PARADISE POISONED - LEARNING ABOUT CONFLICT, TERRORISM AND DEVELOPMENT FROM SRI LANKA'S CIVIL WARS -- LINK

With thanks to the International Centre for Ethnic Studies, Kandy, I am pleased  to make a PDF version of my book Paradise Poisoned: Learning About Conflict Development and Terroism from Sri Lanka's Civil Wars available to all who may find it useful.  The link and additional information about the book follows.  

Link to

PARADISE POISONED: 

Learning about Conflict, Terrorism and Development from Sri Lanka’s Civil Wars

(NOTE: YOU MUST COPY THE LINK INTO YOUR BROWSER)

John Richardson

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/31337126/Paradise%20Poisoned%20-%20Compressed.pdf

Paradise Poisoned is a publication of the International Centre for Ethnic Studies, Kandy, Sri Lanka. It was published in 2004 with two subsequent reprintings. The Board of Directors of the ICES has authorized the distribution and reproduction of the manuscript for non-commercial purposes.  Sections of Paradise Poisoned, translated into Sinhala and Tamil, are being published by the Social Science Association of Sri Lanka, in a series entitled Lessons from the War.  Four volumes (in each language) of a projected series of eight have been published,  to date.  For further information contact, Mr. Ranjith Perera or Ms. Rasika Chandresekera, Social Science Association of Sri Lanka, 12 Suleiman Terrace, Colombo 05, Sri Lanka. Email: ssa@eurika.lk.  Tel: 94-11-2501339/504623.

Contents

Preface and Acknowledgements xi

Prologue 1

Part I

Anatomy and Physiology:

Linkages Between Deadly Conflict, Terrorism and Development

1 - ‘How Could We Have Come To This?’ 11

2 - Why Did Sri Lanka’s Political Differences Escalate Into

Protracted, Deadly Conflicts? 39

3 - What is ‘Successful Development’ and Why Does it Matter? 55

4 - Measuring Violent Political Conflict and State-sanctioned

Violence In Sri Lanka 73

5 - The Development-Deadly-Conflict System

Part II

Homeostasis - Reality or Illusion:

Was Sri Lanka a Development ‘Success Story’?

6 - The ‘Uncle-Nephew Party’ Years: Elitist Pluralism 125

7 - Opening Pandora’s Box – The Bandaranaike Era Begins 159

8 - Political Responses and Feedback in a New Era 189

9 - ‘Middle Path’ - Dudley Senanayake’s Imperfect

Governance Strategy 217

10- Political Responses to the ‘Middle Path’ 243

Part III

Symptoms of Infection and Immune System Responses:

How Sri Lanka’s United Front Government Coped with a Violent

Insurrection and Shortcomings of its Marxist Development Model

11 - Populism and Sinhalese Nationalism Resurgent 271

12 - Sri Lanka’s Marxist Experiment - Promises and Performance 311

13 - Political Climate, Institutions and Feedback

in the United Front Era 335

Part IV

Failure of Radical Therapies:

How Sri Lanka’s ‘Open Economy’ Development Model and

Strengthened Presidential Authority Failed to Prevent

Conflict and Terrorism from Escalating Out of Control

14 - Symptoms of Development Failure 381

15 - Strengthening Executive Power to Sustain Open

Economy Reforms 393

16 - The Open Economy – Promises and Performance 427

17 - Political Identities, Attitudes and Organisations in the

Open Economy Era 465

18 - How State-Sanctioned Violence Clouded Political Feedback 493

19 - Protracted Civil War Begins 523

Part V

Diagnosis, Treatment and Prevention:

Why Deadly Conflict and Terrorism are not only

Predictable, but Preventable

20 - Costs and Benefits of Protracted Violent Conflict 555

21 - How it Came to This – Learning from Sri Lanka’s Civil Wars 573

22 - Preventing Deadly Conflict and Terrorism: Ten Imperatives 589

Notes 605

Selected Bibliography 717

Index 750

Prologue

I have long believed that a book’s central message should come first and be given in a few words. Why must readers and reviewers struggle to learn what an author believes is fundamentally important?

Paradise Poisoned is the principal product of a seventeen-year project, devoted to understanding linkages between deadly conflict, terrorism and development, by viewing them through the lens of Sri Lanka’s post-independence history, from 1948 through 1988.

