A clarion call to expats to help motherland

By Shanika SRIYANANDA

The dawn of peace after three decades brought fresh hopes to Sri Lankans, who lost hopes for the future due to the devastation that took place daily by way of explosions, killings and suicide bombings.

Sanjiv Gunasekara

Prashanth Wijedasa

Never imagining that the situation would turn peaceful, those who had money embraced life thousands miles away while people who were less privileged had to face the fate.

From the beginning of 2009 with strong signals that ruthless terrorism was going to be ended due to immense sacrifices of the military and the serious commitment of the Leader of the country, the fate of the war ravaged Sri Lanka was decided.

With the end of the curse in May 19, 2009, a new Sri Lanka emerged with a promising future. Today, the country is rising from the debris of the war and trying to stand its own to become the 'Marveal of Asia'.

The entire country, which focused on a single target - annihilation of the LTTE two-years ago, has now once again focused on a single target - to develop the country in the aftermath of the deadly war. The country needs to march towards this target not only with support of people living here but also those who 'fled' the country during troubled times.

Soon after bringing the LTTE to zero and restoring peace, President Mahinda Rajapaksa invited all the expatriates, who gathered at Temple Trees, to rebuild the country.

"You stepped into a free country - a country which defeated separatism. Therefore this victory is a victory of the nation. You were invited first in the immediate aftermath of defeating terrorism.

My motherland is free. The responsibility of building the country is yours as well as mine. Thus we invited you to come to Sri Lanka to rebuild the country".

"In this country there cannot be any racial, religious, caste or provincial differences hereafter. All must live with equal rights. I am your friend. Have trust in me. Let us now build our country. Your service is necessary for our country. Let us safeguard the Motherland.

Let us join to achieve that".

"You are not too late to fulfill your obligations to your country. When travelling in the liberated areas, you will realize that we have established peace in areas extremely suitable for the tourism industry. Arugam Bay coast where terrorists were trained has become a paradise for local and foreign tourists. We have opened the doors for the best investors of the world to invest here", President Rajapaksa said.

This motivated thousands of Sri Lankans who were eagerly waiting to return to the country. Sri Lanka has a rich knowledge based expatriate community, who have excelled in all the hi-tech fields and are doing well in foreign countries. This is the best time to tap their knowledge to rebuild the country.

While thousands of Sri Lankan expatriates irrespective of their ethnic differences are coming back to contribute their share of might to bring the motherland to the threshold of development, the Sunday Observer met two such Sri Lankan businessmen in the US, who are exploring the possibilities of investing, especially in the North, to bridge the 'LTTE-made hatred' among Tamils over the people of the South and also to invest their skills in the development process. They requested the government to have a new mechanism to tap the expatriate 'resource', effectively.

"This is our country and we, the expatriates, owe much to Sri Lanka and our people who sacrificed a lot for over three decades", they said.

The duo, who visited Jaffna, with a US investor delegation led by Sri Lankan Ambassador in the US Jaliya Wickramasuriya, said the North, including Jaffna had a huge potential for new investments and its people needed the support to uplift their lives after suffering for over 30-years.

They request all expatriates, including Tamil Diaspora, to get together and make their inroads to Sri Lanka to develop the country to make it a better place for their future generation to live.

Prashanth Wijedasa, the Chairman Imminent Technologies, which provides IT services for law enforcement agencies and financial institutes in the US and also provides IT engineers trained in Sri Lanka to work in reputed US companies, said he wanted to help the Jaffna youth to overcome the unemployment problem.

"Sri Lanka is the country, which I was born. Though I studied in the UK and doing business in the US for over 10-years, my heart is always in Sri Lanka as I belong to this country. As expatriates we are doing well in a country that you don't know. I think we can do better in the country we know and I personally think I owe this country very much", he said.

Sanjiv Gunasekara, the Managing Partner of the Sunland Group of companies, which does real estate development and construction in the US wanted to take a lead in the country's development process in the post conflict era. "As expatriates, this is the time for us to help the country in which we are born. We are performing well in alien countries but why not in our own country for the benefit of our own people?" he asked.

They said Sri Lanka, which suffered immensely due to war, had lots of potential to grow to become a new country and foreign investors were keen in investing in Sri Lanka due to its economic and political stability.

They said lots of educated Tamils flew after the '83 riots and the Sinhalese during the past 25-years as they felt the future was bleak.

