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මල්වතු පාර්ශවයේ මහා නායක හිමියන්ට ලියමි!
ඔබ වහන්සේ, ජනාධිපතිවරයා සහ අගමැතිවරයා ප්‍රමුඛ ආණ්ඩුවට, 2018 පෙබරවාරි 15 කරන ලද විශේෂ
දැන්වීමක් බොහෝ ජනමාධ්‍යවල විශේෂ අවධානය ලබාගෙන තිබුණා, ඒ පළාත් පාලන මැතිවරණයෙන් රට තුළ ඇති වී ඇති තත්වය හේතුවෙන් රාජ්‍ය පාලනය බිඳ වැටිය හැකි බව පැහැදිලිකරමින් සහ ඒ සඳහා කඩිනම් පියවර ගන්නා ලෙස දන්වමින්.
එය බැලූ බැල්මට ම අත්‍යවශ්‍ය මැදිහත්වීමක් වගේම, එක විදිහක ව්‍යවස්ථාමය රාජ්‍ය අවකාශය තුළ ඔබ වහන්සේ ඇතුළු මහා නායක හිමිවරු ඉටු කළ යුතු යුතුකමක්.
එහෙත් ඔබ වහන්සේගෙ ලියැවිල්ලට පදනම්වන ''දේශපාලන ප්‍රවාදය'' නම් යළි ප්‍රවේශමෙන් සංවාදයට ගන්න, පවතින දේශපාලන වට පිටාව අපට බල කරනවා.
ඔබ වහන්සේ කියන්නෙ, 2015 ජනාධිපතිවරණයේදී සහ මහා මැතිවරණයේදී ජනතාවට ලබා දුන් පොරොන්දු ඉටු කිරීමට රජයේ සියලු පාර්ශවයන් දැන් වත් කටයුතු කළ යුතු බවයි. එහි ආපිට අරුත වන්නේ, පැවැත් වූ පළාත් පාලන මැතිවරණයෙන් ආණ්ඩුවේ ප්‍රධාන පාර්ශව දෙකම, ජනතාව ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කිරීමට හේතුව, ''2015 ඔවුන් ජනතාවට ලබා දුන් පොරොන්දු ඉටු නොකිරීම'' කියන එකයි. ඔබ වහන්සේ එහෙම නිගමනයකට එළඹෙන්න යොදා ගත්තු විද්‍යාව මොකද්ද කියන ප්‍රශ්නය දැන් මෙතැනදි මතු වෙනවා. ඉතාම සරලව, එදා යහපාලන ප්‍රධන පොරොන්දුව වුණේ රාජපක්ෂ පාලනය තුළ මහා පරිමාණයෙන් කළ සොරකම් පිළිබඳ සොයා අදාළ හොරුන් ට දඬුවම් ලබා දීම. ඒ පොරොන්දුව හරියාකාරව ඉටු නොකිරීම නිසා කිපෙන මහා ජනයා යළි හොරු වෙනුවෙන් තම ඡන්දය ලබා දුන්නා කියල, ගාමිණි වියන්ගොඩ වගේම ඔබ වහන්සේත් කල්පනා කරනවද?
අපට ඕන නම් තව තව උදාහරණ අරගෙන මේ ඡන්ද ප්‍රතිඵල විග්‍රහ කරගන්න පුළුවන්, ඒත් ඔබ වහන්සේට හිතෙන්නෙ නැද්ද, මහ ජනතාව මොන අදහසින් ආණ්ඩුව ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කෙරුවත්, ඇත්තටම මේ ආණ්ඩුවේ ගමන් මාර්ගය රටට විශාල හානි ගෙන දෙන බව?!
ඊනියා ජාත්‍යන්තරයට අනුව දෙමළ මුස්ලිම් අන්තවාදීන්ට ලැබෙන ශක්තිය, ලාංකේය රාජ්‍ය දුර්වල බෙදුම්වදී ආකෘතියකට මාරු කරන්න නියමිත ව්‍යවස්ථා කුමන්ත්‍රණය, රටේ පැවැත්ම විනාශ කරන ලෝක බැංකු - ජාත්‍යන්තර මුල්‍ය අරමුදලෙ ඊනියා ආර්ථික ප්‍රතිසංස්කරණ, නිදහස් අධ්‍යාපනය සහ සෞඛ්‍ය සේවාව ප්‍රමුඛ සමාජ සුභ සාධනය පියවරෙන් පියවර කප්පාදු කිරීම වැනි රටට මරු කැඳවන ''රට වටලෑම'' ඔබ වහන්සේ ප්‍රමුඛ මහ නාහිමිවරු සලිත නොකරන්නෙ ඇයි? රටේ කොඳු නාරටිය ලෙස සැලකිය යුතු කෘෂි කර්මාන්තයට අත්වන භයානක ඉරණම දැක්කත් ඔබ වහන්සේලාට දරාගන්න බැරි වෙන්න ඕන, ඒත් එහෙම වෙන්නෙ නැහැ! ඒ ඇයි? ඔබ වහන්සේලාට ඒ පිළිබඳ නිවැරදි තොරතුරු ලැබෙන්නෙ නැද්ද? එහෙම නැත්නම් වෙන මොකක් හරි හේතුවක් ද?
