Let’s resolve to start the system change that we demand from within

If the politically impartial Galle Face #Aragalaya has proven anything to us, it is that it’s the people who hold the power in a democracy, not politicians. They accomplished something that no politically motivated or organised movement, whether armed or otherwise, had managed to do in our short democratic history

While we wax eloquent about how this government or that government caused the economic meltdown that we are faced with today, the hard truth that the great majority of the people in the country as a whole fail to or refuse to accept is that we, the people, too are directly complicit in and therefore culpable for where we have ended up today.

We are people of a representative democracy. According to our Constitution, sovereignty lies with its people. We voted for and welcomed with open arms and embraced the neo liberal open economic policies that were adopted post-1977 and willingly and most enthusiastically got engaged in an import-driven lifestyle at the cost of local industries and ended up as a country whose biggest export and foreign income earner today is a semi or low skilled labour force earning minimum wage in those countries mostly under harsh conditions with little or no rights.

The fact that we have a garment industry that started post-1990 at least is thanks to the vision of President R. Premadasa. Even though at the time it was mocked and ridiculed by opposition politicians of the time as an industry that makes panties for white women.

In the last 45 years successive governments that assumed power, have neglected and completely ruined a once thriving local manufacturing industry that produced most things needed for local consumption that included anything from cars (we were the ‘only’ Asian country other than Japan at the time), televisions, radios, refrigerators, cooking ovens, to pencils and many other things in-between. My household during that time (except for a national radio) and my schoolbag contained everything that was made in Sri Lanka.

Most certainly there were shortages of many basic items such as wheat flour and sugar and rice due to restricted imports but we never ran out of fuel or medicines. However, gradually but surely we let all of those home grown industries go to ruin or sold off to chosen favourites, at times even below the value of their assets, particularly during the 1977-1990 period, and got comfortable lapping up cheaper imports bought on loans and started living like a 1st World country on a 3rd World budget. The volume and variety of imports were so great that items such as clothing, fruits and electronic goods were being sold side-by-side on pavements of busy streets all over the country.

40 odd years later, we became a country that imported kites and even Vesak lanterns... What can be said to defend a country that allowed such a system that compelled itself to become a nation that imports items that were significant symbols of their own culture! Recently, I listened to a Sinhala song sung in the 1950s that predicted that one day we will become a nation that will import even the mat used to sleep on the floor.

Those words have proven to be prophetic today.

Some of the “Free for All” benefits that people of this country have historically enjoyed such as healthcare, education –all the way through to the university system, free textbooks and school uniforms, to name a few, are not even available in 1st World economies today. The current state of these sectors at the moment is proof that it was never going to be sustainable for an economy such as ours.

Utilities such as electricity, water and public transport are still being provided at hugely subsidised rates. Our gas and fuel prices even now are amongst the cheapest in the world. For example, a litre of 95 Octane petrol is 4.15 AED today (approximately Rs. 415 according to the government rate) in the UAE which is a major exporter of oil! 

As one of three children brought up by a single mother on a teacher’s salary, who benefited from the free education, government housing and subsidised public transport that allowed me to access. To a more comfortable lifestyle today, I do understand better than most people, the necessity of a welfare system that looks after those who need it. However, today, most of these items such as fuel, gas, water, electricity, etc. that are heavily subsidised, are mostly consumed by the higher income earners than the people who really need and deserve them. I can clearly remember in 1994 when I was living in Dubai a loaf of 450 g bread was equivalent to about Rs. 50 while CBK brought the price down to a loaf of bread to Rs. 3.50 to fulfil a pledge made during her election campaign!

No one complained or questioned the feasibility of it at the time. Instead people switched from eating rice to eating wheat based products as it was considered a cheaper and acceptable alternative which affected the local paddy farmer immensely.

At the time I was living in Dubai where a loaf of bread cost AED 2.50 which was equivalent to approximately Rs. 40. Both countries were using imported wheat flour. How on earth can a country like ours afford to extend such concessions and expect to remain economically stable?

Today, in Sri Lanka the contribution of direct taxes into GDP is 1.8%! Contribution from indirect taxes to GDP has gone down from 20% during CBK’s time to 14% during Yahapalanaya and 8% under the current government while foreign debt has soared to almost a 100% of GDP gradually.

I recently found out and immediately paid off almost Rs. 50,000 in unpaid, annual municipality assessments tax for my house going back 10 years!

In most countries they would have evicted me a long time ago! I’m sure there are thousands like me who have forgotten to pay those taxes for many years to date.

So, how can the economy of a country survive under these circumstances? 

Like Dr. Harsha de Silva recently said, “We cannot afford to have a Singapore style tax structure and a Sweden style welfare system.” We have to choose one or the other...

Please do not counter that point with the argument that our personal income levels are lower than Singapore or UAE or whatever. In that case we should have learned to live within our means...

Without even going as far back and taking into consideration the economic situation of the country prior to the 2019 Easter attacks, when the first economic shock was dealt, just six months ago the vehicles on our roads, food on supermarket shelves and shopping malls, etc. reflected a completely contradictory picture to our real economic health at the time.

