federalidea.com

By M. S. M. Ayub

It is now time for the political parties to use the Eastern provincial council election results to justify their policies and stands. The New Left Front says that the results point to the fact that power devolution must be carried out on ethnic lines and the JHU views that the Eastern people have totally rejected terrorism. The JVP’s Wimal faction one day prior to their announcement of the National Freedom Front, their new party, said in a statement that JVP’s vote bank in the East had been eroded.

Government’s claim that the results are an endorsement of its actions is in some places contradicted by the very results. For instance the UPFA has been defeated in Mutur where one of the three symbolically significant areas in the liberation of the East, Sampur is located. Interestingly Government was defeated in Mutur by the UNP, a party that repeatedly scorned the Government’s war efforts in the East. One might question as to whether the people in Sampur, Mutur and Eechilampattu areas did not want to endorse the liberation from the grips of the LTTE.

The reality is otherwise. They probably approve the government’s war victory in the area for they are free from the LTTE harassments and especially their lands in places like Manirasakulam are free now, though they did not want armed clashes in their area for fear of being caught in the crossfire and being rendered homeless. The majority of people in that area are Muslims who are more loyal to the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress and the sense of ethnic allegiance has surmounted their willingness to express approval to Government military victories at the election.

As far as the Sinhalese who voted for the UNP are concerned, no sane person can claim that they were opposed to or did not desire the troops gaining an upper hand in the battles in Thopigala and Kanjikudichchaaru jungles and villages around Sampur. But their political allegiance has excelled their patriotism.

The majority of the Tamils in the East this time have voted with the UPFA-TMVP alliance and this too is being interpreted by the leaders of the Government as an endorsement of their war victories or the liberation of the East, as they call it. Had the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) which supports the LTTE contested and had the Tamil people in the East voted with the TMVP in the same way as they have voted this time, then it would have been a clear manifestation of their endorsement of the liberation of the East. What really has happened is that Tamils have voted to the Tamils who are prominent in the fray, irrespective of whether they are fighting for or against the Tamil Eelam.

Forty per cent of voters in the east have not cast their votes for reasons known only to them. What prevented them from voting? Fear of violence, disgust over the political system, protest against the Government’s military campaign, fear of LTTE reprisals or the call by the TNA to abstain from voting may have been the reasons. Therefore it is too early for the Government to rejoice over the approval of the liberation of the East by the majority of the people in the East.

Provincial Councils (PC) as well as District Development Councils (DDC) were brought about to solve the ethnic problem in the long run and also to impart the message of democracy to and build confidence in the Tamil people in the short run by way of power sharing. However the very mechanism has been manipulated by the ruling parties for their short term political ends shattering the confidence, if there is any, in Tamil people as well as the other communities in the very concept of democracy.

At the first and the only election in 1981 for the DDCs, the first ever power sharing mechanism in the effort to solve the national question, thugs transported to Jaffna from the south by the ministers of the UNP Government of President J.R. Jayawadene went berserk chasing away polling agents and voters and stuffing ballot boxes. They also burnt the Jaffna library, one of the best in south East Asia and six ballot boxes went missing and were never located.

The last meeting of the TULF campaign for that election at Nachchimar Koviladi in Jaffna on May 31, 1981 was disrupted by the goons of the ruling party and police following PLOTE gunmen shot dead two policemen injuring another two at the meeting site. Government by its folly could not win over the Tamil people for its first ever power sharing programme.

The first Jaffna DDC election in1981 and the first Easrtern Provincial Council election in 2008 are two elections where the ruling parties used undemocratic means in the process to inculcate love for democracy in those who have resorted to violence to win political rights.

It is very vital for any government to free the Pillayan group from their armed life and bring them into democracy, not the one that is taught in schools and universities, but at least into the democracy that is followed by the ministers of our country. Although ridiculous to call it democracy, it is better than resorting to jungle warfare in the name of a community and kill members of other communities in hundreds while being hunted down by the ever growing security forces.

Government’s support for the Pillayan group is acceptable in that perspective though its motive most probably is not that but just to gain the former terrorists’ expertise in terror and surveillance in its war effort against the LTTE. However there is always a risk of lower rank cadres of the group re-joining the LTTE in the event they get fed up or annoyed with the democracy they have newly embraced. They were for a long time in a utopian separate state which filled them with hopes and enthusiasm and if they poise to break link with the new-found democracy due to the maladministration, corruption and lethargy of the Government which are rampant, they, unlike the youth in other parts of the country, have an option, the utopia.

