Features

The Economy, Executive Presidency, and the Parliamentary Election

Published

2 years ago

2024/10/6

by Rajan Philips

Although it was the economy that ended Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s presidency and it was very much the main backdrop to the September presidential election, the results of the election cannot be interpreted as showing a voter preference for any particular direction for economic management. In fact, in an earlier CPA opinion poll, a good majority of the respondents in general, and especially among the Sinhalese, had indicated that they did not trust of any of three main candidates for their abilities to steer the economy out of trouble to recovery and growth.

That included Ranil Wickremesinghe who rested his whole campaign on economic stewardship and got third prize for his efforts. This is not to belittle Mr. Wickremesinghe’s achievements in restoring economic normalcy, but to highlight the fact he undermined his own economic case by trying to be too clever by half on the political front. Now that he has earned his long overdue political rest, let him finally have some quality time without too much disturbance.

Sajith Premadasa’s progressive benefactors have blamed his defeat on his alleged reliance on centre-right economists like Eran Wickramaratne and Harsha de Silva, both with background in banking and economics but stymied from contributing to their full potential first by RW and then by SP. The criticism anyway is over the top, for Sajith Premadasa’s shortcoming is the opposite of Ranil Wickremesinghe’s. If RW is prone to being clever at everything, SP has the propensity for not being clever in anything. Now SP is projecting himself as candidate to be Prime Minister while promising that as Prime Minister he will co-operate with President AKD.

As everyone else is scrambling to prepare for the parliamentary election, President Dissanayake and his NPP must be sitting pretty, savouring their prospects for November after their success in September. The quick dissolution of parliament and a virtually snap election favours the NPP more than others. They have the momentum and the machinery of victory behind them. And they have little time to seriously shoot themselves in the foot. The necessary economic condition and the political secret to win a majority of 113+ seats at the elections is not to rock the boat but to keep the prices and supplies steady.

No one is expecting economic miracles in the short term or long term from President AKD. He himself has made it clear that he is not a magician. The President’s economic challenges are likely to become more noticeable after the parliamentary election than they are now. He has announced his economic team, and the team has met with IMF delegates. There have been some indications of the new Administration’s approach to dealing with the IMF, as well as its approach to dealing with State Owned Enterprises. The Sri Lankan Airlines has reportedly been pulled back from the auction block and the search is on for a new model for improved management. Time will tell.

The government will be tested to the fullest by the approach it takes to re-negotiating the IMF deal, and restructuring the private bondholder debt of $12.5 billion out of the total foreign debt of $34 billion. The debt-restructuring deal was announced by President Wickremesinghe just days before the presidential election and it did not help him in the end, as pointed out in a scathing but responsible opinion piece in the Daily Mirror (October 3) by a group of modern-day ‘visiting economists’ (to recall an earlier generation of Visiting Economists that included the likes Nicholas Kaldor and Joan Robinson).

Before long, but mostly after the November election, the government will run into crossfire from the left and from the right. The right is already skeptical about NPP’s abilities to manage the economy. The left, on the other hand, might err oppositely by raising too many expectations and even bringing to bear too much pressure on the government. Unlike shortages of essential goods and services, there will never be any shortage in advice and opinion, more often than not unsolicited. The President’s challenge will be to be guided – on every issue and in any decision – by what is doable and what will bring the largest relief to the largest number of people looking for relief. The people should not be used as guinea pigs to prove someone’s ideology – left, right or centre.

Executive Presidency

The people might be even less concerned about the executive presidency (EP) than they are about economic philosophy. But both the President and the NPP have been more certain about what they will do about the EP than what they might do about the IMF. The certainty was confirmed the day after Anura Kumara Dissanayake was elected president by Sunil Handunnetti, NPP Polit Bureau Member and former MP, who told the media that “the nation will not see an Executive President after this presidency.” Mr. Handunnetti was also part of the President’s Economic Team that met with the IMF delegation. And PB members in an organization like the JVP/NPP do not speak out of turn in public.

My views on the executive presidency have had their fair share of criticisms by others who swear by it, and it is not my purpose to restart another debate, or to play an advocacy role for abolishing the EP. Instead, I will only outline what the new Administration could do to make itself the last of its kind, while being agnostic about the outcome. First, even if President AKD is vowing to make himself the last EP, he cannot do it by himself. He will need an act of parliament and a constitutional amendment that requires a two-thirds majority support in parliament.

