vision-lk
Purpose
The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only object of good government.
Thomas Jefferson
We, in Sri Lanka, have never sorted out the purpose of government. The aristocracy was uneducated. It has been a battle among families of different races, castes and social classes for power that has characterized our path since independence. The primary motives have often been fame and fortune.
The old regime of Kandyan origin represented by the Bandaranaike family embraced Marxism. A primarily Buddhist Capitalist class embraced Atheist Marxism to capture power. It is interesting to note that President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga studied at Sorbonne in France and must be intimately familiar with the French Revolution.
The one significant transformation in recent history was that made by President J.R. Jayewardene. He promoted the idea of ”A Just Society (ධර්මිෂ්ඨ සමාජයක්)” using a secular democratic approach accompanied by market capitalism.