US presidential election system.

Al Gore polled more than George Bush nationally in the 2000 millennial election, but lost the EC vote and the election to Bush, because of his narrow loss in a single state, Florida and its 30 EC votes. Hillary Clinton similarly won the national vote but lost to Donald Trump in 2016 because of her loss in three Midwestern states – Michigan (15 EC votes), Wisconsin (10) and Pennsylvania (19), all of which had been won by Obama in the two previous elections. Biden turned the tables on Trump in 2020 and won all three states and took two more (Arizona and Georgia) from Trump.

Kamala Harris is running strong but tight with Trump in all the above five states that Biden won, and has brought two more into play – North Carolina and Nevada that Trump won in 2020. She has tremendously improved the chances of a Democratic victory since taking over from Biden, but nothing is certain until the votes in the now seven swing states are cast and counted.

The rest of the fifty states are divided between the two parties with baked in support no matter who the candidates are. Identification with and loyalty to either of the two parties is well entrenched in American politics. Democrats are dominant in 18 states, the so called blue states that are more urban, populous and diverse, and account for 225 EC votes. Republicans hold sway in the 25 red states that are relatively less populous, more rural and more white, and carry 219 EC votes.

The challenge for Harris is to win enough of the seven states to get 45 more (270-225) EC votes and prevent Trump from getting the 51(270-219) EC votes he needs from any number of the seven states. The margins of victory in any and all of these states could be a few thousand votes. And those voters will determine who America’s president and the world’s superpower leader will be for the next four years. A rather lopsided method for choosing the world’s most consequential political individual. All the more so, when it could lead to the second election of someone like Donald Trump, whom Kamala Harris clinically dismissed as a national disgrace and a global joke.

The Sri Lankan Variant

The Sri Lankan voters do not have the weight of the world on their hands, but they carry the fate of the country’s economy and its politics at least for the next five years. While Sri Lanka does not have an electoral college screening system as in the US, it has its own undemocratic aspect by virtue of the ranked method to determine the winner if no candidate passes the 50% muster on the first count. As everyone is predicting, the winner next week is likely to be determined after counting the second and the third preferential votes for the first two candidates marked on the ballots of all the other candidates.

The two front runners are widely expected to be Anura Kumara Dissanayake and Sajith Premadasa, with Ranil Wickremesinghe running third – but how close or far behind is still anyone’s guess. While neither of the two front runners is expected to get more than 50% of the vote, it is also likely that whoever comes first will end up the winner even after counting the preferential votes.

The not so strange rivals

The chances are that the ultimate winner may not even exceed 40% of the vote. He could even win with only a third of the vote and would immediately be stigmatized as the executive president with one-third mandate. In a polity that swears by the two-thirds majority. No matter, the country will have a new president. Unless Ranil Wickremesinghe magically manages in one week to bewitch an electorate that has grown tired of him over several decades. Yet it would have been more democratic, but expensive, to have a second runoff election between the two front runners to elect a president with a clear majority.

There is a second point of difference between the US and Sri Lankan presidential elections. In the US, the president, the whole House of Representatives and a third of the Senate are all elected on the same day. The new administration and the legislature start their new tenure after the inauguration in January following the November election. The Sri Lankan presidential election next week will complete only half the job. The new president will assume office almost immediately after the election, but will be stuck with the old parliament that is crying to be put out of its misery. Again, there are unprecedented possibilities.

Anura Kumara Dissanayake has declared that if elected he would immediately dissolve parliament and call for a general election. There will be a caretaker government until a new parliament is elected. That is a clean as a whistle approach that is consistent with AKD’s promise to start a new chapter for the country. But it is not without perils and pitfalls. The size of his vote will determine the leeway he has in implementing a caretaker government. And the performance of the caretaker government with AKD as president will hugely determine the NPP’s fortunes at the parliamentary election.

The challenges are huge given the NPP’s inexperience in government. Innocence in government ceases to be a virtue once you start making choices and decisions that impact people. There may not be much time for expatriate experts to arrive and take care of a caretaker government before the parliamentary election. Unless there is already a plan in AKD’s back pocket.

Sajith Premadasa, unless I have missed it, has not taken a clear position like AKD on what he will do with the current parliament if he (SP) were elected as president. Unlike AKD, SP has enough numbers in parliament to form an interim cabinet and keep going for a while before calling a general election. He will have the opposite problem to that of AKD. While AKD will have to bring in people whom nobody knows, Sajith Premadasa will have a time excluding people whom everyone hates. It is difficult to see what Ranil Wickremesinghe will do differently if he were to beat all odds and be elected as president. He could certainly savour his lifetime achievement but that will be of no service to the country.

Both Dissanayake and Premadasa will have to figure out a way to implement their promise to eliminate the elected-executive presidential system. The easiest and the surest way would be to start the process immediately and tag a referendum question on the presidency to the general election ballot. That would call for a decision on their own status as president – if they are ready to do the opposite of, and reverse, what JRJ did in 1977/78. Anything less will show their lack of seriousness. There is no point in calling it a betrayal after all the broken promises since 1994.

Traditionally, Sri Lankan voters have been motivated by multiple factors: the ethnic identity, class politics, party loyalty, caste prejudice, candidates’ likeability etc. But these factors have always been woven into an overriding wave of judgment on the performance of the government in power. Until 1977, voters generally and cyclically voted governments out of power and the opposition into power. The cycle has been wrenched up after 1977 in more ways than one.

The upcoming election next week is unique in that there is no one to be judged and thrown out of power. Aragalaya has already done that, and the Rajapaksas are now out of even contention. Ranil Wickremesinghe’s candidacy is also unique in that he doesn’t think that he should be judged for anything, but rewarded for saving the country from the Rajapaksa mess. The problem with that premise is that while he may have cleaned up the economic mess of the Rajapaksas, he has perpetuated their political mess.

For the first time, and uniquely as well, Anura Kumara Dissanayake is presenting himself as the spearhead of a new political force without past political baggage, and is appealing to the expectations of people to have an honest and efficient government. He has won over many people to his promises about the future, but what is not known is how many people are taking him at his word that his organization no longer has any of its old baggage.

There is not much that is unique about Sajith Premadasa, but he has emerged as a fortuitous beneficiary of the disintegration of the country’s traditional political organizations. Dissanayake and Premadasa are the acknowledged frontrunners, but they have distances to go to prove their political mettle both before and more so after the election.