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Good governance breached? Abolition of the
PED in the Treasury Troublesome reports have appeared in the popular press about the forthcoming abolition of the Public Enterprises Department of the General Treasury. Since these reports have not been contradicted it is surmised that they are true. The purpose of the article is to indicate why it was necessary to create the PED- partly by continuing the existing Corporations Division of the Treasury - responsibilities PED was expected to wield, conjecture on some of the possible reasons for the suggested abolition and canvass a case for retention. The 1970 election victory of the SLFP, in association with its junior partners - the LSSP and CP - was the culmination of the trend toward corporatisation of the state, set in motion in the 1930’s. Dr.N.M.Perera, the leader of the LSSP was given the important portfolio of Finance in the 1970 government. A component in the ideology of a corporate state was that public corporations take over, not only the strategic economic sectors but also the dominant commercial ones in the private sector, in order to allocate - through a rational plan - surpluses for further national development. In a corporate state the Minister dominated the Market. To enable surpluses to be generated - without exploiting the consumer- public corporations needed to be made to function economically, efficiently and effectively. These 3Es deal with output control. Public departments, on the other hand, were managed by input control. They were reviewed as to whether their expenditures were within the ambit of appropriation, whether they were incurred with integrity and whether they were within the sum provided. The control agencies in the Treasury responsible for public departments were the Budget Division and the Finance Division. The Budget Division allocated the funds and the Finance Division looked at whether expenditures were incurred within the rules. The personnel who were responsible for undertaking these responsibilities needed administrative skills not managerial ones. Good governance for public administration was not to make waves or put the hand in the till. Maintenance of the system wasimportant for public administration but performance was not emphasised.. In this culture of input control Dr.N.M.Perera, correctly, felt that public corporations should strike out on new paths. New mechanisms of control based on output were required. These output control measures were to be exercised by a new cadre of managers specialised in this field. Accordingly Dr.N.M.Perera created the Corporations Division in the Treasury in 1971. Its legislative mandate was given by Finance Act No.38 of 1971. The personnel required to implement this act - which was the good governance agenda for a corporate state - required managerial skills with a strong finance background. Accordingly the first Director of Corporation. Division was Mr.P.M.W.Wijesuriya, a very senior Chartered Accountant. He built an enviable team of professional accountants to help him with the task of building the division. On his promotion as Auditor-General, he was succeeded by his deputy Mr.M.K.S. Siriwardhana who was also a very senior Chartered Accountant. On his promotion as senior Deputy Auditor-General he was succeeded by his deputy, - the late Mr.M.J.Silva- another senior Chartered Accountant. Dr.N.M.Perera was a demanding and brilliant Finance Minister. He was extremely happy about the performance of the Corporations Division in its drive towards establishing an efficient corporate state. So was Mr. Felix Dias Bandaranaike who succeeded to the Finance portfolio. The 1977 election brought the UNP to power. It had a different concept of the state. The state was liberal with the corporations sector playing a diminishing role in commercial activities. The private sector was clearly demarcated as the engine of growth not the corporations sector. The Market was more important than the Minister. If corporations needed to be retained then they should be able to compete with the private sector on a level playing field. The corporations inherited by the UNP were monopolies functioning with administered prices. To make them congruent with UNP policy they had to be reoriented. Such a reorientation was to be initiated by the Finance Ministry under the new UNP Minister Mr.Ronnie de Mel. He decided that the stimulus was to be from two sources, firstly from a revamped Corporations Division and secondly from Parliament whose active support was to be canvassed to achieve this aim. It would have been the easy option to abolish the Corporation Division, distribute its functions hither and thither. But Mr.Ronnie de Mel, being a knowledgeable historian and seasoned Civil Service administrator, before he graduated into politics, realised that such a policy was short sighted and will only lead to dither. He felt, and correctly, that the challenge was to reorient the Corporations Division thus retaining its excellent personnel but yet equipping it for the new tasks. It was a question of elevating the existing Corporations Division to function at a higher level. As a management theorist Mr.Ronnie de Mel; knew that there were two stages in such a reorientation, the first was the charismatic stage where a new vision new mission and new systems needed to be developed. In this first stage the newly reoeiented division would cultivate trustworthiness among the corporations, which it served, so that they could have satisfaction that they had a friend in the forbidding Treasury. The reoriented division had to shift from the input control methods of control and command to relationships of partnership. The second stage was routinisation, where all these innovations were to become entrenched to enable the formation of a new culture. The two stages required Directors with quite different set of skills. The first stage required leadership skills and the second stage management skills with a mastery of higher level finance and accounting. Continued tomorrow Correction In our editorial comments on Wednesday we said that the late Mr Ranjan Wijeratne catapulted himself in a series of jumps through gazette notifications to the post of a general. We are informed that Mr Wijeratne did not do so and was promoted a general posthumously. We are also informed that he did not wear a uniform in the performance of his duties as deputy minister of defence. These errors are regretted. Survey on people’s attitude to the ethnic conflict Public opinion survey on people’s attitude towards the ethnic conflict and its solution. Conducted by the Centre for Anthropological and Sociological Studies based in the University of Colombo and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) Public Opinion Survey (Q2) Do you think there was devolution of power as a result of PC system? Yes 61.2,- No 31.9, Cannot say 6.4 If Not Why? Cent. Govt. still has power -18.9 PC have no adeq. power -17.6 Waste of resources/corruption- 40.1 Ineffectiveness of PC -10.7 Others -12.8 (4) Do you see more opportunities for people to solve their problems under the PC system as compared to before? Yes 61.5, No 33.9, Cannot say 4. If Not, Why? Waste of resources/corruption- 54.2 Ineffectiveness of PCs-19.1 PC no adequate PWR- 7.5 Cen. Gov. continues to have PWR- 4.5 Others -5.5 (6) Do you know about the government proposals on devolution of power? Yes 55.9, No 44.0 (7) Will the proposals help solve the problems? Yes 32.6, No 49.0, Do not know 18.4 If Not, Why? Sceptical about LTTE -24.2 Devolution not adequate- 8.0 Something more is needed -9.9 Political play- 3.4 Elitist-imposed from above -7.4 Others -42.0 (9) What are the issues involved in the conflict in the North? Genuine Grievances- 29.2 Racism- 23.2 Separate state -17.7 Greed for power -8.7 Harassment -1.8 Do not know -10.4 (10) How do you think the said conflict can be solved? Amity-Harmony -31.0 Through war-peace -23.7 Political solution -11.4 Equality for Tamils -11.7 Defeat the LTTE- 9.3 Ethnic integration -1.7 Do not know- 5.6 (11) What steps should be taken to promote harmony among ethnic groups? Equality 32.7, Amity-harmony 23.4, Integrative action 20.8, Political solution 2.5, Confidence building 1.9, Defeat LTTE 1.6 (12) Do you think military action alone can solve the problem? Yes 20.7, No 77.4, Do not know 1.9 (14) What steps should be taken to find a lasting solution to the ethnic problem? Defeat LTTE 6.9, Political solution 20.8, Equality 20.2, Amity-harmony 18.6, Integrative action 4.3, Through war-peace 5.8, Confidence building 1.0, Do not know 15.0 Towards a ‘Meta-perspespective’
