Suggestions for poverty alleviation

By Lloyd F Yapa

It is a pity that the people of Sri Lanka, though the majority of whom profess to be good Buddhists, Hindus, Christians and followers of Islam and all these religions, especially the first emphasize on non violence and tolerance, have failed to find an amicable solution to the problem resulting in inadequate investment for creation of jobs.

The main outcome of this failure is that the country has lagged behind in economic development, ( according to reports the conflict has been clipping 3% per year from GDP growth; as a result the GDPs of South Korea and Sri Lanka which were almost level in 1960 are now poles apart- Sri Lanka’s current-2007- GDP -annual average income-lags far behind at US $ 1617,while south Korea’s has now reached about US $ 20,000 ) resulting in grinding poverty and malnutrition especially in the Uva, Sabaragamuwa, the North, East and the estate areas of the country, accompanied by a high rate of violence and crime, compared with several other countries in Asia such as India and Malaysia and even some countries in Africa , which are developing faster though possessing similar plural societies.

In the writer’s opinion the reasons for the persistence of the problem are as follows:

1. The low level of individual and social values which impinge on the quality of governance, which determines the degree of socio political stability which in turn affects the quantum of investment and the rate of economic growth.

2. The stark ignorance of the people as to the role of governance in development and how democracy should be practiced.

3. The low quality of our constitution compared to those of the US and India and the appalling incapability of our politicians to govern the country.

Now let us analyze (not in this same order) each of these factors in order to find possible solutions.

The low level of individual and social values

The low level of moral values, ignorance and superstition among most of the people is extremely surprising though the people of Sri Lanka are adherents of (Theravada) Buddhism and several other leading religions.

Buddhism argues that the human mind can be disciplined to achieve personal happiness and that compassion for all beings is the path to social harmony- an essential factor for successful democratic governance.

But sad to say that most Sri Lankans do not practise it as taught by the Buddha, perhaps due to the faith in a pantheon of gods responsible for protecting them from evil influence and leading them to prosperity and happiness, with little effort on one’s part except a prayer or an offering of some sort, (sometimes through an intermediary).

Another reason for lack of observance of the Teachings could be that they have not been reinterpreted to suit modern needs like ascending the economic (enhancement of an individuals’ material status) and social (living in harmony with the rest in society and contributing to the greater social good) ladder. Even other religions need to be interpreted in this manner.

When it comes to social interaction, conflict situations lead to extremes like murder, even among family members, as we Sri Lankans do not seem to know methods of conflict resolution.

The reason for this serious situation could be that Buddhism (and Hinduism too) in this country unlike some other religions is thoroughly disorganized with no authority/body of management for controlling and updating purposes (such as the manner of achieving material success in life in this modern age and the resolution of social conflicts in a democratic setting).

Another problem may be the continuation of chants (the purpose of which appears to be auto suggestion-a proven method of appealing to the sub conscious mind) made in Pali which is not comprehensible to most, especially children.

Still another problem is the inculcation of values in the young is now left in the hands of semi literate politicians, entertainers and the media-which is like ‘handing over the hen to the jackal’ as a Sinhala saying goes.

No convocation or ‘sanagayana’ of the Buddhist clergy has been held in this country since the reign of king Valagambahu in the 1st century BC for reinterpretation and introduction of such concepts such as tolerance of opposing views and to solve new problems faced by the adherents. Should not this be undertaken at least now? Zen Buddhists seem to have done it.

If not, Buddhism in Sri Lanka will decline and moral values will deteriorate as is happening already; democracy then is doomed for failure mainly due to the inability to tolerate opposing views. In a similar manner clerics of other religions also should teach ways and means of achieving personal success and social harmony which strengthen governance.

The responsibility for the absence of moral values cannot be placed on the doorstep of the clerics alone. The question whether parents and educationists in this country have been motivated to develop a system to inculcate values that are required for personal success/happiness and social harmony, has to be raised. It is never too late to make such an effort in this country as well, though several decades have been wasted in futile conflict.

The Standard of education

The people are also not educated as to how they should elect representatives to the legislatures for the purpose of delivering on their aspirations for a better life by developing the entire economy of the country; they think that voting at an election is for the purpose of obtaining some personal favour or other instead of enhancing the socio/political and economic status of the entire nation as a whole.

They are also not taught how social inter-relationships including governance should be managed for achieving economic success now that the country is a democracy.

Quality of governance

There are three specific elements of governance. They are:

i. the quality of processes by which governments are selected, held accountable, monitored and replaced,

ii. the quality of the institutions by which services such as health and education required by the people are rendered and

iii. the capacity of governments to administer and to formulate, implement and enforce sound policies and regulations for the welfare of the people.