After a period of relative tranquility, escalating conflict and terrorism engulfed this beautiful island nation. Coping with two civil wars became the principal preoccupation of Sri Lanka’s government and people. Explaining how tranquility was supplanted by all encompassing violent conflict and terrorism became the focal point of my inquiries.

What I have learned about preventing deadly conflict and terrorism fromSri Lanka’s civil wars?

What I have learned, of fundamental importance, from Sri Lanka’s civil wars, is this. We know more than enough to choose policies that will help prevent protracted deadly conflict and terrorism. We also know more than enough to avoid policies that will cause protracted deadly conflict and terrorism.

Our state of knowledge is analogous to our knowledge about the relationship between cigarette smoking and lung cancer. We know that smoking is a principal cause of lung cancer, though there are other causes. We know that refraining from smoking is the best way of avoiding lung cancer, though some abstainers may still contract the disease.

A promising, proactive strategy for preventing deadly conflict and terrorism

can be summarized in ten imperatives. Their relevance extends well beyond

Sri Lanka, to Kosovo, Kashmir, Palestine, the Sudan, Afghanistan and, in particular, Iraq. Chapter 22 discusses these imperatives in detail. The intervening chapters provide context and supporting evidence.

The ten imperatives are these:

1. Maintaining public order and preventing social turbulence from escalating

into protracted deadly conflict are prerequisite to the success

of all other development policies.

2. Polarising political rhetoric and tactics must be forgone, however

tempting their short-term benefits may seem. Like mustard gas,

which had to be abandoned as a weapon in World War I, this strategy

has a tendency to ‘blow back’ upon the user.1

3. Meeting the needs and aspirations of fighting age young men should

be the first priority of national development polices and of programs

funded by international donors.

4. Developing countries should have internal security forces (police and

paramilitary) that are generously funded, professional, apolitical and

trained to meet the complex challenges of maintaining public order

in a changing society.

5. Development policies that meet human beings’ common aspirations

– to feel good about their lives, the circumstances in which they live

and future prospects for themselves and their children – will contribute

most effectively to keeping violent conflict and terrorism within acceptable bounds.

6. Those who frame development policies should seek a middle path between capitalism’s efficient, but Darwinian precepts, and socialism’s egalitarian, but stultifying precepts.

7. Good governance and democratisation must be part of the ‘successful development’ mix. Most important are governance institutions that are open to ‘bad news’ and self-correcting.

8. Multinational corporations, businesses and businessmen’s organisations2 should play a more active role in supporting successful development policies.

9. Successful development requires a long-term view. Giving sufficient weight to the long-term requires institutional mechanisms and discourses that extend beyond the next election and term in office of political leaders presently in power.

10. There must be realistic, rigorous, opportunity-costs analyses of military options, versus equivalent expenditures for non-military options, before proceeding down the slippery slope of ‘military solutions’ to complex development problems.

‘We know our people’

Some readers want to know more than the typical preface provides about the context out of which a book grew and why the author considers it distinctive.  This section is for such readers.

The story begins when, some years ago, a picture of Iran’s former Prime Minister, Amir Abbas Hoveyda, an expression of fear and bewilderment on his face, appeared on the front page of my Washington Post. He had been imprisoned by Islamic revolutionary guards for months, while awaiting ‘trial.’ Soon after the picture was taken, revolutionary judges held a brief hearing and sentenced him to death. Guards immediately hustled him from the hearing room to an outdoor courtyard and carried out the sentence with shots to the back of his head.

I had known the Prime Minister in happier times. As a young systems engineering consultant, I had helped develop computerised simulation models to aid senior policy makers affiliated with Iran’s Plan and Budget Organisation in their long-term development planning work. Our two-year project culminated with a three-hour ‘on-line’ demonstration of the models, exclusively for cabinet ministers and senior military officers. An elegant luncheon followed our demonstration.

The luncheon gave me an opportunity to speak personally with Dr. Hoveyda and I gathered my courage to pose a troubling question. As tactfully as possible, I asked if he was not concerned that social-economic disruptions created by Iran’s accelerated industrialisation and urbanisation might be politically destabilising. In the rare opportunities that an intense work schedule gave me to walk about Teheran, these disruptions were evident, even to someone not schooled in Iran’s culture. The Prime Minister responded confidently that

I need not concern myself with such matters. ‘We know our people,’ he emphasized.