derived from evolutionary lineages Continued These issues relate to a view from within an evolutionary lineage, from its semiotics, from its ‘subjectivity’. Many have evoked a set of Classical writers that have dealt with some aspects of this problem. Among the names evoked are, Hume, Huxley, Mach, Peirce and Whitehead. Colleagues who have evoked them have included among others, Salthe, Kampis and Hoffineyer. These earlier writers evoked have dealt with problems of identity, continuity and process; issues central to the evolutionary perspective. Salthe has suggested that evolution is semiotic rather than material. He proposes that such a perspective is necessary because the systems that we are interested in evolution, envelop us within them. This internalist viewpoint must take into account the observer that is say of ourselves. Like in Peirce, such a prospective would mean that semiotics becomes a kind of scientific epistemology (Salthe 1995). Jesper Hoffmeyer, also takes a Peircian point of view, and has shown how species form interactions with other species whereby the ‘habits’ (the Peircian term) learnt by one become a sign to be interpreted by another, This results in the interconnected whole of species becoming a global web, a global semiosphere (Hoffmeyer 1995). Kampis again points out that evolution takes place within an interconnected web of species. Natural selection is a result of the evolution of this web, and not vice versa. And, Kampis finds that process philosophy such as those of Whitehead which rejects a notion of permanent identity is very useful to picture evolution. The units that undergo change in evolution are seen as subject to temporary organization with only a transitory identity. Kampis finds that such notions are necessary for co-evolutionary scenarios (Kampis 1995). But many of these Classical writers Hume, Huxley, Mach, Peirce and Whitehead that have been evoked have been directly or indirectly compared with, or have drawn sustenance from, one of the largest philosophical and observational literature on process phenomena available, namely that of Buddhist philosophy. And the issues raised by Salthe, Hoffmeyer, Kampis and several others find deep cords of resonance in that literature. Thus there has been a large set of writings on the surprising parallels between Buddhism and Hume, one commentator even suggesting that Hume’s central ideas which parallel those of Buddhism were the result of a direct transfer of ideas (Jacobson 1969). Hume like Buddhism also found the intellect rooted in feeling, which combined the realm of the body with that of the mind (Jacobson 1988 p 119). Huxley’s attempt to link evolution and ethics in the late 1880s also saw an excursion into Buddhism. His was a pioneering attempt to link some Buddhist positions with Western philosophical ones (Rajapakse 1985). Mach was sympathetic to Buddhism and there are many parallels between his position and that of Buddhism (Blackmore 1972, Battz 1992). There have been a number of articles that referred to Mach’s restoration of the Buddhist analyses on the “self” and “ego”. One commentator observed “Mach’s thought shows a remarkable agreement in its main characteristics with those of Buddha in the exclusion of metaphysics and the concept of substance” (Blackmore 1972 pp. 288) But the philosophers that are more quoted in our current discussion of evolution are Whitehead and Peirce. Till these two, Buddhism was virtually the only serious process philosophy around (Jacobson 1988 p 67). Peirce “related his convictions more specially to Buddhism than anyone had previously done” (Inada and Jacobson 1984 p xii). Peirce’s law of love, “agapism”, also had similarities with Buddhist categories. And he, like Buddhism, equated truth with righteousness (Bishop 1982 p 265-271). A Buddhist text on logic of circa 600 A. D. Nyayapravesa (Introduction to Logical Methods), has basic syllogism that are reproductive-deductive, schemes found in Peirce. In fact one syllogism, Lance Factor points out, is virtually identical with the reproductive form suggested by Peirce (Factor 1983). Ames shows that Whitehead and Peirce, and Buddhism have also several other common themes. These include the immediacy of the present experience, a naturalistic framework, testing of ideas on the basis of their result, the rejection of dualisms, and the idea of individual freedom (Ames 1962). To both Peirce and Buddhism, the imemediacy of experience is most important and there is no notion of a self. In Peirce’s words “One is immediately conscious of his or her feelings but not that they are feeling of an ego-the self is only inferred; there is no time in the present for any inference at all’ (quoted in Jacobson 1988 p 71). Whitehead and Buddhism both accept the instant flow of phenomena and the interconnectedness of all phenomena (Inada and Jacobson 1984 p 133). And, the idea of the non-self in Buddhism, Kenneth Inada points out, is consistent with the Whiteheadian ideas of process philosophy (Inada 1979). Whitehead’s work, it has therefore been noted became the first fully developed metaphysical system in which Buddhism found general sympathy. The contemporary process philosopher Charles Hartshorne finding the many commonalties with Whitehead and Buddhism, as well as with Pierce. Ancient Buddhism and Whitehead agree, against Aristotle, and also against Bergson, but in nearer agreement with Plato’s Timaeus that concrete reality consists of momentary actualities that successively become, this succession being what we call change. If we are looking for concrete definite unitary whole of reality, we should recognize that the individual now is always a new such whole. The Buddhists, whom Peirce admired, saw this (Jacobson 1988 p 23). Having over viewed some of these similarities, Robert Neville (Neville 1984) suggest that Buddhism as the process philosophy with the longest unbroken tradition in the world has much to offer modern process philosophers. Buddhism has concepts that bring together in a process philosophy the internal world of the flow phenomena and the external environment in which it operates, as well as the interconnectedness of all phenomena, elements common to evolutionary theory. But before discussing these aspects I should reiterated some other legitimizing factors for entering the evolutionary field through Buddhist insights. Varela has pointed out that, the Buddhist experiences of observing the mind are in the tradition of scientific observation. (Varela et all 1993 p 23). The validity of some of the Buddhist conclusions on mental processes, including those of the many practitioners who came after the Buddha have been