Love him or hate him, Minister of Ports, Shipping and Aviation and former Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation, Nilenthi Nimal Siripala De Silva is a force to be reckoned with.
As he lingered over a late afternoon at his office, Minister De Silva engaged in a frank and laidback exclusive interview with the Sunday Observer.
Q: Are you happy that you had entered the political arena?
A. Yes, of course. I’ve been interested in politics since I was in elementary school. My father was a teacher and once supported one of his friends at the village level who was contesting from the Left Alliance in 1942, even before I was born. As a teacher, he supported Jack Kothalawala, an LSSP candidate, and thereafter, Bandara, an SLFP candidate, in the Badulla electorate. As a result of my father’s political ideology, I was exposed to left-thinking politics.
When I entered Nalanda Vidyalaya, Colombo in the 60th decade, we formed the Socialist Students Federation and supported Sirimavo Bandaranaike when she entered politics. I joined the Sinhala Tharuna Sanvidanaya, of which I was the National Organiser. I went around the country addressing meetings and collecting youth to support Bandaranaike in the 1965 and 1970 general elections.
I formed the Sri Lanka Freedom Party Students’ Union at the Sri Lanka Law College in 1965 with Morris Rajapaksa, who became the Chief Minister of the Western Province later. When I went to London in 1974 for my higher studies, I revamped the Sri Lanka Freedom Party London branch.
After I arrived in Sri Lanka in 1978, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party and its leaders and supporters had to face political violence and political victimisation. As a young lawyer, I was able to appear before the court on behalf of the SLFP and its supporters and take part in very controversial litigation with brilliant senior lawyers like E. D. Wickramanayake, C. Thiagalingam, H. L. de Silva, D. S. Wijesinghe, Gomin Dayasiri, and V. W. Kularatne to protect the party leadership and the party supporters.
I was the instructing attorney for two Presidential Election petitions filed against J.R. Jayewardene and President Premadasa on behalf of Hector Kobbekaduwa and Sirimavo Bandaranaike. I also had the present privilege of being the instructing attorney for Vijaya Kumaratunga’s Mahara election petition.
Apart from that, I handled the Mulkirigala election petition, Akmeemana election petition, and the Beliatta election petition on behalf of my party. In 1980, Bandaranayke appointed me as the organiser of the Borella electorate, and in 1983, in the Colombo Municipal Council elections, I was elected as the Leader of the Opposition in the Colombo Municipal Council. From 1978 to 1993, the SLFP underwent a lot of hardships, and I am happy that I could contribute my legal knowledge and political commitment to overcome the hard period.
Thereafter, I held ministerial portfolios including health, and as a result of being the Minister of Health, I had the rare privilege of being elected as the Chairman of the World Health Organization in 2009. Having taken into consideration the hardships, obstacles, and challenges I had to face and the political achievements I have achieved, I am happy and proud of my political life.
Q: Do you admit our country is facing an unprecedented political and economic crisis? And what is your suggestion to get over it?
A. The economic crisis in Sri Lanka had worsened as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, debt crisis, mismanagement and failure to take precautionary measures at the appropriate time. As a result of the economic crisis, a political crisis has emerged as the people of this country blame all political parties and leaders and hold all Members of Parliament responsible for this crisis situation.
In order to get over this crisis situation, in my view, there is no speedy magic solution. We have to understand this crisis and the factors that contributed to it and adopt proper remedial measures and implement them in order to stabilise the economy.
If we look at the national income and expenditure figures during the fast two decades, we are spending double or triple the amount we earn. Many development projects that have been launched have failed to generate revenue, and some have become white elephants. As a result, we must restructure our economic roadmap with appropriate policies.
Q: It is being reported that there are a large number of loss-making Government businesses which have become a burden to our economy. What is your view on this?
A. There are more than 59 Government-controlled institutions running at a tremendous loss. SriLankan Airlines, Ceylon Electricity Board, and Ceylon Petroleum Corporation are some of them. All these institutions were supported by the Government through the Sri Lankan tax payer’s money. The losses of SriLankan Airlines up to date are about US$1.1 billion.
Therefore, it has become necessary and prudent to restructure these loss-making institutions and take away the burden on the Sri Lankan economy if we are to emancipate from this crisis.
As we are facing a foreign exchange crisis, it is necessary to develop the tourism sector, exports, and foreign employment sectors and curtail imports by increasing the local production of food items. We need to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to ease the dollar crisis.
For attracting FDI and the tourist market, social and political stability are of paramount importance. Though Sri Lanka is the number one tourist destination in the world, tourists will not visit Sri Lanka when it is politically and economically unstable. We have witnessed this situation during the last two years.
As a result of the dollar crisis, migrant workers’ remittances through official channels have declined. Therefore, it is necessary to take remedial measures to remit the foreign remittances through official channels.
Q: What should be the long-term economic plan for the country?
A. In order to get over the present crisis situation, it is necessary that the gap between national income and expenditure be narrowed down as far as possible. For this purpose, correct and sustainable tax policies should be implemented. Subsidies and social benefits should be properly targeted and given to the neediest families.
Even though we are amid a crisis, we should not forget the importance of helping underprivileged families with their daily needs, including medicine, food, and education. Even the World Bank and ADB have stressed the need to support low-income families despite our economic crisis.
Q: The protesters were able to pressurise and send away the democratically elected President of this country. What should be their next role?
A. In a democratic country, the freedom of peaceful protest must be safeguarded. The Galle Face protest initially adhered to this norm, but later invisible forces hijacked the peaceful protesters and the protest was given a violent face. As a result, it became barbaric. Houses were burnt, public property was destroyed, and law and order were not respected.
As a result of this unfortunate turn of events, the people who supported “Aragalaya” shifted away and criticised the violent nature of the approach which resulted in “Aragalaya” approaching a dead end.
The role of true peaceful protesters was to achieve a system change. This can only be done through political power. In order to gain political power, the path is not violence. It must be democratic. The process must be within the framework of the Constitution, even if one argues that the Constitution must be changed. That, too, must be carried out in accordance with the law.
Therefore, I think the democratic values and political changes the “Aragalaya” participants wish to achieve must be achieved through a political process. Therefore, these patriotic young people must come into the democratic political arena.
They should contest future elections and respect the pulse of the people, place before the people their work programs and policies, win the confidence of the voters and come to power.
Then, they can implement the policies that they are advocating. Ultimately, the people of this country will decide the political future of the present members of Parliament and various groups that are trying to emerge in the political arena now. Let us leave it to the people of this country to elect the most trusted persons.