The LTTE is eagerly looking for avenues to re-surface in the Eastern Province which they call “Then Thamileelam” or Southern Tamil Eelam and they might be vying to win over their former cadres currently with Pillayan. Unless the Government succeeds in retaining the former rebels in the East occupied in some work they consider fruitful and satisfied, there is every possibility that the short-term aspirations of both theirs and the LTTE might meet and coincide.

However the leaders of the Karuna-Pillayan group have no option but to be assimilated with the present political system in the country, however much it is corrupt, for there is no room for them to go back to the LTTE’s fold. LTTE would not pardon them even if they genuinely desire to re-join the Tamil Eelam struggle dissociating again with the so-called democratic process. Ordinary members of the Pillayan group would be pardoned and absorbed into the ranks of the LTTE as the outfit needs an Eastern regiment in its efforts to re-capture and annex the East with the North.

Therefore it is imperative for any Government to give Pillayan group some kind of administrative responsibility so that the cadres of the group in the long run would be assimilated and absorbed by the non-insurgent ordinary society. Since the UPFA-TMVP coalition has won the Eastern Provincial Council election the Government’s task in this regard has become uncomplicated.

It is reported that the Muslim ministers have collectively requested the President to appoint Hisbullah as the CM. Some of them were actually not voicing for Hisbullah but they fear that the SLMC would ridicule them in the event Pillayan becomes the CM. And also they have reportedly threatened to withdraw from the portfolios they are holding, in that event. Although this was good news for the media it was sure no ministers, be they Muslims, Tamils or Sinhalese would resign their portfolios for another person, especially given the way some of them joined the Government. And Hisbullah also would not be in a position to go against the Government.

On the other hand, had the Government appointed Hisbullah Chief Minister, Pillayan also would not be able to oppose it in a decisive manner, since he too has no alternative in the present circumstance other than to stick to the Government, for he gets supplies for his armed cadres totally from the Government. Therefore President Mahinda Rajapaksa is in position to take the cudgel against any of the both any time. [dailymirror.lk]

“With a terrible record of torture and disappearance, Sri Lanka doesn’t deserve a seat on the UN human rights council. It should be voted out,” says the first black South African Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa, in a comment that appeared on the daily Guardian, U.K., May 15th edition.

[Archbishop Desmond Tutu]

No right to be there:
“With a terrible record of torture and disappearance, Sri Lanka doesn’t deserve a seat on the UN human rights council. It should be voted out.”

Full text of the article follows:

It would seem self-evident that a country which tortures and kidnaps its own people has no place on the world’s leading human rights body. Apparently not: Sri Lanka, despite repeated criticism for its human rights record, is running for re-election to the UN human rights council, with a vote to be held in New York on May 21.

Governments owe it to Sri Lankan human rights victims-and to victims of human rights abuses around the world-to ensure that the Sri Lankan bid fails. This will be an important test of the 47-member council, to show that the UN’s standards for it will be honoured.

If Sri Lanka is defeated this year, that will be important not just for the Sri Lankan human rights leaders who, at great personal risk, have called for Sri Lanka’s defeat, and for Sri Lankan civil society. In combination with the humiliating defeat last year of Belarus, it will send an important signal for the future: governments with track records of serious human rights abuses do not belong on a body set up to protect the victims of such abuses.

Sri Lanka has failed to honour its pledges of upholding human rights standards and cooperating with the UN since joining the council two years ago. Indeed, its human rights record has worsened during that time. The Sri Lankan idea of cooperation with the UN, meanwhile, has been to condemn senior UN officials (including the high commissioner for human rights, Louise Arbour, and the under secretary general for humanitarian affairs, John Holmes) as “terrorists” or “terrorist sympathisers.”

The systematic abuses by Sri Lankan government forces are among the most serious imaginable. Government security forces summarily remove their own citizens from their homes and families in the middle of the night, never to be heard from again. Torture and extrajudicial killings are widespread. When the human rights council was established, UN members required that states elected must themselves “uphold the highest standards” of human rights. On that count, Sri Lanka is clearly disqualified.

