Saturday 7th March, 2026

Parliament yesterday voted to extend the State of Emergency, with 108 ayes and eight nays. Most of the Opposition MPs were not present in the House, as usual. Such is their dedication to the discharge of their legislative duties. The same goes for the government MPs who were absent. The government and the Opposition are making a strong case, albeit unwittingly, for doing away with the MPs’ attendance allowance.

The Opposition has rightly decried the extension of the State of Emergency, calling it a threat to democracy and the people’s rights and freedoms. The government has sought to rubbish this argument. Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya has asked the Opposition to back its claim with facts, daring it to furnish information about any individuals who may have been unfairly arrested or subjected to repression under the emergency regulations during the past three months. The President and other ruling party leaders continue to face strong criticism from the media, yet the government has taken no action to suppress press freedom, she has said. What guarantee is there that the government will not abuse the Emergency regulations if push comes to shove? After all, Deputy Minister of Public Security Sunil Watagala once directed the police to use the Emergency regulations to deal with those responsible for propaganda attacks on government politicians. Perhaps, what prevented the police from carrying out his order was the political backlash that sent the government reeling. JVP/NPP politicians are being exposed for corrupt deals, much to the detriment of the interests of the JVP/NPP, and therefore the possibility of the emergency regulations being abused to suppress the media institutions that the government has no control over cannot be ruled out.

There are compelling arguments against Emergency regulations. Even laymen are aware that they undermine fundamental rights and freedoms, weaken the rule of law, reduce parliamentary oversight, help silence dissent, create a climate of fear, lend themselves to abuse due to vague provisions, lead to human rights violations, and normalise suppression. In a country like Sri Lanka, which has witnessed the abuse of even ordinary laws and regulations under successive governments, a state of Emergency is as dangerous as a straight razor in the hands of a mad monkey, as a local saying goes.

Power not only corrupts but also has the ability to transform Jekylls into Hydes. When politicians savour it, their love for democracy, justice and fair play flies out of the window. Hence the most vociferous campaigners for democracy in the Opposition demonstrate their dictatorial tendencies upon being voted into power. This, we have seen during the last several decades. The UNP leaders who came to power in 1977, promising to uphold democracy and create a righteous society, suppressed democracy in every conceivable manner and institutionalised election malpractices, political violence and corruption. The SLFP-led People’s Alliance, which sought a mandate to govern the country, pledged to eliminate corruption and state terror, but ended up being a metaphor for corruption and political violence, after being ensconced in power. Mahinda Rajapaksa was an internationally known campaigner for democracy and human rights when he was an Opposition MP, but after his elevation to the presidency, his government practised the very antithesis of what he had preached during his Opposition days. Now, we have the JVP/NPP leaders extending Emergency regulations on some flimsy pretext, unashamedly defending their decision to do so.

There is no justifiable reason for the government to keep on extending the State of Emergency, which was declared in the aftermath of the landfall of Cyclone Ditwah about three months ago. The fact that the Opposition asked the government to do so is no reason why the country should be kept under a state of emergency rule indefinitely.

By extending the state of emergency, the JVP-NPP government has laid bare its true face. So much for its solemn pledge to ensure a radical departure from the rotten political culture, and strengthen democracy.

Friday 6th March, 2026

Only about 35 crew members of an Iranian frigate survived a torpedo attack by the US, off Galle, on Wednesday. More than 100 Iranians are believed to be dead. The Sri Lanka Navy and Air Force rescued the survivors and brought ashore about 85 bodies of the victims of the US attack. The sinking of the Iranian naval vessel, the IRIS Dena, which was on a non-combat mission, and the brutal act of killing so many naval personnel, thousands of kilometres away from the conflict zone, must be condemned unreservedly.

The NPP government led by the JVP, which would condemn the US and the western bloc at the drop of a hat during its Opposition days, has not explicitly criticised Wednesday’s incident. The Opposition yesterday asked in Parliament whether the Iranian vessel had come under attack while waiting for permission to reach the Galle harbour. Its question went unanswered. The government resorted to prevarication.

It is believed that the US did not inform India of its move to launch Wednesday’s attack in the Indian Ocean. The sinking of the IRIS Dena, which was Indian Navy’s guest, has become not only a huge embarrassment but also as a strategic concern to New Delhi, for the attack was carried out in an area where India projects its dominance as a regional leader. Has a Quad member got short shrift from the US?

Most of all, the IRIS Dena was returning from India, where it took part in an international fleet review, together with vessels from 40 other nations including the US and Russia. The naval exercise was conducted in Visakhapatnam, where the Indian Navy’s Eastern Naval Command is headquartered. This has made the sinking of the IRIS Dena and the killing of its crew members even more unacceptable. Strangely, India has refrained from explicitly condemning the incident.

If the US thinks Iranian assets anywhere in the world are legitimate targets, can Iran be blamed for adopting a similar approach, in dealing with the US and its interests? The Middle East conflict is not going to end in a few weeks or months with the conclusion of the ongoing US-Israeli bombing spree. Iran has vowed to take revenge.