increasingly corroborated within the last twenty years as western psychologists and physicians have taken these observations seriously and attempted to validate them (representative of this literature are: Kabal-Zinn et al 1992; Walsh 1988; Sweet and Johnson 1990, De Silva 1984, Goleman 1981, Bograt 1991, Donaldson 1992). As for uses in the evolution field it self, I should mention, that Varela and others ‘Embodied Mind’ is basically Buddhist observational practice and theory transferred to the realms of evolutionary theory and cognitive science (Varela et al 1993 p xviii). There, they discuss aspects of what I have considered flows in the three lineages, namely the internal flow of our thoughts, (that is of culture within our minds); the flow of genes (that is of evolutionary biology); and the flow of “artificial thoughts” (that is of Artificial Intelligence) (Varela et al pp. xiv). Buddhist theory and practice have a large collection of technical matter that could be useful to our project. The observation and analysis there, in many ways parallel-albeit perhaps notably only in narrow realms such as this some of the rigor that one observes in modern science. I will explore part of this Buddhist observational and theoretical approaches through one of our lineages, namely the flow of culture, where, in the minds of humans, culture acts out its role, taking the form of mental activity, and a stream of thoughts. Streams of “Information” in Buddhism Thoughts as they arise internally in our minds and flow have been subject to careful observation and analyses in Buddhism. In this literature a class of questions is raised that directly parallel in many ways, some of the questions that occur today in the era of the cyborg and the gene transplanted hybrid. In Buddhism, there is nothing durable or of static being. Physical elements changes, as do mental phenomena, all are in within the mind, fleeing strings and chains of events (“Anatta” Encyclopedia of Buddhism, Vol. 1 1984 p 567). This analysis is partly arrived at from observing the innermost subjectively felt inside of a person. In fact, one of the objectives of Buddhist mental exercises, ‘meditation’ is to observe, experience and describe for oneself this lack of self and permanence from within one’s own streams of thoughts and mental phenomena. From within our own innermost subjectivity, the problem of identity and of an abiding “I” is shown to be false one. If this be the real state of “I” from both an external material point of view, and internally from a subjective point of view then what does this entail for our own streams of information, the lineages? All the three lineages have the characteristics described here. They are all ever-changing hybridizing steams whose identity is not in a snapshot existence of being, but in a process of becoming an unravelling. From such a perspective then the questions on identity raised by the two technologies are seen differently. The existentialangst of being a hybrid, of having genes of plants and animals inside one is seen differently. The problem of one’s self spread over several artifacts now loses its potential terror. The threat of being a cyborg, of Frankenstein’s creature; the concerns of a Jeremy Rifkin the fundamentalist critics of biotechnology is seen differently. Living things, complained Jeremy Rifkin at one time “are no longer perceived as carrots and peas, foxes and hens, but as bundles of information. All living things are drained of their aliveness and turned into abstract messages life becomes a code to be deciphered. There is no longer any question of sacredness or inviolability. How could there be when there are no longer any recognizable boundaries to respect.” Further he continued “as bioengineering technology winds its way through the many passageways of life, stripping one living thing after another of its identity, replacing the original creations with technologically designed replicas, the world gradually becomes a lonelier place” (Rifkin p 29). Buddhist philosophy stripped this seeming sacredness and identity more than two and some half millennia go. A gene does not make a sentient being. Only the stream of a being’s existence, of an onwards flowing history constitutes the human or the cyborg. A person does not exist as a unique individual but as a constructed ever changing flow, to an onwardly moving lineage are added new elements, new parts, it is but in the very normal nature of such constructed streams. The artificial introduction of elements say to the cultural flow from genes or artifacts is but another manifestation of the normal construction of such flows. From a realist’s perspective, there is no difference. But experiencing the intrusion of the new technologies that remake us biologically and culturally, in an internal sense is disturbing. It challenges our sense of self. “This idea that I may not be, I may not have, is frightening to the uninstructed” as the Buddhist texts put it. And as the belief in an abiding self is deep rooted in humans, this position is ‘against the current’ as the texts say on one other occasion (Rahula 1978 p 56). In such circumstances one may desperately try to cling to the idea of the mind being unchanging. But in such instances, the Buddha himself was very firm, rejecting the views of persons who take the thing called the ‘mind’ or ‘consciousness’ to be an unchanging substances. In that case it was better he argued, for a person to take the physical body as an unchanging ‘self’, rather than thought, mind or consciousness, because the body at least appeared more solid than the mind (Rahula p 65). Interiority and consciousness are demystified into mundane components. As the 5th Century Sri Lanka classic of higher Buddhist psychology Vissudhi Magga (Gunaratne 1982 p 12) put it. “There is no doer but the deed. There is no experience but the experience. Constituent parts roll on, this is the true and correct view”. When it is inevitable that we are constructed and reconstructed, from biology, culture and artefact, this should be our epistemological, philosophical, ethical and subjectivity felt guiding principle. This should be the correct view on the interiority of robots and of constructed hybrids as they navigate reality, and tunnel through time in our lineages. This is the view to be internalized in the inevitable day of the cyborg.This Buddhist process philosophy therefore challenges some of the basic assumptions of the self as an ethical agent. Its doctrines of no-self, momentariness and conditioned origination raise. Peerenboom notes, questions on ‘who’ is the moral agent. Buddhism requires that the agent is not an assumed atomistic individual but a person within both a social and natural context, ethical responsibility is now spread over the whole community. It also goes against reading an either-or, dualistic reading of freedom and determinism (Peerenboom 1989). From this perspective, one analyses oneself, knows oneself, only to realize that there is no self in the first place. This is not an intellectual knowledge but an internally observed, felt knowledge. This elimination of this sense of self “sets one free” in Buddhism. When the realization dawns that I am not a thing but a process, then the future becomes open ended. Buddhist theory and practice are self-referential, to know oneself is to make oneself, to guide the self that is not there (Kolm 1986). In the Buddhist analysis, unsatisfactoriness and anxiety becomes essential to the ‘I’ because these are the ‘I’s response to its own groundlessness (Loy 1992) This internal experiencing of the non-self, that is, of the correct view from the interiority of the