Features
The Government’s Term Tests & Results: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
by Rajan Philips
A newspaper editorial suggested that the NPP government is facing its December term test and that its weaknesses are showing. In fact, there have been quite a few term tests set up by different pundit examiners and they are producing a mixed bag of results. Overall and objectively, if I may say so, the government has done a reasonably good job for the most part; with a few bads, mainly gaffes, including a Prime Ministerial gaffe involving the two ‘Chinas’; and one standout ugly – the pathetic “PhD in Biochemistry and BSc in Chemical Engineering” lies of Asoka Ranwala MP, and his deservedly quick fall from Speakership grace. The focus has been mostly on his PhD boast, but his claim to a degree in Chemical Engineering is itself an instant hoax. And the leap from Chemical Engineering in Moratuwa to Biochemistry in Japan is manifestly ignorant and creatively stupid.
The real tests have been on the government’s many critics including almost all media outlets – all of them outside parliament as there is no worthwhile opposition within parliament, and all of them wanting to rip a feather off the fledgling AKD presidency and NPP government. The Speaker fiasco has been the critics’ biggest reward so far but even they know that Mr. Ranwala’s stupid twin boasts are a damning indictment of the man’s character but not a fatal flaw of the government. There is no excuse for what this quack of an MP did but there is a limit to which the government can take the blame for it.
There is no question that the NPP government is being asked by numerous critics to show either results or its abilities to produce them almost instantly. Quite a rigorous treatment for a new government and so early in its term. A few of the critics have still not been able to come to terms with the reality that Sri Lanka now has a new JVP (NPP) government. Others are in it for the ride, and also because many of them do not have the same cordial access to the inner circles of the present government as they would have had to its (Ranil-Rajapaksa) predecessors.
All that said, the government with so many new MPs and Ministers is still on a long learning curve, and there are miles to go before it has its real ‘term test’ – the next general election, which one would hope will only be a parliamentary election without another presidential election. And miles to go in many directions involving different ministries and new initiatives.
This Sunday, it will be 90 days since the presidential election and 37 days after the parliamentary election. At the year end, President Dissanayake will be completing his first one hundred days in office, while his full government would have been in office for 47 days. So far, it is the President who has been the centre of all actions and attention. If the government is serious about transitioning to a parliamentary democracy, other cabinet ministers must and must be encouraged to step up and take responsibility for their portfolios in a very public manner as it used to be before 1977 and even until 1994.
People’s Pre-occupations
While President AKD’s first hundred days may not have been spectacular, they have been solid. He could be proud of his tone setting inaugural speech to parliament, his leadership in providing continuity on economic matters, the setting up of a compact cabinet, and the deft handling of his first official visit to India, the island’s preponderant neighbour. While these are commendable accomplishments, the people’s preoccupations are about the availability of essential goods and the affordability of their prices. The government has not found its stride on either front.
Rice and coconuts, among other essentials, have become thorny issues both in terms of rising prices and growing shortages. Fuel and electricity costs are added concerns, though there have been reductions in fuel prices. People and even critics are willing to give the new government some slack, but because so much was promised by the NPP during the election campaigns that order and fairness will be restored in the supply and sale of essential goods and services, the general public and critics have been expecting to see at least different approaches to these problems by the new government even if there are no immediate results arising from them.
Rice, Sri Lanka’s perennial political problem, is now the NPP government’s primary problem. There are both shortages and the uncertainty of prices, which will have to be addressed promptly to avoid facing the fury of the people. The usual quick fixes like price control and supplementary imports are creating more confusion than resolution. The paradox of high levels of rice consumption and the relative poverty of the farmers who produce rice is a longstanding structural problem. But if NPP were to be worth its salt it needs to get cracking on some of these structural problems.
The most notorious of them and where immediate action is needed is the stranglehold that of about six large rice millers have on the rice market. They virtually control the upstream purchase of paddy in large quantities, provide for intermediate processing and storage in massive capacities, and similarly control the downstream sale of rice to wholesalers and retailers in the distribution market. In addition, the rice millers who have benefited hugely from bank credit facilities to build up their milling industry have now become the primary lenders for the poor farmers and producers of paddy. They have taken advantage of the lack of regulatory oversight under successive governments and now become out of control monsters.
In their 2022 research paper on Rice Milling Economics and Market Power, WAN Wijesooriya and IV Kuruppu, two Agrarian Researchers, recommend government initiatives for establishing a comprehensive database covering the rice milling industry in the country, and for encouraging the growth of medium scale millers to break the stranglehold of the largest rice mill holdings. If the NPP government wants to succeed where previous governments have not only failed but did not even try, it must make use of the agrarian expertise available in the country and spearhead a systematic approach to break the stranglehold of the large rice millers. Anything less will be fruitless tinkering with a longstanding problem. The government must also encourage its subject Ministers to take the lead on these matters rather than channelling any and all files all the way to the President’s desk.