All should be aware that these factors of governance establish social harmony and stability which is a prerequisite for economic development as they encourage the establishment of stability, entrepreneurship and investment for creating jobs.

In this country, unlike in the UK, where democratic practices such as tolerance of opposing views and respect for the rights of other people are inherent among the people, good governance has to be established by legislation. Some specific legislative measures that should be implemented immediately in Sri Lanka are the following:

a) The 13th Amendment to the Constitution sans the controversial concurrent list of powers which has been used by the central government to encroach on management of local affairs is one such initial measure to devolve power.

It is very commendable that elections have been held (except for the alleged vote rigging and intimidation of voters) and a Provincial Council has been established in the Eastern Province. It is advisable for the Tamils and Muslims to accept it as the first stage of devolution and make it work successfully as trust among communities has to be built before proceeding further.

b) The 17 th Amendment to the Constitution has to be implemented fully for the purpose of separation of powers without delay. The objective of this measure should be make the Public Service along with the Central Bank and the Judiciary independent of the Legislature to prevent politicization of decisions which may include unfair domination of others by certain communities. Independence will enable appointment of all public officials on the basis of merit and not on a political or racial/religious basis.

It is then that such agencies could develop efficient methods of providing quality services in a fair manner; this will accelerate the process of building trust among communities, economic development and elimination of poverty.

c) Change of election laws to elect a better quality of representatives of the people and set up strong governments well represented by all the communities (by introducing a mix of ‘first past the post’ system to elect representatives to constituencies rather than districts, under which people do not know who their representatives in legislative bodies are and proportional representation, which does not give sufficient representation to major political parties leading to weak coalition governments)

d) Strengthening of laws to minimize corruption which enables a few to grab undue influence and riches at the expense of the rest of the population. The first requirement for this purpose is the independence of the public institutions like the Bribery Commission and the Courts from the clutches of politicians, who generally have private agendas, mainly because they have to spend vast sums of money to get elected under the present district system.

A report prepared by the Sri Lanka Economic Association (SLEA) titled “The Impact of Corruption on Poverty and Economic Growth” has reported that bribery and corruption clip at least 2 % from GDP growth per year, taking into account only grand corruption and not petty corruption.

Regional development

Terrorism cannot be defeated by such measures or even by war alone. Mounting expenditure on the war, will team up with petroleum prices, unproductive budgetary expenditure and corruption, to fuel sky rocketing inflation.

Terrorism is threatening to make Sri Lanka one of the poorest of nations in Asia as the 40 % or so poor in the country, especially in the areas affected by the conflict is plummeting towards destitution.

There are, however, signs that the government has realized this truth as demonstrated by the regional development programmes being undertaken in the East. Such programmes should be extended to other areas populated by Tamils.

Integrated Sri Lankan identity

Regional development should in addition be accompanied by an effort to unite and integrate the communities and quicken the process to build trust and communication among them.

In fact Israel is a country where its planners and leaders have made an effort to evolve a number of softer mechanisms including a common link language, systems of governance and even physical settlement patterns of Jewish immigrants from different parts of the world including the US and the cave dwellers from North Africa to develop an integrated society with similar moral values and objectives, for an accelerated economic take off.

Now that the Eastern Province has been liberated, the government is well advised to adopt this strategy as well, particularly the implementation of the extended Official Languages Act and integration of the different school language streams and upgrading of the teaching of English as a link language.

Economic development and reduction of levels of poverty can definitely be achieved when the basic requirement of good governance and ethnic peace are supported by economic stability i.e. low budget and Current Account deficits in the Balance of Payments as well as liberalized markets such as land, labour and capital along with world class infrastructure and services such as roads, irrigation, health and education; it is the markets that constitute the ‘invisible hand’ that allocates resources on the basis of supply and demand; of course it has to be expertly managed and regulated by the government unlike at present without blaming the system.; hence the need for peace, separation of powers and better quality policy makers and legislators.

What this means is that our GDP during the last fifty years would have easily topped 8-10% growth per year if the above mentioned policies had been followed consistently.

The writer supposes that every citizen in Sri Lanka is interested in eliminating poverty and achieving a better standard of living. So why not unite to accelerate the establishment of socio political and economic stability in this country in the manner described above forgetting ethnic and religious differences? In fact it is downright silly to waste time quarrelling on ethnic (and ideological) grounds, when the larger objective of eliminating poverty can be realized by giving up conflict and adopting a commonsense approach.