Looking at the Post photograph, I recalled the conversation and wondered what Dr. Hoveyda’s thoughts might have been during his imprisonment and in the moments before his execution.

In ensuing years, I worried about unintended contributions of my work to the draconian scenario that followed Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi’s abdication.  By then, I had co-authored a widely read book on ending world hunger3 and joined a faculty that trained international development professionals. I knew that even before the Cold War ended, violent conflict was endemic in many developing nations. Yet neither the book on hunger, nor our graduate curriculum, nor the international development professional literature generally, had much to say about linkages between development, deadly conflict and terrorism.  Development practitioners are, by and large, idealistic individuals who believe their work contributes to human well-being, especially the well-being of individuals who seem powerless to help themselves. ‘How probable was it that some elements of international development practice were more likely to produce deadly conflict than enhanced well-being?’ I wondered.

The subject of Paradise Poisoned – identifying the causes of deadly conflict and terrorism so that these pathologies could be prevented – became a major professional preoccupation. In the late 1980s, my colleagues among development professionals expressed little interest. ‘Internal security’ matters were viewed as the domain of politicians, police and military professionals.

Events in the 1990s changed this. Devastating outbreaks of deadly conflict

and terrorism – especially the internationally riveting Rwandan genocide – spurred creation of the Carnegie Commission on Preventing Deadly Conflict, charged with answering the question ‘what might have been done at an early stage [of potential deadly conflicts] to avert mass violence and achieve a just outcome?’

The events of September 11, 2001 made ‘preventing terrorism’ a global preoccupation. More recently, unfolding scenarios in Afghanistan and Iraq have reminded policy makers that military intervention is not a sufficient conflict prevention strategy. There must be a long-term development strategy as well.

The Carnegie Commission’s landmark report, Preventing Deadly Conflict4, gave weight to the idea of development and deadly conflict linkages by identifying‘ structural prevention – or peace building’ – as a cost-effective conflict prevention strategy. Important elements of structural prevention, according to the report, were the development, by individual states, of ‘mechanisms to ensure bedrock security, well-being and justice for their citizens… [and] meeting people’s basic economic, social, cultural and humanitarian needs…’5 ‘The costs of prevention are miniscule,’ Preventing Deadly Conflict concluded, ‘when compared with the costs of deadly  conflict and the rebuilding and psychological healing in its aftermath.’6

Like the Carnegie Commission report, Paradise Poisoned identifies causes of deadly conflicts and explains why they are so difficult to resolve. It points to early warning indicators of conflict outbreaks and proposes structural prevention strategies. Thus it is intended to reach the same professional audiences as the report. Now that the ‘war on terrorism’ has become a global concern, general readers in both developed and developing countries will also find the book to be of interest. Clearly the cost-effective way to fight terrorism is by preventing groups like Al Qa’eda from forming in this first place or, when they have formed, to cut off their pool of potential recruits.

Paradise Poisoned differs from the Carnegie Commission Report in five respects that make it a useful complement as well as a stride forward on the terrain mapped out by Preventing Deadly Conflict.

• It argues that the early warnings envisioned by the Carnegie Commission do not come early enough. High-leverage, cost-effective interventions should, whenever possible, come before what the Report calls ‘symptoms [of] states at risk’ become apparent.

• It shows how the relationship between relatively minor incidents of violent conflict and failed development strategies can provide timely early warning indicators. Recognizing the significance of these early warning indicators can trigger remedial measures focusing – as appropriate – on economic policy, governance, democratisation and security.

• It compiles ‘political conflict incidents’ in graphically compelling ‘fever charts’ that map the escalation of violent conflict in Sri Lanka over a 40-year time horizon. It compares types of incidents to show how the pathogens created by militant movements can infect a country like a disease.

• It uses an explicit systems analysis methodology to represent the development and deadly conflict system as a structure of interlocking feedback loops, synthesizing relevant development and conflict theories. Coupled with contextually rich descriptions, this structure provides a basis for showing linkages between development failures and topologies of rising conflict intensity exhibited in the ‘fever charts.’

• Rather than generalising from a number of conflicts, Paradise Poisoned describes in some detail, over a long time period, one of the most perplexing escalations of deadly conflict and terrorism in the post-World War II era.

