Sri Lanka, the 'Emerging Wonder of Asia'

President Mahinda Rajapaksa, in his 'Mahinda Chintana - Vision for the Future' referred to Sri Lanka as the 'Emerging Wonder of Asia'. He also spoke of the challenge to maintain uninterrupted growth and develop the country as a dynamic global hub.

While many steps have been taken to achieve the goals, it is noted that of late, some critics have gone to great lengths to belittle this vision and undermine the effort in an organised manner. It seems, their modus operandi is to focus on individual incidents that are unfavourable to the Government, and based on such incidents, to paint a picture of inefficiency, corruption, mismanagement and lack of governance. In almost all these efforts, these detractors take a dig at the vision of making Sri Lanka the 'Wonder of Asia', and thereby ridicule the aspiration of the nation for greater achievement.

Therefore, in that background, it is useful to assess recent developments to form an objective view as to whether there are any achievements in the recent past that would qualify Sri Lanka to describe itself as an 'Emerging Wonder of Asia'. To do so, it would be necessary to understand what the word 'wonder' means.

The dictionary defines 'wonder' as, awe, astonishment, surprise, something unusual, marvel and miracle. If so, we now need to assess whether there has been anything that has been done in Sri Lanka in the past five to six years, which could be considered 'awesome' or be viewed with 'astonishment'. In that regard, let us examine a few recent achievements of our country.

Even as recently as in the year 2007, almost everyone in Sri Lanka was of the view that terrorism could never be defeated. However, the unthinkable happened, and by May 2009, Sri Lanka defeated the bloodiest terror group, the world had ever known. Astonishing!

When the humanitarian operation ended in May 2009, and the world's biggest hostage rescue operation was successfully completed, there were nearly 300,000 displaced persons. As a result, the UN and other foreign agencies were getting ready to dig their heels in Sri Lanka for the next 15 years, ostensibly, to assist in the resettlement of the displaced persons.

However once again, the unthinkable happened and within three years, almost all displaced persons have been resettled with the majority of such persons now getting about their businesses, leading to a massive growth of over 20 percent in the North.

In May 2009, there were hundreds of thousands of landmines buried in all parts of the North, by the LTTE. The general consensus was that the de-mining operations will take at least 10 years. But within 2 1/2 years, almost all areas have been cleared of the deadly mines, with the bulk of the work being done by our security forces.

By 2004, after 56 years of independence, Sri Lanka's per capita income reached US$1,000. However by 2009, in just five years, Sri Lanka's per capita income had surpassed US$ 2,000. Last year, it had almost reached US$ 3,000. The country now seems to be well on its way to a per capita income of US$ 4,000 by 2015.

Up to 2007, the people had been used to substandard infrastructure. Roads with pot-holes, broken side-walks, dysfunctional traffic lights, regular water cuts, frequent power interruptions and delays at government institutions, which were common place.

But today, many of those shortcomings are only nasty memories. New ports are being constructed; New highways are being added. Thousands of kilometres of concrete roads are dotting the rural landscape. About six years ago, only 72 percent of the people had electricity, but today almost all people enjoy electricity 24 hours a day. New power plants are being added to national grid on a regular basis.

New airports are being constructed; Many cities are being beautified; Hospitals and education services are being improved. New opportunities are being created for the youth, which has resulted in unemployment reaching the lowest levels in history. All in all, an awesome economic and infrastructure transformation is taking place.

Sri Lanka's growth at eight percent, inflation in single digits, debt levels lower than 80 percent of GDP, international bond issues being oversubscribed 10 times, no banking failures, successful transformation to a more competitive export regime without GSP+, poverty at record low levels, foreign reserves at record high levels. When taken together, are the achievements the average Sri Lankan would have ever imagined they would experience in their lifetimes. When taken individually, some of these achievements may not appear to be spectacular, but when considered in the context of where Sri Lanka was stagnating a few years ago, and where Sri Lanka is today, this massive transformation is surely one that can only be described as miraculous!

These successes should naturally infuse confidence in the minds of the people of Sri Lanka that they are capable of achieving awe-inspiring results. However, it must be realised that there may also be persons who would not like to see Sri Lankans developing this type of can-do attitude and national pride. Such detractors, both local and foreign, would probably do their utmost to discourage Sri Lankans, so that, as a country Sri Lanka will not aspire for greater achievements.

Nevertheless, Sri Lankans must now develop the faith in themselves and remind themselves that they are capable of astonishing deeds, which can transform the country to new and greater heights.

As can be seen, Sri Lanka is now on a fast track to reduce the level of poverty, enhance provincial parity, increase economic growth, and improve its macro fundamentals, all of which will lead to unprecedented international admiration. The nation is also on a path to achieving middle-income nation status. Such an outcome would have been unthinkable six or seven years ago. Today, the very fact that the majority of the people believe that the country can reach such a status is nothing short of a wonder!