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| Sunday, 5 September 2004 |
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Features |  |
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The right column Two events last week caught the attention of this columnist. The first was the twenty-fifth death anniversary of Dr. N.M. Perera, one of the pioneers of the Left movement in Sri Lanka. The other was the launching of two books - Economic Analysis for Business in Sri Lanka and Managing in Sri Lanka, Problems and Prospects by Sri Lanka's management guru Professor Gunapala Nanayakkara. Both events, well attended, were significant for quite different reasons. In the first, the audience comprised mostly contemporaries and comrades in arms of the late LSSP leader. It was something like a get-together of the Old Boys of the Left. Though Science and Technology Minister and General Secretary of the LSSP comrade Tissa Vitarana put up a brave face and introduced a New Left Program for National Development, in the audience were elders who had neither enthusiasm nor time left to carry it forward. The youth were conspicuous in their absence, a factor that bodes ill for the country. In the audience at the second event were young professionals and their academic mentors from the public and private sectors. In contrast to the first gathering it was more dynamic and vibrant. Actually the two audiences reflected two times, two ideologies and two programs. The first referred more to social democratic ideology, in spite of its professed Marxist character while the second was guided by liberal democracy. In a sense Professor Nanayakkara represented a blend of the two ideologies, two times and two programs. From his Communist origins he has evolved into a guru who churns out the professionals that drive the 'engine of growth' in the market-led liberal democracy. While erudite scholars dealt with the subject matter in the Professor's books, the Professor himself made some down-to -earth remarks in his address at the function. In his characteristic unorthodox style he answered a question that is at the tip of the tongue among many: Where is Sri Lanka heading for? He answered that we are heading for nowhere with no focus on the future. Everyone is concerned only with the present and want to experience the joy of relief, the same joy that one experiences when you answer calls of nature. When a natural disaster like floods or drought arrive there is relief when a few handouts are given to the victims while nothing is done to prevent these preventable disasters. The rulers go to donor confabs and are relieved when aid is pledged while not spending the aid productively once received, etc. etc. - the Sceptic |
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