Much has been spoken about the Indian Ocean as a Zone of Peace during the past five decades or so, but it is fast becoming a conflict zone for all intents and purposes. The peace-zone doctrine is based on several core principles such as demilitarisation, non-aggression, freedom of navigation, removal of foreign bases, regional cooperation, and the promotion of international peace and security. It was intended to prevent smaller states from being dragged into conflicts that are not of their own making and preserve regional stability. Wednesday’s US submarine attack in Sri Lanka’s exclusive economic zone should be viewed against the backdrop of the Indian Ocean peace zone concept.

The expansion by the US of the theatre of its current military operations against Iran beyond the Gulf region and the presence of a US submarine in Sri Lanka’s exclusive economic zone pose a serious threat to international trade routes in this part of the world. This is why India’s position on the issue of offensive US military action in the Indian Ocean matters.

The NPP government also gave evasive answers when the Opposition demanded to know whether another Iranian naval ship in Sri Lanka’s exclusive economic zone was also in danger, and whether it would be given permission to enter Sri Lanka’s territorial waters. The civilised world must help Sri Lanka ensure that another Iranian vessel in imminent danger is not left to its fate and condemn the brutality of the self-righteous unequivocally.

Thursday 5th March, 2026

There was a time when Sri Lanka was known the world over as the Granary of the East. Ancient rulers made selfless sacrifices to enable it to achieve and sustain self-sufficiency in food, especially rice. Alas, it has today become a hunduwa (a small traditional rice-measuring cup), according to its current Head of State himself.

On Tuesday, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake (AKD) caused quite a stir by referring to Sri Lanka as a hunduwa in a bid to drive a point home in Parliament. Opposition politicians let out howls of protests, condemning him for disparaging the country. Their ruling party counterparts, true to form, did their best to obfuscate the issue and defend their leader.

If the Granary of the East has ended up as a mere hunduwa, as President AKD says, then the blame for its retrogression should be apportioned to its leaders, both past and present. All of them secured power by promising to usher in good governance and develop the country, but they conveniently reneged on their promises.

The JVP-led NPP came to power on an anti-corruption platform, claiming that the leaders of all previous governments had institutionalised waste and corruption among other things, and the post-Independence era had been a 76-year curse, which had to be broken. Its campaign slogan struck a responsive chord with the resentful public and helped it obtain a two-thirds majority in Parliament to eliminate the scourge of corruption. One cannot but agree with President AKD that previous governments were notorious for corruption, and the corrupt elements currently in the Opposition, masquerading as good governance campaigners must be brought to justice. Similarly, the incumbent government must make a serious effort to rid itself of corruption, which is eating into its vitals.

US President Donald Trump’s Operation Epic Fury (or Epstein Fury?) against Iran, its economic fallout, and the brouhaha over hunduwa have eclipsed a mega coal scam here. Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa has told Parliament that the government has resorted to emergency purchases of coal amounting to five shipments to meet a power generation shortfall caused by nine low-grade coal shipments. The country has already lost about Rs. 9 billion due to the coal scam, according to the Opposition. The JVP-NPP government has made a mockery of its commitment to upholding accountability by trying to cover up the coal scandal.

As for the hunduwa debate, a country with a patriotic, visionary leadership can achieve progress, overcoming challenges arising from territorial and resource constraints. This has been the secret behind Singapore’s success. Had Lee Kuan Yew (LKY), leading a city state with limited resources, let an inferiority complex weigh him down, Singapore would still have been lagging behind Sri Lanka. Opinion may be divided on the methods used by LKY to achieve his goals, but the leaders of the developing countries ought to emulate his strong leadership and unwavering commitment to accountability and development.

One is reminded of what LKY said about ministers and officials in this part of the world. In his widely read book, From Third World to First, he has said: “The higher they are, the bigger their homes and more numerous their wives, concubines, or mistresses, all bedecked in jewellery appropriate to the power and position of their men. Singaporeans who do business in these countries have to take care not to bring home such practices.” When one sees Sri Lankan politicians and bureaucrats enriching themselves and living the life of Riley, one remembers LKY’s memorable words.

All Singaporean politicians who did not heed LKY’s aforesaid warning were severely dealt with. The fate that befell Teh Cheang Wan, the Minister for National Development, is a case in point. When the CPIB (Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau) launched a probe into an allegation of bribery against Wan in the mid-1980s, he sought to meet LKY, who refused to see him until the investigation was over. Wan took his own life. In 2023, LKY’s son, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, allowed the CPIB to arrest his Transport Minister, S. Iswaran, over a top-level corruption probe. Iswaran was imprisoned after he pleaded guilty to accepting gifts worth more than S$403,000 while in office, as well as obstructing the course of justice.

As we pointed out in a previous editorial comment, if the Sri Lankan ministers had received from their leaders the same treatment as Wan and Iswaran, most of them would have been either pushing up the daisies by now or languishing behind bars; the vital sectors such as health, education, finance, agriculture, power and energy, and trade and commerce in this country would have been free from corruption, and most of all, substandard drugs and equipment would not have snuffed out so many lives in the state-run hospitals, and the issue of low-grade coal causing huge losses to the state coffers would not have arisen.

The least AKD can do to transform the hunduwa back into the Granary of East and make good on his thriving-nation-beautiful-life promise is to take a leaf out of LKY’s book on punishing the corrupt regardless of their political affiliations and pursuing development goals vigorously.