The separatist Tamil Tigers have used despicable tactics in their war against the government, including frequent suicide bombings. But that can in no way excuse the scale of government abuses.

Fortunately, the news from the council is not all bad. Countries running from other regions of the world have credible claims to be leaders in promoting human rights. Argentina and Chile, which suffered terribly from torture, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings in the past, have become leading supporters of human rights, and now seek to join the council. On the African slate, there are some true human rights leaders, and-thankfully-no candidacy from Zimbabwe or Sudan. In the entire world, Sri Lanka stands out as the most clearly unqualified state seeking election to the council this year, and the place where things are getting unambiguously worse.

Defeating the Sri Lankan candidacy would be a comfort to the people of Sri Lanka. It would place international pressure on the government to respect human rights, and to accept a UN human rights monitoring mission, which it has stubbornly refused. It would help make the council a place where true human rights leaders in all regions can help lead the world towards greater respect for human life and human dignity. An outcome, in short, that would benefit those who care about human rights in the world. Any other result would be a travesty.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu is a winner of the Nobel Prize for Peace.

Courtesy: Guardian, UK-[No right to be there]

By Kusal Perera

The much pampered and wholly manipulated elections for the de-merged Eastern Province came to a close during the week end. The government insists it was a free and fair election and said so even during the voting. Statements made on behalf of the government says the victory it gained proves the people in the East have pinned their faith on democracy. JHU boss Champika says even the Tamil people have joined in defeating Eealm separatism. Thus the government would now want the South to bear all its corruption, mismanagement and plundering till the war is won in the North.

The opposition rejects the election almost in unison and cries foul. The JVP and the SLMC / UNP alliance said so from the start. The UNP and Rauf Hakeem came out very clearly in rejecting the results as totally rigged. Election monitoring groups kept pumping news of numerous incidents of thuggery, assault, vote rigging and stuffing all through the day the polling was on.The Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) reported over 80 instances of severe rigging where they said voting would have to be cancelled and re-elections held in those booths. Lanka Polls Watch (LPW) claimed the elections had been so violent it does not reflect the people’s decision and therefore the whole election has to be declared null and void.

As for the quality of the elections held, the Opposition and the Election Monitoring groups are of the same mind, though PAFFREL would say the violence this time is a countinuation of election violence from all previous regimes. Granting it is so, the fact that this election was totally rigged does not in any way make any of those violations simple and pardonable. “So what now ?” is the most important question.

Now the Opposition could, if it is realy serious about rejecting the election results on the basis of violent rigging, publicly declare they would not accept the results and therefore decide not to take oaths and sit in the Provincial Councils. The argument is very simple and logical if argued as follows. The government promised a free and fair election. Though with very serious doubts, the Opposition decided to give the government a chance to prove its bona fide offer and therefore contested. Since the government went back on its promise and brutally suppressed the democratic right of the people in electing their own representatives, the Opposition decides to withdraw its participation in the PC. Thus the decision, not to take oaths and sit in the Council.

With such politics, the role of moitoring bodies too would fold up with a report or two and may be with a media conference that would provide many theoretical arguments. While all those heavy decisions are deliberated here in Colombo, what would happen to the people in the East ? Will their lives change for the better after the PC is established ? Will they get those powers as defined in the 13th Amendment and as promised by the government ?

On May 08th in the ‘Daily Mirror’ under the caption, ‘What makes free and fair different in the East’ I noted with much disgust that “Either way, Pillayan winning or losing, numbers of election related violence increasing or decreasing, elections being free and fair or heavily rigged, East will not have democracy under a PC that would any way have to maintain a heavy military presence to exist.” That most unfortunately seems the only option left now, after the elections. With Trincomalee becoming the provincial capital of the East, the LTTE proved it could penetrate Trinco’s most secured area with the sinking of the Navy ship within the harbour itself. There were also reports of artillery firing between the LTTE and the TMVP in the Verugal Aru area on the day of the elections. Thus it is clear the TMVP not only carries personal arms but has heavy weapons as well. It is also very imminent the TMVP PC members would now carry their arms and openly too as security for themselves. Most of them would have heavy presence of their own armed cadres with justifications that they need to have security in the face of LTTE threats. State security forces would have to maintain all the barricades, all search operations and all other security measures to help the PC function amidst LTTE ambushes and sporadic attacks. The threat of the LTTE, the presence of heavy military deployments and armed Pillayan cadres would continue without a change.

