That’s Fan- freaking – tastic
The official government trip to China cost the tax payer 56 million bucks. Isn’t that great. As though buying unusable MIGs will not suffice we are also paying for 192 people to go count the stones on the Great Wall.
It surprises me continually that the Sri Lankan public continues to accept whatever is thrown at them. A huge government expenditure is going unchecked because of the abject faith we have in the “Social Contract” and yet there continues to be no proper mechanism to hold the powers that be accountable.
Interesting questions to be raised would be as to why there hasn’t been a serious move to question this trend. But most importantly what does it say about our political culture? How do we change this?
The fact of the matter is that the present political system doesn’t provide any space for a rethink of the strategy. With proportional representation system political culture is dependent on party seniority. Which means that there is no chance for the political culture to change for a good twenty years.
I love Sri Lanka and her history and her diversity and everything about her. But sometimes i wonder is it worth the effort i am putting in to change a culture that is so entrenched in the way things have been done, that it refuses to change.
As a young person that means a lot to my future. But given the system how is it possible to kick it and work with it.
Any ideas?
N said,
August 28, 2007 at 9:18 am
A network of like minded people, young people that is, both international and national not only talking about the issues but actually putting forward solutions and making an attempt to get grassroots support. I see a lot of people talking about the issues, a la groundviews, etc…but not a lot of putting solutions forward. My two cents:)
R said,
August 28, 2007 at 10:29 am
Agree with N.
True the political system is fucked up, the education system is in ruins and we have an inherently stubborn culture that refuses to change. But that doesn’t mean we can’t bring about change to the country.
The solution in my opinion lies in somewhat eradicating the non-profit mentality, and focus on creating sustainable markets that are built upon innovative business models.
I think we should leave the debates to the policy level people and tryin’ move forward by sharing our experiences on the lessons learn t.
javajones said,
August 28, 2007 at 10:40 am
At the risk of flogging this beast to death, it seems that the greatest problem with regard to ‘change’ is the general apathy that is the nature of the masses. We’ve blogged about it in the past and lamented the lack of ‘people power’ to oppose all the crap that’s going down, but sadly the state of inertia remains. And I guess we are all to blame in one way or the other.
N said,
August 28, 2007 at 10:50 pm
java, agreed but again the people who are in the ‘industry’ such as CPA don’t seem to be making any efforts towards raising grassroots support for policy changes, etc. I know a number of organizations implementing innovative agricultural, etc solutions at the grassroots level but none who try the same thing with policy and governance.