Ceylon Today Editorial

Clarion call for good governance

02 January 2017

The New Year messages with the blessings of religious leaders and the greetings from all national leaders have energized the countrymen to continue with the good efforts to strengthen good governance in the country. Two years ago, in January, the National Unity Government led by President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was set up to the satisfaction of the peace loving citizens of this country.

The National Unity Government which is very much focused on strengthening peace and reconciliation has succeeded to a great extent in the past two years in wiping out the post-war grievances and making the country traverse on the path of prosperity. The reconciled State of the two prime National parties which had remained as arch rivals from the post-independence period with the formation of the National Unity Government is exemplary in spearheading the countrymen towards peace and reconciliation.

The present regime had to carry out an arduous task of purifying the State machinery which was in a State of disarray in its first year in office and to a great extent state sector has now been put in order despite the attempts made by unscrupulous political elements with vested interests including the Joint Opposition (JO) creating obstacles for the National Unity Government. The verdict given by the people in the country in January 2015 was to see not only the dawn of good governance but also to ensure the chauvinist elements are not taking the upper hand in national politics.

President Maithripala Sirisena in his New Year message has clearly stated that the country is stepping into year 2017 in the backdrop of several challenging changes taking place globally. While striving to stabilize peace and reconciliation enhancing the country's development activities, the present regime has to focus on maintaining good relations regionally as well as internationally. With the end of the civil war seven years ago, several countries have focused their attention on the island nation with regard to regional politics as well as the economic activities.

So, the present regime should be extremely cautious towards maintaining healthy external relations to strengthen the hard earned peace in the country. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in his New Year message has cautioned over the notorious political elements which were trying to undermine the efforts taken by the present regime in building a healthy reconciled country.

As the Prime Minister is aware of the elements which remain a threat to good governance, instead of pointing them out all, measures should be taken to eradicate them in the best interest of the country. Apart from bringing in the present government two years ago the people also voted for the eradication of corruption and malpractices in the country.

For the much anticipation of the countrymen several investigations were launched to unmask the corrupt individuals of the previous regime. However, the general impression among the people is that the efforts which were mooted to expose the corrupt individuals were not effective enough and the leniency towards the wrongdoers will only help them to make manipulations to escape from the accusations against them as well as to regroup to create obstacles to the present regime.

Already there are signs of problems emerging gradually to ridicule the National Unity regime. A clueless atmosphere prevails in the country over the political and the economic challenges handled by the present regime. Despite several drawbacks in dealing with the political and the post-war humanitarian issues in the North and the East, Leader of the Opposition and Tamil National Alliance Leader R. Sampanthan has expressed optimism over finding a permanent solution to the ethnic crisis in the New Year.

Therefore, the National Unity Government which is in the threshold of entering its third year in office must flex its muscles to throw its weight in dealing with all negative forces to make good governance a reality.

Daily News Editorial

Challenges for 2017

02 January 2016

The New Year which dawned yesterday will be of great importance to Sri Lanka, with the Government announcing an ambitious three-year development drive that will last through 2020. One of the first events in this connection will be the commencement of work on the Volkswagen factory in the North Western Province.

Significantly, President Maithripala Sirisena will mark two years in office on January 8 while the Good Governance/National Unity Government will mark the same milestone on August 17. Instead of having tamashas, the Government has pragmatically opted to start a number of development projects on account of these anniversaries.

The Government has been accused of neglecting development by the Joint Opposition and certain sections of the media. It was true that certain projects were halted temporarily to investigate whether any improper financial deals had taken place when they were originally given the green light. These probes have mostly been concluded and development efforts are now underway at a rapid pace.

The Mahinda Rajapaksa administration created an impression in the minds of the people that development is only about expressways, buildings and jogging tracks. While these are indeed needed, development cannot be restricted to material things alone. Concepts such as human rights, law and order, Right to Information, freedom of expression and assembly are also part and parcel of development. This Government has done a lot of work in these spheres in two years, which unfortunately has not received enough publicity and awareness. Perhaps the most important of these is reconciliation among the various communities, which is considered a priority by the Government.

The Rajapaksa administration erred in thinking that physical development should come first at all times. Former President Rajapaksa, in a recent interview with an Indian newspaper admitted as much. On the other hand, people value freedom, dignity and other rights more than physical development. Although the former President was alluding to the Northern Province in particular, it is a universal phenomenon. What is the use of a brand new road if the people have no proper livelihoods? It is in this context that we should commend the Government for designating 2017 as an year to eradicate poverty. Reconciliation, poverty alleviation and development go hand in hand, but it would be churlish to focus on physical development alone.

Development, physical and otherwise, is a cornerstone of good governance. Unfortunately, there is a notion among the public that a “little corruption does not matter as long as the goods are delivered”. But the problem is, there is no “little” corruption once someone decides to take the plunge. It does begin slowly and with small amounts, but expands later to multi-million dollar deals. In 2017, the Government must resolve to eliminate all forms of bribery and corruption. We often look up to Singapore as a model of development, but Singapore achieved its present status mainly because the late Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew did not tolerate any corruption at all. Perhaps anti-corruption measures can be included in the proposed new Constitution itself.

