Central Government, Digital Inclusion, Education IT, Policy Growth and social equity in Sri Lanka
By Laurence Millar | 29 July 2011
While in Colombo for the FutureGov Sri Lanka Forum, I had the opportunity to interview the Minister of Public Management Reforms, the Honourable Navin Dissanayake MP.
“Sri Lanka has emerged from nearly 30 years of conflict, and ICT can take us into the 21st century – delivering social equity and participation in all regions of the country, in particular for Rural Youth in the North and East,” he said at the start of his address to the forum. “In the 1990s India and China opened up their borders, and many countries aligned their economies to take advantage of the opportunities. ICT is the central building block to make a dynamic leap forward; we need to invest in education to ensure that we have the future workforce to develop our economy and seize these opportunities.”
“We have passed legislation that will allow private institutions to increase the number of university places available to educate our youth in ICT, and gain qualifications from basic skills to support the BPO and programming sectors, through to professional degrees. Sri Lankan membership of CIMA, the international institute for management accountants, is the second highest, after the UK; we can aim to repeat that in the ICT sector.”
Politics has always been part of Mr Dissanayake’s life - he is the eldest son of the great political leader late Hon Gamini Dissanayake who was assassinated in 1993 during the presidential election campaign, and his grandfather was also an MP.
He has a clear view of the importance of ICT in government: “ICT can be used to take government to the people, deliver a more efficient public service, and create transparency in important government functions like procurement. Our public service is a legacy from the British Colonial era, and we need to upgrade it to the 21st century; ICT is a crucial enabler to re-engineer government for user friendly service, less corruption, more transparency and citizen satisfaction.”
“There should be a Government Reform Cell in each government agency, and I will visit agencies with the Secretary of my Ministry to help you set things up” he told the attendees at the Forum. “As CIOs, you are the Chief Innovation Officers, and you should work with ICTA (the ICT Agency of Sri Lanka) to raise the level of public service performance and dynamism. You can expect us to provide a Blueprint but the ideas for change need to come from within each agency. The role of the CIO is to lead and direct ICT strategy, implement world class systems, maintain information systems security, and share systems and investments.”
The Minister understands the extent of change that is needed. “Our people are used to orders being given and staff being told what to do, but I do not think there will be resistance to new ideas. It is very important to gather feedback from our staff and the unions, and use the many modern tools that are available to gather ideas.”
He is pleased with the progress that has already been made in ICT certification, and says that this needs to be extended to all public servants – such as class 3 and 4 public servants in rural areas. This will be an important foundation for the culture change needed to adapt to the new opportunities and meet the aspirations for growth and social equity: “Only 10% of our youth currently attend university, and this needs to improve - rural youth need more opportunities, and ICT is the key.”
Government reforms need to consider how mobile technology can be used to connect government with citizens – the country has nearly 90% uptake of mobile phones, compared to 10% with internet connections. “We have seen what can happen when you open up the industry to five or six mobile companies – we need monopolies to give up some of their traditional rights in the interests of national progress.” The private sector is an important part of the government reform programme – ICT companies can work with government to deliver better results for citizens, helping agencies become more efficient and transparent. The Minster is an active user of technology, using both Blackberry and iPhone, so that he can use the best features of each.
The government officials I met during my time in Colombo have a commitment and energy that can deliver his bold vision for government operations.
“ICT is a game changer – we need to use it to bridge the gap to the future.”
Killings in Lanka nothing compared to Iraq
Navin Dissanayake
July 10, 2011, 7:09 pm
Minister of Public Management Reforms Navin Dissanayake, who in his youth made headlines more due to his hot temper, has mellowed into being a fine dispassionate thinker. Unlike his larger than life late father Gamini Dissanayake who was always among the top few in the JRJ government and also acted as if destiny had meant him to be right at the top, the young Dissanayake having already gone through the political mill however says he takes life one step at a time and has no major goal posts in mind, except to do his job as best as he could. His wise decision to stick with the government even when he was not given a Cabinet portfolio in 2007 was vindicated when he was rewarded with a Ministry in the aftermath of the 2010 general election.by Rohan Abeywardena
Q: Certain lobbies in the West are making a big issue over those killed during the last phase of the war against the LTTE. Your own father was a victim of LTTE terror. How do you view this situation?
