New Year, new decade

With all the revelry and celebrations over by the time this column is read it will be time for some sober reflection on the part of most on what the past year held for them and what is in store for the new year that has just dawned.

Whatever be these musings the foremost thought should be reserved for the country that is now set to leap frog into a new era of development and prosperity with all road blocks cleared for achieving its true potential.

There is indeed no basis to doubt its potential. It withstood a cataclysmic global economic recession that swallowed up powerful economies. It also withstood external pressures to emerge triumphant in a debilitating war. There is therefore good reason to view things with optimism for Sri Lanka in this new year and in the unfolding new decade.

For we are today entering not only a new year but also marking the beginning of a new decade of the millennium. It is therefore appropriate to dwell over the larger picture not only affecting one's future from a personal point of view but also the nation as a whole. It would not be an exaggeration to say that at no time before in recent memory has a new year held so much hope and optimism for Sri Lanka as the one we are entering into today.

Certainly 2011 is bound to be a decisive one for the country that will determine the path it will charter for itself to become a nation to be counted among the major international actors now that we are rid of the main impediment that prevented us from reaching our aspired for goals. This needless to say calls for hard work, dedication and the commitment of all.

There is a need for all Sri Lankans to put their collective shoulders to the wheel towards realizing the true potential of the country setting aside all parochial differences to make it the Wonder of Asia as aspired for by President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

As mentioned, this calls for dedication and sacrifice. There can be no half measures. We Sri Lankans are notorious for our lax and indifferent ways. We leave a job for another day when it could be done today. This trait and the general apathy on the part of the general populace is one of the reasons that the country had been lagging behind all these years since independence although the destructive war also slowed progress to a great extent.

All of us should therefore resolve this new year to put behind our lethargy and laissez-faire attitude and dedicate ourselves to the task of nation building. This is an apt time to invoke those famous words of President John F Kennedy to the American people of not asking what the nation can do for them but what they can do for the nation. We would do well to harken to those famous words if we are to pull ourself out of our slumber and the collective apathy we are in as a nation and galvanize ourselves into action. This is as good a time as any to resolve ourselves to make this change.

To begin with there is a need to cultivate a proper work ethic. Today our work places are filled with idlers. The norm is to do as little as one could possible can get away with. One does not see the need to go that extra mile. This attitude is mostly mirrored in our public sector where the least work is being done and a lot demanded. Trade Union leaders too should resolve this new year to desist from making unreasonable demands and above all to get their members to pull their weight.

There has to be sea change in entrenched attitudes if the country is to move with the rest of the world.

Not just being counted among the rest, Sri Lanka needs to integrate with the rest of the world if we are to breach new frontiers and conquer new vistas. This will require hard work and scaling new heights. Above all we will require the best human resources to achieve our set goals. A core group of professionals and experts to advise the Government is a sine quo non in this context. It is hoped that the frequent calls by the President to our expat Lankan professionals to return and avail of their services to the motherland will be heeded in large measure this new year.

The new year also holds promise for the healing of wounds and genuine reconciliation. The country cannot prosper materially when there is internal tensions brought about by mistrust and a sense of exclusion and discrimination. In this context the invitation extended by the President for an inclusive Lankan society sans racial or ethnic differences holds hope for mending of fences and genuine reconciliation. The Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission which will wind up its sittings in the new year will also be an ideal catalyst of the new transformation contemplated by the President where all barriers and road blocks that separated the communities would be pulled down paving the way for a peaceful prosperous Sri Lanka.