"Though we are away from the country and suffered less due to terrorism, we too fought a battle against the LTTE there through Sri Lankan organizations and the US Embassy there at a time pro-LTTE Tamil Diaspora was active. But, we never thought that this war would become to an end.

Due to the past experiences how the battles became to halt, ending this war was a mere dream. We requested the Tamil Diaspora to join with us", Wijedasa, who is also the Vice President of the Chamber of Commerce Sri Lanka Branch, said.Gunasekara said that visiting Jaffna was very helpful for them to convince those in the US, including those who were interested in investing in Sri Lanka.

He said the western world was very skeptical about promoting investment and tourism in Sri Lanka due to the war but with peace they had a very positive image about the country as the first nation that eradicated terrorism in the entire world.

"Lankan expatriates are ready to take the lead, then the Americans will follow and finally the positive story will bring lots of international investors into the country", Gunasekara said.

They invited the Tamil Diaspora, both the pro and anti LTTE, to join them as Sri Lankans to rebuild the country. "We have met Tamil Diaspora in the US and told them that they may have supported the LTTE willingly or unwillingly in the past and there is no thing called LTTE or Eelam now. It is Sri Lanka and Sri Lankans. It is time for them to support their own blood in the Northern Province yearning support.

The past may be full of mistakes and they cannot repeat them in future.

So, let us join together and this is the best opportunity for them", they said.

Gunasekara: " Sri Lanka has a vibrant private sector. Make use of it and have public - private partnerships. And also make the process easy for the investors. It should be attractive for the investors and they will create more jobs here".

"Infrastructure facilities in the North are improving and it should go hand in hand. Investors cannot wait until infrastructure develops.

The process needs a framework and then the businessmen know things are taking place and facilities for them to invest are coming in and the government knows that investors are coming in".

Wijedasa: "Two years ago the investors did not bother about Sri Lanka and it was not in their fold. But now with the change, this attitude has changed. Good development indicators and the popular magazines recommend Sri Lanka as their best destinations the investor enthusiasm to invest here has gone up. They know there is lot that Sri Lanka can offer them. Its beauty, nature, people, climate, resources and political stability have a high demand. This demand doubles as the island is in a strategic location". The two Lankan businessmen who are US citizens said the majority of expatriates in the US want to return to the country on their retirement.

They said the North had the investment opportunities in education, vocational, training, healthcare and infrastructure facilities.

But, they complained about bureaucracy and requested the government to make the business process 'easy' to make it investor-friendly. "The lengthy process and inefficiency in relevant authorities in the sector discourage the new investors. This is a serious issue the government needs to look into to promote new investments in the country", they said. Wijedasa: "Tamil community suffered more and more and why do you want them to suffer more and more. Why do you want to separate them from Sri Lanka? Be a part of the development process".

Gunasekara: "Come and engage in the country's development, if you don't, you will be left behind. Aftermath of the war Sri Lanka is moving on in a rapid pace and the only option left for you is to join us and engage instead of clinging onto a failed attempt - Eelam. If you do this, you have a future in Sri Lanka otherwise you will get alienated".

They thanked Ambassador Wickremasuriya for taking a lead to bring US investors to the country and showing them the ground realities.

They said his earlier contribution to convince the Congress, the Senate and Tamil Diaspora to convey the truth about the military and humanitarian operations should be complimented.

"He did an excellent job then and his tireless efforts bore fruits.

Now he has taken a different twist and is promoting business in Sri Lanka in the US. We hope, he will be a good example to other diplomats to encourage their respective countries to bring investors here", they said.

According to Wijedasa and Gunasekara, the Lankan diplomatic missions abroad can play a vital role to reach the expatriates who are yet to become a part of the 'team'.After visiting Jaffna they said they have lot to tell their friends in the US. "We have seen lots of opportunities in Jaffna and its people need support to get jobs, education, healthcare and other so many needs that you and I have.

"If the Tamil Diaspora delays their contribution to make lives of their own people it will delay the development process making them suffer more. However much they propagate LTTE ideologies as it did not work in the past, it will not work in the future too. Our little advice for those like Rudrakumar and other so-called remaining LTTEers is, forget the past and move on to help and invest either their knowledge and skills or money to bring back them pride and also to take them to a new era as the LTTE had dragged them to the stone age", they said.Both said as President Rajapaksa said there was no segment called 'majority' or 'minority' but the country had only 'Sri Lankans'.

"With no ethnic differences, let's all Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims expatriates join together as Sri Lankans at this crucial juncture to rebuild Sri Lanka like a Phoenix rising from the ashes" - This is their plea.