There are many rumours surrounding the extent of devolution to be proposed in the new Constitution, but one thing is clear – devolution in some form is essential for development. With Local Government elections looming probably in mid-year, there will be a vibrant debate on the role of local bodies in development and social welfare. Local bodies and provincial councils know best when it comes to the development needs of each area and thus should have a bigger say in development plans. The inequality between the Western Province and the other provinces in terms of economic growth and development has not been a very healthy feature – any measures that bridge this massive gap will be welcome in 2017.

In this country, we have been talking about certain development plans for such a long time (a few decades) that most people have given up these ideas for good. Finally, however, at least two of these proposals seem to be getting off the ground in 2017. They are: the Light Rail Transit (LRT) for Colombo and the suburbs and the electrification of a few railway lines, beginning with the Panadura-Veyangoda segment. These are essential given the unbearable traffic congestion in the City and suburbs. If a comfortable and clean public transport option is available, people will not hesitate to leave their cars at home at least for the work commute. Many other transport projects under the Western Province Megapolis project will begin in 1917, though they will take a few more years to become operational.

Most of us still live with a “war mentality”. It is 2017, and time to move on as one Sri Lankan nation. The past, as they say, is another country and we have to look forward to the future. This year, we should begin to think of ourselves as Sri Lankan, instead of categorizing ourselves into Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims and Burghers. This could be the biggest change that will benefit Sri Lanka in 2017.

The Island Editorial

Putin avoids put-in

02 January 2016

 

Outgoing US President Barack Obama’s efforts to challenge his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to a diplomatic duel of sorts have come a cropper. The US expelled 35 Russian diplomats the other day for their alleged involvement in ‘cyber attacks on the Democratic National Committee, Hillary Clinton’s campaign and other political organisations in an attempt to influence the last US presidential election in favour of Republican candidate Donald Trump’. Everybody expected Russia to pay Obama back in his own coin. But, sanity has prevailed. Putin has said he will wait till Trump assumes office to decide how Russia should react. Trump has called Putin smart.

The recent expulsion of foreign envoys is said to be the biggest diplomatic slap Russia has received from the US since 1986, when the actor turned President Ronald Reagan unceremoniously showed as many as 80 Russian diplomats the door for allegedly stealing US state secrets. Russia resorted to tit-for-tat expulsions at that time.

Interestingly, the ongoing bilateral row has also landed a Russian chef, of all people, in the diplomatic soup! The Russians have called his expulsion ‘bizarre and ridiculous’. But, the US apparently seems to believe the way to one’s heart is through one’s stomach and the chef has practised what may be termed culinary diplomacy to gather intelligence through gastronomic means!

Espionage as well as hacking is the name of the game in diplomacy, which is, with apologies to Clausewitz, is war by other means where hostile nations are concerned. Americans and Russians have got that down to a fine art and it is only natural that they always view each other’s diplomats and other officials with suspicion. However, some powerful nations are in the habit of spying on their friends and foes alike. What the Americans have been doing to Germans is a case in point.

US diplomatic cables disclosed by WikiLeaks have revealed that the US National Security Agency (NSA) tapped the telephones of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her close associates. Washington did not spare even her predecessors, according to the leaked cables.

The US has been hoist with its own petard. It has earned notoriety for interfering in other nations’ internal affairs and even plunging some of them into absolute chaos through engineered regime changes etc. It openly backed violent uprisings in Libya a few years ago and unflinchingly welcomed the brutal murder by the western-backed rebels of Gaddafi.

Interestingly, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, too, has accused Washington of having had a hand in his ouster last year. The Hindu has reported quoting him as saying the US spent nearly USD 650 mn to engineer last year’s regime change in favour of his political rivals he blames for being subservient to the US. One may argue that Rajapaksa has saved the US taxpayers a lot of money. How? He helped the US keep the cost of the regime change operations low by ruining things for himself and thereby making the task of removing him less difficult. Else the Obama administration would have had to spend much more to achieve its goal. Or, it may also be argued that if Rajapaksa had managed his electoral fortunes properly, reined in unruly elements who were licking his sandals and going places and cared to punish the corrupt within the ranks of his government the aforesaid amount of US dollars would have gone down the gurgler with the people backing him to the hilt.

Perhaps, if the US had waited a little longer, the Rajapaksa government would have come crashing down without any external intervention, given the rate at which it was abusing power and putting corrupt deals through.

As for the amount the US allegedly spent on the regime change here, whether Rajapaksa is telling us the truth we do not know. Sri Lankan politicians are notorious for plucking figures out of the air. The UNP-led government insists that the Rajapaksa stashed away as much as USD 18 bn in offshore accounts.

The US does not spend greenbacks for nothing. After all, there is nothing called a free lunch. If it has done what former President accuses it of then USD 650 mn may be considered an investment in a port or an airport here vis-à-vis the Chinese involvement in the Hambantota Port at a cost of USD 1.2 bn.

External interventions, real or perceived, hurt all nations, big or small. Hence, all countries, especially the powerful ones like the US should do to others what they would have others do unto them diplomatically or otherwise.