The question is whether it will also require a referendum. Here opinions differ, and those who swear by the EP will also swear that a referendum is needed. From a political-constitutional standpoint it could be argued that which was created in 1978, through the medium of a parliamentary select committee dominated by a certain political party that has all but vanished in 2024, should not require a referendum to remove it or modify it. Also, it is not just the NPP that wants this change, but also the SJB. Between them they have more than two-thirds majority support in the country for abolishing the presidency.

From a legal-constitutional standpoint as well, there is a very plausible view that the requirement for a referendum should be limited only to amendments involving the Articles and provisions that are listed in Article 83 of the Constitution, as specifically requiring a referendum in addition to a two-thirds majority in parliament for the amendment of the said articles and provisions. Article 83 does not include any of the Articles or provisions involving the election and powers of the Executive President. The sole exception is Article 30 (2), which stipulates the length of the presidential term, and the term of office cannot be extended without a referendum per Article 83 (b). There is a discrepancy between Article 30 (2) and Article 83 (b), but that need not detain us.

Nothing else about changing the EP system should require a referendum, including its abolition. But the term abolition is overwrought and incorrect. The task really is to replace the directly elected executive president playing a double role as head of state and head of government, by an indirectly elected president to be the head of state only. The head of government role will revert back to the prime minister as part of restoring the parliamentary system of government.

The new head of state could be elected by parliament from among candidates, who are not members of parliament but are nominated by political parties represented in parliament. The powers of the new head of state could also be figured to be much less than what are allocated in the current constitution, but more than what were allocated in the 1972 constitution.

The powers so allocated should be designed to address concerns about rupturing the power link between the current EP and the Provincial Council system. In the same vein, Provincial Council members could also be brought into the process of indirectly electing the new head of state. Members of Parliament and Members of the Provincial Councils could be the evanescent ‘electoral college’ for electing the new head of state. This would be similar to the process in India for electing its president.

Getting back to the question of referendum requirement, even though it could be argued that a referendum is not required to bring about the above changes to the constitution, there is also the considered view that it is better to have a referendum and be done with it. In this view, if the NPP were to go ahead with its proposal to change the executive presidential system, it has to first get the constitutional amendment passed in parliament by two-thirds majority, and then the President would call a referendum for the people to vote on it.

That would a third national vote in as many yeas. Is there a middle way?

That would be to use the November parliamentary election as a referendum on changing the executive presidency. A question on changing the EP could be tagged on to the election ballot for the people to vote yes or no, in addition to casting their votes to elect their parliamentarians. The President has the power (Article 86) to submit a question of national importance to the people to express their preference in a referendum. But it cannot be substituted for the process for amending the constitution.

Could the President consult the Supreme Court (Article 129) to obtain its opinion whether a referendum is required to amend the constitution for changing the executive presidency; and if required, whether the parliamentary election could be used as a referendum in anticipation of a constitutional amendment in the new parliament?

That will be putting the Court on the spot, but there is reasonable justification for it, because it is not only President AKD and the NPP who are seeking to ‘abolish’ executive presidency in its current form; it is also the commitment of Sajith Premadasa and the SJB. There will also be considerable cost saving. Nothing may come out of this in the end, but the prospects of seeing an elected president living up to his promise to end it with him has never been brighter. I am only being agnostic.

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Features

The hard challenge of clinching a political settlement in the Middle East

Published

17 hours ago

2026/07/23

Sahan Weerasooriya

Bruised hearts: Displaced Palestinian civilians in the Gaza.(Photo by Mustafa Hassona/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Despite some sections of the Trump administration persisting with the view that the possibility could not be entirely ruled out of there being a diplomatic solution to the current US-Iran hostilities in West Asia, the skeptic could not be blamed for thinking otherwise. The intensity, scale and frequency of the tit-for-tat strikes by the antagonists over the past few days against selected military targets and civilian infrastructure in particular in West Asia make the adoption of this stance excusable.

The continuing hostilities render the mentioning of the MOU signed between the warring parties in mid-June a laughable matter. While it could very well be that the foes are wishing privately for a cessation of hostilities before long, what seems to be uppermost on their minds right now is to negotiate with each other from a position of strength. This strategy compels them to incapacitate each other militarily to the extent possible, lest they have to concede too much to each other during negotiations. Hence the stepped-up hostilities.

