President Sirisena told the Chartered Accountants that politicians (elected officials) will rob only if officials (appointed) support. Therefore, the process of appointed blocking the elected robbing & vice versa is necessary. It won’t be tough if existing laws aren’t averted at all times. The ‘buck’ may pass till 2030 general election unless the public reject whom Sirisena had in mind at the November election. Sri Lankans elected the known since 1931 & the unknown in 2019 experiencing ethnic & serious economic conflicts. Therefore, electing the known & unknown should be carefully analyzed on a case by case basis to prevent conflicts & ensure economic stability upholding the true meaning of democracy. Socialist China is a good case study for the ‘Generation Z’ to learn how leaders are trained for different times.

The Chinese way

Chinese chronicles from 2^nd century AD indicates competitive examinations based on the teachings of Confucius held to recruit the best as public officials. Nearly 1800 years later Socialist China continues to train elected officials maintaining highest standards to face the demands of the 21^st century. Relatively unknown politicians planning to be policy makers in Sri Lanka should observe how Chinese public officials improve their skills attending prestigious institutions such as NAG - CPC, KSG - Harvard & LKY School Singapore etc. Emerging political organizations may learn from such success stories, refrain from destroying wealth (private or public) as in the past & invest party funds to train their unknown cadres at reputed institutions. Thus the country shall benefit encouraging voters to keep them in power for longer periods.

President Xi Jinping’s advise.

Addressing principal officials at provincial & ministerial level at the National Academy of Governance of the Communist Party of China last week, President Xi Jinping stressed below (Ref Media);

1. Advancing reforms on all fronts in the new era for substantial results across practical, institutional & theoretical dimensions during the nation's journey of reform & opening up.
2. Focusing on fostering social equity & enhancing people's well being in all acts of the authorities.
3. Upholding the unity of reform & the rule of law, bolstering the rule of law through reform, advancing reform in the domain of law based governance & continuously improving the system of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics.
4. Steadily expanding institutional opening up taking the initiatives to align with high standard international economic & trade rules to deepen reform in foreign trade, foreign investment & outbound investment management systems.
5. Fostering a market oriented, law based, internationalized first class business environment.
6. Striving to open new horizons for reform & development rather than shying away from risks & challenges.
7. Supporting all regions & departments implementing existing & incremental policies to achieve the annual economic & social development goals.

Being a small island located in a nerve centre on the 21^st century Silk Road (Belt & Road Initiative), Sri Lanka can easily be developed by a trained & dedicated team of public officials. Citizens should elect the ‘right capacity’ to prevent manmade conflicts provoked by those who historically ignited conflicts & mitigate the impact of natural disasters especially with support from India & other countries including China which donated nearly half a billion LKR worth emergency support last week (Ref. Media).

(Views expressed are personal)