07 June 2022

Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

 

SRI LANKA’S LEADERS ASKED AND RECEIVED ECONOMIC DOWNTURN

We learn practically every day that Sri Lanka’s economy has collapsed. Is that true or false? If the boom was false, so would be the bust.

The latest Australian sharing in this regard is the Sydney Morning Herald article headed ‘Food shortages, violence, economic ruin: How did things get so bad in Sri Lanka?’  at https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/australia-s-cricketers-are-back-in-sri-lanka-but-how-did-the-island-nation-break-down-20220523-p5ant4.html

The author – Chris Barrett, is Australian. There has been some feedback from Alan Keenan the Sri Lanka project director for the International Crisis Group as well as from Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu - director and founder of the Centre for Policy Alternatives in Colombo. This, to my mind, means largely as to how the wider world sees  Sri Lanka and not how Sri Lanka sees itself.

The matter is presented as follows:

‘Sri Lanka has slumped to its worst financial crisis since independence from Britain in 1948’

In 1974, New York Times published as follows:

‘COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, May 6 — At dawn hundreds of people wait in bread lines. Elderly men and women pick through garbage. Thieves harvest vegetables and rice in the countryside.

Although the earth is bountiful in Sri Lanka, which was formerly Ceylon, the nation of 13 million has a critical food shortage. Moreover, it is going broke, jolted by inflation, torn by internal dissension and plainly alarmed about the future.

Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike, a tough politician and a Socialist, said recently that the economic crisis had “almost squeezed the breath out of us—we are literally fighting to survive.” 

 

Mrs. Bandaranaike, who is the target of bitter attack, repeatedly pronounces a single, stark slogan for her nation: “Produce or perish.” - https://www.nytimes.com/1974/05/13/archives/sri-lanka-short-of-food-faces-an-economic-crisis-people-are-well.html

We Sri Lankans have already had the experience and therefore have the resilience to come out of this current crisis also.

 

The core purpose of the Sydney Morning Herald article is indicated through the following:

‘Now, as the south Asian country has hit rock bottom, the Australian cricket team has arrived for a Test and limited-overs series. It is the first time they have toured the island nation in six years, during which Sri Lanka has endured terrorist attacks, the COVID-19 pandemic and now an unprecedented economic disaster.

What kind of country will our cricketers be visiting? How bad is the crisis in Sri Lanka? And what lies ahead for the island nation?’

The first reason is presented as follows:

1.    A 26-year civil war raged between the Sri Lankan military and Tamil separatists until 2009

Why did the civil war happen? If it was civil war – it ought to have been between civilian communities. But by recognising that the war was between Sri Lankan military and the Separatists the author recognises it as a war between to governments. As a Sri Lankan that is how I also see it. Given that both were armed both sides were military. One official and the other de facto. They both found partners – in China and India respectively. Both were undemocratic and were headed by dictators. If not for that commonness – communal riots would not have mutated as war.

The war was an attraction to other nations looking for opportunities to infiltrate. That was how India and China invaded Sri Lanka.

2.    Boxing Day Tsunami of 2004 which left more than 30,000 dead

When man destroys himself killing each other becomes human nature of that community. Nature becomes such a group’s partner to balance itself. Relative to the civilians who died in the war the Tsunami deaths are insignificant and more acceptable to those who live close to nature.

3.    Easter Sunday bombings of 2019

This was apparently between Muslim rebels and Christians, indicating foreign involvement. Given that there has been no account by the government – it also has become ‘natural’ and in this instance globally natural. The global connection between cause and effect is confirmed as follows:

‘Classified as an upper-middle-income country as recently as 2019, when its foreign exchange reserves sat at $7.6 billion, it was effectively broke by April, with just $1.6 billion left.’

So what happened in 2019? In addition to the Easter bombings, the current President who became visible to the Public through the war against Tamil separatists was elected President, by the People. This meant that armed protection was the key issue for voters. They knew through experience that such a leader would also bring in money on the stated basis of fighting against terrorism escalated to global proportions. If the ‘cause’ was one-sided – i.e. by the separatists then the war was Administrative in nature, and there would have been no ‘victory-celebrations’ in relation to the war. Victory confirms external factor and hence the skills of the ‘defeated’ side is ‘lost’ to the ‘winning’ side.  Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields about the 2009 war atrocities was broadcast in November 2011. To the extent the global public identified with the victims’ pain as being that caused by the government, the claim of ‘victory over terrorism’ would have been reversed to the government. This eventually causes economic blockades at the government level, of democratic nations. In 2020, this President escalated the withdrawal to UN level by withdrawing commitment to UNHRC resolutions in war related issues. This meant that it was ready to leave the suppression of Tamil rights to nature.

This President took oaths at Buddhist shrine of Ruwanwelisaya and not at the Common Parliament.

New multicultural nations are developing ‘commonness’  through many pathways including anti-discrimination laws. Sri Lanka on the other hand, has a rich heritage of multiculturalism. The maintenance of this heritage requires each community to exercise its sovereignty within its circles. This is confirmed by any relativity being within that sovereign circle. The Sinhala only policy had the effect of damaging this heritage and thus damaged the sovereignty of the whole of Sri Lanka. The first constitution of Sri Lanka, by Sri Lankans, in 1972, included ‘Buddhism Foremost’ article which is confirmation of separatism. This meant that such a government lacked the moral authority to even discipline another ‘separatist’ group before disciplining itself.

In September 2021, this President in his address to the UN General Assembly, expressed his identity with the ‘Buddhists in Afghanistan’.

At that assembly, this President declared commitment to natural ‘farming’, presented as follows in the above mentioned article:

‘A sudden ban on chemical fertilisers in April 2021, sold as an ambitious transition to organic farming, saw a spiralling decline in output of rice and exports of tea, for which Sri Lanka is famous. By the time the ban was lifted in November, farmers were reeling.’

By effect, this President seems to have suppressed the irregularities of war – escalated by victims to UN level, by outlining the above commitment to ‘natural farming’. If true, it would not have collapsed in such a short period of months.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, May 6 — At dawn hundreds of people wait in bread lines. Elderly men and women pick through garbage. Thieves harvest vegetables and rice in the countryside.

Although the earth is bountiful in Sri Lanka, which was formerly Ceylon, the nation of 13 million has a critical food shortage. Moreover, it is going broke, jolted by inflation, torn by internal dissension and plainly alarmed about the future.

Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike, a tough politician and a Socialist, said recently that the economic crisis had “almost squeezed the breath out of us—we are literally fighting to survive.”

Mrs. Bandaranaike, who is the target of bitter attack, repeatedly pronounces a single, stark slogan for her nation: “Produce or perish.”

 

The 1974 crisis happened  during the leadership of Mrs Bandaranaike, who included Buddhism Foremost Article in the 1972 constitution. One is entitled to conclude that it took 2 years for Sri Lankans to become true Buddhists which was confirmed by the austerity measures introduced by the then government. In 2019, the current leader showed in action, his commitment to Buddhism. If indeed it is true that Sri Lanka’s ‘foreign exchange reserves sat at $7.6 billion ‘ in 2019, and dwindled down to ‘$1.6 billion’ in April 2022, there has to be ‘common’ reason between the two crises. As per my understanding of the law of karma of every sovereign body, the past karma surfaces to support or block the pathway of that body. Unless therefore the causes of the 1974 crisis was addressed, it would continue to lead similar causes.

Leaders who ‘show’ commitment to Buddhism must anticipate economic poverty that goes with Buddhism. Those who experience Buddhism would consider it a blessing to be economically poor.  The leaders asked and they received. So what is the problem?