Dr. Nanayakkarapathirage Martin Perera’s 46th death anniversary falls today (14). 

After a brilliant academic career, which enabled him to obtain a Doctor of Philosophy degree and Doctor of Science degree at the London School of Economics of the University of London, UK, he returned to Sri Lanka, then Ceylon, in 1933. It was then a colony of Britain, and the people were exploited and suffering from extreme poverty. Only the English-speaking elite and the local capitalist class benefited under British rule. 

The situation was made worse by the widespread malaria epidemic. Dr. Perera immediately joined the Suriya Mal Movement and went to one of the worst affected areas, the Kegalle District. He went from village to village, providing quinine tablets and food for the starving people using the money collected by the sale of suriya flowers, instead of the poppy flowers sold by the British rulers to their own people. 

The people whose hearts Dr. Perera won fondly referred to him as ‘Parippu Mahaththaya’ (Dhal Gentleman). That confidence never died. It was strengthened when Dr. Perera, along with Don Philip Rupasinghe Gunawardena and Dr. Colvin Reginald de Silva, formed the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) in 1935 and began the fight for complete freedom from British rule, as well as to develop the economy to overcome the poverty and suffering of the people. He laid the foundation for this. We, the members of the LSSP, too, must win the confidence and trust of the people if we are to become a developed and just society, upon the foundation laid by Dr. Perera.

Dr. Perera and Gunawardena used the Constituent Assembly and the Parliament formed after 1948 to become the real voice of the people. The United National Party (UNP) implemented a few irrigation and agricultural schemes, which benefited some supporters, but not the vast mass of people. 

In contrast, Dr. Perera fought to bring down the prices of essentials. As Finance Minister, he gave weight to develop cooperatives so that essentials were available at prices affordable to the poor. 

He had previously led the hartal of 1953 to oppose the UNP Government when it placed the burden of the economic crisis on the poor by raising the price of a measure of rice from 24 cents to 72 cents without placing any burden on the rich. Furthermore, he helped schoolchildren by providing adequate low-priced transport through the Ceylon Transport Board. This also helped workers and other employees. 

As Finance Minister, Dr. Perera stopped price rises by middlemen through establishing direct linkages between producers and consumer cooperatives through the Marketing Department. He promoted the development of value-adding industries locally, instead of the low-priced export of natural and agricultural raw materials. By setting up the Gem Corporation, he ensured that the country got a full value from the gem industry. 

Dr. Perera was for making Sri Lanka a self-supporting industrial country with minimal foreign exploitation. Although the society was capitalist, he stood for employee ownership of institutions.

It was the LSSP that fought for free health and free education (from prison, Dr. Perera produced a book on ‘The Case for Free Education’). Dr. Perera led the fight for the rights of workers by establishing and leading the most powerful trade union, the Ceylon Federation of Labour. It is on this foundation that the LSSP could develop our society on socialist lines. 

Although the present National People’s Power (NPP) Government claims to be Leftist and has been people-friendly on some issues, during its eight months in power, all indications are that it remains on the capitalist path. For example, when foreign reserves have fallen to less than $ 3 billion, it has chosen to use this to buy motor vehicles for the rich, a luxury, instead of essentials like medicines which are still in short supply, even though the NPP has made it better than it was before. 

The tax policy of the NPP Government is based on indirect taxes, which place the burden mainly on the ordinary people and not on the rich, even though the latter can afford to take the entire tax burden. This would be the policy of any real Leftist Government and it is the policy of the LSSP as well. Taken as a whole, NPP policy helps capitalists, and there should be a shift towards the ordinary people who mainly voted for them. 

On the US tariff issue, the NPP Government has done well to ensure its reduction to 20% from the original 44%. This could only have been done by striking a deal with US President Donald John Trump. What is the deal with the US, and, also in the past, with India? Why are these being kept hidden? 

The close contact of the NPP Government with the US Ambassador in Sri Lanka and deals such as giving local petrol stations that were in State hands to the Shell company, suggest that the claim that the NPP Government is Left-inclined may be false and that it in fact has a pro-Western attitude. 

I hope that the NPP Government will not give into the request that was made by the US of former President Ranil Wickremesinghe to give in to its request to establish US military bases in Sri Lanka. At that time, I held a media briefing at the Dr. N.M. Perera Centre and exposed this move; when it became public knowledge and opposition built up, Wickremesinghe, who did not have a mandate from the people to do this, was compelled to back down. I hope that the NPP Government will not allow this to happen, nor sign the Millennium Challenge Corporation agreement and the Status of Forces Agreement.

The people of Sri Lanka are having a hard time. More than half of all families are living below the poverty line. Most of them have to manage with one or at best two meals a day of rice or bread, which provide them energy to work and play. However, as protein and vitamins are lacking in such meals, growth is poor. Consequently, physical and mental development are defective, and the outcome is that children are short, thin, and even mentally defective. The future generation may be badly affected. 

The malnutrition level has risen from the previous figure of 14.3% by one-and-a-half times or twofold, according to some researchers. The high prices of food and other essentials need to be brought down and controlled by the Government as Dr. Perera did during the triple crises (economic, oil, and food) of 1972-1973, when global oil prices rose seven times and sugar nearly 20 times.

A final word on one of the worst tragedies in the history of the world – the massacre of unarmed Palestinian civilians, mainly women and children, in Gaza, their own land, by Israeli terrorists. It was the late Pope Francis who said that the conflict was not a war but an act of terrorism by Zionists led by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 

The fact is that the paragons of virtue of the Western world, like the US and some European countries like Germany, actually supported this crime. Others remained silent till they were compelled by their people to make a show of opposition, albeit with conditions that would placate the US and even Israel. We condemn this inhuman genocide.

(The writer is the Leader of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party)

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The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of this publication.