මේ ප්‍රතිචාරය මගින් ඔබ වහන්සේ ඇතුළු සියලු මහ නාහිමි වරුන්ට යෝජනා කරන්නෙ, මේ පළාත් පාලන මැතිවරණ ප්‍රතිඵලය සමඟ විවෘතවන නව දේශපාලන අවකාශය උපරිම වශයෙන් ප්‍රයෝජනයට ගෙන රට ඉදිරියට ගමන් කළ යුතු දිශාව තීරණය කරන්න අවශ්‍ය 'දැනුම' සම්පාදනය කරගන්න, පක්ෂ පාට අභිබවා යන ''දේශපාලන සංගායනාවක්'' පවත්වන්න, ඉතාම කඩිනමින්.
අපි දැනටමත් පමා වැඩියි! ඔබ වහන්සේ ත් දැන හෝ නොදැන ඇතැම් අවස්ථාවල සාධාරණීකරණය කරන්න හදන යෝජිත ව්‍යවස්ථා වෙනස සිද්ධ වුණොත්, ලාංකේය රාජ්‍යට පදනම් වන ''බුද්ධාගම'' ට ප්‍රමුඛස්ථානය ලබා දියයුතු ව්‍යවස්ථාමය බන්ධනය කැඩෙනවා, ඊට පස්සෙ ඔබ වහන්සේලා බැහැ දකින්න ජනාධිපතිවරු, අගමැතිවරු සහ මැති ඇමතිවරු මෙහෙම එන්නෙ නැහැ!
ඒ නිසා මේ අතිශය තීරණාත්මක ඓතිහාසික මොහොත, හුදු සරල ප්‍රකාශ වලින් මග හරින්නෙ නැතුව, ඔබ වහන්සේලාගේ ප්‍රබල මැදිහත්වීමකින් ශක්තිමත් කරන මෙන් ඉතා ඕනෑකමින් ඉලා සිටිනවා!
CHAPA
Feb 18, 2018
Friday, February 16, 2018
Thursday, February 15, 2018
Wednesday, February 14, 2018
Tuesday, February 13, 2018
Monday, February 12, 2018
Sunday, February 11, 2018
Saturday, February 10, 2018
Friday, February 9, 2018
Thursday, February 8, 2018
Wednesday, February 7, 2018
Tuesday, February 6, 2018
Chapa Bandara: Not a factor but a part of the historical dialogue
Feb 7, 2018
Right of reply
Firstly, I would like to offer my sincerest gratitude to Dr. Wijewardena for sharing his thoughts about the YouTube videos I posted revealing the open-dialogue conducted in a closed room at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura. However, I am also sincerely troubled by the possibility that as a ‘conventional’ intellect he has either failed to grasp the entirety of that dialogue or has chosen to selectively interpret segments of the content to aid his misdirection of the readers of this Monday’s issue of the Daily FT.
Stuck within the parameters of his interpretation, Dr. Wijewardena is unable to perceive that I was encouraging the students to challenge, probe, and criticise the so-called intellectuals as advised by its founder Soratha Thero, some 60 years ago.
Spotting a factual error, I would like to clarify that the two lectures were presented to two batches of second-year students instead of first-year students as mentioned by him. Did he want to misinform that I addressed ‘freshers’? I wonder.
If Dr. Wijewardena understood that my ‘old’ political economy perspective is historically true up to now, I don’t believe that he would have been an accessory to the trapping of the Sri Lankan economy as a long-serving Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.
The dialogue I presented at USJ explored the historical timeline of the current global economic disaster. On this global historical journey, USA was a critical talking point of mine but it was not the focus of my expounding. However, it does not take an intellect to note the blatant defence of US politics by Dr. Wijewardena in his writing. Should the students not challenge, probe, and criticise him?
On this ‘we’ and ‘they’ argument, Dr. Wijewardena has not understood that this is how the natural world works. It is as human as it is animal and is malleable to the context it is seen in. In the context Dr. Wijewardena puts himself into, ‘we’ for him seems to be USA as the ‘master of the universe’ and I wonder who ‘they’ are? Once again, I am baffled that Dr. Wijewardena is unable to perceive how my long tirades at USJ were all focused on how to bring Sri Lanka to a win-win situation globally. We are not in any state of win currently.
Historically, factually, and theoretically, Dr. Wjiewardena’s fallacy about globalisation saddens me. Travelling merchants is not the globalisation movement; multi-national capital sharing is the globalisation movement!