• Paradise Poisoned combines political history with economic analysis, grounded in a comprehensive economic database that was created especially for this book. (My commitment to combine political and economic perspectives, in the classic political economy tradition using systems analysis as an integrating framework, mostly explains why the book is so long.)

Why this particular case? Sri Lanka, once a prototype of successful development, had long been discussed by development practitioners as a puzzling example of development failure. My interest in linking deadly conflict, terrorism, and development highlighted it as an interesting subject for study.

The choice was partly serendipitous. American University’s ‘Link’ program with Colombo University gave me the opportunity to live and work there. As I learned more, it became clear that Sri Lanka’s post-independence experience provided a setting for considering linkages between terrorism, conflict and an unusually diverse range of development scenarios.

Paradise Poisoned is not about current events in Sri Lanka. Most of the political

leaders about whom I write are, like Prime Minister Hoveyda, dead. By distancing from current events, I hope to free readers from viewing my conclusions as commentaries on contemporary political debates and maneuverings. In the case of Sri Lankan readers, this is probably unrealistic, but Paradise Poisoned is not written primarily for Sri Lankans. It is written so that others can take heed and learn from their experiences.

THE MIND'S KNOWING ESSENCE - MORE EARLY MORNING TWEETS

The Lee Kuan Yew school is - potentially - one of the world’s highest leverage institutions.  How can it fully realize that potential?

The primal delusion that mobilizes the forces of greed and anger is always cunningly concealed in the deepest resources of the heart. MCK

The mind’s knowing essence is a vast awareness; an unobstructed inner space that contains everything but retains nothing. MCK

Easter Morning Query: God has given me gifts for which I am thankful.  Am I fully using them in the service of God’s purposes? 

New early morning reading.  HH Dalai Lama, ETHICS FOR THE NEW MILLENIUM. Reference: ENM

The contemporary rhetoric of growth and economic development reinforces people's tendency toward competitiveness and envy. ENM

“Carew” birds early morning calls. Memories of the quiet Sri Lankan garden view, writing Paradise Poisoned. 

Dormgrandpop's Holiday Newsletter

DORMGRANDPOP

Dormgrandpop.blogspot.com

Dear Family and Friends, Near and Far,

The local post office, within walking distance from home will soon be reverting to part-time status – it will be open only four hours each day and we have lost our Postmaster.  By sending holiday greetings and family news by email, I am contributing to its demise. 

Yesterday, I purchased an 8-foot plus fir from the local Boy Scout troop and resurrected lights and decorations from storage.  It now graces our high-ceilinged dinning-room/kitchen area, where it is the product of a late-afternoon decorative effort that can not only be enjoyed, but shared out-the-window by the three families of neighbors who are the only ones living close enough, in our rural setting, to view it.

While it might sound as if I have settled into rural bliss, post-retirement, that really is not the case. Earlier in the year, I was quite surprised that I had accumulated over 90,000 frequent flyer miles – which did not include my most recent Geneva, Balatonsemmes, Budapest, Singapore Sri Lanka round trip.  Earlier destinations included the System Dynamics conference in St. Gallen, Switzerland and a lovely trip to the Greek Island of Spetsis visit with my son and granddaughters.   Most time-consuming – and demanding - was six months spent in Singapore, dividing time between teaching system dynamics modeling at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Policy, a project to introduce system dynamics modeling at Singapore’s elite National University High School of Mathematics and Science and s “System Dynamics Initiative” project to broaden the reach of this approach to thinking, modeling and analysis, more generally.  Sadly, the latter lost its patron to a leadership transition at the Global Asia Institute, where I held a joint appointment.  However in early January, I will be returning to Singapore to continue research, teaching at the Lee Kuan Yew School and the secondary education project, while seeking new patrons, partners and funding.  For those interested, here is a link to the journal, Solutions, in which a recent co-authored article, “The Improbable Resilience of Singapore,” which appeared in September. [ http://www.thesolutionsjournal.com ].

Equally exciting, though less time-consuming is the ongoing translation project of my book Paradise Poisoned into sixteen small, inexpensive, widely available volumes – eight in Sinhala and eight in Tamil.  The value of this collaboration with the Social Science Association of Sri Lanka, as I see it, is that it provides an even-handed common text on the political-social-economy of Sri Lanka’s turbulent post independence history to readers of both local languages.  My efforts to propose similar projects, especially in other contentious regions, have not borne fruit (probably I have not given these sufficient time and energy) but I am hopeful the model will catch on in due course.  Another project that has lain too-long fallow is a proposal to create a trade book from my Dormgrandpop blog, which I hope to complete before leaving for Singapore for another long sojourn of teaching, research and program development on New Year’s day.  