There is also the possibility of TMVP transferring the chief administrative functions of the PC to Batticaloa, as it is there they have a formidable armed presence. It would also mean, the opposition in the Eastern PC would not have the democratic right to do politics in any of the 03 districts, without arms. Yet it’s a fact the SLMC / UNP men are not made for such politics. They would thus lose any possibility of opposing the Pillyan rule in the PC.

Within that context that would certainly evolve, what relevance is there for the 13th Amendment and for its full implementation as promised by the President ? For sure, there is absolutely no chance for any devolution, even to the extent one sees in the South. Chief Minister of the NC Province, Bertie Premalal, wanted the people in the East to vote for the UPFA as that would give them the benefit of having President’s development projects in the East. It’s thus the President who would decide the course of development, depending on which way the PC goes. That would be how the 13th Amendment is to be fully implemented.

Again, just 03 days before the Eastern elections, 05 schools in the East were taken over by the central government through a gazette notification. Although the 13th Amendment does have provisions for such central government interventions, if the government is politically determined to devolve all powers available under the 13th Amendment, then the government would not take over institutions that are already under the provincial administration. That is not what the government would be doing. The government has already moved in with the Oluvil port development work. There is that much marketed “Negenahira Udanaya” [Awakenig of the East] and then “Maga Neguma and Gama Neguma” [Road and village improvement programmes] going East. All of them not only mean centralising whatever development the government is talking of, but also taking them under the Rajapaksa family. That simply is the petty mindset of Sinhala centralism.The JHU reacted immediately to the 13th Amendment proposal with their own opposition to devolution and said, “no police powers to the East and even land must not be devolved”. The JVP with their version of “Indian expansionism” wants the 13th Amendment proposal dropped from the APRC. The government would use all of it to prune the 13th Amendment and the way ahead is too conspicuous that it needs no forecasting.

Who would oppose such Sinhala centralism ? Not the Opposition for sure. The UNP that tries to safely avoid the issue of devolution would not want to campaign for the 13th Amendment. Right now the UNP is searching for escape routes to get back to a more Sinhala platform thinking they could also compete with the JHU and the government for Sinhala votes. In the East too they played for the Sinhala votes. Ravi Karunanayake’s stress on the D.S. Senanayake era as one who improved the East, was for the consumption of the Sinhala votes in the East. He little knew that it was this same DS who changed the demographic pattern in the East against Tamil representation. So was Ranil W’s last minute statement on the GSP+. He wanted to promote himself as the saviour of the Sinhala labour in the apparel industry, at the expense of all HR violations, for all those violations effect mostly the Tamil polity.

Therefore, in this society no political leadership would want the 13th Amendment implemented in full. Not even Pillayan who would only want power, which he has gained by joining the government and his project would have little or no relevance to the people in the East and their lives in a devolved province. For them, as before, it would be living under a gun and no power no matter who holds it above them. [dailymirror.lk]

by Prof Rajiva Wijesinha
[Secretary-General, Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process]

The Peace Secretariat profoundly regrets the murder of Ms Maheswary Velautham during a visit to Jaffna to see her sick mother. Given the plethora of deaths this country suffers from, the Secretariat has not been accustomed to issuing statements of sympathy and sorrow for individual cases. We regret the lives of known and unknown, of civilian and military, and even the lives of our fellow citizens who have been conscripted or deluded into fighting intransigently for a terrorist movement. Soldiers or ministers, rebels or the over hundred civilians who fell prey to suicide bombs and other instruments of terror in the south in the last four months, they are all Sri Lankans and it did not seem to make sense to bewail them individually.

[Maheswary Velautham]

Maheswary is one such individual, martyred to terrorist intransigence, but the day and the manner of her death are symbolic of the uphill struggle Sri Lanka faces if we are to restore the pluralist democracy that we need. It occurred just after the election of a Provincial Council that should be able to fulfil the diverse demands of development in the East, whilst maintaining the unity of the country. It occurred shortly after the appointment of a Task Force for the North, that would be able to promote the needs and aspirations of the people there who have suffered for too long from totalitarianism and terror, during which specific measures for development fell by the wayside. These are positive steps, but they will be subject all the way to spoilers, the spoilers who cannot take electoral defeat, even though they deprived the country of elections for a decade in the eighties and thus nurtured terrorism in North and South, and the spoilers who, springing from that bitter birth, believe that a fight to the death is the only option open to them.

