Role of a Leader in a Conflicting Society

Leadership Skills to Manage Conflicts & Extremism.

 Lee Hsien Loong is the current Prime Minister (PM) of Singapore & is in office since 2004.

·         He is the eldest son of the late Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew (Father of the Nation).

·         Lee graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge University in 1974 & earned a Master of Public Administration at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.

·         From 1974 to 84, served Singapore Army rising to the rank of Brigadier-General.

·         Won his 1^st election & became a Member of Parliament in 1984, contesting as a member of the People's Action Party.

·         Under Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, he was the Minister for Trade, Industry & Finance & Deputy Prime Minister.

·         As PM led his party to victory in the 2006, 2011 and 2015 general elections.

·         He is managing the financially strong city state with minimum conflicts  (Source: Wikipedia).

• What can Sri Lankans learn from Leaders like Prime Minister Lee and his late father?
• How did/do they manage conflicts & extremism in their Society?
• Singapore was born in the 1950s. Sri Lanka state is much older rich with centuries of socio political traditions & various cultural influences. It’s challenging to manage extremism in our society due to that but it is very important since development will not be possible in a conflicting society.
• What type of training (Military, Law or Economics etc) would be useful for a leader to control conflict?
• Sri Lankans lived in strictly disciplined Monarchies under ancient kings for centuries.
• British introduced Universal Adult Franchise to Sri Lanka in November 1931. With that we got used to the modern electoral tradition.
• Are Sri Lankans like ‘Elephants’ which cannot be controlled with the ‘Democracy stick’?
• Will a ‘Goad’ (Ankus or Henduwa) serve the purpose?
• Will they give up extremism if a strict discipline control system is in place?

© Dr. Samitha Hettige, November 2016.