Police State

Sri Lanka being like a police state soon after the 1971 insurgency is no different to what it’s now, an academic implied.

Professor S. Ranasinghe of the Open University who launched a book on management on Wednesday joined Marga, a research institute during the time of the 1971 insurgency or thereabouts.
Speaking at a function to mark the launch of his book, he said that two of his colleagues whom were on the field gathering certain socio-economic data at that time were arrested on suspicion by the police and were released only after his intervention.
“Times have not changed since then,” Ranasinghe said. He said that the then Government imposed a ban on giving information to Marga. This was after they embarked on a research of far flung villages in the island which had no proper bridges to cross waterways. Ranasinghe further said that the private sector employed Marga to do research on dilapidated tanks in Moneragala and Wellawaya in 1972 with a view to rehabilitating them. He was involved in field work in connection with the same.His point was that management should inculcate local culture and values including Buddhism and Hinduism, instead of merely following Westernised concepts of management.Professor Jayasiri Weerawardena from Queensland University Business School who also spoke at this occasion said that it was the late Lalith Athulathmudali, speaking at a function, who suggested that instead of trying to ape Japanese style of management, to introduce Sri Lanka style of management into the system.