Sri Lanka is not unique in adopting the Executive Presidential System. The best example is the United States of America, which over 200 years ago, after winning the Independence War with Britain, adopted this system and became the world’s most powerful and wealthy nation. France did so in 1958, thus ending the era of a succession of unstable governments, and is now one of the most powerful European nations. There are many more, said President J.R. Jayewardene, after his retirement, delivering a lecture to the Law Students’ Sinhala Union at the Sri Lanka Law College, in 1993.
Sri Lanka, too, achieved much success after adopting the Executive Presidential System in 1978. The open economy was ushered in removing the shackles under the closed economy from 1970 to 1977. Investment Promotion Zones were opened bringing in foreign investment.
The thirty-year Mahaweli scheme was completed in six years bringing much new land under cultivation thus increasing the production of paddy, subsidiary crops vegetables and fruits both for local consumption and export.
Open Economy
A number of reservoirs constructed under the Mahaweli scheme also generate hydroelectricity thus contributing much power to the national grid thus saving on fuel, particularly at a time of high oil prices, such as the present.
Development under the open economy was possible because of efficient management by J.R. Jayewardene and his Ministers which unfortunately was marred by LTTE terrorism that raised its head, especially after 1983.
The rate of economic growth which was over 6% in 1978 dropped to less than 2% in 1986. Thereafter, following a period of fluctuation, it dropped to an all-time low of minus 2% in 2001 which was put right by then Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe.
The rate of economic growth rose thereafter, coming down merely to a near 4% in 2007 to rise dramatically to over 8% after the end of the war with the LTTE in 2009.
Quite pathetically the opportunity for economic revival was wasted because of overall mismanagement.
It is an irony of fate that it fell this time, too, on President Ranil Wickremesinghe also as Premier and Finance Minister, too, earlier, to retrieve the country from bankruptcy and it is unkind to think of it as merely taking chestnuts out of the fire.
Bumper Harvest
Among the positive achievements of President Ranil Wickremesinghe is the gift of fertilizer from the United States Government which led to a bumper harvest that has assisted in ensuring stability.
Hot on the heels of taking steps to modernize agriculture which is the mainstay of the economy President Ranil Wickremesinghe has taken immediate steps to revive Mahaweli Zones A and B around Trincomalee that had been abandoned due to the terrorist war and never thought of later.
Mannar is to be developed as a tourist hub emphasizing sea tourism. The potential for fisheries there is also to be exploited.
In addition, the United National Party (UNP) which has had a rich past during its nearly eight decades of existence is being brought back to its former glory.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe is the most fitting successor to President J.R. Jayewardene.
Its founder leader D.S. Senanayake was a conservative with a coterie of national leaders such as S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, J.R. Jayewardene, Sir John Kotelawala, Sir Lalitha Rajapakse, Sir Edwin Wijeyaratne, Dudley Senanayake and others around him.
Men of Sterling Character
The provincial leaders with a very strong voter base were P.B. Bulankulama Disave, Maithripala Senanayake, E.L.B. Hurulle, Sir Claude Corea, A. Ratnayake, A.E. Nugawela, E.L. Senanayake, Capt. C.P.J. Seneviratne, Sir Leo Fernando, D.M. Rajapaksa, D.A. Rajapaksa, H.W. Amarasuriya and many others.
All leaders of the United National Party, whether national or provincial, were men of sterling character. So, although corrupt politicians could enter other parties to escape punishment they are not entertained by the UNP.
President J.R. Jayewardene gifting an elephant calf to his contemporary United States President Ronald Reagan was very appropriate as the election symbol of both Grand Old Party of America (GOP) the Republican Party and UNP is the Elephant.
Dudley Senanayake and Sir John Kotelawala, like other young men of wealthy families from around the world, such as Jawaharlal Nehru, imbibed socialist ideas, at Cambridge University, studying the sciences that are involved in the study of the physical world and its phenomena including biology, physics, chemistry and geology for the Natural Science Tripos.
The old leftists in time began to think that the ‘devil was not so black’ and the tragedy of the 1952 August Hartal was the turning point. They joined S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike in 1956 but the political confusion that ensued ended only with the promulgation of the Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka in 1978 by J.R. Jayewardene.
Energetic General Secretary of the United National Party Palitha Range Bandara has seen to it that office bearers have been appointed to almost all the 170 electoral committees of the party.
Meanwhile, Field Marshall Sarath Fonseka saying he attended the National Day Celebrations of this year held under President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s aegis, as he has no issue with him, augurs well for the United National Party.
Chandra Edirisuriya