Sri Lanka waiting to be the "Asian miracle"
Colombo (AsiaNews) - Sarath Fernando, a well known political analyst and moderator of Reforms for Territories and agriculture, evaluates the elections on 8 April. The vote saw the victory of the United People Freedom Alliance, which supports President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who won the previous presidential elections, which had 4,846,388 votes and 144 seats out of 225, compared to the United National Front with 2,357,057 votes and 60 seats. Yesterday, the new parliament was sworn and elected spokesman Chamal Rajapaksa, eldest brother of the president.
There were some special features that were visible [in these elections]. The percentage of the people who cast their votes was much less than the trends that were seen in general elections in the country on previous occasions. This may be because there was very little that people could expect from the results of these elections. Every one knew that the government was going to win with a very high majority. There were no key issues that were debated at the elections either.
What is important to note from these experiences is, the rather drastic change that had taken place in the entire political system in the country over the last few decades. In Sri Lanka since time of the beginning of the parliamentary system in the 1940s, campaigns that were launched in the country to win over many social reforms for the poorer sections of society. Thus Sri Lanka adopted a free system of education, a free system of health, a policy of government intervening to protect the poor with low food prices (with a rice subsidy and controlled prices for all essential food and other services ), and also a system of intervention of the government in protecting the interests of the people against the exploitative interests of the rich businesses. Thus, the government sector was strengthened and expansion of private capital was in a way obstructed by Government policies.
This policy of the organized interventions of the people, the workers, the farmers, the poorer consumers further advanced in bringing further reforms in the systems of social welfare was the pattern. These reforms generally contributed in strengthening the democracy in the country. These victories created high aspirations among the youth. The armed rebellions that were launched by the youth both in the South ( 1971 and 1988 ) and in the North ( since 1976 and 1983 ) were violently suppressed wit Governments strengthening their military power as well as the legal instruments of suppression such as the Prevention of Terrorism Act and emergency regulations.
Since then, governments have used political power to suppress the political rights of the population and the intervention of the working classes. Priority was given to the private sector, whose interests were favoured in government policy.
Among the political parties emerged a tendency to promise more pro-poor reforms during election campaigns, but to forget about them after being elected. This is what happened after the election of Chandrika Kumarathunga in 1994 and Mahinda Rajapakse in 2005.
These elections clearly showed that even such false promises were not needed for him to come to power. The private sector capitalists can have enough confidence [in such candidates] to know that they would not go against the capitalist interests. The promise of Mahinda to make the country the “Miracle of Asia” is alarming looking at what this implies. The policy of inviting big foreign companies to come and make use of cheap labour and of natural resources to make and take away all their profits. In practice for 30 years we have seen use the poor to benefit the rich rather than reduce poverty.
The present situation is that to be elected one must have sufficient financial strength and some other means of sufficient publicity. The most corrupt business leaders become the best candidates to be elected such as in the case of Duminda Silva, Thilanga Sumathipala or some other popular characters such as Sanath Jayasuriya. Or some other unfaithful politician such as Jonstan Fernando who crosses over from one side to the other and gets the largest number of preferential votes, with no confidence about being faithful to the policy of the party.
The task ahead is very big. The poor people must develop their own strategy of formulating their own policy framework. This can be done by the organisations of the people, the workers, the farmers, the fisher people, the plantation people, the women, the youth etc have been voicing themselves to some degree. These have to be brought to an alliance.It is possible, if we see people opposed to local and foreign powers, against the privatization of state enterprises. Now health has been largely privatized. And the poor have no access to health services. The cost of medicines, doctors and health care are too high for the poor.
Similarly education has become something that people have to buy for a child from their very youngest upto the highest levels. About a hundred thousand students who qualify to enter universities are not admitted to them due to lack of space. There should be educational arrangements that could help them to utilize their abilities in improving the potentials of the people in alternative approaches in economy such as ecological agriculture. Utilizing similar approaches in policies it is possible to make Sri Lanka the miracle of Asia, not by competing with the rich in rich countries but in strengthening the poor to increase their creative potential in transforming nature and its resource to regenerate itself. A new vision is needed and politicians should be such new visionaries. "
(with the collaboration of Melani Manel Perera)
.png)
03/02/2024 13:39
