How we made ourselves economically bankrupt: Why blame politicians?

by Maj Gen AMU Seneviratne (Rtd)

Since independence from the colonial powers in the middle of the last century, we the ordinary Sri Lankans have been depending too much on our own elected politicians who succeeded the British for the development and management of our economy. The British did that job well enough although they reaped the major benefits for their own country. However the colonial administrators did not neglect to develop the infrastructure such as roads, railway, ports and irrigation that helped them increase their own profits.

Once power was transferred from the British to our own elected politicians, then called the ‘Brown Sahibs’, who but for a handful of genuine statesmen followed British practices outdoing what the British did. They reaped the major benefits of the economy for themselves making the majority of ordinary citizen depend on them for social benefits like subsidized and free rice, education, health services and employment they taught us to expect.

Education, health services and water for cultivation were provided free as if the politicians funded these services out of their own pockets. They were available not only to the poor but to the rich too who could afford to pay for such services. Until then the ordinary citizen, the majority depending on agriculture to earn their livelihoods, developed an entitlement culture of free handouts making them lazy. They never thought or understood that the politicians funded these benefits through indirect taxes the government collected from all the people.

Initiative among Sri Lankans was thus killed unlike in India at the time of gaining independence. Indians had to toil to earn their living. They had to develop their skills, technology, education etc for their survival. The Indian businessmen and industrialists developed their enterprises and provided their products to the local market where there was a massive demand for such products. Here, we Lankans depended more and more on the politicians coming to power periodically through a so-called democratic process promising the sun and the moon to the voters. They did not deliver what they promised and made themselves rich and powerful making the voters increasingly dependent on the politicians.

Our model democracy was such that from the beginning, the parliamentary system of government became corrupted making the voter poorer and the representatives elected by them powerful and rich through corrupt means. Thus politics gradually became a corrupted profession. Politicians were mostly without any professional qualifications, harvesting votes through devious means to come to power. Dynasties were built with political office passed down from father to son, daughter, kinsmen or corrupt henchmen around them. This is how the present parliament is full of corrupt and educationally unqualified members except a small percentage.

So, how can we blame the present politicians in office for the economic crisis we are now plunged in? It is we who brought them to power, not once but many times. At times we elected genuine personalities, professionals and experienced administrators who loved the country as our representatives and leaders. But they were mostly a powerless minority among the corrupt majority who steamrolled the system for their own benefit rather than for that of the ordinary people of the country.

The Ceylonese bureaucracy during colonial time and immediately after independence was a model in South and South East Asia. The best of our educated young men with a high IQ were selected through a highly competitive examination and recruited to run the administration of the country. They were properly trained and supervised by seniors. The politicians did not interfere in the selections and in fact they respected the administrators whom they listened to. The administration guided them in the implementation of the policies of the government.

Sadly, this did not last very long and the politicians interfered in selection and postings, obligating public servants to make them pliable tools in political hands. The independence of impartial administration that benefited the common man and the country as a whole was gradually lost and corrupt politicians and bureaucrats worked together hand in hand for their own benefit. They ruined our country and its model economy, bringing us to our present predicament. I do not say that all politicians and bureaucrats were corrupt but the majority were and still are. The precious few persons on integrity surrounded by the corrupt majority seem to me to be helpless today.

It is a heartwarming to see that the President has realized that he has to depend on veteran economists, industrialists, successful entrepreneurs and veteran administrators to get the country out of its current economic and financial mess. He needs their advice and guidance rather than depend entirely on so- called loyal politicians alone. However he is a lonely leader sans a parliamentary base other than the corrupt lot who elected him to the presidency. He has to depend on them to pass necessary legislation in parliament to move the country forward. This is no easy task. I wish that we the people as a whole realize that there is no Diyasena among the politicians who are shouting and dreaming of coming to power or remaining in power.

Democracy practiced in our country is very different from that practiced elsewhere. We vote and elect our representatives to represent us in parliament and other governing bodies and we expect them to respect us and work for the uplift of the country and its citizens. Once elected they totally ignore the woes and problems of the country and do not even listen to us. They go to the extent of abusing and threatening the voters publicly at meetings and over mass media and even assaulting them as in May last year. Is this not what we deserve for electing these so called “honorable” representatives? This is my personal view as an ordinary citizen and I do not mean to offend anyone except those who deserve such condemnation.