My Washington DC Apartment, close by the AU Campus is working out well.  Even though it remains empty for about half the year, it is a welcome oasis of order and tranquility when I return from my travels and a wonderful work-environment where I spend my weekdays during the times I am in the US.  Like the Global Asia Institute, AU has experienced transitions in both the Center for Teaching Excellence (now the Center for Teaching, Learning and Research) and the School of International Service, reminding me of The Buddha’s message that impermanence begins from the moment that one is born or – in an organizational setting – from the moment seeks to create a new institution and institutional culture.  I still enjoy bike rides or walks to AU’s beautiful campus to visit friends. However as is fitting, I do not offer  my views in institutional issues except on very rare occasions when someone seeks them (and sometimes not even then).

My more-or-less daily meditation practice continues, but it would be dissembling to use the label “progress” to describe it.  The first goal of such a practice is “single pointed concentration” which is followed by “altruistic compassion,” then “wisdom,” which includes the realization of “emptiness” and, perhaps many lifetimes later, “enlightenment.”  However I realized there is a prior stage, “being mindful of the fact that one has not achieved single-pointed concentration,” except, perhaps, for fleeting moments.  

Accepting this reality, however, should not be an impediment to giving thanks for being alive and fully able to experience the joys – and tribulations – of the upcoming holiday season.  That is my wish for family, for friends near and far, and, were it only possible, for all sentient beings. 

With fond regards to all,

Dormgrandpop

A Young Sri Lankan Buddhist Monk's Promises

When I visit Sri Lanka, as I did last week, I always try to spend a few days at the Island’s Southernmost City, Matara.  One goal of my visits to Sri Lanka’s Buddhist heartland is spending time at Matara’s Uposthagasa Temple. The Temple is located on a small rocky island, a few hundred meters from Matara’s bustling bus-station/market place and can only be reached by a foot-bridge.

Uposthagasa Temple is not a tourist destination and so I suppose the periodic appearance of an elderly Caucasian foreigner, who  spends hour or more each of several days meditating and chanting may be a bit of a curiosity.

One afternoon, a group of four young monks, three pre-teens and one older, stopped to engage me in conversation.  The oldest, in his early twenties, explained that before ordination, he had studied abroad, majoring in sociology, political science and philosophy.  Comparative religion had been a particular interest, he told me.

After about fifteen minutes he broke off our conversation and asked me to “please wait,” leaving me in the company of his three young disciples.  As the minutes passed, while the four of us smiled and made halting small-talk, with the sound of the waves breaking in the background, I wondered if had misunderstood.

However in due course, the young man returned and handed me two sheets of yellow paper in which he had  handwritten – in English – excerpts from his morning devotions and monastic vows,

The vows are now posted over my work desks in Washington DC and rural Virginia.

 PROMISES

1. I promise not to cause harm to living beings.

2. I promise not to take what does not belong to me.

3. I promise not to misbehave or act in a disrespectful manner.

4. I promise to refrain from false speech.

5. I promise to refrain from intoxicants or drugs that are harmful to me.

SPREADING LOVING KINDNESS

May all beings be free from suffering.

May all beings be free from sickness.

May all beings be free from enmity.

May all beings be happy forever.

Human resources – The Investment Sri Lanka needs most in its post-war era.

A small event, but indicative, I believe, of a larger whole, motivated this reflection. After spending a week in Sri Lanka, my return flight to Singapore was delayed by seven hours due to “delay in the arrival of the aircraft.” Fortunately I had purchased a business class ticket, mostly because on one occasion economy class check-in was so crowded and disorganized that I almost missed my flight. Since airport-check in required at 3:30 AM wake-up call for a scheduled 7 AM departure, I was able secure a small cubicle with a comfortable recliner, normally used by passengers with long late-night or early morning stopovers. Among the cubicle’s fittings was an elaborate combined fan and reading lamp, the latter with two adjustable dimmers. Alas, the reading lamp had no bulbs in it.

