Enemies of progress

Thursday 18th January, 2024

Various remedies are being tried for Sri Lanka’s economic crisis, prominent among them being exponential tax and tariff increases and the divestiture of state ventures. The SLPP-UNP government is making the public undergo untold suffering in the name of economic recovery, but nothing will help revive the ailing economy and prevent it from sliding back into crisis unless the rule of law is restored urgently; those who enrich themselves at the expense of the country have to be brought to justice.

Much is being spoken these days about Vietnam’s success story, and it is asked why Sri Lanka cannot emulate that southeast Asian nation in achieving economic development. Vietnam has its share of corrupt politicians, but it is making a serious effort to bring them to justice. It was reported the other day that a Vietnamese court had sentenced two former Cabinet ministers to jail for their involvement in a Covid-19 test kit scandal. The convicts are former Health Minister Nguyn Thanh Long and former Science and Technology Minister Chu Ngoc Anh. Reports about their incarceration have come at a time when the government of Sri Lanka is defending its former Health Minister under a cloud to the hilt.

Last year, the SLPP-UNP government stooped so low as to defeat a motion of no confidence against the then Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella despite very serious allegations against him. The health sector trade unions have called for his arrest over the procurement of a consignment of fake immunoglobulin, but the CID has baulked at doing so due to political pressure. The incumbent dispensation has thus demonstrated that it is a government of the corrupt by the corrupt for the corrupt.

It is only wishful thinking that Sri Lanka will be able to achieve any progress as long as such a corrupt regime is in power. If the IMF is genuinely desirous of helping Sri Lanka come out of the current economic crisis, it ought to ensure that the SLPP-UNP administration does not shield corrupt politicians and officials.

There is no way a country can develop its economy while allowing its politicians and bureaucrats to indulge in corruption with impunity. The countries that were wise enough to make anti-corruption drives part of their development strategies have achieved progress.

It was reported in July 2023 that Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong had allowed the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) to arrest his Transport Minister, S. Iswaran, over a top-level corruption probe. PM Loong earned encomia for emulating his late father Lee Kuan Yew (LKY), who would not have been able to achieve his dream of developing Singapore to the present level but for his successful war on bribery and corruption.

In New Zealand, an MP has recently resigned following allegations of shoplifting. Golriz Ghahraman, representing the Green Party, is alleged to have stolen three times from two clothing stores –– one in Auckland and the other in Wellington. She has claimed that work-related stress made her behave completely out of character but apologised to the public for letting them down. This is the fate that awaits politicians who find themselves on the wrong side of the law in the countries that uphold the rule of law.

In South Korea, two former Presidents were jailed for bribery and corruption. Park Geun-hye was impeached before being jailed in 2017. Lee Myung-bak was sentenced to jail in 2018. They subsequently received pardons after being in prison for several years, but the fact remains that they were treated like ordinary citizens before the law, and their jail terms have had a deterrent effect on politicians and state officials in that country.

One is reminded of what LKY said about ministers and officials in this part of the world. In his widely read book, From Third World to First, LKY has said: “The higher they are, the bigger their homes and more numerous their wives, concubines, or mistresses, all bedecked in jewelry appropriate to the power and position of their men. Singaporeans who do business in these countries have to take care not to bring home such practices.” When one sees Sri Lankan politicians and bureaucrats enriching themselves and living the life of Riley, one remembers LKY’s memorable words.

All Singaporean politicians who did not heed LKY’s aforesaid warning were severely dealt with. The fate that befell Teh Cheang Wan, the Minister for National Development, is a case in point. When the CPIB launched a probe into an allegation of bribery against him in the mid-1980s, he sought to meet LKY, who refused to see him until the investigation was over. Wan took his life.

As we pointed out in a previous comment, if the Sri Lankan ministers had received from their leaders the same treatment as Wan, most of them would have been pushing up the daisies by now, and the vital sectors such as health, education, finance, agriculture and trade and commerce would have been free from corruption, and most of all, substandard drugs and equipment would not have snuffed out so many lives in the state-run hospitals.