Indian Visit
I am not sure whether Sri Lanka’s current rice crisis came up for discussion during the President’s otherwise successful official visit to India. I do not recall if the word rice being in any of the reports or statements on the visit. Rice may not be the only missing word. There have been no references to 13A, or its plus or minus. For the first time, according to one wordy observer, the word ‘Tamil’ has been missing in all the public pronouncements of the visit. During his first meeting with a Sri Lankan President (Mahinda Rajapaksa) in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi famously reset the bilateral clock to 13A. Perhaps 13A was a bone of contention when the Rajapaksas were at the helm.
Not anymore, it would seem, with a different President, a new government, its tone and messaging, and most of all the topsy turvy election results in the North and East of Sri Lanka. The NPP government could not have hoped for a better start with India on, for want of a less offensive word to some ears, the ‘Tamil’ file; but it has quite a bit of homework to keep it going the way it has started. The objective should be not to ‘disappear Tamil’ as a bilateral subject, but to accommodate Sri Lanka’s Tamils, Muslims and the Tamils of recent Indian origin as equal citizens in law and fact, in a not too distant post-racial Sri Lanka.
For all the historical ties and the geographical proximity between India and Sri Lanka, the relationship between the two countries in the twenty first century is both seen in and defined by the backdrop of China. President AKD’s visit was seen both as a test and as a signal as to which way he might be leaning considering the fact that his two predecessors have been wildly inclined to one side or the other.
Ranil Wickremesinghe, as former president, has been egging President AKD to go all in with India and follow the vision statement he co-announced with Modi in India without any reference to anyone back home. On the other hand, Mahinda Rajapaksa since becoming President in 2005 tilted Sri Lanka significantly towards China without unduly disturbing India. Which way will the wind be blowing with President AKD, has been the question on the minds of all observers of the little Indian Ocean drama involving Sri Lanka.
To his credit, President AKD flew straight and was sincere and honest in his interactions in New Delhi, and he could be expected to be similarly straight, sincere and honest when he goes to Beijing. Enough has been said about the range of topics for co-operation between India and Sri Lanka that was covered by the two leaders and articulated in their joint statement. The areas of co-operation between Sri Lanka and China may not be so extensive on paper but have been quite substantial on the ground.
The challenge to the NPP government, in my view, would be to take a comprehensive review of the plethora of projects in Sri Lanka that have been and are slated to be undertaken by the two Asian giants, make an assessment of their costs and benefits, and to have an integrated internal plan to ensure that the country would maximize the benefits of these projects, while minimizing environmental impacts and avoiding waste and duplication of resources.
With reports emerging that India has attacked some ‘sites’ in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, the question could be posed whether the stage has just been set for yet another costly India-Pakistan military conflict. Sensible opinion in South Asia could only hope that wise counsel would sooner rather than later come to prevail on both sides of the divide and that they would draw back from the brink of full-scale war.
The states concerned ought to know fully well the possible wide-ranging weighty consequences of another regional conflict. It should be plain to see that it would benefit none in the two theatres of confrontation, most particularly the relevant publics or the ‘Silent Majority’.
In fact, in connection with the mentioned initial military attacks, the Pakistani side has gone on record that some civilian lives have been lost. Such losses could burgeon in the event of full scale hostilities. These costs could of course be staggering and unimaginable in the event the nuclear option is resorted to by the sides, going forward.
Accordingly, the hope of the peace-loving world-wide is likely to be that India and Pakistan would give negotiations a chance and resolve their differences peacefully. It would be in the best interests of the world for the champions of peace to join their voices to that of UN chief Antonio Guterres and call on the sides to negotiate an end to their differences.
The utter helplessness and misery of the people of the Gaza ought to drive home afresh the horrors of war. Currently the news is that the Gazans are literally starving to death. Food and other essentials provided by UN agencies are reportedly being prevented by Israel from getting to the hapless people of Gaza. So dire is their situation that concerned quarters are calling on the compassionate worldwide to provide the Gazans with food, water and other essentials voluntarily. This SOS would need to be heeded forthwith.
Accordingly, it could be inferred that most formal arrangements, including those that are generally under the purview of the UN, geared to providing emergency humanitarian assistance to the needy, have, for all intents and purposes, been rendered ineffective in the Gaza. The UN cannot be faulted for this state of things; rather, Israel should be held accountable in the main for it.