Maheswary’s murder occurred too on the day when Sri Lanka was subject to the Universal Periodic Review with regard to Human Rights, for which the country had put itself forward in terms of its membership of the Human Rights Council. Ironically, it brought home to those worried about continuing violence in Sri Lanka the root cause of all this violence, the terrorism that victimizes everybody, but most obviously the vulnerable. Thus she was killed when she went up in haste to see her sick mother, leaving aside the security given to her because she believed that, amongst her own relations, she would not be in danger. We recall now what happened to Mr Kadirgamar, who did not allow the homes of his neighbours to be searched, in the belief that they were like him and could be relied upon.

The Sri Lankan delegation had explained that it accepted that there had been a period in which human rights were in grave danger, but it pointed out that the situation had improved over the last year, as statistics made clear, with regard to disappearances and deaths, and in particular those of journalists, which had been highlighted in questions. It was noted that 2006 had seen much internecine warfare, given the brutal manner in which the LTTE had treated former militants after ensuring that they were disarmed under the 2002 Ceasefire Agreement. The Peace Secretariat had noted that these groups had no redress at all, since under the CFA complaints to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission had to be forwarded by only the government and the LTTE, and unfortunately in those days the government thought that Tamils were not its responsibility. More recently the Secretariat had appointed Tamil monitors to Vavuniya and Trincomalee and Amparai, areas in which the 2002 government had abandoned all Tamils to the LTTE.

It is in such a context that the government has had an uphill struggle to ensure the reintegration of moderate Tamils into the political process. It has taken an enormous amount of courage for such moderate Tamils to resume active participation in democracy and discussion, through the All Party Representative Committee, through elections, through involvement in executive action, in the Cabinet and now through the Task Force for the North. The courage of those who have taken this path against all odds, those in the TULF, the EPDP, PLOTE, the EPRLF-P, the TMVP and other groups, and so many individuals, must never be forgotten. The commitment of the government, that such moderate Tamils, groups and individuals, must never be abandoned again remains absolute, and it is the least that can be done for the brave lady of whom we are now bereft.

At a personal level, the Secretariat worked closely with Maheswary Velautham, as she is currently the nominee of the EPDP to the APRC. She was the legal adviser to the Hon Douglas Devananda, Leader of the EPDP, and was a lawyer and forceful Human Rights Activist. As the only woman member of the APRC, she was more than capable of holding her own in discussion, and was a strong, vibrant and enthusiastic participant at its deliberations.

She was deeply committed to a political resolution of the conflict and to a united Sri Lanka where all ethnic and religious communities would live together in peace and dignity. In a sense she was a true reflection of a multi cultural Sri Lanka, speaking all three languages – Tamil, Sinhala and English – and moving easily with people from all communities and districts.

Passionate in seeking to meet the aspirations of the people in the North and the East whom her party represented, within a context of democratic pluralism, she could speak poignantly and forcefully in Sinhalese too. She spoke eloquently for unity in diversity and for the full implementation of the 13th Amendment, in a speech she made at a press conference the APRC gave following the presentation of its first report on the implementation of the 13th amendment to the President on 23 January 2008.

In addition to her deep and vibrant political and social commitment, Ms Velautham was closely involved in meditation and spiritualism and often said that this was an effective way to reach an understanding of one’s self as well as others. It was also she thought a pathway to love and peace for all humanity. She was an admirable example of an accomplished, humane, articulate, courageous and professional Sri Lankan woman.

Two weeks ago, asked to be part of the Sri Lankan delegation to the Commonwealth Youth Ministers Conference, she spoke passionately on an area in which she felt the expansion of opportunities was essential. Her vibrancy and sense of humour and camaraderie at that conference exemplified her thorough commitment to service through sympathetic involvement. She will be sorely missed, yet another of the brave Tamil moderates who are the principal targets of terrorist totalitarianism. We can only hope that the democratic pluralism for which she stood up so fatefully will go from strength to strength, nurtured by such unswerving commitment.