This vignette, unimportant in itself, illustrates a problem that I have observed in Sri Lanka and that may become more apparent as, under the driving leadership of its charismatic president, Mahinda Rajapakse, the nation redirects its energies from ending the war to development and purchases new technologies to help speed the development process. The country lacks a sufficient pool of talented, creative, highly intelligent, high-energy human resources to manage the complex technologies and institutions necessary to effect a transformation (to quote the title of Singapore’s former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew’s autobiography) “from third world to first.” Interestingly, Lee Kuan Yew’s latest book, Hard Truths to Keep Singapore Going, places an even greater emphasis on talented leaders, carefully selected, as the key to Singapore’s success.

The availability of talented Sri Lankans, with the ability and skills to transform their island nation “from third world to first” is not a problem. There may be no nation, of comparable size, that has produced a comparable number, per-capita, of professionals, researcher-scholars, managers and entrepreneurs. However all but a very few of the most able do not live in Sri Lanka. Their energy and skills are contributing to development in Canada, Australia, England, the United States and, to a lesser degree, non-English speaking nations such as France and Germany. This is not because Sri Lankans don’t love their country. They do. It is because they see so few opportunities there for themselves and, especially for their children.

The exodus of talented Sri Lankans began in response to the official language policies of the 1950s. It accelerated in response to the demonstrably pro-Sinhalese policies codified in the Republican constitution of 1971 and then, massively, in response to the black July riots of 1983. As conflict became protracted, with devastating economic impact, the migrants included many talented Sinhalese as well as Tamils. “All my children are living abroad” is the sad refrain I hear from many Sri Lankan friends of my generation. I mean to cast no aspersion on courageous, talented, patriotic Sri Lankans who have remained when I observe that those who have migrated were, in preponderant instances, those who could. They had the talent, drive, and resources to create opportunities for themselves elsewhere.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s visionary, broad spectrum manifesto for Sri Lanka’s future, The Mahinda Chintana (“Sayings of Mahinda”) highlights creating an environment that will draw migrants back to Sri Lanka as a major priority. I believe this should be the most important priority, because it speaks to the human resources that will be necessary to realize other priorities. Talented human resources will be essential if Sri Lanka, like Singapore before it, is to be transformed “from Third World to First.” When migrants begin flooding back to this beautiful land, as they have begin flooding back to India and China, President Rajapakse will know Sri Lanka is on the right path to realizing his vision. When newly installed capital investments, from new high-speed rail links to state of the art reading lamps in the Bandaranaike Airport Business Class Lounge are maintained at peak efficiency that, too, will be an indicator.

Recent Travels to Singapore and Sri Lanka

Among the many amazing applications on my Mac Laptop and iPhone is a calendaring feature. It allows one to change time-zones effortlessly and to specify the time zone of events when making entries. I found this particularly useful during December when I was making plans for the new semester and planning short, intense visits to Singapore and Sri Lanka. Entries for DC, Sri Lanka and Singapore were often being scheduled on the same day.

The Singapore trip’s purpose was to push forward with System Dynamics computer modeling initiatives, to catch up with friends and to begin discussions about a possible additional stay or two, beginning in January 2011. In Sri Lanka, I helped “Launch” the second set of Paradise Poisoned translations into Sinhala and Tamil, entitled Lessons from the War II – Path to the Crisis and firmed up plans for the third set, to be launched at the Colombo Book Fair at the end of September.

The pace of this trip gave me an opportunity to appreciate in a small way, the demanding schedule that is routine for my son, an international businessperson who travels extensively in Asia. I left Washington on a Monday morning and arrived in Singapore early Wednesday morning – absorbing a 13 hour time change. Meetings began Wednesday afternoon and continued through the week. After the meetings, there were follow up communications and further discussions. Over the weekend I was completing the syllabus, and a “remote” first lecture for my AU spring course and preparing a guest lecture to be delivered to systems analysis graduate students at the Lee Kuan Yew School. There were two long meetings about a future System Dynamics modeling project, to be conducted under the auspices of the National University of Singapore’s Global Asia Institute where I am a fellow and there was correspondence to be completed related to the upcoming launch. The process continued virtually up to my departure from Singapore on Thursday mid afternoon.

