The drums of a liberal economy can sound the end of war
By Shyamon Jayasinghe, Melbourne
There is something nice happening in Sri Lanka. I woke up today to see a great bit of
news about Sri Lanka. "Business is booming in Jaffna," cried the headlines. Business
has the ability and potential to take over from bombs and petty divisions, which our
pathetic and paranoid extremists from both sides of the divide have been advocating.
It is reported that the overall economy itself is thriving despite a lawless government
that has been strangled by "givisum" and "varjana". For that much, President CBK and
her Finance Minister Amunugama must be commended.
When you come to think of it, the market economy introduced by the UNP government
of JR Jayawardena has been Lanka's saving force. That system replaced a rigid
regime of statism that had put the clock back for Sri Lanka. Remember the era of
socialism that the old Marxists brought in allying themselves with Sirimavo
Bandaranaike? The "Samoopakaraya" where everyone lined up for his/her rations?
The other state institutions like the Building Materials Corporation where home
builders had to look for someone they may know to get the supplies to build their
homes? The Cement Corporation? The Sathosa and the Paddy Marketing Board,
which had been infested with two-legged rats? No money in the country? Scraping the
barrel? It is to the eternal credit of that much maligned man-JR- that this all ended and
an era of economic freedom dawned in our motherland. I wasn't a JR fan then but
friend or foe must admit that position if he or she is to be honest.
JR replaced an ideology -driven system of government with one that is liberated and
pragmatic.
I believe that the best solution to our ethnic crisis is the economic one: Go on let the
country develop! Let business come and spread its wings and liberate our people! A
free market tends to give opportunities to everyone. Of course, it has all got to be
regulated by the laws and institutions of state to ensure fair play and to protect the
vulnerable. We see this happening here in Australia where a free market booms but
under a safety mechanism of government regulation. Ombudsmans, ASIC, APRA,
Consumer Affairs etc and a host of well-administered laws and regulations assist in
keeping the free market sane. The doors of opportunity are being opened for
everyone and everyone has a stake in society and, therefore, a motivation to keep
society stable, secure, and prosperous. Given that everyone has a reasonable stake
in the "social contract" with the state and with society in general he/she will not want or
will not like the state disrupted. The LTTE war arose because the Tamil people felt
they had no stake or even safety in the larger society dominated by a threatening
Sinhala-Buddhist hegemony. It will never end as long this threat lives on. Workers
strike when they are made to feel helpless.
In the Sri Lankan context, we already see the demand for war waning and fading away
among Sinhalese and Tamils principally because the drums of business are playing.
Only, the Monks' Party is heading in the direction of war with its ignorant policies. I
don't believe the JVP is serious about its demands; because they are rebels without a
cause. The latter have picked up an issue in the hope that they can gather popular
support among them.
The signing of "givisum" with Mahinda Rajapakse is evidence of the naivety or
opportunism of these two parties. Mahinda, if he becomes President, is not going to
pursue any of their courses. He will continue with free market policies and he will have
to continue with Norway and the peace process. Mark my word! None of the JVP and
JHU policies can be implemented without closing our economy from the rest of the
world and thereby bringing enormous poverty and hardship to our people. It is easy to
say heroic-sounding things on the political platform. What Mahinda now says gives
one a deja vu feeling of what transpired in the election that brought the UPFA into
power. UPFA merely continued the UNF government's policies and that, too,
incompetently. Nothing ever happened in the JVP ministries and few decisions were
taken as the Ministers were clueless and had to refer every issue to the faceless
caucus.
The simple reality is that the liberal economy has come to stay and there is no going
back. It has helped Sri Lanka survive the ravages of Prabhakaran, the irresponsible
strikes of Doctors' and other trade unions, and even the action and inaction of
incompetent governments. In a liberalized economy, people are given opportunities to
take initiative and do things for themselves unlike in the old days of statism when
people had to wait for the state and its "niladaris". Liberalism seems to be catching on
everywhere. This is why Fukuyama spoke of the end of history. The reason? It is
natural and rewarding to human endeavour. The socialism of Marxism-Leninism failed
miserably because it was in conflict with human nature.
The JVP hopes they can take the country back on the failed path with the help of its
Presidential candidate. However, the Presidential candidate is a more pragmatic man.
Although he is going to have to battle it out with unkept promises in the event of his
being elected.