lineages does not lead to a loss in integration, awareness or vitality of the mind. On the contrary, perception unclouded by false perceptions leads to perceptual clarity. Perceptions of others are enlarged because there is an empathic openness based on a non judgmental awareness (Page & Berkow 1991). The fully mentally healthy person, is expected to have a state of continuous inner delight, attends keenly to all the circumstances of a situation and can respond with skill to every situation. Some of these observations have been validated in some recent Western psychological research. This perspective based on observation has given rise to a profound altruistic moral code. And is not entirely far fetched to think that it could also do so in this case of merged streams. This phenomenology of flow of human thought, could be extrapolated to hybridization in the other two lineages. These observations could be some pointers to a moral compass to the inevitable future mergings of the three streams. Do we have any further hints on the ethical problems in merging from the only process philosophy to have developed elaborate ethical schemes based on process analyses? In Buddhism, the ability to get a correct understanding or insight itself on the experimental reality is considered to have ethical value. The person who is awake to the central tents of existence, namely its process nature, therefore indulges in right action. In Buddhism, the process of development and grow this also one of becoming of evolution. In developing mental culture, the disciple does not obtain virtue, a final state, he becomes virtue, a process an evolutionary state (“Bhava” Encyclopaedia of Buddhism Vol. iii Fasc 1 pp. 10). From the Buddhist ethical point of view, thinking itself is of two kinds, “right thinking” and “wrong thinking”. The former looks realistically at the world and its phenomena and leads to freedom. The latter are speculative unrealistic thinking (“Cinta” Encyclopaedia of Buddhism p 167). The Eightfold path which is the essence of Buddhist ethics reiterates among others, these central positions. Given these how does one internally react to this massive inflow, into one’s hybrid biological and mental interiority, that is in store in the next century. If it is not ‘mine’ and if infact ‘I’ do not exist, how does one make sense of this alien intrusion. Let me recourse to a standard exercise in dealing with that interiority, to Buddhist observational practice, mindful ‘meditation’. Here one trains oneself to observe one’s interiority to realize for one self its constructed nature, its lack of an essential being. Secondly in this process of observing one self, one dispassionately notes also the coming and going away of one’s thoughts. To paraphrase a summary by Varela, when one is in this mindful state, one has an embodied, open-ended reflection. This reflection is not just on experience. It becomes a type of experience itself cutting through habitual thought process and preconceptions. Reflection then becomes open-ended, mindful and embodied. The Cartesian dichotomy of mind and body is now found to be only a limited point of view when the mind and body are separated, an outcome of a specific experience of unmindful, disembodied reflection. This would be the “right thinking”, that is, the desired internal orientation from any lineage’s interiority. How would such a perspective appear as say one whizzes down a lineage? Experience fly through as in a tunnel. In one’s physical-mental evolution and becoming (“one” meaning a biological entity, a cultural being, or a computer with intelligent characteristics) different historical lenses, different evolving realities present themselves as an unreeling film. These snapshots come from the future, but one lives only in the present. Examining them into different components, one does not find anything ‘there’. That realization makes one view the world afresh, with a neotic vision. Peirce’s agapism is a partial approximation. Given the above perspectives can we now see whether some of the concerns expressed by our colleagues in evaluation have been met from this Buddhist the theoretical and observational platform. There are many resonant echoes. Approaching evolution through the process philosophy of a Whitehead, Kempis reiterated the call for an ‘endophysics’, an internal physics, as suggested by O. E. Rossler, a science that takes into a account observations from within (Kampis 1995). Such an endophysics of processes from within is seen in the flow of thoughts in a person, which has been described and analysed in great detail in Buddhism. Salthe states that the correct perspective for us to take for the internalist point of view would be to become disinterested observers at one time and at another time interested actors (Salthe 1995). To use a Buddhist expression, the observer should be like the lotus flower both within the waters (of subjectivity) and above it (in the realm of the objectivity), the metaphor used to describe the ideal observational platform in Buddhism. Eric Minch on the other evoked the idea of a morphogenetic movie in evolution, a succession of structural snapshots (Minch 1995). This parallels directly a Buddhist metaphor used to describe the endophysics of the thought process, the illusion of a moving line created by a rapidly spinning fireball. The interdependent web of Hoffmeyer, the global semiosphere, has also its parallel in the Buddhist inter related web of dependent origination. And, Peirce’s ‘habits’ have their parallels in the Buddhsit descriptions of the ‘the ruts and grooves of the mind ‘formed by the flow (Hoffmeyer 1995). It appears that an interaction between the semiotics and process of evolution and of Buddhist observations and theoretical orientations could indeed be fruitful. If one wants to explore evolution and processes as an internal process then there is much in the vast storehouse of Buddhist technical literature. I have only indulged in a preliminary foray in this paper, but there are discussions for example on the perceptual grids that structure perceptions which could be very useful for those working on the semiotics of evolution. Evolution viewed as a process driven from within and without would be enriched by interactions with the largest technical literature in process philosophy. Act together to end global financial crisis
— Clinton Continued from yesterday Now, though we understand that the realities and the possibilities in the international marketplace are different, some of the same functions clearly need to be performed. We must address not only a run on a bank or a firm, but also a run on nations. If global markets are to bring the benefits we believe they can, we simply must find a way to tame the pattern of boom-bust on an international scale. This task is one of the most complex we face. We must summon our most creative minds and carefully consider all options. In the end, we must fashion arrangements that serve the global economy as our domestic economies are served, enabling capital to flow freely without the crushing burdens the boom-bust cycle brings. While we must not embrace false cures that will backfire and lead in the end to less liquidity and diminished confidence when we need more of both, we must — we must — keep working until we find the right answers. And we don’t have a moment to waste. Meanwhile, we must find creative ways to protect those countries that right now have strong economic policies, yet still face financial pressures not of their own making. This past weekend, Secretary Rubin and Chairman Greenspan have worked with their G-7 counterparts to find new ways to