After provincial elections in Sri Lanka’s Eastern region concluded on 10 May, some economic recovery and increased assistance from the humanitarian community is likely, according to UN and other officials.

Much of the Eastern Province, which includes Batticaloa, Ampara and Trincomalee districts, was devastated by fighting in 2006-2007 between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the government, with hundreds of thousands of people displaced and homes and livelihoods destroyed. Most of the displaced have returned to their villages in the past year.

[Sri Lankans exercised their right to vote for the first time in 15 years in the March and May elections in eastern Sri Lanka]

The ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA), running against the main opposition parties, the United National Party, the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, and the People’s Liberation Front, secured the Provincial Council by winning 20 of the 37 seats, although some observers and opposition parties claim the election was marred by irregularities and intimidation.

“The new civil administration structure now in place could provide the stage for programmes that would allow the people to return to their normal lives and regain lost livelihoods,” Zola Dowell, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Sri Lanka, told IRIN.

“The elections could also become the start for the return of more stability in the region,” she said.

Confidence

A functional, regional administrative structure, the first of its kind in more than 15 years, would also see a shift from the focus on humanitarian work to large-scale, long-term development work, if it can win the confidence of donors and financial institutions, aid officials said.

“Despite the criticism of its conduct, the poll is now over and we could see large development banks and others like UN agencies committing to development projects now that there is a proper system and probably more security,” Joergen Kristensen, country director of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), an NGO working in the province, told IRIN.

[Despite the elections, security is still very tight throughout the Eastern Province]

President Mahinda Rajapakse termed the electoral victory an endorsement of government policies and pledged to press ahead with development work.

“I look forward to their [the elected members'] cooperation in the country’s march to strengthen and widen democracy throughout our country, and to assisting in the tasks already initiated and ahead to develop the Eastern Province,” he said in a statement soon after the election results were announced.

The government gained full control of the province in July 2007 and first held elections for local government bodies in Batticaloa District in March 2008, followed by the weekend poll.

Returnees at risk

More than 124,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) in Eastern Province (see map in PDF format) have returned to their villages as of April 2008, according to OCHA. It said 108,000 of the returnees were in Batticaloa District alone, although some 30,000 still remained in the province.

NRC’s Kristensen cautioned that before moving into large development work, the return of all IDPs in the province should be completed.

“Some of these people have been displaced since 2006,” Kristensen told IRIN. “They have been unable to return home due to a variety of reasons, including the setting-up of high security zones in their former villages … we hope that the authorities take their cases on a priority basis now that there is hope for more stability.”

[Some 30,000 displaced people have yet to be resettled in the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka. They live in poor conditions in welfare camps and with host families-photos by Amantha Perera]

In addition, the World Food Programme (WFP) found that 62 percent of returnees in Trincomalee District had limited income opportunities, raising concern about their food security.

“Sixty-four percent [in the district] are food insecure . . . and 62 percent are at risk to livelihoods due to food insecurity combined with livelihood affecting coping mechanisms,” WFP stated in a report, Emergency Food Security Assessment Trincomalee, Sri Lanka, released in March 2008.

In a similar study of Batticaloa District in November 2007, WFP found that 36 percent of the surveyed returnees faced such problems.

Some people who witnessed the elections suggest a climate for redevelopment exists but the population needs to wait to see just how the new Provincial Council will proceed.

“There is an opportunity to work for the benefit of the people who have gone through hell, but a lot will depend on how the government and the elected members, especially those in control of the provincial government, handle their new-found power,” Sunanda Deshapriya, an election monitor in Batticaloa for the Colombo-based Centre for Monitoring Election Violence, told IRIN.

[Report by United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs - Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN)]

Full Text of Speech by Ambassador Robert Blake to the University of Moratuwa’s Closing Ceremony of Mentoring Program, Conference Hall of HNB Towers, Friday, May 9, 5:30 pm:

It’s a pleasure to attend this event today on behalf of my government. I am honored to participate in the closing ceremony of the mentoring program in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering. I also am pleased to help acknowledge the winners of the programming and drama competitions.

[Ambassador Robert Blake, file pic]

Today we celebrate two important themes in academic life: excellence and mentoring. The programming and drama award winners deserve our respect for their intellectual excellence, while the mentors deserve our admiration for their generosity and dedication.