I think this whole scenario was explained by Kumar Sangakkara in the lecture he gave in England. He explained the trauma and the tragedy and the bloodshed that this country went through for the last three decades. So when you are trying to get rid of a terrorist organization that is hiding behind civilians and even placing their heavy guns among the civilians there is definitely going to be some collateral damage and unfortunately that collateral damage also comes in the form of loss of civilian lives. We must look at this particular war in the context of what happened in the other parts of the world. When you look at for instance Iraq there has been a massive civilian loss there. In terms of conservative estimates at least 100,000 civilians. That is the minimum number of civilians killed there. There is an independent website called www.iraqbodycount.com. If you go to that site it has the details of the civilian losses there. Comparatively our civilian loss is maximum 10,000. It is between 7000 to 10,000 and not more than that. We are very sorry that civilians died in this war, but for the overall context of Sri Lanka everybody believes it is a necessary sacrifice. As for organizations like the Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, there intentions may be very good, but I remember when I was a young lawyer particularly during the ’89,’90, ’91 period I used to work with some of these organizations. They used to give me information about people who disappeared and I believe they have a role to play. At the same time as the government of Sri Lanka we are questioning the motive of all this now. So long as the intent is good it is okay. I think if you look at Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International they have a very particular and specific mandate. Their thing is they want to report because of that they don’t understand the context of why all this happened. They don’t go into that. Their thing is to report factually something that happened, but what we are saying is that some of the facts that they are presenting is wrong. Most of the facts that they are getting is from LTTE sources. We are not afraid of the truth. We know what we have gone through in Sri Lanka. We have eradicated a major obstacle to Sri Lanka’s future growth. I think a vast majority of Sri Lankans are happy with the fact that the LTTE is no longer there.
Q:How did you get the news of the death of your father?
I was actually in Nuwara Eliya. I just had a meeting with Mr. Putrasigamany and Mr. Sathasivam, who were trade union leaders about organizing the Nuwara Eliya electorate to face the election and I left there at about 11 o’clock and when I was on the way to Kandy I got a call on my hand phone saying there was a blast. Then when I got to Kandy it was told that my father was injured, but I knew what the implications were and when I was coming to Colombo I got the news that he had passed away. Then I went straight to hospital to see his body.
Q:Have you forgiven the perpetrators?
No. I cannot. As a human being and as a son I cannot, but I think it is necessary because I am not the only victim in this war. I am just another individual. May be I am a famous father’s son, but so many people have died. What about Tamil father who lost his son or daughter either because of LTTE recruiting them or in the cross fire between the army and the LTTE. So the pain is the same. It is important that we realize the context of all this and realize that lot of people have suffered and now is the time to heal the wounds and get across this whole divide and somehow mould this country into one nation.
Q: Some say your father also had a grand plan to take on the LTTE had he won the 1994 presidential election. Is there any truth to that?
I think he realized that the LTTE had to be weakened and I think he had lot of plans for that. He was moving with lot of powerful forces to get the factors and components right for that. I think the LTTE also knew that and they realized that if he came to power he was capable of mobilizing the necessary forces politically, socially and economically to overcome the LTTE. The LTTE also had a zero tolerance policy. They were taking out leaders who were a threat to them. It was a very ruthless policy. I am a very strong Buddhist and I really believe that if you live by the sword you will die by the sword and that was proved at the end of the day.
Q: There has also been talk that because of the anger with your father you were sent to nurse the Patha Dumbara electorate and you were placed under the thumb of the district leader. Can you tell us something about how you came to be given Patha Dumbara?
I actually asked for that electorate. I could have gone to Nuwara Eliya straight away, but people of Patha Dumbara in the Kandy District wanted me to take over the party organization there. I went against a very powerful figure of Mr. Ratwatte, who was the Deputy Minister of Defence at the time and I went toe to toe with him. I remember in 1997 Pradeshiya Sabha local government election out of the two Pradeshiya Sabhas I won one and he won one. One that he won was won by thousand odd votes. And everybody knows how that election was won. But I am very happy because it gave me lot of experience and the toughness to face all these things. As a very raw young politician now I have seen everything that politics can throw at me. Politics is not a bed of roses and especially in Lankan politics you have to get used to the element of roughness and I would call it crudeness and inhumanness of politics. But if you can come through that unscarred it is a great thing.
Q: In 2007 when you crossed over you did not get a Cabinet portfolio, yet you patiently bided your time, but your own father in law went back. Can you explain your decision to stick it out?
The 2007 move for me was never about portfolios or anything like that. It was all about securing the government and making sure that the war went forward and the government was able to get that historic win.
Q: After the war victory you still did not go back.