The pace of life in Singapore is swift. Each day is full and opportunities to make a difference seem to abound. But it is relatively easy to meet the demands of a tight schedule. With few exceptions, people are on time for appointments. Taxis are plentiful and inexpensive. People with whom one meets are not offended if one sticks to a meeting agenda, addresses several topics in a short period and ends at a scheduled time, even abruptly.

Sri Lanka is different, though, with the conclusion of the war, some government leaders are striving to bring more Singapore-like efficiencies to the “Island of the Dhamma” (the Island of Enlightenment.) It is not clear to me that this goal will be attained or even that it should be. What I have always cherished about Sri Lanka is the slower pace of life and the attention given to human relationships. This does not mean, of course, that it is, perpetually, the “Paradise” of perpetually smiling faces, now being extolled in post-ward tourist publicity. But it does mean that meetings and discussions rarely “get right down to business” without first attending to the human relationship side of things. This is especially true when one has been away from the Island for a period of time, as I had been. The logistics of day-to-day professional activities can also be challenging, especially when one is on a very tight time schedule. On this trip, I lodged on the “Executive Floor” of a downtown Colombo five-star hotel. I thought this was the best way to optimize my use of time – and it was, to some degree. But not everything worked smoothly or as advertised. For an experienced Sri Lanka hand, as I am, sorting through the “small problems” (a common Sri Lankan expression) that arose only required patience, time and good humor. But on a visit spanning only three full days, time was a scarce commodity. I kept repeating the mantra I chose for my stay “Remember that time is your friend, not your enemy.”

Fortunately, I do not have to choose between the two islands – they are only an inexpensive plane ride apart. Sustaining my ability to function in both cultures will probably help to sustain mental and physical health. In fact I intend to spend much of my projected Sri Lankan sojourns in a relatively remote Southern town, best reached by a seven hour train ride with the last two hours on a 30 KPH maximum single tracked line dotted with frequent, often picturesque, colonial era local stations. There are no Executive Club accommodations in Matara, but there is a small Buddhist temple, located on an island and accessible only by a narrow footbridge. There, the sound of ocean waves on the rocks and nearby beach can be heard as one meditates. This is not a place to be “fitted in” on a three-day visit, however.

viewing the past year - post holiday newsletter

18 January. Written over the Pacific enroute from Tokyo to DC

Dear Family and Friends,

This was a year of travels and the beginning of transitions. If I am to keep to my self- imposed 1 page length, I can do little more than recount events, with few reflections. As some may recall, I stepped down officially as Director, Center for Teaching Excellence and began a one-year sabbatical in July 2009. In early January, I loaded up books, electronic equipment and other necessaries for a 7-month stay in Singapore as of Visiting Professor, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. The environment was welcoming. The Lee Kuan Yew School, located adjacent to Singapore’s Botanical Gardens occupies buildings on the site of what was once “Raffles College,” where the late Mrs. Lee Kuan Yew, Choo Kwa, ranked first in her class and “Minister Mentor” Lee ranked second as secondary school students. I moved into a spacious two-bedroom 10th floor apartment in National University of Singapore subsidized housing. Each day, I could view Singapore awakening from my balcony.

My principal projects were completing a paper drawing lessons from Singapore’s post independence history that would be relevant to global sustainability issues, deepening my knowledge of Singapore’s political economy and promoting the use of System Dynamics computer modeling as a planning tool to Singapore government officials. I pursued these while my wife, her horses and our cats were coping with mountains of snow in the worst winter Washington DC had encountered in years. My Singapore sojourn offered the advantage of easy, inexpensive access to Sri Lanka, where the project to translate Paradise Poisoned: Learning about Conflict, Development and Terrorism into 16 pamphlet sized booklets (8 in Sinhala, 8 in Tamil) continued to progress. The second two were “launched” in January 2011, just a day or so ago. The summer concluded with presentation of a paper at the Annual System Dynamics Society Meeting in Seoul entitled “The Relevance of Urban Dynamics to Singapore’s Development: Lessons for Moving Beyond the Crisis.” This was co-authored with Lee Kuan Yew School graduate student colleague new friend, Elizabeth Ong Ling Lee.

Full time teaching was the fall semester’s principal agenda, including an undergraduate class “International Development” that was my first attempt and a graduate class “Quantitative Research Methods” that I can taught many times, but not for 10 years. Both classes were relatively large – 25 in the graduate class; 33 in the undergraduate. I had forgotten how long correcting papers can take, especially if one provides fairly extensive comments. Fortunately my students were both bright – and patient – which made things easier.