Knowingly or unknowingly, Dr. Wijewardena continues to spread misinformation for deception. The pricing of water has nothing to do with the king’s or present Government’s taxes; the unit pricing of water is similar to the method used to price oil is my analysis. I would like to openly invite Dr. Wijewardena to engage in a public dialogue about this with me or maybe simply read my book, ‘Jala Rakusanta Erehiwa’.
Another factual error – there is no such institution named IWMA, shouldn’t it be IWMI? Unless the institute has become a secret authority and Dr. Wijewardena is in the know.
I suggest that USJ students should not get consulted by but teach the ‘intellects’ that water management should be the protection of the natural environmental systems guarding the water cycle and not the pricing of the water that is leftover.
I urge the University of Sri Jayewardenepura to host an open debate between Dr. Wijewardena and me with the same batches of students in the audience. I also welcome the Daily FT to cover this eventful event.
Chapa Bandara
Stuck within the parameters of his interpretation, Dr. Wijewardena is unable to perceive that I was encouraging the students to challenge, probe, and criticise the so-called intellectuals as advised by its founder Soratha Thero, some 60 years ago.
Spotting a factual error, I would like to clarify that the two lectures were presented to two batches of second-year students instead of first-year students as mentioned by him. Did he want to misinform that I addressed ‘freshers’? I wonder.
If Dr. Wijewardena understood that my ‘old’ political economy perspective is historically true up to now, I don’t believe that he would have been an accessory to the trapping of the Sri Lankan economy as a long-serving Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.
The dialogue I presented at USJ explored the historical timeline of the current global economic disaster. On this global historical journey, USA was a critical talking point of mine but it was not the focus of my expounding. However, it does not take an intellect to note the blatant defence of US politics by Dr. Wijewardena in his writing. Should the students not challenge, probe, and criticise him?
On this ‘we’ and ‘they’ argument, Dr. Wijewardena has not understood that this is how the natural world works. It is as human as it is animal and is malleable to the context it is seen in. In the context Dr. Wijewardena puts himself into, ‘we’ for him seems to be USA as the ‘master of the universe’ and I wonder who ‘they’ are? Once again, I am baffled that Dr. Wijewardena is unable to perceive how my long tirades at USJ were all focused on how to bring Sri Lanka to a win-win situation globally. We are not in any state of win currently.
Historically, factually, and theoretically, Dr. Wjiewardena’s fallacy about globalisation saddens me. Travelling merchants is not the globalisation movement; multi-national capital sharing is the globalisation movement!
Knowingly or unknowingly, Dr. Wijewardena continues to spread misinformation for deception. The pricing of water has nothing to do with the king’s or present Government’s taxes; the unit pricing of water is similar to the method used to price oil is my analysis. I would like to openly invite Dr. Wijewardena to engage in a public dialogue about this with me or maybe simply read my book, ‘Jala Rakusanta Erehiwa’.
Another factual error – there is no such institution named IWMA, shouldn’t it be IWMI? Unless the institute has become a secret authority and Dr. Wijewardena is in the know.
I suggest that USJ students should not get consulted by but teach the ‘intellects’ that water management should be the protection of the natural environmental systems guarding the water cycle and not the pricing of the water that is leftover.
I urge the University of Sri Jayewardenepura to host an open debate between Dr. Wijewardena and me with the same batches of students in the audience. I also welcome the Daily FT to cover this eventful event.
Chapa Bandara
Chapa factor and USJ’s move to groom its students
Part 2 of ‘How to groom intellectuals for the future’
Feb 5, 2018, Daily FT
In the previous part of this series (available here), we presented the wisdom of the President of Thailand based Asian Institute of Technology or AIT, Professor Worsak Kanok-Nukulchai, how the intellectuals in Thailand should be groomed for an unknown future marked by an exponential growth in technology. Worsak made his thoughts known in a lecture delivered to the fellow members of the Royal Society of Thailand or RST, the think-tank that advises Thai Government on policy matters.
The world view presented by Worsak was that the students in the present generation are savvy in digital technology and therefore could be branded as ‘digital natives’. They have started questioning the modus operandi of delivering knowledge in traditional classrooms in which they have to listen to a teacher, take down notes, memorise them and show their understanding of the subjects concerned at tests administered to them at the end.
The world view presented by Worsak was that the students in the present generation are savvy in digital technology and therefore could be branded as ‘digital natives’. They have started questioning the modus operandi of delivering knowledge in traditional classrooms in which they have to listen to a teacher, take down notes, memorise them and show their understanding of the subjects concerned at tests administered to them at the end.
The current advancements in technology have unified people and what we observe today is the emergence of global citizens, an evolution from the present state of being digital natives. Since knowledge is out there for anyone with technology to access freely, the monopoly power held by traditional teachers is fast eroding. Hence, educators today have to use new techniques of teaching, like the flipped classroom in which learning is a joint exercise by teachers who are just facilitators and students, the recipients of knowledge. What he has implied was that universities will have to give a wider world outlook to their students to prepare them for the unknown future. He has warned that any university that does not recognise this change will become extinct in the future.