However, even on the question of there being a negotiated political settlement in the West Asian theatre in the longer term, the skeptic could come to be seen as scoring over the optimist. Developments on the ground account for this.

At the time of writing Israel’s Netanyahu government is going ahead in fairly care-free fashion with the establishment of more Jewish settlements in the Gaza and the West Bank, and it’s all happening under the apparently complacent gaze of the US. In fact, some quarters estimate that Israel is in control of some 65% of the Gaza Strip. Ethnic cleansing, that is, is being drastically stepped-up.

Accordingly, in terms of the power relations of West Asia, the world is almost back to the status quo of the late forties of the last century when the state of Israel was established and the Palestinians were reduced to a microscopic minority in the land they came to inhabit. Therefore, even the impartial observer would be compelled to ask: ‘Will a negotiated peace be ever possible in the Middle East?’

The humanist in the observer would prefer to answer this question in the affirmative and it is indeed the ideal stance to adopt considering the staggering human and material costs of the conflict. But the way ahead to peace could be expected to be highly hazardous and arduous. Among other odds, it would also prove an uphill endeavour to win minds and hearts.

The US’ Trump administration would need to be counted out in this pursuit. This is on account of the fact that it has been far too wayward in its management of West Asian affairs in particular over the past couple of years. Given its unpredictable character it is a matter for conjecture whether it could be counted on to live up to its commitments.

Moreover, Israel could be expected to ‘go it alone’ in the Middle East regardless of whether US help is coming or otherwise. It has indicated as much in recent times and Israel could be doubted on this score only at the doubter’s peril. Because time and again Israel has demonstrated that it could steadfastly defend its interests even single-handedly in the Middle East. History bears this out.

However, a durable alliance with the US would stand Israel in good stead. On the matter of military and intelligence assistance, for example, the US’s help proved invaluable for Israel in the past and going forward this is bound to be so as well. Moreover, it is unlikely that the Trump administration would give up on Israel, considering that a strong Israel is crucial for the furtherance of the US’ strategic and economic interests in West Asia.

But whether the above factors would have a considerable bearing on the question of working out a durable solution to the West Asian tangle is an entirely different matter. Israel, as in the case of the Palestinian enclaves, is acutely security conscious and would need to satisfy itself fully that it could live in a security environment that would guarantee its complete safety, going forward.

The Middle East is badly in need of another peace effort on the lines of the Oslo Accords of the mid-nineties that brought the key actors together and helped hammer out a solution that addressed some of their notable concerns. To be sure, that process did not prove to be the ideal answer to the tangle, but it yielded some respite to the region and drove home that one-time sworn foes could indeed negotiate with a degree of success. The West Bank authority, although falling short of fulfilling some key Palestinian aspirations, is testimony that a degree of success is possible if the intent is right.

Given the current realities of West Asia, peace-making is bound to be an uphill challenge. The violence faced in recent times by the Palestinian community, in particular, has been nothing less than mind-numbing. Merciless has been the violence visited on them by the Israeli side. In such circumstances, durable peace in the region could smack of an idealist’s dream.

Nevertheless, there needs to be urgently, a meeting of minds over the divides. The US would need to be counted out as an honest broker in bringing the sides together but the rest of the West would do well to step up to the challenge.

In this exercise the onus would be on the world’s democracies to take the initiative and doggedly stay the course. An acceptable combination would be the EU and the UN. Given their credentials, the main sides in West Asia ought to find them the least controversial.

Even if the relevant institutional and political arrangements could be shored up to take a reconciliation process forward, winning hearts and minds for the peace drive would prove a grueling challenge. Over the past few years in particular tens of thousands of hearts and minds on both sides of the divide have been bruised badly in the runaway murderous violence that has come to define the Middle East.

These badly scarred personalities would need to experience healing without much delay. It is therefore a multi-faceted challenge that is at hand. Since wide-ranging expertise would be needed in the healing process, people’s participation in peace-making, ranging over the divides, would need to be made a durable reality. It will be a time for enthroning humanity and ensuring the rejection of all forms of violence and coercion.

Features

Amazing Thailand …right here in Colombo

Published

17 hours ago

2026/07/23

Sahan Weerasooriya

For many Sri Lankans, Thailand is the go-to holiday — beaches, temples, food, and that famous warm hospitality.

