Sri Lanka can now be a developed country, it can also be a rich, powerful economic center, why do I say that?
In Sri Lanka, our national landscape is made up of rich forests, wetlands, farmlands and oceans. Sri Lanka is rich in industrial minerals. Many well-known minerals such as "Geuda" (a pale white or colorless sapphire) are exported from here.
Sri Lanka's coastline stretches 1,600 km with bays, dunes, estuaries and tidal flats. These coastal areas support a wide range of nationally significant economic activities, such as tourism, fishing, and port development. I can go on stating the Natural resources that Nature has gifted to Sri Lanka.
However, in such a blessed country, people are now struggling to obtain basic necessities as the country faces its worst economic crisis in decades.
Dying Countries and Cities
Sri Lanka is mired in public debt after tourism revenue dried up in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic. With foreign currency reserves dwindling and foreign debt payments looming, the country can barely afford to import staple foods, fuel, and medicines.
The escalating debt crisis is affecting nearly every aspect of daily life in Sri Lanka.
Devaluation of the rupee while imposing strict import limits has raised the prices of many essential items. Power outages have been imposed by the authorities. This left me with only a few hours of electricity per day, and it took me several days to finish this article.
Bakeries were forced to close due to a lack of fuel. The Ministry of Education recently postponed an entrance exam indefinitely because of a lack of paper. The streets are full of people buying petrol, fuel, milk powder, and other goods. Sadly, some people died while waiting for these supplies.
If we used to spend Rs.3000 on products, the bill now comes to nearly Rs.10000.
This situation is unbearable and we are not supposed to face these hardships.
Why would this crisis happen?
Longstanding economic woes
Like many other neocolonial nations, Sri Lanka has long had a debt-driven economy that has been in peril even during its so-called "fastest growth" period.
In recent years, some Srilankan people noticed the country has been sold out parts by parts to a big country, which pretended as friends with the face masks support and claimed to help Sri Lanka through the Belt and Road initiative, while our loans keep increasing. (Sadly, when a handful of educated Sri Lankans realized it, their voices were too weak to make a real difference.)
During the pandemic, the Srilankan government treated the overseas workforce in an unethical way and even looted them in the name of compulsory quarantine charges in high-rated hotels. Under this situation, the overseas workforce started sending money using black-market alternatives. As a result, Srilanka lost another major income in addition to its fading tourism income.
Several credit rating agencies downgraded Sri Lanka's sovereign credit rating on the 13th, citing the country's economic crisis and growing foreign funding pressures.
All this has led people to take to the streets to protest. Although this time it was the economic crisis that triggered the political crisis, if we look closer, it is actually inseparable from politics.
Maybe we have never been truly democratic
In 1948, not long after Britain lost its "crown jewel" India, Sri Lanka also gained independence. At the time, the British assessed that Sri Lanka was not mature enough to function as a democracy on its own. While every Sri Lankan with a bit of national pride would want to deny this claim, it somewhat reflects the later reality.
Since the British were gone, Sri Lanka has been ruled by corrupt politicians (sometimes with some exceptions, but rarely) till now. You might think that politicians are also elected by the public, as in all democracies, but that's where outsiders can't see through.
Srilanka people were never united as Srilankans. They were mentally separated by race, religion, political parties, etc.
People even view the candidate politicians from a self-interested perspective, only caring about short-term interests, such as "Can I get a job in the government sector?" "Can I get more power in the city?" And so on. For many years, Sri Lankans did not notice the level of corruption of politicians and just supported them like political slaves.
Politicians used this mentality of Srilankan to blindfold them and take off their corrupted political agendas. This even extended to a 30-year bloody civil war.
This reminds me of the book Why Nations Fail states that economic prosperity depends on democracy. When those in power are not scrutinized by the people, they will do whatever they want, and use religion and race to manipulate hatred between ethnicities in the country to gain the majority of votes. This is precisely what is happening in Sri Lanka.
For the past few years, Sri Lanka has been ruled by a family called the Rajapaksa, who now hold positions such as president, prime minister and finance minister.
By alienating the Sri Lankan people, the Rajapaksa family accumulated a lot of assets and lived an unreasonable life of luxury. According to reports, the rulers of the Rajapaksa family possess enormous wealth beyond the level of their official salaries.
However, most people still consider them to be the guardians of the country.
The current president is Gotabaya Rajapaksa. In an election campaign that obviously focused on controlling minorities and restricting religious freedom in the country, people still fell into the trap again and voted for him.
Sri Lankans are waking up
Therefore, the recent economic crisis may be a turning point for Sri Lanka.
People started to take to the streets, and this demonstration by a few people is gradually becoming a huge protest that has brought Sri Lanka to the attention of the whole world and is about to turn our future upside down.
April 1st, people in cities went on the streets to demand that all corrupt politicians (including the current president and his family) step down and get a fair trial for their political crimes.
University students started their revolution by gathering in large numbers raising voices and holding the national flag. Even some political party offices, houses of politicians, and parliament were surrounded by the protesters.
In the heart of Srilanka Colombo, a village created as the hub of the protest named “Gota Go Home” village. (Gota is referred to as the current president.)
The peaceful protest has now continued 24 hours a day for 10 days, with more than millions of participants. I don't think it will end if the country doesn't change.
Because people can’t wait until the next election and witness another set of human bodies in the parliament but with the same spoiled mindset to rule the country again. After all, economic crises come with political stupor.
We don't know if we could win in the end, but it has awakened the eyes of the people to try and pursue better leadership.
During this protest, I saw that the wisdom of our youth was not bound by the old system. Today, I feel like we are truly united as one country. Proud Sri Lankans are heading towards a nascent nation.
*中文版：【斯里蘭卡現場】沒電、沒食物、嚴重通膨，獨立以來最大經濟危機將帶來政治革命？