For Christmas, I drove to Kentucky to spend three days with our four grandchildren, my son, and other family members. Once retirement transition is settled, I intend to spend more time “grand parenting,” Its fun. Wife E… continues to live an intense and interesting life dividing full days and evenings between teaching, riding, caring for her horses and spending time with friends. She won the prize for “most helpful member” at the Old Dominion Endurance Riding Association’s annual banquet. Daughter H…. divides full days between her landscaping, restaurant serving and a new practice – mosaic murals, including an awesomely large and beautiful production in Tarpon Springs Florida. With friends, she has purchased property in Panama that she hopes to develop as a resort. Son J…’s broodmare nurturing business in Kentucky appears to be doing well; he continues to pursue a vocation he loves in some of the most beautiful country in the US. Son B…’s work as President of Shaklee International appears to be thriving. I attended events in Johor Bahru and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and was impressed with his charismatic platform presence before what appeared enthusiastic cadres of salesperson-representatives… That’s all the news one page will allow – my love and best wishes to all in the New Year. Dormgrandpop.

Sri Lanka diary #1. My fruitless attempts to arrange mobile internet service

Sunday July 11,

Even for a frequent visitor, adjusting to Sri Lanka’s different rhythms and culture of efficiency does not happen at once. When we disembarked from the plane and walked down the corridor to the arrivals hall, we were greeted by a succession of six foot high posters advertising the “Luxury Train Service to Colombo.” The journey would take only half an hour. Tickets would be available at the counter in the arrivals lounge.

Before passport control, there was a new “Information Desk” staffed by three attractive young women. I stopped to express my delight about the new service, the early fulfillment of a promise in President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s election manifesto, The Mahinda Chintana (sayings of Mahinda). The women looked puzzled when I asked for details. They seemed unfamiliar with the new service or even that it had been announced. Presently, they told me, there was only one train, which departed at 7AM ach morning. It was not clear the posters were announcing future service, rather than service presently available, but that was the case. I could find no counter with information about luxury train service in the Arrivals Lounge.

However I was pleased to see that there was a counter advertising plug in mobile internet service. I was hoping this would be available, enabling me to avoid the predatory pricing that the AT&T iPhone monopoly imposes on international travelers. Thanks to AT&T, I must already carry a separate mobile phone when traveling internationally, in order to receive reasonably priced service from a local carrier, however iPhone internet connectivity in Singapore, while expensive, is priced reasonably enough that I avoid a separate PDA. I only have to carry a separate cell phone. Not so in Sri Lanka. My carrier in Sri Lanka, Dialog GSM had a reasonably priced contract and I gladly signed up. ...But to be certain before leaving the counter, I decided to check out the service on my computer. It didn’t work, perhaps because my computer is a MacIntosh - they are rarely used in Sri Lanka - who knows? On my last trip I had borrowed a plug in from a friend and used it without difficulty. After working for an hour with the Dialog GSM technician/salesperson we had to give up. I was going to be late to a dinner party at which I was the guest of honor. The technician suggested that I try the Dialog GSM main office in Colombo in the morning where expert assistance would be available.

The next morning I did try. After a brief wait, I sat across from the technician who was to help me - but he had no help to offer. After I explained my problem he told me that neither he or anyone and the Dialog GSM main office knew anything about MacIntosh computers. His suggestion was that I drive across town to another office where assistance for Apple computers might be available. Then he might be able to sell me the service. What struck me most about our exchange was his apparent indifference to whether or not I received the service his company was in business to provide. I like to think he may have been exception among Dialog GSM Sri Lanka employees. His colleague at the airport, under far more stressful conditions, with other customers waiting, made a good faith effort to help.

Dialog GSM’s competitor, Mobitel, was worse. In the hope that they might offer software more compatible with MacIntosh I walked down the street to their office, which, upon entering seemed depressingly down at the heels. Like Dialog GSM, the office had a “customer service” desk and several technicians in cubicles. The customer service desk was unmanned. I stood there for several minutes, thinking the responsible staff member might have stepped out to the rest room or for a tea break. No one came. Finally I decided that AT&T’s preditor-priced monopoly iPod service for international travelers was my only Sri Lankan option, at least for this trip. Using email frugally and eating the exorbitant costs incurred would be my only option.