While I occasionally get asked to do things that do not fall under the banner of normal diplomatic duties-like race down Galle Face with full champagne glasses-I certainly never won a programming or drama award. But I have had the benefit of great mentors throughout my educational and professional life, who taught me as much or more practical advice than I could ever have learned in a textbook. I commend today’s award winners for their achievements and applaud today’s mentors for sharing their knowledge, experience, and time.

The Knowledge Economy

I would like to focus my remarks today on what the World Bank and others often call the knowledge economy.

The World Bank defines knowledge economies as those that create, disseminate, and use knowledge to enhance growth and development. The Bank recently published a report describing how Sri Lanka could benefit by becoming a knowledge economy. It explains that a knowledge economy requires that the government focus on investing in education, innovation, and information and communications technology.

In a knowledge economy, knowledge products are traded and are more highly valued than traditional resources. A quick look at the statistics shows that Sri Lanka is moving away from industry and agriculture towards a service-based economy, as services now contribute 56% to the country’s GDP. So Sri Lanka is already headed in the direction of becoming a knowledge economy.

But this is not just about services being more important than industry or agriculture domestically. For Sri Lanka to truly prosper, it has to become a knowledge economy that is regionally and globally competitive.

What is necessary for this to happen?

To answer that, let’s look at a specific knowledge-intensive sector: business process outsourcing. The BPO industry involves providing business services that are less expensive, but as good or better in quality, than those previously based in more developed higher wage economies. Such services can range from call centers to accounting to software development.

Sri Lanka already hosts a number of impressive BPO operations. But as you all know, it is India that is widely regarded as the world leader in this sector. That is because, for the last decade or more, India has invested in its educational system, rewarded innovation, engaged the private sector in this area, and encouraged research and development.

India’s rise as a knowledge economy creates an opportunity for Sri Lanka to ride the same wave, as investors become more familiar and comfortable with South Asia. However, Sri Lanka will need to hurry in its implementation of knowledge economy reforms, because there are many other South and Southeast Asian countries also are eager to replicate India’s success.

To get ahead of this pack, Sri Lanka will have to do three things: expand and improve higher education, reward innovation, and invest in information infrastructure.

These have to be national goals. But the trick is that they cannot be easily achieved through government action alone. Instead, they are best realized when the government coordinates its efforts and pools its resources with the private sector-in other words, through public-private partnerships.

Here are three ways I believe public-private partnerships can set Sri Lanka on a course to become a truly world-class knowledge economy:

Expand Access to and Quality of Science Education

First, Sri Lanka needs to increase both the quantity and quality of higher education and vocational training. Sri Lanka’s public expenditure on education has remained at between 2-3% of GDP during the past decade and a half, compared to a 3.5% average in the rest of South Asia. The result is clear in Sri Lanka’s educational statistics. Around 150,000 Sri Lankan students pass their A levels to qualify for entrance into university. However, the 16 public universities in Sri Lanka can only accept 18,000 students. Of these, only a few thousand are able to study Information Technology, due to the limited size of IT faculties and facilities in the university system.

Because of these limitations, many bright Sri Lankan students are forced to attend university abroad or to stay here but study subjects other than science or IT. According to the Central Bank, about 32 percent of students at local universities study social science and humanities though these fields are less likely to lead to productive employment after graduation. This is a major lost opportunity, as there are many IT jobs in Sri Lanka going unfilled because firms cannot find workers with the required IT skills.

To address this, the government should encourage formation of more private universities in the country. Indeed, I was encouraged that the Central Bank recently called for laws to be changed to allow private universities to be established to bridge the skills gap in the country.

Of course university education may not be for everyone. In fact, 75% of those employed in India’s BPO sector have only an O or A level education – that is no university degree. While those employees don’t have degrees, they do have skills. To rapidly meet the demand for skilled workers here in Sri Lanka’s BPO sector, the government should set up vocational IT training centers to help meet the growing labor demand by local BPOs.

An excellent example of how public-private partnerships can cooperate to develop a skilled workforce is USAID’s state-art-of-the-art Samanturai Vocational Training Center in Ampara district. This center will train specialists for the apparel industry. While the center will be operated by the Vocational Training Authority, a partnership with the Joint Apparel Forum Association will ensure that graduates have the skills industry needs. The IT industry should consider similar public private partnerships.