After the war it took some time to get our realignments right. The war victory made the government very strong. Basically had I gone back to the UNP at that time having said so many things about its leadership I couldn’t have justified myself. I was also too dry because the Sinhala masses in the 2010 election gave such a strong mandate to the government because of the war and the UNP lost about 15 to 20 per cent of its base vote, which is a lot. The UNPers either voted with the government or they did not vote. That is why in places like Kandy where you only have three Muslims and one Sinhalese being voted in because the Sinhala vote dropped for the UNP in a big way. Had I gone back to the UNP at the time I may not even have won from the Nuwara Eliya District.
Q: Your father’s return to the UNP after the assassination of President Premadasa resulted in a big showdown with Ranil Wickremesinghe. Then you also fell out with Mr. Wickremesinghe. Was that a continuation of the feud with your father?
Honestly I think I had a healthy relationship with Mr. Wickremesinghe until 2005. I didn’t have any major issue with Mr. Wickremesinghe till that time, but subsequently there was a collective thinking that things in the UNP had to change. I was also part of that process of thinking. That is what happened. I don’t hold any grudges personally against any politician. I might have differences on issues of policy and leadership, but not personally.
Q: How do you view the return of your father in law to the UNP?
That was a very personal decision that he made. When you are a politician you have to dig deep often…..
Q: You all left saying you can’t work with Mr. Wickremesinghe, but then he goes back to work under him again.
You must really ask him that question because I can’t speak for him, but may be he felt that he had no role to play in the government. May be he felt that there were some issues with his ministry. Lot of factors there may be, but I cannot really speak for him.
Q: Late President J.R. Jayewardene in a rare interview with The Island newspaper during his retirement said that it was a big mistake on the part of your father, Mr. Athulathmudali and others to breakaway from the UNP. If there were problems they should have struggled from within to have them corrected. You also took a similar decision. Do you think JRJ was correct?
You cannot compare what happened in 1991 with 2007. In 2007 it was not a case of 17 UNP MPs forming their own party, but actually lending support within parliament to another group. In 1991 it was a totally different issue where you first brought an impeachment to impeach the President and when that failed you went out of parliament and you directly took on the President. Now 20 years later I feel my father and Mr. Athulathmudali should have been a bit more patient. I would also say that President Premadasa should have been a bit more tolerant towards other opinions and voices in the UNP. Certainly I think that was a major setback for the UNP if the three of them had lived the UNP would not have fallen and it would have still been in power and probably the three of them would have been still living as well.
Q: Had your father lived, do you think he would have easily defeated Chandrika Kumaratunga at the 1994 presidential election?
There was lot of mixed thinking on that. Lot of us felt he shouldn’t have contested for that election because it was not his election. He just came back to the UNP three months earlier. He had not really established himself in the party, although he won a secret vote over Mr. Wickremesinghe by two votes. He still had to win back lots of friends. He had to cement lot of relationships. Also there was a huge momentum against the UNP after 17 years in power people felt it was time for change. We felt, particularly me and my mother that he should have waited six years more and by that time he would have been 58 if he had waited. In the 1994 election it was only one or two seat majority vote for Chandrika. After two or three years he could have built up the UNP and then taken her on in parliament and become the Prime Minister. We can always say these things in hindsight. He was telling at that time ‘I am 52 and I have waited a long time for this. Not many people get the opportunity to contest the presidency from a major political party; that is either the SLFP or the UNP and if you get that opportunity you should use it’. Certainly he was bit careless in terms of the LTTE threat and certainly he knew there was a threat, but that is the way he lived. He lived with lot of flare, flamboyance and charisma that sometimes he did not look at the security angles he should have looked at.
Q: To people like us who were watching from outside it was quite obvious that President Jayewardene used one heavyweight against another to ensure there were no threats from any quarter within to his leadership. It was a case of being closer to Lalith Athulathmudali one week, then to your father another week, followed by being closer to R. Premadasa, Ronnie de Mel or Upali Wijewardene. This would have been very frustrating to people like your father.
My father was very happy because at a very young age of 35 he got one of the most powerful ministries. So in that sense JR was such a big figure with a large stature he did not consider second level leaders as threats because his hold on the party was so strong. He built up people. He certainly built up Mr. Premadasa, Mr. Athulathmudali, my father, Mr. Wickremesinghe, Mr. Ronnie de Mel….. He allowed Cabinet ministers to have a free hand, which I think was brilliant. If you look at the ’77 Cabinet still the people say it was the best Cabinet ever. So my father was very happy with President Jayewardene and certainly President Jayewardene was a towering figure for my father and it was he who brought up my father as a politician. It was good that in the UNP had that spirit of tolerance, spirit of bringing up young talent and the spirit of democracy. People could speak out. When Mrs. Bandaranaike’s civic rights were taken away people like my father and Anandatissa de Alwis spoke out against it. Although you can argue and say President Jaywardene curtailed some democratic freedoms in the country, but within the party he always ensured that the spirit of democracy was there.