In fact, I’ve been to Amazing Thailand 24 times myself, and was honoured with the Friends of Thailand International Media Award by the Tourism Authority of Thailand for promoting Thai tourism.

The good news I have for you today is that you don’t even need a passport to get a taste of Amazing Thailand.

The Royal Thai Embassy, in Colombo, is bringing a vibrant slice of Thailand, to the city of Colombo, with Thai Festival 2026 — a cultural experience like never before.

Whether you are an avid enthusiast of Thai culture, a total novice, or simply just interested in exploring foreign cultures, Thai Festival 2026 is going to be the perfect opportunity for you to get more than just a glimpse into one of the most celebrated cultural heritages in South East Asia. And ENTRANCE IS FREE.

The festival will be held on the 1st and 2nd of August, 2026, at Siam Nivasa, 43, C.W.W. Kannangara Mawatha, Colombo 7, and the East Parking Area, of the Colombo Municipal Council, from 11:00am to 5:00pm.

Both days will be full of live entertainment, and dispersed throughout with Thai cultural displays, including exhilarating traditional dance performances and breathtaking Muay Thai demonstrations.

Exploring art and craft specific to Thailand, tasting irresistible authentic Thai cuisine, and playing arcade games, are just a few more fun-filled events available for visitors at the festival premises.

An array of Thai products will also be available for purchase.

While at the festival, you will find Sri Lankan Alumni from Thai universities sharing their experiences with you and willing to answer any questions you might have, related to studying abroad in Thailand.

You can also register for the Muay Thai workshop that will be happening on the 7th and 8th of August, 2026, in Colombo.

Irresistible authentic Thai cuisine

Visitors can also stand a chance to win traditional Thai souvenirs, get exclusive photo opportunities, and, the big one — to enter the raffle draw, at the end of each day, for the grand prize of an all-inclusive round trip to Thailand.

Be sure to avail yourself of this exceptional opportunity and add a cultural spin to your weekend.

To keep up with the latest updates on Thai Festival 2026, head over to the Thai Festival official social media pages.

The Royal Thai Embassy in Colombo official webpage:

https://colombo.thaiembassy.org

Official social media:

Facebook: @RTEColombo

Instagram: @thaiembassysrilanka

Thai Festival official social media:

Facebook: Thai Festival in Colombo

Instagram: @thaifestival_colombo

TikTok: @thaifestival.incolombo

Features

Thicker, stronger hair …

Published

17 hours ago

2026/07/23

Sahan Weerasooriya

Hair fall, in this heat, can be so frustrating, and noticing a thin patch is even more worrying. The good news is … yes, with a little care and kitchen ingredients, you can nourish your scalp and support healthy regrowth.

Try these four easy home remedies … even our grandmothers trusted:

* Coconut Oil and Curry Leaves Tonic:

Warm 04 tablespoons of coconut oil, with a handful of curry leaves, till the leaves turn black. Cool, strain, and massage into scalp 02-03 times a week. Leave for 01 hour, or overnight.

Why:

Coconut oil deeply nourishes, while curry leaves help strengthen roots and add shine.

* Onion Juice for Spot Treatment:

With cotton, dab the juice of 01 small onion, directly on the thin/bald patches. Leave for 20-30 minutes, and then wash with a mild shampoo. Use twice a week.

Why:

Rich in sulfur, onion juice helps boost blood circulation to the scalp.

* Aloe Vera and Castor Oil Mask:

Mix 02 tablespoons of fresh aloe vera gel and 01 tablespoon castor oil and apply to the scalp, focusing on thinning areas. Leave for 45 minutes, and then rinse with cool water.

Why:

Aloe vera soothes the scalp, while castor oil coats hair to make it look thicker.

* Fenugreek and Curd Strengthening Pack:

You will need 02 tablespoons fenugreek seeds, soaked overnight, and 02 tablespoons plain curd.

Grind to a paste, apply to scalp for 30 minutes, and then wash.

Why:

Fenugreek strengthens strands and reduces breakage.

Extra Tips for Healthy Hair:

Avoid tight hairstyles that pull on the scalp.

Eat iron and protein rich foods: greens, dhal, eggs, fish.

Use lukewarm water, not hot.

Be gentle when brushing and drying.