strengthen our cooperation based on the IMF to make precautionary lines of credit available to nations committed to strong economic policies, so that action can be quick and decisive if needed. This is a critical way to prevent the present crisis from reaching Latin America and other regions, which are doing well. And I ask your support. Strong government policies, sound business practices, new ways to limit the swings in the global market — all these steps are needed to ensure growth into the future. But let us also acknowledge that we face a political challenge. For the best designed international economic system will fail if it does not give a stake and a voice to ordinary citizens. So I say again, today we see a profound political challenge to the global economic order. The financial crisis poses a stern test of whether democracies are capable of producing the broad public support necessary for difficult policies that entail sacrifice today for tomorrow’s growth. I believe strong democracy, fair and honest regulation, sound social policy are not enemies of the market. I believe they are essential conditions for long-term success. Nations with freely elected governments, where the broad mass of people believe the government represents them and acts in their interests, have been willing and able to act to ward off crisis. Korea and Thailand, with elected leaders who have been willing to take very difficult steps, have succeeded in weathering the worst of the economic storm when so many others have not. Countries in Central Europe have done remarkably well. But even among the strongest nations, as we have found here in our own, broad change is often difficult. Unless the citizens of each nation feel they have a stake in their economy they will resist reforms necessary for recovery. Unless they feel empowered with the tools to master economic change, they will feel the strong temptation to turn inward, to close off their economies to the world. Now, more than ever, that would be a grave mistake. At a moment of financial crisis, a natural inclination is to close borders and retreat behind walls of protectionism. But it is precisely at moments like this we need to increase trade to spur greater growth. Again, we must never lose sight of what the fundamental problem is — we need more liquidity, more growth in this world today. Only by tearing down barriers and increasing trade will we be able to bring the nations of Asia, Latin America, and other parts of the world back on to the path of growth. The world economy today needs more trade and more activity of all kinds, not less. That is why when the leaders of APEC meet next month, we must press forward to tear down barriers and liberalize trade among our countries; why next January when the United States Congress returns, we will seek a comprehensive effort to tear down barriers at home and around the world, including new negotiating authority and legislation to expand trade with Africa. But unless we give working people a strong stake in the outcome, they will, naturally and understandably, erect obstacles to change. The answer to these difficulties is not to retreat. It is to advance and to make certain every nation has a strong safety net providing the security people need to embrace change. At the very least, people who are suddenly without work must have access to food and shelter and medical care. And over time, all nations must develop effective unemployment and retirement systems. We must find ways to keep schools open and strong during times of economic downturn. We must make certain economic development does not come at the cost of new environmental degradation. I am pleased that the World Bank will be redoubling its efforts to building this strong safety net, especially in Asia. And I urge all international financial institutions to do more to incorporate environmental issues into your operations, and to significantly increase direct lending for environmental and natural resource projects. Every time we seek to protect the environment, short-sighted critics warn that it will hurt the economy. But over the last quarter century, we have seen time and again, in nation after nation, that protecting the environment actually strengthens, not weakens, our economies. International institutions themselves must reinforce the values we honor in our own economies. In Geneva last May, I asked the World Trade Organization to bring its operations into the sunlight of public scrutiny, to give all sectors of society a voice in building trade policies that will work for all people in the new century. We must do the same for other multilateral institutions. When the IMF agrees with a member country on policy measures to restore stability, the people of that country and investors around the world should be told exactly what conditions have been set. Therefore, I urge the WTO, the World Bank, and the IMF, working with the ILO, to give greater consideration to labor and environmental protections as a part of your daily business. Only by advancing these protections will these organizations earn the confidence and support of the people they were created to serve. Finally, though we are seized with the crisis of the moment, we must not neglect those whom the capital flows have passed by in the first place. That is why it is critical to continue our efforts to lighten debt burdens, to expand educational opportunities, to focus on basic human needs, as we work to bring the poorest countries in Africa and elsewhere into the international community of a thriving economy. Creating a global, financial architecture for the 21st century; promoting national economic reform; making certain that social protections are in place; encouraging democracy and democratic participation in international institutions — these are ambitious goals. But as the links among our nations grow ever tighter we must act together to address problems that will otherwise set back all our aspirations. If we’re going to have a truly global marketplace, with global flows of capital, we have no choice but to find ways to build a truly international financial architecture to support it — a system that is open, stable and prosperous. To meet these challenges I have asked the finance ministers and central bankers of the world’s leading economies and the world’s most important emerging economies to recommend the next steps. There is no task more urgent for the future of our people. For at stake is more than the spread of free markets, more than the integration of the global economy. The forces behind the global economy are also those that deepen liberty, the free flow of ideas and information, open borders and easy travel, the rule of law, fair and even-handed enforcement, protection for consumers, a skilled and educated work force. Each of these things matters not only to the wealth of nations, but to the health of nations. If citizens tire of waiting for democracy and free markets to deliver a better life for themselves and their children, there is a risk that democracy and free markets, instead of continuing to thrive together, will shrivel together. This century has taught us many lessons. It has taught us that when we act together we can lift people around the world and bind nations together in peace and reconciliation. It has also taught us the dangers of complacency, of protection, of withdrawal. This crisis poses a challenge not to any one nation, but to every nation. None of us — none of us — will be unaffected if we fail to act. On the day he died in 1945, as these institutions were taking shape, President Roosevelt wrote in the last line of his last speech: “The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. Let us move forward with a strong and active faith.” At a time of testing, the generation that built the IMF and the World Bank move forward with a strong and active faith. Now we who have been blessed with so many advantages must, ourselves, act in the same manner. If we do, we will surmount the difficulty of this moment. We will build a stronger world for our children. We will honor our forebears by what we do to construct the first 50 years of the 21st century. (Wireliss File-USIS) Environment When I talked with Dr. Roger Arnold, a Tree Breeder of the Australian Tree Seed Centre, I thought, for a moment, that he was pulling my leg. Dr. Arnold was in Sri Lanka recently as the guest of the GTZ-Estate Forest and Water Resources Development Project (EFWRDP), and his three-week stay has proved, as he said, most fruitful. It had been a hectic three weeks. He visited Badulla, Anuradhapura, Matale and Naula, Kandy, Maliboda and Ratnapura, Hatton, Dickoya, Talawakelle, Welimada and spent time at Tillicoultry Estate. “I had to look at the forests, the reforestation in all zones — dry, wet, intermediate and in the high country. After all, the EFWRDP had specifically asked that I provide input and information on improved tree seedlings for the estate sector. The Team Leader is an absolute ball of lightning. He’s in three places at the same time...” he smiled, “but let me explain ... you see, in forestry as in agriculture, the seed of appropriate species and quality is a prerequisite for a successful crop. As you know, many Australian trees have been introduced here by the colonial planters and these trees form the bulk of today’s estate forests.” He explained that while Eucalyptus has thrived here, there could be situations where some of these trees could meet unfulfilled need for shelter, soil stabilisation, fuel wood, domestic building materials or industrial wood. “Also,” he reminded, ‘even where these Australian species now grow, their performances may be disappointing because of the original choice of an inappropriate species or because the seed was highly inbred or from a suboptimal provenance.” Dr. Arnold (call me Roger) has made many previous visits, his last being in March last year, and, as he said, this visit has enabled him to really get his teeth into the business of estate reforestation, thanks to the dynamic approach of the EFRDP Team Leader, Mr. Mohns. “You mean you can advise and also arrange to provide the best seed for the best plantations; seed that is ideally suited to the many zones and environmental conditions we have here?” “Exactly. In Australia we have found that two Eucalyptus species, Eucalyptus urophylla and Eucalyptus pellita are eminently suitable for the moist tropics. The full potential of these trees is only now being explored. There are also the sub-tropical and cold-tolerant Eucalypts. Here, you have a fantastically varied climate and environment. I found that Eucalyptus urophylla is not planted widely here. It is ideal for the low country and has been tested at trials at Deraniyagala and Maliboda and found to be very good.” When one talks with an expert, one must extract as much as one can. “So what species do you recommend?” “It’s all a question of environment. People ask, what species, but I ask in turn what the state of the soil is and, more important, what is the objective to grow the trees. The species I recommend will depend on soil, environment and objective. The seedlings must also be determined by their genetic and physical quality. Anyway, I’ll tell you -for the high country, the best choice for saw logs is Eucalyptus grandis. For the dry zone, both for timber and fuel wood, I suggest Eucalyptus tereticornis; for better soils in the up-country, Eucalyptus microcorys, which yields a high-value timber. Then there are the other species — for shade over tea, Grevillea robusta, the Silky Oak, is ideal. What is more it provides an excellent timber for tool handles and the like. In Australia we have found it to be a high quality timber and we now use the wood for kitchen panelling and cabinets, for partitioning and even ceilings.” He then went on to the Acacias which he recommends for planting under, or in conjunction with Eucalyptus to enrich the soil. “In the mid-country, Acacia auriculaformis and Acacia mangium are ideal. Up-country, it will be Acacia decurrens and Acacia dealbata. Acacia is primarily a fuel wood but some trees do produce saw logs that are turned into racks, cupboards, etc. It was startling to learn that the humble Albizzia (used here as mostly throwaway wood and for shuttling and fuel wood) is considered of high value in Australia. “Albizzia has high-value application as plywood,” Roger said. “In Sri Lanka there is an enormous import of plywood. I don’t understand why this is so when all the Albizzia there is could be peeled beautifully for plywood.” Oh well...that’s something we could well ask about a lot of other things, come to think of it. There seems to be an appalling lack of faith in our will to do our own thing in our own land in our own way. Rather, we import what could well be produced here and give welfare to people with no work to do! Strange...or weird...who knows? But Roger has been thoroughly enthused by the potential here, especially in his meetings with many of the planting community. “Your planters are excellent people to work with. They have expressed their willingness to develop seed orchards. I am just as anxious to get to work with them, to help develop the orchards and provide the genetically improved seed that will be specifically suited to conditions here. “Your estate sector has a fantastic tree resource with enormous benefits in store. To get the best return there must be more management input and greater selectivity of tree species. Silviculture management,” he said, “is essential to obtain a good crop. You see, you do not simply plant a tree and leave it alone. Ongoing management is necessary. You don’t own a tree...” and his eyes twinkled, “the tree owns you! You must provide weed control, thinning, pruning, and then there will be a good return at maturity. No input, no return, and all you will have in the end is fuel wood.” He also insisted that much of the degraded lands, especially in the hill country, be brought to a state of readiness. “I have seen much land allowed to simply run down. There is either a wilderness of weak scrub and mana grass or the soil is crumbling away. Another problem is that while the planters know their tea, they need all the help we can give them to keep their forests in prime condition. Thankfully, they are doing their best and are willing to extend themselves one hundred percent.” The problem then comes from those who cannot see the enormous potential from their high chairs and airconditioned offices. There is, at present, a lot of government rigmarole regarding the harvesting of estate trees. The systems set by these people in blinkers only deter good forest management. As such, sadly, the estates are hamstrung. The trees are wood, true, but when opportunity knocks, it seems to rap futilely on a lot of wooden heads. Roger explained that the Australian Tree Seed Centre has been Australia’s national tree seed bank for over 30 years. “At present, seed of nearly 1000 species, mainly of Australian origin, is in store. We respond to over 200 enquiries every year and send seed lots to researchers and planters in over 100 countries. We also offer training with support for international agricultural research.” “So tell me, supposing the need is for Eucalyptus grandis. How much can be grown in a hectare?” “You will plant 1500 seedlings in a hectare. There will be progressive thinning, of course, and the harvest at maturity will be 250 trees giving you a very large crop of saw logs as well as fuelwood.” The seeds, of best genetic quality, for this one hectare will cost only Rs 250! “Good nursery practice is vital,” Roger said, “and in this respect, all estates here have very good nurseries.” The seed will first be sown in special trays and germinate under cover. They will then be transferred to root containers. “For the first month, shade is essential, but thereafter, sunshine is a requisite. The seedlings will be ready for planting in the open in four to six months and weed control is necessary for twelve to 24 months thereafter.