Q: This problem of there being big governments whether under the SLFP or the UNP, the people are really sick of it as it is an utter wastage. What is the solution in your opinion?
If you take a policy decision and say you should have only 40 cabinet ministers, may be an equal number of deputy ministers and perhaps another ten or 15 non-cabinet ministers given very specific jobs. Then it comes to 95. You can still say it is large, but the point is that if you take that decision of having 40 cabinet ministers then I think you can align and bring things down. Yet in coalition politics you cannot have a hard and fast rule because in terms of individual egos people do expect slots. I donthink this whole idea about satisfying individuals with particular slots is really practical because people will always be unhappy. But when you are the President of a country you have to always look at the macro picture and get things done. I would say given the coalition nature of politics, especially for the UPFA it is very difficult to bring down the number of ministers, but on the other hand it brings about a certain amount of stability because now for the next five to six years the government is strong and it cannot be brought down. Where as if you don’t look after individuals there is room for dissent. So I think President Rajapaksa has been a very practical politician in that sense and if you look at for instance President Premadasa there was lot of dissent within the UNP during his time. That is why people signed impeachment motions and they broke away. Where as President Rajapaksa has been more flexible and moiré amenable to needs and interests of his own party men.
Q: There could be lot of frustrations underneath, because as the UNP charges the Rajapaksa Company is so big and when senior party men see young bucks being pushed up while they languish where ever they are. They might just be waiting for an opportune moment.
I think it’s really about leadership. If someone is unhappy, frustrated and feel a sense of grievance he should have the strength of courage and the backbone to speak up. That is what my father and Mr. Athulathmudali did. I think there are necessary forums to express your self like group meetings and you can also have individual conversations with the President and tell that you are not happy. You can’t go beyond that. If you want to stay you take all that frustration and unhappiness and stay or you have a different strategy. I think it is always a relative question for members of parliament in the government and ministers how they can express themselves and get the leverage they want.
Q: What is the solution for the UNP to come out of the morass it is in?
UNP has to really go into self analysis, honest critical self analysis. That has to happen right from the top to bottom. If you don’t do that you are not getting into a situation of strength and what we expressed all along still stands true today and very much so. The UNP leadership has to listen to what the grassroots are saying and you cannot go on and on. It becomes very stale. So there has to be a change. If there is no change the UNP is not going to be a political force to be reckoned with.
Q: In the UNP it is like small boys playing cricket and always wanting to be at the crease.
You can’t play a cricket match like that. If you are out you have to go.
Q: In your youth you were known as a hot tempered character. Have you mellowed now?
I think I have. I think a lot of things have changed. After 12 years of politics……..I think that is what politics do to you. You mature and I feel that sense of maturity in me now, may be not as mature as I should be. Certainly the Gamini Dissanayake who was 35 and the Gamini Dissanayake who died at 52 were two different individuals. So that is one thing that is very attractive about politics. It always makes the better of you. If you are basically a good human being you have that chance to develop your leadership skills. That is what I like so much about politics.
Q: Have you drawn up a road map for your political future?
After what really happened to my father and others and the sadness it caused me I really don’t have any long term goal posts like that. I honestly take one step at a time and I do my job as best as I could. I hope the people especially my people at Nuwara Eliya appreciate what I am doing. Also I think politics is such in Sri Lanka, it is no longer the politics you were used to when you were young. Today politics is what I call instant noodles. At next election if a person promises more things than I do, the people might forget about what I have done and vote for him and I might lose. So that’s politics. Today’s politics is much more brutal. It involves money power. It involves lot of scheming and manipulation. So you don’t play with a straight bat as my father and the older generation of politicians did.
Q: On what terms will you go back to the UNP?
I have not even thought about that question. Honestly I have not. I don’t see the UNP actually reviving for a long time. As I said earlier my goal posts are really to develop my district and I have been always saying that. So as long as I get some resources to develop my district that is all I want and I don’t want to be a second class politician. In my district I am now a cabinet minister so that kind of position was not given to me by Mr. Wickremesinghe. He always saw Nuwara Eliya through Mr. Thondaman. The President does not look at Nuwara Eliya like that. He has given me and Mr. Ratnayake cabinet posts in this government and we represent Sinhala masses in Nuwara Eliya. That kind of political prioritizing was not done by Mr. Wickremesinghe. In that context Mr. Rajapaksa makes correct political decisions.
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