USJ’s guest lecture series to give practical knowledge to students
When introducing the guest lecturer, the Head of Business Economics pronounced that the objective of the lecture series was to help students to gain practical knowledge on current economic issues. It is learned that they had been addressed by economists from the Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance previously under the same series. Calling Chapa who was not a mainstream economist or an economic practitioner would have been to give a different taste to these students. Hence, he was expected to review the present state of the economy and future economic strategies from a different angle.
Chapa: An unconventional intellect
Chapa’s fame as a popular public speaker would have travelled to USJ before him, for the auditorium at the Soratha Building had been full to its capacity with teeming students. This is certainly an exception since the rule at the university has been for students to shun lectures, especially the additional lectures that do not help them to pass examinations. Chapa had brought his technical team from Channel 4 to record the proceedings; unlike the previous lectures in the series, the videos are now available on YouTube for anyone to learn of his wisdom.
Both lectures were long, running into more than one hour. When the camera was directed to students from time to time, their faces showed that they were attentive and fully connected to the speaker at the podium for the whole duration. This is contrary to what Salman Khan of Khan Academy fame has observed in his 2012 book ‘The One World School House’. He says that if a lecture runs longer than 15 minutes, the lecturer loses the attention of the audience.
There were two other distinguishing features of Chapa’s presentation. One was that though he was introduced in English, he chose to speak in Sinhala, presumably to convey his message more cogently to students who were not that competent in the language. The other was that he did not use a PowerPoint presentation to elaborate on what he said. This is in line with the thinking of the man behind the Apple products, Steve Jobs, who, according to his biographer Isaac Waterston, had believed that those who hid behind PowerPoint presentations did not know their subject or could not explain themselves. Chapa did not fall into these disabilities.
Both lectures were long, running into more than one hour. When the camera was directed to students from time to time, their faces showed that they were attentive and fully connected to the speaker at the podium for the whole duration. This is contrary to what Salman Khan of Khan Academy fame has observed in his 2012 book ‘The One World School House’. He says that if a lecture runs longer than 15 minutes, the lecturer loses the attention of the audience.
There were two other distinguishing features of Chapa’s presentation. One was that though he was introduced in English, he chose to speak in Sinhala, presumably to convey his message more cogently to students who were not that competent in the language. The other was that he did not use a PowerPoint presentation to elaborate on what he said. This is in line with the thinking of the man behind the Apple products, Steve Jobs, who, according to his biographer Isaac Waterston, had believed that those who hid behind PowerPoint presentations did not know their subject or could not explain themselves. Chapa did not fall into these disabilities.
Wisdom of the founder of the university
The lecture had been held at Soratha Building, named after the founding Vice Chancellor of the predecessor to USJ, the Vidyodaya University, Rev. Weliwitiye Sri Soratha Thero. A visual of the statue of Rev Soratha Thero erected in front of the Faculty building had been captured by the Channel 4 team. It is not known whether the Faculty had advised the students listening to Chapa that they should take what he said in the frame of an intellectual as defined by that erudite educator. Soratha Thero had advised that university students who would one day become intellectuals should challenge what is told to them, probe into evidence in support or against and take a critical stand of their own. This is the foundation of scientific learning and it requires students not to take everything they are told at their face value.
Chapa’s political economy
Chapa has started his presentation by asking two questions: what is an economy and what is development. He answered them for the students by identifying the link between the two and the global politics that rules them. This is looking at economics from the old political economy perspective that had helped the subject matter of economics to evolve into what it is today.
Even at the time of Kautilya, the 4th century BCE Indian Guru of economics of the Arthashastra fame, economics, politics, warfare, laws, diplomacy, trade, social issues and public administration had been combined in a single discipline called Arthashastra or economics. What Chapa had tried to drive into students has been that the global economy is ruled by USA, an evil empire in today’s context. What USA has done since the World War II in its relations with the rest of the world and its pronounced schemes for the future support of Chapa’s position. However, his implication that USA has always been the winner and the rest of the world the loser is not accurate.
Even at the time of Kautilya, the 4th century BCE Indian Guru of economics of the Arthashastra fame, economics, politics, warfare, laws, diplomacy, trade, social issues and public administration had been combined in a single discipline called Arthashastra or economics. What Chapa had tried to drive into students has been that the global economy is ruled by USA, an evil empire in today’s context. What USA has done since the World War II in its relations with the rest of the world and its pronounced schemes for the future support of Chapa’s position. However, his implication that USA has always been the winner and the rest of the world the loser is not accurate.
‘We’ and ‘They’ distinction
Chapa’s classification of the world into ‘We’ and ‘They’ is not a new phenomenon. As Yuval Noah Harari has documented in his 2014 book ‘Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind’, even the hunter gatherers some 10 to 60 thousand years ago had looked at those who do not belong to their hunting clan as enemies. They are not ‘We’ and, therefore, they should be destroyed was their sacred belief.