Sri Lanka also needs to improve the relevance of what its educational system teaches. I have already mentioned the importance of IT programs. Another critical skill is English language training. Whenever I talk to companies about their hiring needs, they tell me that they will hire virtually anyone with good English skills. The US Agency for International Development has collaborated with the Ministry of Education to create a center at the University of Peradeniya to train English teachers who can then be deployed to schools around he country.

I was pleased to see recently that Sri Lanka and India recently agreed to collaborate with private investors from both countries to create a Job-Oriented English Language Program called “English as a Life Skill” that will teach communicative skills in IT related BPO industries.

The lesson here is that, whether through university or vocational training, public-private partnerships can ensure that real skills are taught in fields that truly reflect the needs of the marketplace.

Reward Innovation and Boost Research and Development

The second way public private partnerships can help Sri Lanka become a knowledge economy is by encouraging and rewarding innovation. According to the World Bank, Sri Lanka’s output of research papers, patents, and innovative new products is lagging. In 2004, the government spent only 0.14% of its GDP on research and development. This is far short of the Mahinda Chintana goal of 1.5% by 2016, six times less than what India spent, and ten times less than what China spent, in terms of percentage of GDP.

As a bridge between academia and the world market, private sector firms know what research is relevant and in demand. They can help universities improve academic curricula and assist researchers in marketing their findings. The private sector can also infuse money into a university to help finance research to develop innovative, commercially viable products. In turn, universities will produce qualified graduates that private companies need.

The University of Moratuwa understands the significance of these private-public partnerships – this is a major reason why the university is producing many of the country’s top scientists, businessmen, and policymakers.

As is often the case around the world, American companies are leading the way in forming these partnerships with the University of Moratuwa. For example, Microsoft Sri Lanka partners with the university to equip its computer labs with the latest Microsoft developer tools, operating systems, and server software.

Virtusa, another American IT company with offices here in Sri Lanka, has also collaborated closely with the university. Virtusa invites university staff to attend its in-house IT and management course, while also sending some of its best technical experts to teach courses at the universities. And Zone 24/7, an American technology development company, recently established an R&D laboratory here at the University of Moratuwa.

But the government should not just wait for private sector firms to initiate partnerships like these. Again, the role for the government is both direct and indirect: it can stimulate the knowledge economy directly by increasing public resources devoted to R&D and indirectly by offering tax and other incentives that make it less risky and more attractive for companies and universities themselves to invest in research and development.

Invest in Information Infrastructure

The final way public-private partnerships can boost Sri Lanka’s transition towards becoming a knowledge economy is by improving basic information infrastructure. According to the World Bank, an increase of 10 mobile phone users per 100 people can boost GDP growth by almost 1%. And a 1% increase in the number of internet users can boost GDP growth by 4.3%. In its report, the Bank states that the best way to encourage a high quality and low cost information network is by establishing a liberal regulatory structure that allows for competition and private sector participation.

The Bank notes that Sri Lanka made real progress by liberalizing the telecom sector in the late 1990s. But there is more to do in this respect, as the market is still not as competitive as it could and should be.

And where competition alone doesn’t provide the needed information infrastructure, private public partnerships can again fill the gap. One I am very proud of is our own U.S. Agency for International Development’s Last Mile Initiative. In this, USAID is partnering with Dialog Telecom, Microsoft, Qualcomm, the National Development Bank and Lanka Oryx Leasing Company to create 50 rural internet and communication centers island-wide. We have heard from various local and international private sector firms that they expect to finance-on their own-an additional 450 new high speed internet centers in the next two years, now that we have demonstrated that the model is successful and viably profitable. That is the power of public-private partnership!

Conclusion

I began by noting that today we are honoring academic excellence and mentoring. I think it fitting that these are in fact both important components of a healthy knowledge economy. In this sense, the University of Moratuwa is, as always, leading the way to a prosperous and competitive future for Sri Lanka. And you, the students and faculty, are the human dimension-the most important dimension-of the knowledge economy. So, whether your future lies in research, teaching, or business, I urge you to maintain your commitment to academic excellence, and to give back by mentoring those who come after you.

I congratulate you and wish you continued success.

[Source: US Embassy. Colombo, Sri Lanka]