“In Sri Lankan conditions, the trees will reach full maturity in 15 to 25 years. Simple’? The best seed for a hectare for Rs 250! But what Roger tends to shake his head over are the private lands where, it is now learnt, the Forest Department is ready to give to owners valuable seedlings for planting. “The farmers here know the land,” he said. “Your people touch the earth, but always the impetus has been on cash crops, not timber. Even those who wish to grow trees on their private lands go for the saplings on price, not on genetic quality. After all, timber has remained the preserve of the State. The people who wish for trees are not given the proper knowhow. In the end, they have weak crops, no quality wood and for the effort they put in, there is poor return.” This is where the EFWRDP and Roger of the Australian Tree Seed, Centre come in. And the time is right too, for all over, estate companies and groups are ready to embark on their five-year reforestry programmes. Now, with Roger’s intervention and the expertise of the EFWRDP, our estate forests can really realise their fullest potential and their future will be assured. It is necessary, more than ever, to take heed of the advice of men such as Dr. Roger Arnold and the organisatians he represents and lends his services to, can give. In place today we also have the tireless efforts of the EFWRDP. Remember the English? They told of their strength and their fortitude in their allusion to “hearts of oak.” Our hearts can be stronger, for we have the Eucalyptus that can outbeat oak any day! From the book 'The Palm of His
Hand' by E.C.T. Candappa
Continued from yesterday "Now what about this Perera?" Raj asked Patil. Since the Indian had arrived not a day had passed without his expressing a keen desire to meet a vague Perera. Now Pereras are as common in Sri Lanka as Smiths in England or Wongs in Hong Kong. And now the time had come for him to leave. The Indian’s face glistened with excitement, and his dark, beady eyes grew wide with puzzlement. There was a hint of amusement around his betel-stained smile. He had enquired of many concerning this elusive Perera but apart from displaying huge amusement, none had been able to end his quest. "So how will you find him, Patil?" The grease on the Indian’s face ceased to glisten and his smile faded. "What are you saying? It’s not a man. It’s the Kandy Perera, with elephants." It was Raj’s turn to be stunned. "You mean...?" He broke into spontaneous laughter. "You mean the perehera?" The Indian’s face began to glisten again. The smile was restored to its full brightness. The perehera or procession which the Indian so eagerly sought to witness was a pageant hallowed by history, a spectacle of unbounded splendour ranking among the best in the world. It was one of the most photographed and filmed events. Tourists who had visited Sri Lanka and not witnessed it counted it a great loss. Tens of thousands from all over the country and abroad line the streets, sit on the kerbside, on paid stands, or merely stand five to ten deep, or watch from various vantage points the nightly spectacle. Raj remembered the thrill the first time he had seen it. He had gone with some of his cousins at the invitation of a very large-hearted man, an accountant who had a large family of seven children and lived in Kandy town very close to the route of the pageant. The man had a small Austin into which he packed as much as it could hold and a little more. Raj remembered he had a small head on top of his huge frame, his jet black hair was parted in two, and he wore a small black "Hitler" moustache. He had a booming voice and booming laughter. Remembering him was a heady feeling. If ever Raj had known the meaning of the word welcome in all its warm dimensions it had been in that home. No one knew how ill he had been then for he had died young, at the age of fifty one. Raj remembered his smiling face above all the bright lights of the perehera. He returned from his reverie. "You’re dreaming" said Patil. "I’m sorry" said Raj, smiling. "Ah, well," he added, "there’s still time. You can see it this year." "But what about the operation?" he asked. "Will it be good for me to travel." "You’ll have to ask the surgeon." They talked about their routines. Raj told the Indian about the unsettled way of a journalist’s life, how he rarely if ever had two days alike, that although he was expected to begin work at one in the afternoon and finish at nine, very often he began earlier and finished much later. On days when Parliament sat, he left home at nine in the morning and returned at eleven at night, and when Parliament sat late, sometimes the following morning. The times when the business of government was transacted in a predictably orderly manner had ended when the present Prime Minister Bandaranaike had been swept into power. His agenda was such that late sittings, suspension of standing orders, marathon debates, filibustering by the grand daddy of all filibusterers, the brilliant mathematician, university lecturer-turned-Parliamentarian and trouble shooter, Suntheralingam, became the accustomed practice. Reporters were expected to be on call twenty four hours a day. A journalist’s world was a weird anti-routine world. "So when are you planning to get married?" Patil asked, for that was a matter very much on his mind. His orthodox Memmon parents were keen that their third son should marry early and go into the family textile business, like his two older brothers. At present Patil worked as a clerk in a bank run by members of his community. "I don’t have time to get married, Patil," exclaimed Raj. "Sometimes I don’t have time to have lunch." Patil grinned devilishly. "So can you remain every day like this?" "Like what?" The Indian’s black eyes twinkled with glee. "Don’t you want to have children?" Raj looked away. There was pressure from his parents, too. A journalist was a good proposition. He was high in the dowry market. They also had the perennial parental obsession with a future grandchild. "Nah," he said, "I want to write books. Books will be my children. What about you? What do you do every day?" Patil’s life was as orderly as a bank. He went to work at a certain time, returned at a certain time, ate at a certain time, went to the mosque daily, his bank was right behind one of Colombo’s biggest mosques, prayed dutifully five times a day, twice at home, went to the Galle Face promenade once a week, frequented the cinema mostly to see Hindi films, visited friends of whom he had dozens on visiting terms. And when he wasn’t visiting them, he was writing letters to them. Jinasena, the union leader, was entirely scornful of such a time-consuming hobby as letter-writing. "Doesn’t this one have anything more useful to do," he had once asked Raj, motioning with his head towards Patil. Patil suggested that they should meet after they left the hospital. They would visit each other in their respective