This classification has been practised religiously by Homo sapiens even as agriculturists since 10000 years ago, as industrialists since some 200 years ago and as digital natives today, a term coined by Worsak to describe the tech savvy youngsters of the day. One has to look at the postings made on social media by various individuals to find evidence for this ‘We’ and ‘They’ classification. Such classification is anti-human and tribal in nature; it is unfortunate that even the followers of the Buddha who had viewed humans as humans are not free from such tribalistic view points.
This classification has been practised religiously by Homo sapiens even as agriculturists since 10000 years ago, as industrialists since some 200 years ago and as digital natives today, a term coined by Worsak to describe the tech savvy youngsters of the day. One has to look at the postings made on social media by various individuals to find evidence for this ‘We’ and ‘They’ classification. Such classification is anti-human and tribal in nature; it is unfortunate that even the followers of the Buddha who had viewed humans as humans are not free from such tribalistic view points.
Is USA an enemy?
Now back to Chapa’s allegation that the relations which USA has had with the rest of the world has been a one-way pipe benefiting only Americans. Since USA is ‘They’ and a powerful ‘They’ in a position to dictate terms to others for that matter, it is not unusual for a critique to form that opinion. The hegemonic statements made by successive US leadership have also reinforced this view. This is specifically true with Donald Trump administration which practices ‘We’ and ‘They’ classification to an extreme degree. Apart from these obvious negative scores earned by USA, its relations with the rest of the world since World War II have not necessarily imposed costs on others.
USA, the supplier of reserve currency
By the time the World War II ended, the world was without a foreign reserve currency to do transactions with each other. The currencies of individual countries were not acceptable since they had not been backed by any valuable asset like gold. In this background, USA agreed to allow the US dollar as the reserve currency on the promise that it would exchange dollars for gold at a fixed price of $35 per fine ounce of gold, known as the Gold Exchange Standard.
This promise gave confidence for other nations to accept and use US dollar as a reserve currency. Even after the unilateral withdrawal of USA from the Gold Exchange Standard in August 1971, the world continued to accept US dollar as the reserve currency because it was still backed by an 18 trillion dollar economy with gold holdings to cover about 70% of the dollars issued.
Today, the dollar has unified the world including those who are opposed to USA. For instance, North Korea is dead against USA. But it still loves US dollars. The availability of dollars has supported the world trade and transactions without any hindrance and it will continue to do so until a new reserve currency is discovered by the world.
This promise gave confidence for other nations to accept and use US dollar as a reserve currency. Even after the unilateral withdrawal of USA from the Gold Exchange Standard in August 1971, the world continued to accept US dollar as the reserve currency because it was still backed by an 18 trillion dollar economy with gold holdings to cover about 70% of the dollars issued.
Today, the dollar has unified the world including those who are opposed to USA. For instance, North Korea is dead against USA. But it still loves US dollars. The availability of dollars has supported the world trade and transactions without any hindrance and it will continue to do so until a new reserve currency is discovered by the world.
USA, the largest buyer in the globe
USA has also helped the rest of the world to grow by buying their products continuously. This it has done by running a deficit in its trade account. Accordingly, a deficit in US trade account means a trade surplus for the rest of the world. The countries which had been able to jump this bandwagon, especially the post-war Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and China in this region, have been able to grow faster and deliver prosperity to their citizens. Even Sri Lanka runs a trade surplus with USA. Imagine what will happen to Sri Lanka’s income, employment, and prosperity if USA does not buy its apparel products.
USA, the industrial power house
USA is also the world’s industrial, technological and innovative powerhouse which has helped the rest of the world to enjoy a better living standard. Its universities come up with thousands of new inventions annually and those inventions are transformed into viable commercial products by its services sector. This has also helped the rest of the world to revolutionise their education systems. South Korea, Singapore and Thailand are some examples.
Win-win situations in global relations
The world relationships are not simply black and white as Chapa has informed the USJ students. They are two way relationships in which both parties gain. Chapa’s position has been that it is ‘win’ for USA and ‘lose’ for the rest of the world. This is how it appears if one looks at only the surface. However, if one goes deep into them, one would find that it is ‘win-win’ for everyone. Until another military, economic and political power takes over the world, USA will be the ‘master of the universe’.
Critiquing globalisation
Chapa is a critique of globalisation, green revolution, and any attempt at pricing water. With respect to critiquing globalisation, he is not alone. Even the Nobel Laureate Joseph E Stiglitz, one time Chief Economist of the World Bank, has been a fierce critic of the current wave of globalisation.
What the critics have forgotten is that globalisation is not a new development. It has been there at least for 4,000 years as documented by the Oxford Historian Peter Frankopan in his 2015 book, The Silk Roads: A New History of the World. The move to connect the world together through trade, religion and empire building had been there since the Babylonian civilisations. These attempts which Frankopan has called silk roads have spread trade, commerce, ideas, literature, religions and technology.
