Comment: Pluralistic society a must for economic development

Recently the pro LTTE Tamil Net website had quoted Nobel Laureate Professor Amartya Sen's statement on Sri Lanka where in a Spring Lecture on Poverty, War and Peace, in Oslo last Monday he said that Sri Lanka had successfully implemented a number of welfare programs such as free education, free health, to its people, which should have contributed to peace in the country.

But, by taking a position of upholding exclusive status to Buddhism and the Sinhalese, it isolated other sections of the society from having a sense of national identity. He said that Sri Lanka didn't realise the richness in plurality.

No doubt the majority of Sri Lankans will agree with this part of Prof. Sen's view. But not the latter part quoted correctly or incorrectly by the Tamil Net which said, "Now, there is no likelihood that the Sri Lankan state will go back from that position." Because all the people in the country are still optimistic and are ready to correct mistakes they have done in the past.

As a result of being under the imperial powers of the west for centuries Sri Lanka lost the base of her rich civilisation. Imperialists who come today to instruct us on democracy and human rights used the divide and rule tactic and exploited every difference in society to divide the people.

However, as Prof. Sen correctly said after independence we had failed miserably to build a pluralist Sri Lankan nation as India did. If we are serious on the issues we are faced with today whether they are political, economic or social we have to address this national question first.

With a destructive conflict in one part of the country absorbing all forms of resources the country cannot go even a step further. This has been proved for more than two decades and all "dreamy" development plans of all governments ended in tragedies.

However, this interconnection of issues has not been realised by the majority of the society. When the cost-of-living increases people do not see the root causes of all these issues. Therefore people tend to criticise the government for the increase in the cost-of-living while promoting the war simultaneously.

The new phase of the conflict is more costly and economically destructive with the LTTE air threat. After the LTTE attack on the airport the main revenue sources of the economy began to dwindle. The tourism industry has faced the worst crisis in history.

Reports say some resort hotels are running without a single guest for many weeks. The Katunayake international airport ceased night operations resulting in a loss of revenue and reputation we had as a main transit airport in the region.

As the Treasury Secretary said last week the country's fiscal condition is at "eda vela" (find revenue sufficient to meet day to-day expenses) state. His hopes of improving the revenue account to a surplus within the next few years will be a dream if we fail to find a solution to the national question. The war will suck all government revenue while weakening economic activities further reducing the government's revenue.

However, in the political arena this understanding is not evident. A dialogue is now under way about the political solution proposed by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party. This does not show any positive development towards building a pluralist society.

The proposals had not met the aspirations of even democratic Tamil political parties and they expressed disappointment while other extremist groups stressed unitary status and supremacy to Buddhism against any form of power sharing. These were the same arguments we had before independence and attempts were being made to find a political solution to the question.

As Prof. Sen said welfare programs such as free education and free health Sri Lanka successfully implemented did not contribute to the peace-building process in the country. That education did not eliminate backward racist thinking of the Sinhala and Tamil societies.

Time has passed and the national question had done the worst damage to the country and there is no end in sight. We have to face terrorism and safeguard national security and sovereignty of the country without looking at the cost. However, we are compelled to find a solution that satisfies the aspirations of democratic Tamil people, not the terrorists without delay.

In this phase of war against terrorism in the Sri Lankan context, the remarks of another prominent economist Prof. Jeffrey Sachs on war against terrorism is equally important. He said "moreover, terrorism has complex and varying causes, and cannot be fought by military means alone. To fight terrorism, we will need to fight poverty and deprivation as well. A purely military approach to terrorism is doomed to fail.

Just as a doctor fights disease by prescribing not only medication, but also by bolstering a person's immune system through adequate nutrition and by encouraging a healthy lifestyle for his patient, so we too need to address the underline weaknesses of the societies where terrorism lurks - abject poverty, unemployment, disparity of income and dignity and the political and economic instability that results from degrading human conditions".