Interview III – Dr. Harsha de Silva from Young Asia Television on Vimeo.
I recently spoke with Dr. Harsha de Silva, now a National List MP from the United National Party (UNP). I first interviewed Harsha a little over a year ago, on the context leading up to and the fall out of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) bail-out package and the general state of the Sri Lankan economy.
This time around we spoke about his entry into parliament, and one of the younger and more dynamic individuals entering for the first time into a chamber hitherto not known as a locus for progressive debate and policies. We spoke about Harsha vision for economic development and what he thinks needs to be done for better fiscal management. We also spoke about the UNP itself, and how as a new representative of the party, he feels about its crisis of leadership. Our discussion also centred around what Harsha feels is a new spirit of collaboration, respect and bi-partisan cooperation amongst younger members of parliament. Noting cordial relations with both Namal Rajapaksa, the President’s son and Basil Rajapaksa, the President’s brother, he seemed to believe that interest in a robust debate of ideas, eschewing venomous personal attacks, was a common ground shared between new entrants to parliament.
Watch the full interview for more interesting insights.