The Sri Lanka I Dream of

In this article I am providing a list of good qualities I wish to see in Sri Lanka, as Sri Lanka being a

developing country unfortunately has many problems. The point of this list isn’t to be very

pessimistic, but to look forward with what could and should be the case for Sri Lanka with optimism.

Let’s begin.  

I dream of a Sri Lanka

• Where we have a new political culture not known for bribery, corruption, nepotism, lies, etc but to serve the nation with honesty and integrity.
• Where election related violence no longer occurs. 
• Where we don’t have several issues of crime allowing citizens to relax for both serious and minor crimes.
• Where the rule of law applies equally to all.
• Where there’s a fast and efficient independent judiciary that doesn’t allow rich and/or influential people to tamper with the system.
• Where the Government departments are fully digitised, thus giving an efficient way of operating.
• Where citizens don’t face bribery in their dealings with the state and elsewhere.
• Where the Government can implement projects and policies fast and effectively with most of what was promised delivered.
• Where the attitude of doing something wrong is OK as long as you don’t get caught is replaced by a desire to do the right thing.
• Where there aren’t serious issues regarding the cost of living.
• Where there aren’t so many heavy protectionist taxes that cause difficulties for the citizens.
• Where there is a balanced tax structure not focused heavily toward indirect taxes.
• Where the average salary is significantly higher than what it currently is.
• Where the tragic racist incidents stop occurring.
• Where all citizens are treated equally.
• Where our exports have been diversified into a much wider range of sectors.
• Where we have a high flow of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) coming in.  
• Where the garbage management is effective. 
• Where the country is clean.
• Where the majority of citizens are law abiding.
• Where the country is not on reactive mode (most noticeably seen regarding disasters), but on preventive mode instead.
• Where services and support exist for people with special needs.
• Where the road rules are enforced with the drivers obeying the rules.

I hope you enjoyed reading this list. I’m sure that others will have more issues of their own to add to this list, so I invite others to share their own list of what they dream of for Sri Lanka. I am aware that making these changes to Sri Lanka is a very difficult thing to do, but I’d like to point out that the country does improve over time, comparing the country’s position with what it was ten years ago to now. We’re in a better position now then we were then, as improvements include no longer facing a civil war, the achievements in media freedom which include the ability to openly discuss and debate Government policy, the Right to Information law that has been active since last year and the improved tax structure under the new Inland Revenue Act that came into effect this month. It is likely that improvements will continue, thus making us in a better off position ten years from now and going forward.