Srilanka – why should it be the next Big Bang? A layman’s analysis

BY Alok Das

For the last many years the economics and business world have been obsessed with topics like China and India, China versus India, BRICS (the alliance of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). Heads of governments, international agencies, big corporates, and media keep talking about these topics and we – the commonplace people – keep listening to them. Without going any further into these discussions, it is a fair statement that we keep forgetting about the potentials of other counties. One of the countries that have high potentials is Srilanka. Why? So you look at me with a suspicion? I can tell you why I believe so.

Now allow me to set the tone of the conversation here. I am not an economist or an expert of anything for that matter, and that is what I have clarified in the title of this article. I am a layman with some simple logic. So do not expect any economical data, actuarial analysis, philosophical hypothesis in what follows in this article. This is a mere conversation, or to be more precise, potentially the beginning of a conversation.

We all have heard that story of the visit of Lee Kwan Yew, the founder of modern and prosperous Singapore, to Srilanka sometime in the seventies. In those days Singapore was a very ‘poor’ country. Lee said that he wanted to make his country like Srilanka. And we all know what happened next. Singapore became one of the wonders of the modern world. And Srilanka did not seem to impress the world.

So here is the starting point for my discussion. Let us not look back why Srilanka failed but rather what Srilanka can do in the days ahead. If Singapore can do so well, Srilanka can do the same, if not better; and indeed, Srilanka has more resources than Singapore. I think the main factors Srilanka should focus on are its citizens (yes they should invest heavily into their human resources), creation of a service based economy, agriculture, fisheries, tourism, medical tourism, higher education and research.

First and foremost, Srilanka should invest in their people in the form of creating a highly skilled workforce. As a non Srilankan I have had the opportunity of working with many Srilankans and I have seen they are all highly intelligent, and have very strong work ethics. Srilankan government should undertake a very ambitious ‘Skill Srilanka’ programme where Srilankans of all walks of life will be up skilled. Unfortunately, in the South Asian context, skill is something that never receives enough attention. Everyone is obsessed with idea of making their children doctors and engineers. While there is nothing wrong in it, they should have a little bit of common sense and understand that to run the society in a more efficient way (‘the smart way’) you need smart factory workers, smart gardeners, smart farmers, smart plumbers, smart hairdressers, smart mechanics, smart nurses, smart sales people, smart process workers. Why don’t you train the different segments of people in different segments of skills? The result will be amazing. The size of the economy will sky rocket.

This leads to the second point. If you have a skilled nation, you can easily develop a service based economy. We are not in the era of industrialisation anymore; we are in the era of knowledge civilisation. In fact it is surprising that being a small nation Srilanka has created so many skilled professionals for different fields of the service based economy but there is a slightly sad part to it: most of them work overseas. Why can’t the Srilankan government tap on their expertise, seek their guidance in how they can create a service based economy at Srilanka?

Thirdly, I want to discuss the next two points together: agriculture and fisheries. Nature has been extremely generous in blessing Srilanka with its gifts. Utilise them to the fullest point. How? Create a skilled workforce, create the right environment to work, tap on the expertise of highly skilled Srilankans who work overseas but are never listened to back home. That is where you need smart entrepreneurs, smart farmers, smart supply chain systems, smart infrastructures.

Fourthly, the same arguments I will use to promote tourism and medical tourism. Create a proper framework and infrastructure so tourism gets a boost. Why can’t the Srilankan Airlines be lifted to the level of Singapore Air or Emirates? It that case, they will be a big advertisement for Srilanka to foreign tourists. As a non Srilankan I hardly remember coming across any convincing advertisement on tourism to Srilanka. There are so many highly skilled Srilankan doctors all over the world. Tap on their expertise to develop a world class healthcare industry in Srilanka and eventually a world class medical tourism. Your next door neighbour India is doing that with success. Yes, the government will have to invest heavily but keep it in mind the return will be many fold.

My fifth and last point is: invest heavily in education, especially in higher education. The quality of Srilankan education is good but if you want to get the maximum return out of it, invest more in research so academics can create new knowledge. In addition, let the industry and the academia work together so they can help each other, and eventually cash on every opportunity. Do not leave everything for the government, the industry bodies and the academic bodies can talk to each other. For ideas the Srilankan educational institutions can tap on their numerous alumni spread all over the world. Last but not the least, why don’t you have links with the best educational institutions overseas and promote Srilankan higher education to overseas people? As an example, higher education is extremely expensive in the US. If the Americans can go to Slovenia for a cheaper but quality education, why wouldn’t they go to Srilanka?

I will stop here. The last point I would like to add is Srilankans have to believe that they can do a miracle. All they need is careful planning and coordinated implementation. What will I do if a real miracle happens? I will show this piece of article to the world and tell everyone that I was the first to predict the Srilankan miracle, and have all the media running after me; I will become a celeb of some kind! Jokes apart, I am a commonplace person but will be very happy if someday Srilanka does a miracle like Singapore or South Korea.