offices, homes, they would meet at the Galle Face Green, in the Queen Victoria Park, they would see films together. Raj thought, I hope I’ll have time to meet you at all once I get back to work. Sometimes I don’t get to talk to my father for days. But he said: "Oh, sure, that’ll be nice." "And we can come back and see the other patients?" "What for?" Raj asked. The Indian bared his betel-stained teeth mischievously. "Then we can see the nurses." He paused, and said: "You like Miss Hapangama, no?" Raj blinked. Surely it had not been so obvious? Patil added: "She likes you, too." "How do you know that?" "I can see everything." Raj punched his cheek gently and left him. He busied himself with his journal and entered the suggestion made by Patil. It was easy in that rosy mood to start conjuring with idle thoughts. What were the chances of his marrying Miss Hapangama on the premise that she would want to marry him? First, the contingency was remote, as Jeeves would have said, as pupil-nurses were not permitted to marry so that put it about four years away. Secondly, both sets of parents would object strenuously as they represented as wide a matrimonial gap as could possibly be imagined in Sri Lankan society. They were separated by religion, race and caste. The aristocratic Kandyans would spit upon Low-country Sinhalese even if they were Buddhists, but a Tamil Christian was the dark side of the moon. They wouldn’t stop at murder to prevent such an union. But, of course, theoretically, it could be done. They could elope and live the rest of their hunted lives in fear. But such marriages had taken place and murders had not resulted, and families had been united especially after the birth of the first grandchild. So there. What if he asked her? Raj returned to the normal world with a shock. While he lay back on his pillow gently amused by his wayward mind, dusk had fallen, the lights had been switched on, a semblance of silence prevailed. The street sounds were fading away and in the gaps he could vaguely hear "official" sounds: the clatter of pans, an attendant calling out to another, the voice of the matron, and the occasional clatter of nurses’ regulation shoes. Such a clatter passed his bed, and then he distinctly heard Miss Hapangama say "poddak inna," a request for her companion to tarry awhile. And the next moment she was standing at the low-walled entrance, smiling the smile that was like the full moon on a Poya day, benign and blessed and so full of light. He felt his heart skip a beat. No fuss this time, she came right up to his bed, came round to his side and asked, "So how are you?" There was no doubt this was no official call of duty. She had come to see him because she had needed to see him, and him alone, impulsively. Good heavens, he cried within himself, is there any such thing called coincidence. This has been designed from heaven knew when, he thought. "What brought you?" he asked. "I came to see you," she said. Her eyes were very bright indeed. "What about?" he asked, testing the water. "Just" she said. The message was coming through loud and clear. He wished the leering Indian were somewhere else. But what the hell, he thought. Let him be happy as well. "I think you are a very nice person," he said, and galloped on, "you are gentle and kind hearted...and..." he groped for a while, then spat it out, "and quite loving. You are a very good nurse. You have chosen the right profession." "Thank you, Mr Indra; you are a nice person also." "Can I come and see you after I leave?" "Yes, sure." He longed to hold her hand but it was unthinkable to him. He had never held a girl’s hand before. She would think he was making a pass at her. "I must go now," she said, and in a moment she was gone. "Adai! You’re a smart man, no?" said the Indian. The schoolmaster on the left was also staring at him, agape. Jayawardene, on the other hand, was grinning widely. Mr Haniffa, covered up to his head, was wagging his feet quite vigorously. Raj, far from being embarrassed, rather enjoyed the sensation of being considered a bit of a blade. It seemed to go with the "love ‘em and leave ‘em" image that people seemed to have of journalists and theatre folk. The following morning, Patil, Ranasinghe,the clerk and Mr Haniffa left, in that order. Patil left shortly after nine. His father came to fetch him, having settled the bills and obtaining the necessary drugs for post-surgical treatment. They were all due to return in a week for the sutures to be removed. Patil went round the ward saying his goodbyes and although he was smiling, it was evident that the leave-taking was a sad one. To Raj he gave more assurances of regular meetings later. He was not aware of the attendants’ strike when he left. Ranasinghe left an hour later. His mother and little sister came for him. The trio represented in appearance and manner all that was wholesome and dignified in the rural peasantry. He came round to Raj’s bed, and joined his hands in the traditional Oriental salutation. There were tears in his eyes. "Ayubowan," he said simply. His mother then came round. "Sir," she said, "we are very grateful to you. We heard how you saved my son’s life." Raj exhaled his breath in short sharp snorts as he did when embarrassed. "What are you saying? I didn’t do any such thing." "May the blessings of the Triple Gem be upon you," she said, before leaving, uttering the highest Buddhist blessing. No one came for Haniffa. He settled his bills and when he returned, he was surprised to find three nurses waiting by his bed. The gentle, frail-looking one who hardly spoke, went up to him and said, "Will you recite one of your naughty verses before you go?" Haniffa’s wizened jaw dropped. He knew they knew and he made no attempt to deny it. "Daughter," he said, "can you kindly get grandfather a taxi?" It was his foxy way of retrieving his dignity. It also cut off their banter. He then went round the beds and spoke to each patient and wished them a speedy recovery. He came up to Raj and said, "I will come and see you in a few days." "Please don’t bother," Raj told him. "I’ll come and meet you when you start working again." "No, no" he insisted, "I must come and do you some small service. I will never forget what you did for me on the night of my operation." The nurses came back and helped to carry his bags. By now it was known that the attendants were on strike. "I’ll go and come," he told them, in the customary manner of parting. It was meant to be a token of a safe journey. In this case it was found to be inappropriate. "No, don’t say you’ll come back," they said. "Go in health. We’ll meet again." It was considered inauspicious to say you’ll return to a hospital. One left cured. When he had also left, the triple departure left a vacuum. It was strange, thought Raj, how a bond can be formed in a few days between strangers who had never met before and who would probably never meet again. Where was all the tension, then, the hatred that the various communities were believed to have imbibed with their mothers’ milk, caught from the atmosphere, absorbed from childhood; the hatred which had erupted in such savage violence just a year ago? Well, thought Raj, tempering his buoyancy with some realism. Tamils and Moslems get on well. Tamils and Indians also. usually. Though not Indians and Moslems who have had bloody encounters. Haniffa and Patil had not quarrelled, though they had not been too friendly either. So, perhaps, there was not much to rejoice over. He still felt sad by their leaving. But soon the routine flattened the sadness. (c) E. C. T. Candappa Continued tomorrow |
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