Biz chambers have ignored role in re-building hope for younger generation
The business chambers and professional associations need to take the lead role in re-building hope for the younger generation as the country could potentially face an acceleration of brain drain due to incidents which are unfolding in the aftermath of Easter Sunday attacks.
“For the younger generation, there is no hope; we are not giving them hope. Therefore, the hope has to be generated by those institutions as they have the biggest dialogue with the government.
“The top business chamber, Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and professional associations need to play a proactive role. But what are they doing,” The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Chairman, Ranel Wijesinghe lamented.
He was expressing his views at a public discussion themed ‘What is the vision for Sri Lanka: Nationalism vs. Diversity’ organised by Night Watchman Society in Colombo on Wednesday.
He was particularly critical of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, emphasising that being the leading chamber, it hasn’t taken any proactive steps towards building national harmony since mid 2000s.
Delivering the keynote speech, the Centre for Policy Alternatives, Executive Director, Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu warned that Sri Lanka is now faced with a situation where masses of educated Muslims leaving the country reacting to racial tensions in the aftermath of Easter Sunday attacks.
“We are at present facing a situation where there is a possibility of a Muslim diaspora being created. The people might be relocating or just leaving this country,” he said. He pointed out that it creates a challenging environment for the country to achieve development goals with an ageing population.
“We have around 500,000 jobs available in the private sector without any takers, largely because, they don’t have the skills that are required. We have 1.5 million public servants in a country which is going to have an ageing population,” he noted.
Dr. Saravanamuttu stressed that Sri Lanka needs to break out of the “outdated” and “somewhat irrelevant paradigms” which are holding the country back, in order to forge forward noting that mindset of the country is still stuck in 20th century.
During the upcoming Presidential Election, he said that at least a debate should be initiated on necessary constitutional and other reforms which are required to create national unity for the country to move ahead.