Wonder of Asia – Within reach

A year-end perspective!

It is indeed encouraging when one goes through the speech delivered by Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Managing Director of the World Bank. She has complimented a lot of the current achievements and developments and calls for inclusive development.

The one statement that strikes me as most important is her initial comment on the country’s plans – that it is good to be ambitious and it is the right time for Sri Lanka to think big.

Realising the dream

Indeed, we should and while engaging in that vein we should understand well the small parts of the big picture as well. We should not let small issues turn out to be major problems with time. With a better understanding and being sincere to the cause, we may be well on our way to realise this dream.

King Parakrama Bahu emphasised the importance of every drop of rain and created the Parakrama Samudraya, which still stands and serves. Remember this achievement is more important to us who live and work in this country.

Do we need to change some of our ways? Some aspects that come to my mind are our lack of long term focus and the failure to analyse sans emotions. Analysis requires solid data and that area needs definite improvement.

When you are not measuring the environment in all its segments, then you are not in a position to manage. This is a standard cliché unfortunately, but needs reminding. It is quite important to strengthen data mining and proper accounting across all activities.

I hope that the new group of chief innovation officers that we have heard about in the news harnessing the powers of ICT would take some remedial action in this direction.

Cricket World Cup

Next year we would be witnessing a great sporting spectacle – the Cricket World Cup. We have freshly-prepared venues and perhaps well-prepared with imported grass. Need to take a closer look.

We have once lifted the cup and the game has really taken a foothold, including invading the Sri Lankan psyche from grandmothers to toddlers. In the coming year, we may have hopes of lifting the cup again.

I truly am proud if we can really gain more economic benefit as well as I am not quite sure of the overall economic benefit we have had because of this sport – we lack comprehensive analysis on this subject other than some episodic data.

We should most certainly develop and engage in this sport with an ability to say that some of these elements that the sport has taken in are from Sri Lanka and they are world class in an undisputed sense. Such developments add value beyond the boundary lines.

Make a note… today we are not even making a bail that would be considered of choice to be placed in these games, let alone a ball. While the games have begun, we have not added additional elements to our repertoire to be strong in what we do. India probably can boast in this regard where the economic gain has clearly been demonstrated. The time and energy that we invest should have a decent return.

Developing character

Our organisations and institutions need to be developing their ‘character’. The penchant for taking in people for their general abilities and much of that limited to some forms of expressive abilities and behavioural attributes at present do very little to add colour and character to an organisation and take them to the world stage.

The challenge of looking in and understanding that we are yet to make a meaningful mark in the world stage should be taken. When a country tags itself a wonder, there are certain expectations from it.

The steps that one takes in this new decade should be crafted carefully and cleverly, but in quick time. One must be bold enough to make brave decisions of straying from the conventional and the ultraorthodox.

We may carry bold tag lines, but they truly would be seen only in the way we set about doing our part. Much more diligence is required in our organisations beyond the usual tag lines if they are to be effective.

As an academic who is in touch with industry to some extent, I really observe disconnect between the top, the middle and lower layers and I have only seen evidence to support this trend mounting. For inclusive development this just needs to change. For a start, some management by walking about can do real wonders.

‘Power of the Glance’

‘The Power of the Glance’ as Malcolm Gladwell so profoundly explained among other aspects in his bestseller ‘Blink’ can be applied to our little country. As we traverse along our roads and alleyways from cities, towns to villages, we observe the beauty.

What nature has bestowed on us is unquestionable. The variety and the splendour which we could observe within a few hours of each other is truly remarkable and invariably gets the attention of any overseas visitor, since Marco Polo.

However, what we are doing or rather our work is not equally spellbinding. I see issues of concern. As we approach towns it is easier to spot piles of garbage rather than places for disposal; of course with a board near saying not to place garbage!

Lack of solid waste management systems is too obvious. The ways of advertising are grotesque. Even in a heritage city it is easier to observe places of liquor sales than tourist attractions, information kiosks or libraries.

It is indeed questionable why we need to have special occasions for distributing compost bins! This should have been part of the common understanding of a city dweller in this century after so many educational programmes.

One should automatically buy and install a bin as part of urban living. It is part of the civic understanding. After so much of awareness and campaigns, ‘source separation’ is still an alien concept. The way we manage the brown environment is highly questionable.

Impressions

‘The Power of Glance’ is equally applicable when you walk into an institution or an organisation. Impressions created are quite important as per how the rest of the interactions may continue.

Simply, it is seeing posters of ‘Save Energy’ while observing brightly-lit incandescent bulbs and with fans at full speed with semi-empty workplaces. We must ensure that the first impressions we create at every second are right and encouraging.

We must correct and act on the slide that is taking in within the sphere of education from the beginning to end literally. As the future, so much depends on those who are getting educated today, and the importance of this action goes without saying.

The question is, do we understand all the issues that face us? Are we tinkering only on some really visible issues which are perhaps not the most important? For a country, which gives free education up to the degree level within the State university system, we should have been blessed with real advances. Sadly, the story is the opposite.

We have one country but with multiple systems of education. The words of a fellow columnist (Tyronne) come to my mind here – i.e., the international school system is gearing our children from day one to go West; with education abroad, what can you get in this country anyway? – and as a teacher myself, the experiences are live and real and I am too ready to echo his sentiments.

‘With more education can I do anything in Sri Lanka?’ or ‘what can Sri Lanka give me?’ should be on the way out from the mindset achieved through meaningful action.

Think hard and act fast

As we come to the end of a decade and the start of a fresh decade in this new millennium it is important to think and think hard. It is equally important to act fast. Time is passing and across the globe, things are changing at a furious pace.

Come 2011 and January, we speak of seven billion inhabitants on this planet. People with higher purchasing power may decide the way nations move forward. The march may be positive if they in turn equally possess values of the right type.

Thomas Friedman lamenting to some extent about the position of USA states that America is always at its most powerful and most influential when it is combining innovation and inspiration – clearly a lesson to us in that sentence. What applies to America in this context applies to any other country and any economy. We should not be simply paying lip service to some transactional numbers but derive relationships.

It is important to inspire the community to perform and innovate. As we have been stressing continuously, a key component in this equation is science and technology and hope that in the decade ahead S&T will be firmly entrenched in our land.

Dr. Okonjo-Iweala concludes: “Sri Lanka has what it takes to be the wonder of Asia.” The wish in my mind when I read her speech is that we Sri Lankans together have the fortitude and internal drive to take the country to this enviable position. I hope and wish the decade ahead will herald this achievement.

(Professor Ajith de Alwis is Professor of Chemical and Process Engineering at the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka. With an initial BSc Chemical engineering Honours degree from Moratuwa, he proceeded to the University of Cambridge for his PhD. He is a Science Team Leader at the Sri Lanka Nanotechnology Institute. He can be reached via email on [email protected].)