[This is an excerpt from an article in The Round Table: The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs and Policy Studies. Opinions do not reflect the position of the editorial board.]
This short volume sets out to provide an assessment of the achievements and setbacks of Sri Lanka in the 75 years since it shook off its colonial ties with Britain and became an independent state, first still as Ceylon, then from 1972 renamed as Sri Lanka.
The substantive chapters take the form of papers by recognised Sri Lankan experts on key developments in the economy, on the education system, the health services and the legal system. All of these are informative and authoritative while treating the subject matter as largely separate from the political personalities and conflict involved in the island’s often turbulent history. The aim appears to be descriptive but not judgemental, somewhat drily academic rather than celebratory. The book’s subtitle – focussing on the fragility of the nation and the dangers of complacency for its citizens – precludes any idea that this is a rose-tinted view of the period.
The chapter on the economy by Dushni Weerakoon depicts a country possessing many advantages in natural and human resources which ‘largely failed to live up to its potential and early expectations’. Seventy-five years on, the country is ‘shackled by a faltering economy and an erosion of faith in its political and economic institutions’. The immediate prospect is grim though the economy is slowly recovering from an unprecedented period of negative growth. With a promised US$3 billion loan from the IMF, support from India, and a successful renegotiation in October 2023 (anticipated in this volume) of the country’s huge debt to China, there are hopes of a renewal of stability. It’s not much to celebrate but it could be worse.
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In a chapter on the education system, Harsha Aturupane notes that the high level of literacy and the generally high quality of schools and universities, including the growth of research capacity, are real achievements. The same can be said of Sri Lanka’s pioneering vision of Universal Health Care. But in every area of education and training Sri Lanka has suffered a substantial brain drain. This is especially true of medical and health services where 25% of newly trained doctors, nurses and health workers apply to leave to work abroad, despite pledges to work for two years in the government health services for every year of study or work abroad. A long-standing objection to doctors combining government work with private practice dates back to before independence and was continued by socialist inclined governments. But a total ban proved unworkable. The current dual system, which allows for part-time private work has been an ideological compromise, but it seems to hold the line.
In a chapter on the legal system Savitri Goonesekere sees an increase in Executive and Legislative power but still a powerful role for courts despite the many challenges to their authority. The constitutional issue over the protection of minority – more specifically Tamil – rights and the battle for and against ‘Sinhala only’ language policy is covered separately by Nirmala Chandrahasan. Her argument is that the repudiation by prime minister Solomon Bandaranaike – under Sinhalese pressure – of his 1957 pact with the main Tamil leader at the time, S.J.V.Chelvanayakam, was the last chance for the emergence of a peaceful federalism as a brake on Sinhala Buddhist domination. The judgement is not new but remains substantially valid, with all its terrible consequences.
The nearest to an overview of the 75 years of Sri Lankan independence is provided by law professor M Sornarajah in a penetrating chapter entitled ‘Authoritarian Constitutionalism and Sri Lanka : On Reversing the Descent to Tyranny’. He matches the more abstract analysis of forms of government and institutional development with the political rivalries, popular pressures, social dissent and unrest and the decisions and actions of individuals that characterised Sri Lanka over a period of thirty years in which there were both violent revolutions and open civil war. The apparent contradiction in terms between the ideas of constitutional and authoritarian government – or at worst tyranny – is not exclusive to Sri Lanka. The potential descent into tyranny is a worldwide phenomenon, and an understanding of the means to reverse it is a lesson that can be learnt on a global basis. Sri Lanka is merely an exemplar.
William Crawley, Institute of Commonwealth Studies.
Sri Lanka @75 : Perils of complacency in a fragile nation edited by Dayanath Jayasuriya, New Delhi, HAR- ANAND Publications (Pvt), 2023.
