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| Sunday, 21 November 2004 |
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Solemn Thoughts Debt salesmen and economic holocaust in Sri Lanka by Wendell Solomons When first proposed by George E. De Silva of Kandy-elected to the State Council in 1932, the idea received lukewarm support. With further discussion his idea took root and several representatives at the State Council asked for a bank to serve the country's population. The British Governor was Sir Andrew Caldecott. He took the initiative to call for an expert Commission. The Commission brought out that money-lenders had become the source of finance for business expansion of the average Ceylonese in contrast to Sterling companies, to whom British banks in the country opened their doors. Money lending to local business had become the province of migrant Chettiar clans (of Natukottai, South India) and of Pathan clansmen (locally referred to as Afghans or Kabul bais). The Afghans charged 20 per cent per month. The Chettiars charged interest at 10 per cent per month (or 120 per cent per annum.) More, without a cheque system of banking, as much as 18 per cent would be charged by the Chettiars in transferring cash realised, say - through selling black pepper - between market and grower's home town by the Chettiar chit system (the word 'chit' entered the English dictionary from the Indian subcontinent. 'Cash' came from Portuguese 'caixa', an adoption from Sanskrit 'karsa.') The Commission's study and proposal for creation of a state-aided bank was to muster support across the whole local political spectrum. In the State Council supporters included H. W. Amarasuriya, S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, Claude Corea, E. W. Perera, G. G. Ponnambalam and P. Sundaram. Their proposal was for government ownership of the bank. Here was futurism in contrast, say, to the then private ownership of Britain's Central bank, the Bank of England headed by Montegu Norman. In consequence overseas in London, a committee of private bankers torpedoed the idea of the British government owning the proposed bank. However, with the support of devoted and articulate men, Sir Andrew Caldecott opened the Bank of Ceylon for business with 50 per cent government participation on August 1, 1939. Historical setting This move of the bank's supporters, set a precedent in millennia of history of the island. The 'Noble Eightfold Path' was taught by Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha. In the fifth aspect of this Path, the sage had taught that the giving of money on interest was not a 'Right Livelihood' or in the original Pali - Samma Ajiva. This teaching was encapsulated in the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta, the sage's foundational and first enunciated discourse in the Deer Park, near modern Benares. It's background was the precept, 'Not to Take What is Not Given.' In parallel in the Commandments received by Moses at Mount Sinai the precept appeared as 'Thou shalt not steal.' How could Buddhists consolidate resources - say for re-tiling a house? This was achieved through interest-free savings collected by participatory savings circles of friends and relations (such as 'Seetu'). Similarly, without going in for loans on interest, infrastructure for the community domain such as reservoirs or roadways were created through (a) voluntary or (b) regally / clerically mediated donations of labour days (e.g., 'Rajakariya.') The commitment of Pali oral slokas (cf. Gk 'logos') to manuscript came several centuries after Lord Buddha. At around the same time was completed the collation and translation of Aramaic and Hebrew scriptural writings into classical Greek. The inspiration for creating for Jews the Septuagint (meaning 'work of 70 scholars') came from Ptolemy II Philadelphus whose rule as king of Egypt began in 284 BC. This Septuagint formed the core of the Old Testament and was to lead on to Christianity and the New Testament. In the latter, the only act of violence recorded of Jesus of Nazareth is his taking of a whip into his hands to evict money dealers ('kermatistes' in the original Greek) from the temple. When the early Christian church developed, it too discouraged loans on interest. In the British Isles where Christianity had arrived through missionary Patrick followed later by the missionary Augustine's Benedictine rule abbeys, King Edward I banished money-lending clans from his kingdom in 1292. In Islam of the 7th Century, the Koran emphatically forbade the lending of money on interest. Today, lending money on interest has become commonplace. So here is mystery. What factors made it disparaged? |
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