{"id":81739,"date":"2023-04-16T00:36:24","date_gmt":"2023-04-16T04:36:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=81739"},"modified":"2023-04-16T17:43:57","modified_gmt":"2023-04-16T21:43:57","slug":"sri-lanka-after-75-years-of-independence-has-become-a-failed-state-says-chandrika-kumaratungawe-are-incapable-of-managing-the-affairs-of-the-state-tates-the-former-sri-lankan-presi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=81739","title":{"rendered":"Sri Lanka After 75 Years of Independence has become a Failed State says Chandrika Kumaratunga;\u201cWe are incapable of managing the affairs of the state,\u201d tates the Former Sri Lankan President"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nBy
\nMeera Srinivasan <\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite possessing enviable social indicators at the time of Independence in 1948, Sri Lanka, at 75, is a \u201cfailed state\u201d, former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga said on Sunday. <\/p>\n

\u201cSeventy-five years is a long time for a nation to achieve considerable progress. Even after 450 years of destruction by colonial rulers, at Independence, Sri Lanka possessed some of the best socio-economic indicators. Today, at 75, Sri Lanka is a failed state,\u201d she said, delivering the UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Madanjeet Singh Memorial Lecture of 2023, in an online event, organised by the South Asia Foundation and the Asian College of Journalism, Chennai. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are incapable of managing the affairs of the state,\u201d said the 77-year-old former head of state, who hails from one of Sri Lanka\u2019s most powerful political clans.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government has declared bankruptcy \u2014 a very rare situation for any country in the world; the economy is in tatters; peasant agriculture and small and medium industries are struggling to survive, or have already closed down; tourism sector is at an all-time low; large industries are retrenching employees and new jobs will be a long time coming,\u201d Ms. Kumaratunga said. The situation \u201ccompelled\u201d Sri Lanka to seek an IMF facility coming with \u201c very stringent\u201d conditions, she said<\/p>\n

While President Kumaratunga has earlier blamed the Rajapaksas for the country\u2019s economic collapse, she underscored corruption and Sri Lanka\u2019s failure at \u201cessential nation building\u201d as key factors leading to the current crisis.<\/p>\n

\u201cWidespread corruption at every level\u201d, had become the \u201cgospel of Sri Lankan politics\u201d, and had seeped down the major pillars of democratic governance, including the judiciary, the police, and the public service. Further, independent Sri Lanka failed to \u201cweld together\u201d the diverse ethnic and religious communities to form a united pluralistic state, Ms. Kumaratunga said.<\/p>\n

Historically, the island\u2019s majority Sinhala-Buddhist community had felt discriminated against by the colonial rulers. \u201cAlthough Independence gave the majority community an opportunity to correct this, sadly that did not happen,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe solution they adopted was to arrogate all the privileges of economic and social development exclusively to themselves. The just resolution of the minorities\u2019 question would have been to guarantee equal rights to all citizens and a system of political power-sharing with the minorities. We have failed to do this for 75 years,\u201d the two-time President said.<\/p>\n

Sri Lanka\u2019s present Constitution, introduced by President J.R. Jayewardene in 1978, \u201cis not a democratic one\u201d, Ms. Kumaratunge contended, recalling how her own draft proposals for a new Constitution in 2000, widely considered progressive, could not be taken forward owing to lack of support.<\/p>\n

Outlining the \u201croot causes\u201d for Sri Lanka\u2019s failures, she said that while the country functions as a modern, emerging economy financially, it is \u201cmired in the practices of a backward, semi-feudal society\u201d, in the social and cultural spheres. \u201cEleven out of the 14 people that have governed Sri Lanka until now have hailed from five families,\u201d she said, in an apparently self-critical reference to the country\u2019s famous ruling clans, including her own family. All main political parties invariably played the \u201cethno-religious card\u201d in every election, she added.<\/p>\n

Referring to last year\u2019s historic street protests, Ms. Kumaratunga said \u201ca cataclysmic socio-political upheaval shook the nation to its very core\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn entire nation, young and old rose up, demanding radical changes in the existing system of governance, of the ethics and values of leaders. Citizens of all ethnic, religious communities, irrespective of political affiliations, came together spontaneously, without any known leaders to demand a new country, a better Sri Lanka,\u201d she said, calling for a \u201ctotal overhaul\u201d of governance, with new, principled leaders.<\/p>\n

Courtesy:The Hindu<\/em> <\/p>\n

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By Meera Srinivasan Despite possessing enviable social indicators at the time of Independence in 1948, Sri Lanka, at 75, is a \u201cfailed state\u201d, former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga said on Sunday. \u201cSeventy-five years is a long time for a nation to achieve considerable progress. Even after 450 years of destruction by colonial rulers, at Independence, …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Sri Lanka After 75 Years of Independence has become a Failed State says Chandrika Kumaratunga;\u201cWe are incapable of managing the affairs of the state,\u201d tates the Former Sri Lankan President’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81739"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=81739"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81739\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81740,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81739\/revisions\/81740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=81739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=81739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=81739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}