|
|
 |
 |
| Sunday, 1 June 2003 |
 |
|
 |
Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
Liberals - serious or frivolous? by FACTOTUM The electoral performance of the Liberal Party of Sri Lanka may give the impression that however serious the Liberals sound when expounding theory on civil liberties, human rights, representative democracy, wealth creation, sustainable development and the like, (generally in plush hotels in the big city) if one were to go by their electioneering returns islandwide or in single distant districts the electorate seems to think them to be frivolous. Now this would seem an unfair comment to make or surmise to arrive at, especially in the light of CALD - Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats - an umbrella organisation that has linked Liberals all over Asia, in Taiwan and Thailand, Korea, Philippines, Cambodia and Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Burma. CALD brings their representatives together for periodic conferences in country Capitals. CALD Conference 2003 held in Colombo over two days last week was all about a Liberal Democratic Agenda for Wealth Creation and Sustainable Development. No one would quarrel about such important and timely deliberations among intellectuals and politicos in the region who would like to be identified as 'think tanks'. In exploring the dimension of poverty in Asia and considering Liberal solutions for the alleviation of poverty in the region CALD provides a useful forum for arriving at Liberal solutions to pressing problems. The 'Introduction' in the Conference Notes sums it all up succinctly. Excerpts: 'In November 2001, the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD) organised a conference on the political dimensions of globalisation. This was an attempt to review the impact of globalisation in the Asian region and to provide an opportunity for participants to encounter a wide range of views towards strategising appropriate responses. Expressions of opposition to globalisation had focused on poverty and the "divide," and it was expected that the discussion at the conference would be substantially oriented around these issues. Due to the September 11 terrorist attack on New York and Washington DC, however, the focus of the conference was substantially shifted to political developments in the region in response to the threat of terrorism, particularly its impact on democracy and freedom in Asia. Nonetheless, even though the threat of terrorism has substantially displaced poverty-related and development-related issues from priority in the political agenda of nations and international organisations, much discussion about terrorism points to poverty as one of its roots. Thus, the focus of this conference on "wealth creation and sustainable development" reflects CALD's recognition of the on-going political importance of poverty in the Asian region. There is general recognition of the need for policies to overcome poverty. In the 1950s and 1960s, strategy often focused on investments in large-scale physical infrastructure projects while in the 1970s, it shifted to the development of human capital. During the 1980s, the emphasis moved toward decentralized decision-making, trade liberalisation and economic reform while in more recent years, there has also been an increased focus on the strategic importance of good governance. There are rather distinct and competing ideological approaches to overcoming poverty. Strategic approaches developed by international institutions, too, are criticised as donor-biased and insensitive to the culture of the intended beneficiaries and unresponsive to their real needs. There are also debates on how poverty is to be measured, how the reduction of poverty is to be ascertained and how a poverty alleviation program can be judges as a success or failure'. If that set the tone, despite sundry people's verdicts on liberals in Sri Lanka interpreted to mean 'frivolous' one has to grant that the Liberals live up to the perception that they are 'serious' in their deliberations. |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security Produced by Lake House |
