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Message: <blockquote data-quote="imhotep" data-source="post: 29132823" data-attributes="member: 562115">Copied as received - origin unknown.  “Knowledge and skills are not just important for economic development, but also for social cohesion and national unity. A nation can not be strong if its people are ignorant and uneducated." (Lee Kuan Yew) A stunned audience had to bear the diatribe of Ranil Wickremesinghe who berated the migrating doctors and professionals by saying that “ We can use black cats or white cats to catch mice as long as the job gets done” . It sounded far more distasteful when said in the vernacular.  A senior professor compared the words of the President to one who is depraved, inhuman, and unbecoming of a leader who claims to be well read and having been in politics for over 46 years.  Are we surprised? Not the least. This is Ranil Wickremesinghe ‘who loses all sanity when in power. If Gotabaya Rajapakse reversed the country by 15 years Ranil Wickremesinghe will add another 10 to that number by the end of his term in 2024. Barely a week after making that hideous comment, while addressing students of Anula Vidyalaya, he went on to say that the youth must learn Chinese and Hindi. Whether he makes these statements in ignorance or not it reflects what an obtuse human being he is and unfit to lead a country even in the best of times least of all when it is bankrupt and struggling to rise from the ashes. A TEFL qualified English teacher can earn in excess of USD 3000 in China, while in India, English is made part of the curriculum as an important link language that connects youth to the world. Ranil Wickremesinghe may just trigger an exodus of English teachers from government schools by his stupid comments. No one doubts that Chinese and Hindi are languages in growth, but to give this priority in a country where less than 20% can converse in English shows that Ranil is intellectually out of his depth. The exodus of professionals took a turn for the worst after Ranil Wickremesinghe was appointed as President by his utterly demoralizing and irrational comment that his plans would  work only in 2048 which,going by the time line, proved that he does not even have a plan.  Ranil’s arrogance has made even the modestly optimistic professional think twice about remaining in the country.Rallying the professionals in Sri Lanka and overseas in a dialogue to seek their views on how best to take the country forward and generate a think tank to help carve out new polices is what an action centered leader would do, which is sadly not the style of leadership that Ranil Wickremesinghe is known for.  Secrecy and skullduggery are traits he inherits naturally, and admonishing those who have diverse opinions with ridicule and insult is what has earned him the wrath of many. On the 17th when representatives of professionals peacefully walked to the Presidential secretariat seeking a meeting with the President or the Secretary to the President, they were met with a massive contingent of armed riot Police, which summed up the mentality of a raving lunatic. Here are some points on the brain drain that could flip us from the frying pan to the fire ; # Over 20,000 top professionals from diverse fields have left the country since 2022. # Included in the above number are over 800 specialist doctors and 1000 doctors. It takes over five years for a doctor to pass out from medical college and another 5 years to specialize. # Also included are over 5500 university lecturers from the total cadre of 11,000. Over 30% of the remaining lecturers have confirmed that they would be migrating by the end of 2023.  # The shocking revelation is that at the beginning of 2022, only about 25% of IT professionals were planning on migrating. That number has reached  90% as of August 2023 based on a survey carried out by the IT Professionals Association. Annually, the IT software and related services brought in a total of USD 2 billion to the country, which will now be lost. The small and medium IT companies have either shut down or taken their operations overseas. # By the end of 2023, it is estimated that over 400,000 would leave the country, most of whom belong to the family migration category. What Ranil Wickremesinghe and his bunch of half wits fail to understand is that the knowledge and skill exodus has far-reaching economic implications to the country. #A skill and knowledge exodus will definitely affect the country’s attractiveness to foreign investors. India, under Manmohan Singh, realized that knowledge is the sustainable advantage that can put India right on top and he not only retained the professionals but also invited  Indian professionals living overseas to either return to India or provide technical support. India is reaping the rewards today and is on course to becoming the third largest economy in the world. # A Skill and knowledge exodus impedes innovation in a country and stifles diversification into emerging industries. Vietnam is an example of how they developed and retained their skill and knowledge and  grew the semi-conductor industry that  is set to reach USD 6 billion by 2024.  #  Last but not least, an exodus of skill and knowledge dampens the confidence of the citizens of a country, which can not be measured in monetary terms. Entrepreneurship,when  stifled, can have a ripple effect on the domestic economy. If Sri Lanka is to have  even a glimmer of hope to turn around within the next five years, this  crop of archaic, arrogant, and  apathetic  politicians must be sent into permanent retirement A person who is assiduous towards the search for solutions to the country’s plethora of issues is the need of the hour.  "The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one who gets the people to do the greatest things." -Ronald Reagan Former US President</blockquote>

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