Politicians have stolen billions. Absolutely. The Rajapaksas have done it better than most.

Absolutely. There is no argument about that at all. But if we calculate the cost of what we

have consumed on subsidised rates or completely free of charge, on borrowed money, that number will vastly outnumber whatever every single politician has stolen or pilfered over the last 75 years by many folds.

Just the sheer arrogance and inconsiderate nature of some people I know who chose to travel hundreds of miles in their fuel guzzling vehicles to Yala, Anuradhapura, Ella, etc. for a “break from stress of the current situation” just the last couple of weeks, while there were hundreds and thousands of people including healthcare workers, whose presence or absence can literally be the difference between life or death to someone, languishing in fuel queues for days unable to go to work or make a daily living, has astounded me...

If the politically impartial Galle Face #Aragalaya has proven to us anything, it is that it’s the people who hold the power in a democracy, not politicians. They accomplished something that no politically motivated or organised movement, whether armed or otherwise, had managed to do in our short democratic history.

That apolitical people’s movement forced the Prime Minister and his entire Cabinet of the country to resign and freed our country from the vice-like grip of one family and their cronies. They did so by being present and persistent which are paramount components necessary for an effective and people centric democracy. 

Democracy famously has been called a Government of the People, by the People and for the People. In short it’s a system of self-governance whereby they become the masters of their land and fate. To make this a numerically practical process the people assign the duty of governance in custody of a small number of representatives of their own choice, to carry out that task on their behalf.

However, unfortunately in Sri Lanka, from the very inception, the relationship between the custodian and the masters has been corrupted and convoluted into one that resembles an inextricably intertwined parasitic vine that eats away at its host. 

There are two main reasons that I can think of for this to have happened. Firstly, the British masters who introduced this system of self-governance, didn’t trust the majority of the population was ready or capable of such a task and therefore handpicked a wealthy and elite group of people who had assimilated themselves to the British culture and mannerisms and maintained close relationships with the British masters at the time. The influence that elite group wielded over the masses through their wealth and social status since before the introduction of governance by representative democracy, they were able to turn what was meant be the duty of a custodian to that of a master that could and did manipulate the masses through fear or favour to assume control of the state. 

Effectively, instead of becoming a representative democracy we had become more of a representative monarchy, where the chosen custodians assumed the role of the master as well and dictated rules terms of governance to the masses according to their whim and fancy.

Unfortunately this upside-down relationship between the politician and the public has prevailed throughout our democratic history with political power becoming the heirloom of a select few. 

Secondly, this corrupt and unjust system has been allowed to entrench and strengthen itself over time due to the lack of active participation and engagement beyond election day by the real masters of a democratic process, the people, who play the role of an absentee landlord until it’s time for the next election. There, they are induced by the promise of further economically unsustainable concessions, subsidies, hand-outs, jobs and salary increments to win their vote. 

We are a nation that voted Sirimavo Bandaranaike into power for “Rice from the moon”, JRJ for “8 measures of Grains” and as I mentioned earlier CBK for bread at 3.50, and MR for free fertiliser, Yahapalanaya for a Rs. 10,000 salary increment for the State sector employees and a promise of across the board tax cuts at the last election, just to name a few, without ever questioning the source of funding for fulfilling such promises.

That makes us, the voter, culpable for the massive losses incurred by those actions that have brought about this economic catastrophe.

We talk of corrupt politicians as if they are an alien species that have descended upon here. They have emerged from within our society and elected to office by us and therefore I believe that they are a true reflection of us and our value systems. If we vote into of dice political leaders, people accused of corruption, chain snatching drug dealing, murder, extortion, stealing or misusing public funds and assets, etc. as custodians of our democracy, that must mean that we do not either think its true or it doesn’t matter. If we do that we absolve ourselves of the right to judge and criticise them, and cleanse ourselves of complicity and culpability of their actions. 

So let me finish off by saying we must all look in the mirror and take a good look at ourselves before we start proportioning blame on others and figure out how and what ‘we’ can do. In any small manner, to help the country overcome the current predicament and ensure that we hold elected officials responsible and answerable to their actions and promises. So, please let’s resolve to start the system change that we demand from within. Waving a flag a couple of times a month on a Sunday while chanting catchy slogans, or creating incendiary or insulting posts on social media platforms in my humble opinion is not going to bring about a significant or tangible enough system change.

Just simply resolve to be an example of the change that we are asking for! Or else we will become an eternal case of what could have been as a country until we, the people, stop blaming others for our plight and start walking the talk. Flag waving and chanting slogans don’t bring about economic or social upliftment. The people of Galle Face showed us that you don’t need to storm buildings or cause chaos to bring about democratic change. But the moment RW took the premiership it lost its participatory support and the majority of the crowd that gathered there initially, dissipated like the morning dew at sunrise… Makes me wonder… did the only thing the majority who initially gathered there want was for MR and the Cabinet gone...?

(The writer is an entrepreneur and investor in the food and beverage industry.)