When new ideas come, the casualties are always the old ideas. The clash between the two results in conflicts, resistance and violence which sometimes lead to live or die wars. Out of the conflicts, new cultures emerge and those new cultures are a part and parcel of human evolution. What is being objected today is the new wave of globalisation which with its technological marvels has turned old cultures upside down. The old is unable to absorb it but cannot prevent it from happening either.
To resolve this conflict, Worsak, as presented in the previous article, has advised the educators to train the students to seamlessly enter the emerging unknown world. What does Chapa offer in this regard? Nothing, except lamenting over the past.
What the critics have forgotten is that globalisation is not a new development. It has been there at least for 4,000 years as documented by the Oxford Historian Peter Frankopan in his 2015 book, The Silk Roads: A New History of the World. The move to connect the world together through trade, religion and empire building had been there since the Babylonian civilisations. These attempts which Frankopan has called silk roads have spread trade, commerce, ideas, literature, religions and technology.
When new ideas come, the casualties are always the old ideas. The clash between the two results in conflicts, resistance and violence which sometimes lead to live or die wars. Out of the conflicts, new cultures emerge and those new cultures are a part and parcel of human evolution. What is being objected today is the new wave of globalisation which with its technological marvels has turned old cultures upside down. The old is unable to absorb it but cannot prevent it from happening either.
To resolve this conflict, Worsak, as presented in the previous article, has advised the educators to train the students to seamlessly enter the emerging unknown world. What does Chapa offer in this regard? Nothing, except lamenting over the past.
Green revolution
Chapa’s critique of the green revolution and attempt at economising the use of water through pricing is ill-conceived. He has ignored the natural phenomenon that every good thing is associated with bad things as well. To highlight the bad things and reject the good things is not the way an economist should look at this issue. Economists should try to maximise good things and minimise the bad things and that is the knowledge which the USJ academics should impart to their students. At the time, the green revolution was initiated, billions of people throughout the world, especially in India and China, were facing death through starvation.
As a solution, the traditional agriculture was revolutionised by improving the seeds, fertilizer application and pest controls. It enabled the world to produce more per hectare of land cultivated. How India did this has been documented by Gurcharan Das in his 2002 book, India Unbound, even going to the extent of stealing the high yielding wheat seeds, Lerna Rojo, from Mexico and USA and high yielding seed paddy, Taichung Native No 1, from Taiwan. Today, India is a grain surplus country with food security. China is on its way to self-sufficiency.
As a solution, the traditional agriculture was revolutionised by improving the seeds, fertilizer application and pest controls. It enabled the world to produce more per hectare of land cultivated. How India did this has been documented by Gurcharan Das in his 2002 book, India Unbound, even going to the extent of stealing the high yielding wheat seeds, Lerna Rojo, from Mexico and USA and high yielding seed paddy, Taichung Native No 1, from Taiwan. Today, India is a grain surplus country with food security. China is on its way to self-sufficiency.
Pricing of water
Chapa is against the pricing of water and misled the students that American Premier Brand is an American company. Perhaps, he would have been misled by the word ‘American’ in the Brand name. Similarly, he had castigated the International Water Management Institute or IWMA located in Sri Lanka for engaging in a conspiracy to sell water. IWMA is the research arm of the international group called Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research. Its mission is to develop agriculture, alleviate poverty and produce more foods through technological advancements.
Chapa as well as USJ students would have benefitted had they consulted the USJ Professor Kennedy Gunawardana and a team of researchers who have just completed a study of water accounting for using water efficiently.
If proper knowledge is to be delivered to students, they should be taught that Sri Lanka throughout its ancient history had priced and taxed water. The details of such taxation have been documented by Sirimal Ranawella in his Economic History of Ancient Sri Lanka (in Sinhala). According to Ranawella, people in ancient Sri Lanka had to pay taxes on water used for agriculture as well as for personal consumption (p 135). Anything that is scarce has an economic price is the practical knowledge which students of economics should gain. If attempting to price water is sinful, then, all Sri Lankan kings who are revered as heroes today are guilty of that sin. Then, the British who abolished the water taxation in favour of income and other commodity taxes were Sri Lankans’ saviour.
Chapa appears to be echoing the ‘third wordlist ideology’ which is no more vogue. USJ should be credited for inviting such an ideologist to offer a diverse view to its students. However, it will fail in its endeavour to groom intellectuals if it does not get students to challenge, probe and criticise them as advised by its founder, Soratha Thero, some 60 years ago.
Chapa as well as USJ students would have benefitted had they consulted the USJ Professor Kennedy Gunawardana and a team of researchers who have just completed a study of water accounting for using water efficiently.
