A new ‘sun of righteousness’ over a ‘thrice-blessed isle’?

Light – dawns

I didn’t get a new year’s greeting from the President this year. But I’m not complaining because it’s rather reassuring that our Chief Executive won’t stoop to conquer, unlike many of his presidential predecessors. Since our new Head of State didn’t abuse the hospitality of national or private telecom providers to bombard his electorate as well as his political enemies, it bodes well for the nation at large.

Blessing 1: Biz plus

Perhaps that’s part of what business is raving about? Notoriously sensitive to prevailing political winds, the lot of them to the last man jack is gushing with enthusiasm in season, and out of season. To be fair by them and their stakeholders, employed dependents and corporate boards: stability – that commodity more precious than gold – had been a consummation devoutly to be wished under our failed experiment with democratic reformism. Now, it seems well within grasp; with the boon of state investment and sharp controls to boot…

Maybe this is the rationale of the editor-in-chief of a leading business magazine: “On many counts, the recent Presidential Election may have pulled the nation back from what seemed like a breaking point. … On the credit side of the Government ledger, a number of election pledges have been met in next to no time – for example, the unprecedented tax cuts, ongoing appointments of high calibre businesspeople to helm key State institutions, and measures to instil a sense of austerity in the public sector and among politicians.” 

And as that editorialist notes also, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has led the charge in person, sending out strong signals to State bureaucracy as much as corporate boardrooms that he means business.

Blessing 2: A clean house 

And to be fair by that pioneering business journal, it does note there is “the debit side so to speak”. In its January 2020 ‘Opinion’ brief, the magazine cites “eyebrow-raising cabinet appointments that may or may not be politically motivated”. 

Also gazing into a crystal ball, ‘LMD Perspectives’ suggests that Sri Lanka’s looming challenge will be what calibre of legislators the people elect to Parliament – for thereby hangs the ethos of how “a country that has been at the brink of collapse for too long” will be run.

But there’s more to the minuses than meets the eye of the business magazine as it looks in the mirror, perhaps. For the same writer raises the spectre of whether the laws that our elected representatives enact in the next session of our august assembly “will apply to themselves as much as to us”. This, in my book too is a major worry – not least because law and order is only as good as the character of our legislators.  Also, the ability of law enforcement to do its duty without being manipulated by political powerhouses who would wish the law to do its will. That, sadly, is law by order rather than law and order. If it persists – as it did under authoritarian regimes seeking to silence its critics – or prevails – as it tends to do in insecure totalitarian governments not nearly sophisticated enough to realise that dissent nuances its own authenticity, then we (biz and bureaucracy and the beggar in the street) are in for a rough ride…

Blessing 3: Peace at home and abroad

So it is paramount that the ‘new sun of righteousness’ which seems to have risen over Sri Lanka today doesn’t set prematurely or be eclipsed by its own lacunae. The bliss of being alive in such a brilliant dawn – particularly as envisaged by Corporate Sri Lanka – can easily descend into darkness at noon if key stakeholders in national development don’t develop a healthier stronger sense of peace and plenty and prosperity with justice. Feel it coming in the air: There is a breathless hush in the close – and bourse – as this once-blessed isle pauses on the cusp of its own potential.

And we must look with fresh lenses at the emerging new world order in which the old borders or loyalties have shifted and keep realigning. But telling an erstwhile strongman bureaucrat that may be redundant at best or presumptuous at worst!  

Bottomline

Yes, there is cause for celebration at the start of a fresh new year. However, one and all would do well to remember that power must be inclusive and glory must redound to a glad and happy citizenry rather than political egos, drives or agendas.  

No, I’m not as sanguine as some captains of commerce and industry appear to be about our stellar trajectory. But it’s still very early days. And I – together with cautiously optimistic others – will watch and wait; at least until the General Election’s ramifications set, sink or kick in.

True, the stars have aligned for a stellar trajectory across the growth, development and progress firmaments. With that said… “You cannot preach prosperity to people with bodily hunger in their eyes,” as GBS said. GR seems to agree, and more power to him – as long as it’s not trickledown in the emperor’s new clothes. 

‘Yahapalanaya’ proved to be a humbug with its neoconservative politics and neoliberal economics, coupled with neolithic care for anyone who was a crony capitalist or corrupt personal friend. We look forward to programs that will take the fruit of accelerated development to the rural periphery as well as the invisible island that dwells out of sight, sound and mind of many if not most of us.    

There is a companion set of constellations that would make our cosmos more meaningful for all its occupants in the shared space of Sri Lanka 2020 – and beyond.

Let’s keep the fires of hope in a dynamic presidency burning as bright as our faith in the spirit of constitutional republicanism and the fervent wish for peace with justice in a new year brimming with fresh potential as much as some false hopes perhaps.

(Journalist | Editor-at-Large of LMD | Writer | Son of a small island. Scion of a larger destiny)