Why Independence celebrations when country is dependent?

With the 76th anniversary of Sri Lanka becoming a politically independent country just a few days away, it appears that the government is planning a widely publicized celebration. The big question is what do we celebrate? Celebrating Independence while being a dependent country? The country is now heavily indebted to the world and more loans are being negotiated with the IMF, making the present generation as well as the future ones pay back such huge loans with interest. With increased taxes and devalued currency, ordinary people are unable to meet their basic living expenses for food, medicine, fuel, services such as electricity and water, transportation, etc. The planned celebrations do not come free. The expenses will be borne by the ordinary citizens while the rulers including the politicians and their henchmen will enjoy publicity as well as other tangible benefits of the celebrations.

When the country attained political Independence in 1948, Ceylon (as it was known then), was a reasonably prosperous country. The foreign currency exchange rates were Rs. 12.50 to the British Pound and RS 6 to the US Dollar. Today, they are approximately Rs 400 and Rs 320 respectively. Are these achievements to celebrate? A country that attained Independence much later in 1965 was Singapore under the leadership of the late Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew. It is said that he wanted Singapore to be like Ceylon someday. Decades later, he recalled what he said at that time and said “Look at Sri Lanka now” during a speech about good governance given at the University of Hong Kong. Since Independence, Singapore, which lacks natural resources including water within its political boundaries has attained the level of a developed country while Sri Lanka, which is endowed with sufficient natural resources for its population, remains a dependent country. Singapore has even devised a unique way of converting wastewater from toilets to drinking water known as NEWATER with the treated water surpassing the World Health Organization’s drinking water quality standards. In the most recent annual corruption index, Singapore has been ranked the 5th least corrupt nation in the world. It is time for Sri Lanka to emulate Singapore.

Apart from the principle of “Good Governance”, there are other drawbacks that need to be rectified to justify independence celebrations. Eliminating corruption and the culture of expecting something for nothing as well as positive work ethics are of utmost importance that need immediate attention. No one in this material world would give anything for nothing. It is a fact of life. The loans that the country owes need to be repaid with interest. Unless and until such actions are implemented vigorously, there will be no hope for independence and the annual celebrations are just like blowing a balloon that can burst anytime.

A.W. Jayawardena

Mount lavinia