If proper knowledge is to be delivered to students, they should be taught that Sri Lanka throughout its ancient history had priced and taxed water. The details of such taxation have been documented by Sirimal Ranawella in his Economic History of Ancient Sri Lanka (in Sinhala). According to Ranawella, people in ancient Sri Lanka had to pay taxes on water used for agriculture as well as for personal consumption (p 135). Anything that is scarce has an economic price is the practical knowledge which students of economics should gain. If attempting to price water is sinful, then, all Sri Lankan kings who are revered as heroes today are guilty of that sin. Then, the British who abolished the water taxation in favour of income and other commodity taxes were Sri Lankans’ saviour.
Chapa appears to be echoing the ‘third wordlist ideology’ which is no more vogue. USJ should be credited for inviting such an ideologist to offer a diverse view to its students. However, it will fail in its endeavour to groom intellectuals if it does not get students to challenge, probe and criticise them as advised by its founder, Soratha Thero, some 60 years ago.
(W.A. Wijewardena, a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, can be reached at waw1949@gmail.com.)
Monday, February 5, 2018
Sunday, February 4, 2018
සෝභිත හාමුදුරුවෝ සහ බෙල්ලන්විල හාමුදුරුවෝ එකම මතක සටහනක්!
බෙල්ලන්විල විමලරතන හාමුදුරුවෝ, හදිසි අනතුරකින් හදිසියේ ම අපවත් වුණා!
මගෙ මතකය දැන් හෙමින් හෙමින් වසර 2000 දක්වා ආපස්සට යන්න පටන් ගන්නවා. මට උන් වහන්සේ මුණ ගැහෙන්නෙ 'රාවය' ට වැඩ කරන අන්න ඒ මුල් කාලයේ දි, හරියට ම කිව්වොත් සෝභිත හාමුදුරුවෝ සහ බෙල්ලන්විල හාමුදුරුවෝ දෙනම ම එක සමගාමීව වගෙ එදවස මට මුණ ගැහෙනවා, විවිධ ක්‍රියාකාරකම් එක්ක.
2001 දි රාවය පත්තරෙන් අයින් වෙලා, 'නිදහස්' මාධ්‍ය මෙහෙයුම පටන් ගන්න අතරෙත් මට ඒ හාමුදුරුවරු දෙනම ම වරින් වර මුණ ගැහුණා. හදිසියකට සාකච්ඡාවක් තියන්න අවශ්‍ය වුණාම මම නොවැරදීම ඒ පන්සල් දෙකෙන් එකක් තෝරා ගන්නවා සහ ඒ හැම වෙලාවකම කිසිම පැකිළීමක් නැතුව ඒ අවස්ථා ලබා දෙන්න ඒ හිමිවරු පියවර ගත්තා.
මුලදී, 'නිදහස්' වෙනුවෙන් බුද්ධි මණ්ඩලයක් ගොඩ නගන්න මම කල්පනා කෙරුවා. ඒ රැස්වීම තිබුණෙ බෙල්ලන්විල පන්සලේ උඩ තට්ටුවක පවත්වාගෙන යන කුඩා සාකච්ඡා ශාලාවක. එදා එහෙම ආරාධනා ලැබූ පුද්ගලයන් අතර, සෝභිත හාමුදුරුවෝ සහ බෙල්ලන්චිල හාමුදුරුවෝ ඉදිරියෙන් හිටියා. ඒත්, විවිධ හේතු මත ඒ ක්‍රියාවලිය දිගට ගියේ නැහැ.
මම 'නිදහස්' ආරම්භ කරමින් දිගට ම උත්සහ කෙරුවෙ සියලු පක්ෂ සීමාවන් අභිබවා යන වඩා දියුණු සංවාදයක් ගොඩනගාගෙන, ඒ සංවාදය ම වැඩ බිමක් බවට පත්කරගන්න. ඒ පිළිබඳව, සෝභිත සහ බෙල්ලන්විල හිමිවරු සමඟ දිගින් දිගට සකච්ඡා කරන්න උත්සහ ගත්තත්, ඒ උත්සාහයන් ඒ තරමට ම සාර්ථක වුණේ නැහැ!
'නිදහස්' කියන්නෙ ම කෙනෙකුට කරන්න හිතන්නවත් බැරි වැඩක්, ඒත් අපි, අවුරුදු 10 ක් පහුකරගෙන 2011 දක්වා ම වගෙ අඛණ්ඩව ඉස්සරහට ආවා. 'නිදහස්' කෙරුවෙ බරපතළ ආර්ථික අභියෝග මැද. අපි ඒ දවස්වල රු. 27/- ක් වගෙ ඒකක මිලකට මුද්‍රණය කරන 'නිදහස්' පුවත් පත, සමාජගත කෙරුවෙ රු. 20/- ට. දවසක, පිටපත් ප්‍රමාණය වැඩිවුණොත් ඒ ඒකක මිල අඩු වෙන බව අපි දැනගෙන හිටියත් එහෙම දවසක් කවදාවත් ආවෙ නැහැ. ඉතිං අලුත් කලාපය මුද්‍රණය කරපු ගමන් එය ඉක්මනින් සමාජගත කරගන්න පුදුම දුකක් විඳින්න ඕන. ඒ ඉතාම අමාරු කාලයක්!
