The System Needs a Thorough Overhaul and Modernization

September 26, 2024

 Hon. Anura Kumara Dissanayake,
President
Presidential Secretariat
Galle Face Center Road
Colombo 1, Sri Lanka.

Dear Mr. President,

The System Needs a Thorough Overhaul and Modernization

I wish to congratulate you on your spectacular victory at the polls though you could not reach the magic number 50+. You have changed the political landscape of the country on its head. It has taken almost 7 decades for the miracle to happen.

The measures you have taken since assuming are commendable, especially giving parity of status to the Tamil National anthem. There must be significant changes on many fronts to take the country forward. In the past, the rulers exploited race and language to secure power and stay in power.  Corruption, nepotism, elitism, waste, economic mismanagement, spiralling cost of living, deeply entrenched kleptocracy and widening inequality. successive governments have failed to address the economic and social issues of the people while enriching themselves.

I am certain the President and his Ministers have identified the problems plaguing the country. At the cost of repeating let me summarise them.

(1) Corruption and bribery have to be eliminated at all levels both public and private. The Ministers must set an example to others. Corruption is like cancer and it is pervasive.  Corruption can take many forms, including bribery, embezzlement, nepotism, favouritism, fraud, and extortion. Corruption can lead to reduced economic growth, increased poverty, and decreased public trust in institutions. Corruption can also undermine democratic values and the rule of law, exacerbate inequality and injustice, and create a culture of impunity—so the raison d’etre to eliminate it.

(2) Sri Lanka’s public service is over-bloated. According to official data, there are more than 1.5 million public sector employees at present, the size has doubled over the past 15 years. Efficiency in the public service is lower compared to that of Sri Lanka’s peers in Asia, despite there being a public servant for every 14 citizens. In 2021, the government paid 86 cents as salaries and pension payments to public servants from every rupee it earned as tax revenue, leaving little for other public investments like health and education. For years most state-owned enterprises (SOEs) became a dumping yard for politicians to recruit their supporters, resulting in more employees with very little to do.

The former Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera recently said 26,000 employees are working in the state-owned Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) alone, an institution that can be run with just 5,000 employees. An average government servant works only for 4 hours a day. The rest of the hours they spent on gossiping and shopping. Top mandarins are warming their seats doing practically nothing. I know this first-hand. The public service has to be overhauled if the government wants to succeed in delivering goods and services to the public. We need a clean, efficient and responsive public service. Your order that a letter from a member of the public should be replied within 14 days is apt and timely. There should be an acknowledgement within 3 working days if a final reply cannot be sent.

(3) Both Sinhala and Tamil are official languages but Tamil is neglected. Letters in Sinhalese are forced down the throats of Tamils, especially by the police force. The President has started well by singing the National Anthem in both languages. In Canada, the National Anthem is sung in both official languages English and French. In Quebec, a French-majority province, the French language takes precedence over English in Quebec. The language of administration in the Northeast should be in Tamil but any communication received in Sinhalese should be replied in the same language. Of course, using two languages may seem costly, but that is the price we pay for democracy.

(4) The war has left bitter memories and scars among the Tamil people. The Government must address problems like enforced disappearances of LTTE cadres who surrendered to the armed forces at the of war in May 2009.  

(5) The armed forces are still in occupation of land belonging to Tamil people 47, with 604 acres of land in the Northeast, especially in the North. In Valigamam North, out of a total of 6381.5 acres of land only of half has been released so far. A majority of them are still languishing in refugee camps in Jaffna.  Ownership of land is a fundamental right of the people.  One of the reasons adduced is national security. It is ridiculous to claim that 15 years after the end of the war, there is a risk to national security. 

(6) The NPP in its manifesto has promised to carry forward the constitutional process miniated by the good governance government between 2017-2019. The president should not lose time to bring in the new constitution within the shortest possible time. Only a progressive and egalitarian constitution. Egalitarian doctrines are generally characterized by the idea that all humans are equal in fundamental worth or moral status. As such, all people should be accorded equal rights and treatment under the law.  The ideal constitution should be secular, separating government from religion. It simply means that governments should not follow or favour any particular religion rather every religion should be favoured equally.

(7) The whole system needs a thorough overhaul and modernization.

On a personal note, I have been fighting the Foreign Pension Department for arrears of pension payments for the last 10 years. The amount owed is Rs.6,61,872.68. I swore an affidavit to the effect that I had not received my arrears of pension, yet no response from the Foreign Pension Department. I will send a separate e-mail giving the details showing how shabbily they treated me.

Veluppillai Thangavelu
Canada