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| Sunday, 23 October 2005 |
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Point of View : Sri Lankan Youth Parliament 2005 by Tiloma Chandrasekera I would like to preface my views with some observations on the subject of leadership at the Sri Lankan youth parliament 2005. Which was held from August 23 to 28. I have always been fascinated by the thought "what creates the bundle of complex attributes that we call leadership?" Can leadership be 'caught' or taught'? or to put it in another way, can leadership arise by instinct and intuition or is it the product of guidance and training? How far does heredity and environment contribute to the development of leadership? These were the questions I was compelled to ask before I attended the Youth Parliament and by the end of five days, I came to the conclusion that the complex nature of leadership cannot be explained in theoretical terms but that it should be experienced and felt within. The Sri Lankan Youth Parliament 2005 was a meeting point of 225 youths who represented 25 districts in Sri Lanka. Each one of them bore their individual ideas for a sustainable future. It was indeed a multi cultural, multi racial youth forum where the 225 delegates had the opportunity to interact and share their ideas and experiences as Sri Lankans, not as representatives of their respective cultural and racial societies. The entire forum was conducted in English and translators were provided in both Sinhala and Tamil. One might get the impression that the denial of social mobility was imposed on many, but what we should keep in mind is that the Sri Lankan Youth Parliament 2005, was funded by the United State agency of International Development (USAID) thus it was monitored and assessed in English. The theme of the Sri Lankan Youth Parliament "Creating a cohesive Sri Lanka" was indeed the backbone of the compilation of 225 plans varying through the following action areas. Peace building Even though the organising committee was there, 12 enthusiastic and dynamic individuals, bore the responsibilities. They ranged from delegate co-ordination to delegate security where many a hand was offered by volunteers from around the country representing all ethnic groups. The forum was inaugurated at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall committee room. After the inauguration the delegates returned to their respective action areas where they spent hours clamouring and tailoring their action plans. After five days of discussions, joint sittings and expressions of the Youth Parliament ended in a spirit of camaraderie. With the vision to create a cohesive Sri Lanka, the Sri Lankan Youth Parliament 2005, recessed till further interactions are made. |
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