මම පුද්ගලිකව ම, පත්තරත් අරන් සෝභිත හාමුදුරුවො සහ බෙල්ලන්විල හාමුදුරුවො මුණ ගැහෙන්න ඒ ඒ පන්සල්වලට අනිවාර්යයෙන් ම යනවා. හැම මාසයක ම අලුත් කලාපයෙන් පිටපත් 50 බැගින් අරගෙන ඒවා තවත් පන්සල්වලට යවන්න බෙල්ලන්විල හාමුදුරුවෝ කැමති කරවා ගන්න අපට පුළුවන් වුණා, උන් වහන්සේ සෑහෙන කාලයක් ඒ වැඩේ කෙරුවා. මාසයකට වතාවක් එහෙම ලැබෙන රු. 1000/- ත් අපට එදවස මාර ශක්තියක්. වරින් වර අපි කරපු පොත් පිටපතුත් ඒ හාමුදුරුවො මිලදී ගත්තා. සෝභිත හාමුදුරුවොත් ඒ විදිහටම, වරින් වර පත්තර සහ පොතක් දෙකක් මිලදී ගනිමින් අපට යම් ශක්තියක් වුණා. මුදල්වලින් ලොකු ගණන් නොවුණත් අපට එදා ලැබුණු ඒ දායකත්වය වගේම පිළිගැනීමත් අතිශය වැදගත්.
මේ සියල්ල මැද්දෙ, මට මේ හිමිවරු ගැන ප්‍රබල චෝදනාවකුත් තියෙනවා. රට මේ ගමන් කරන අයහපත් දිශාවෙන් යහපත් දිශාවකට තල්ලු කරන්න මීට වඩා යමක් ඔවුන් ට කරන්න තිබුණා. ඒ සඳහා අවශ්‍ය සම්පත් පිරුණු හොඳ වට පිටාවක් ඒ හිමිවරු දෙදෙනාට ම තිබුණා.
සෝභිත හාමුදුරුවො, අනිවාර්යයෙන්ම පවතින පක්ෂ දේශපාලනය තුළ ගොදුරක් වෙන හැටි මම පැහැදිලිව ම දැක්කා. ඒ සම්බන්ධයෙන් උන්වහන්සේ සමඟ ඉඳ හිට ලැබෙන අවස්ථාවක කතා කරන්න උත්සහ ගත්තත් ඒ තරමට පුළුල් සංවාදයක පිහිටා කටයුතු කරන්න ඒ හිමියන්ගෙ සුදානමක් තිබුණෙ නැහැ.
දැනට මාසයක දෙකකට පෙර, මම සෑහෙන කාලයකට පස්සෙ බෙල්ලන්විල හාමුදුරුවන් ට දුරකථනයෙන් කතා කෙරුවා. ඒ, අපට එකතු වෙලා යමක් කරන්න පුලුවන් ද කියල බලන්න, විශේෂ හේතුවක් නැහැ, හිත යළි යළි ත් අවස්ථාවන් හොයන නිසා.
''අපි තව ටිකක් මෙහෙම බලමුකො...නේද?'' කියල උන්වහන්සේ කිව්වා මට හොඳට මතකයි. ''කාලය ඉක්මනට ගෙවිල යනව හාමුදුරුවනේ, කල් ගන්නෙ නැතුව මොනවා හරි කරන්න ඕන, ඔක්කොම පක්ෂ එකතුවෙලා රට ඉවර කරනවා...'' කියල එතකොට මම කිව්වා.
''ඒක නං එහෙම තමයි...'' කියල උන්වහන්සේ අන්තිමට කිව්වා. අපි ආයෙත් දවසක මුණගැහිල ටිකක් කතා කරමු! කියල කතා කර ගත්තත් අර මම කියපු විදිහට ම ඉතිං කාලය ඉක්මනින් ගෙවිල ගියා!
දැන් ඉතිං ආයෙ කවදාවත් සෝභිත හාමුදුරුවෝවත් බෙල්ලන්විල හාමුදුරුවෝවත් මුණ ගැහෙන්නෙ නැහැ! අප අතර ගොඩ නැගෙන්න ට නියමිතව ඇති බව ට මම තනියෙන් කල්පනා කළ දේශපාලන සංවාදය පිළිබඳ හිස් හැඟීමකුත්, අප එකිනෙකා මුණ ගැහුණු හැම අවස්ථාවකදී ම ඒ හිමිවරුන්ගෙ මුහුණුවල තිබුණු ''පිළිගැනීමේ දයාබර සටහන්'' පිළිබඳ ''හිත ට බර'' හැඟීමකුත් හිතට දැනෙන අතරතුර මේ අතීත මතක සටහන ඒ හිමිවරුන් ට උපහාරයක් වේවා!
CHAPA, Feb 4, 2018
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