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| Sunday, 22 September 2002 |
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by MAHINDA RAJAPAKSA, MP, Leader of the Opposition (Excerpts of a speech at the inauguration of the 15th annual sessions of the Organisation of Professional Associations held at the main hall, BMICH, Colombo, on 17th September 2002) As an Attorney-at-law, I am myself a professional. But it is not in that capacity that I am here. It is also not in that capacity that you invited me. Instead, I am here in the capacity of a politician. I am here as the Leader of the Parliamentary Opposition. I am always happy to interact with the professional community of our country. When I received your invitation, I asked myself the question 'How should politicians and professionals relate to each other?'. There is often a lot of tension in the relationship between Politicians and Professionals. There is often a great deal of misunderstanding too. I have heard it said sometimes that politicians should become professionals. I, of course, don't agree with that. I have also heard it said that professionals should become politicized. I certainly don't agree with that either. In recent years I have heard people say that professionals should take charge of politics. They say that technocrats should govern our countries. Not only do I totally reject this view, but I venture to add that if this ever happens, it would mean the death of participatory democracy. Respect In your annual sessions this year, I notice that you are focusing on the concepts of 'Sustainability' and 'Integration'. Your four day Forum is on "An Integrated Sustainable Development Policy Framework for Sri Lanka". To develop and implement such a policy framework, Professionals and Politicians must work together. For this, the very relationship between Professionals and Politicians must be 'sustainable' and it must also be 'integrated'. For our relationship to be sustainable, Politicians and Professionals must respect each other. This does not mean simply to respect each other as individuals. It means much more. It means we must agree to respect the two different knowledge-bases from which the two parties namely, Professionals and Politicians - derive their two different perspectives of reality. Perspectives Professionals derive their perspectives of reality through the application of a discipline or science in which they have had a formal training usually at a university or at a professional institute. So you get an agricultural perspective, a legal perspective, an environmental perspective, an engineering perspective, a management perspective, an economic perspective, a sociological perspective, a banking perspective and so on. The OPA seems interested in evolving a Development Plan that integrates all these different professional perspectives. Politicians And this is where the politician comes in. Politicians represent the People's Perspectives of reality. And, the People's Perspectives of reality are as valid and as relevant for policy formulation as the various Professional Perspectives. The politician's responsibility is to understand and represent the People's Perspectives of reality. Different classes or segments of people have different perspectives of the same reality. Thus we find different politicians or different groups of politicians representing the different perspectives of these different groups. For instance, we will find some groups of politicians representing the perspectives of workers. Others group of politicians representing peasant perspectives. Still other groups of politicians representing the perspectives of landless people or of religious groups or ethnic groups or people living in specific localities like the South or the Central Hills, and so on. Professional Perspectives of the desired world as represented by professionals and People's Perspectives of the desired world as represented by politicians can often be very different from one another. No one perspective has hegemony over the other. Both sets of perspectives are equally valid and relevant. Therefore Professional Perspectives and People's Perspectives must be made to interact and inter-sect with each other at all times. Partnership And if this is to take place, Politicians and Professionals must respect each other's knowledge-bases, respect each other's methodologies and respect the perspectives represented by each other, as equally valid and relevant. This is the foundation on which an honourable and lasting partnership between Professionals and Politicians can be built. As a politician, I will personally be very happy to participate in any steps the OPA may take to negotiate and integrate the Perspectives of the People or Communities and the Perspectives of the Professionals around any themes or issues of interest to the country. In the real world of living communities, the Perspectives of Professionals can only be sustained when they are integrated with the Perspectives of the People. So let us accept this fact. Let us, Professionals and Politicians, meet together more frequently. Meet together, not to just listen to each other but to work together for the common good of our country. And meet together, through mutual respect for each other's knowledge-bases, methodologies and perspectives. |
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