Students seeking insight get lesson in Sri Lankan bureaucracy

Students seeking insight get lesson in Sri Lankan bureaucracy

by Lisa Falkenberg
Associated Press
1/26/2005

They came seeking insight on tsunami devastation and rebuilding efforts, but several hundred students at American and British universities who joined a videoconference with Sri Lankan officials Wednesday got a lesson in bureaucracy instead.Student organizers intended a face-to-face discussion between about 500 college students and citizens in 11 American and British cities and citizens in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The island nation lost more than 30,000 citizens in the tsunami that struck southern Asia and east Africa a month ago.But Sri Lankan government officials dominated the discussion, most of them sticking to staged presentations and sidestepping pointed questions on topics like corruption and distribution of funds."Personally, I expected a little less bureaucracy," said Robert Gonzales, a political science senior who organized the event at the University of Texas at Arlington. "There's a lot of questions that went unanswered."Students more familiar with politics in the country known for corruption and ethnic strife weren't surprised by the lack of straightforwardness."There's a lot of red tape back in Sri Lanka," said native Mish Misbah, 25, who attended the videoconference at UT-Arlington with his friend Kenny Rajanathan, 25, also from Sri Lanka.They said that although the videoconference provided little insight on the country's tsunami response, it offered a firsthand look at the kind of bureaucracy that has stalled Sri Lankan development in the past and may bog down relief efforts in the coming years."The U.S. government and the U.K. government should put pressure on them. That's the only way they'll actually open up and do something," Rajanathan said.Still, he and Misbah said they hoped the tsunami recovery would help foster fairness and cooperation that could overcome problems in the democratic country."If this doesn't change things, nothing will," Rajanathan said.Tamil rebels have accused the Sri Lankan government of obstructing aid deliveries to guerrilla-controlled areas in the country's north and east, allegations the government denies. Norwegian envoys have urged both sides to create a joint body to ensure equitable aid distribution.Seth Green, a Yale law student whose international group Americans for Informed Democracy organized the event, said he thought it was helpful overall."I think the conference exposed students both to the tremendous need and the political difficulties in meeting those needs," Green said.About 500 students and some corporate and government officials participated in the videoconference in the United States and Britain, Green said.Students at universities including Georgetown, Yale, Tulane, Rutgers, Northwestern and Oxford in London took turns questioning Sri Lankan officials on issues such as child trafficking, medical needs, aid distribution and safeguards to lessen devastation in future disasters.Officials responded with few specifics. They said they were working with aid organizations to protect women and children and meet other needs. They pointed out that the island had avoided a significant outbreak of disease."From the rubble and ruin, Sri Lanka is rebuilding," said Kan Tu, a World Health Organization representative.The few Sri Lankan citizens who spoke up offered more candid responses."We are a highly political society, where everything is looked at from a political angle," said a man who identified himself as a former public servant. "The tsunami, too, has not escaped that."Another citizen advised those donating money to give it to specific programs dedicated to tsunami relief, not broad organizations.Dr. Lalith Wikramanayake, chairman of Sri Lanka's Environmental Foundation Ltd., acknowledged that the government hadn't released detailed plans for rebuilding that would protect against the type of illegal, unsafe housing destroyed by the tsunami."Our concerns are that the government is taking so long to make decisions, people are returning to unstable, illegal settlements," he said.But he also defended the country against criticism."Let me just warn you that there could be corruption in the government but there could also be corruption in some of these mushroom organizations collecting money," Wikramanayake said.Wijey Wakrema, a former World Bank employee watching the videoconference from Washington D.C., praised the students' questions."Unfortunately, you did not get the answers you wanted, in my opinion," he said.Wakrema, who worked as a relief worker in Sri Lanka earlier this month, said volunteers lacked resources and support from government officials. He urged Sri Lankan officials not to squander aid money that could go toward real reforms."Please be honest and wake up and try to do something," he told the officials.___On the Net:Americans for Informed Democracy: http://www.aidemocracy.org/