The matter of accountability is central to the dramatic slide into lawlessness the world has been experiencing over the past few decades. As could be seen, International Law is no longer fully applicable in the conflict and war zones of the world because it is not being adhered to by many state and non-state aggressors. That the UN is hapless in the face of such lawlessness is plain to see.
We have of course the Middle East wherein International Law has fallen silent for quite a while. How could it be otherwise, when Israeli aggressions are being winked at by the US, for which the policy of backing Israel is almost sacrosanct?
Moreover, under President Donald Trump, it is difficult to see the US changing policy course on the Middle East. Trump made vague promises of bringing peace to the region in the run-up to his reelection but has done nothing concrete by way of peace-making. Consequently, complete lawlessness prevails in the Middle East. US policy towards Israel counts as another example of how the self- interest of US central administrations blinds them to their international obligations, in this case Middle East peace.
However, the commentator could be criticized as being biased if he holds only Israel responsible for what has befallen the Middle East. It has been the position of this columnist that Israel’s security needs should be taken cognizance of by its state and non-state adversaries in the Middle East and acted upon if the basis is to be laid for a durable Middle East peace. Inasmuch as Palestinian statehood must be guaranteed, the same should be seen as applicable to Israel. The latter too enjoys the right to live in a secure state of its own, unopposed by its neighbours.
The Ukraine of today is also sad testimony to the ill consequences of powerful, aggressor states wantonly disregarding International Law and its obligations. Nothing could justify Russia in invading Ukraine and subjecting it to a condition of Longsuffering. Clearly, Ukraine’s sovereignty has been violated and such excesses go to the heart of the current state of ‘International Disorder’. Of course the same stricture applies to the US in relation to its military misadventures in Afghanistan and Iraq, to name just two such modern examples.
There is no ducking the fact, then, that civilian publics in the mentioned theatres of war and outside, are being subjected to the worst suffering as a consequence of the big powers’ self-aggrandizement schemes and military misadventures. Longsuffering becomes the tragic lot of the people who have nothing to do with such unbridled power ambitions.
One would not be exaggerating the case if he states that civilian publics count for almost nothing in the present ‘International Disorder’. Increasingly it is becoming evident that from the viewpoint of the big powers and authoritarian governments the people are of little or no importance. Considering that self-aggrandizement is of the paramount interest for the former the public interest is coming to be seen as inconsequential.
Consequently, not much of a case could be made currently for the once almost reverentially spoken of ‘Social Contract’. For, the public interest does not count for much in the scrambles for power among the major powers who are seen at the popular level as the principal history-makers.
It is in view of the above that much is expected of India. Today the latter is a ‘Swing State’ of the first importance. Besides being a major democracy, it is one of the world’s principal economic and military powers. It possesses abundant potential to help to put things right in international politics. If there is one state in Asia that could help in restoring respect for International Law, it is India.
Considering the above, India, one believes, is obliged to bear the responsibility of keeping South Asia free of any more long-running, wasting wars that could aggravate the material hardships and socio-economic blights of the region. Thus, India would need to consider it imperative to negotiating peace with Pakistan.
Under the Global-Ise Australia Advanced Sports Development Programme, a delegation of 15 swimmers from Lyceum International School, Wattala, had the remarkable opportunity to train and experience high-performance sports development in Melbourne, Australia.
The 10-day programme was carefully curated to offer intensive training, educational exposure, and cultural experiences for the young athletes.
The swimmers underwent specialised training through Swimming Victoria’s elite programme, held at some of Melbourne’s premier aquatic facilities.
Visit to Victorian Parliament
Each day began as early as 5:00 a.m. and continued until 7:00 p.m., ensuring a rigorous and enriching schedule that mirrored the standards of international competitive swimming.
Beyond training, the programme offered a wide array of experiences to broaden the students’ horizons.
Morning training
The tour group explored iconic landmarks such as the Victorian Parliament and the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), and enjoyed shopping at Chadstone – The Fashion Capital. They also experienced the natural beauty of Victoria with visits to Yarra Valley Chocolaterie & Ice Creamery, and Cardinia Reservoir Park, where they observed kangaroos in their natural habitat.
An academic highlight of the tour was the group’s exclusive visits to three of Australia’s leading universities: the University of Melbourne, Monash University, and Deakin University. These visits aimed to inspire students and showcase the vast educational opportunities available in Australia.
Checking out the scene at Yarra Valley Chocolaterie & Ice Creamery
As part of the cultural immersion, Global-Ise hosted a traditional Australian BBQ at the Tim Neville Arboretum in Ferntree Gully. The students also enjoyed a variety of diverse culinary experiences each evening, further enriching their understanding of local and international food cultures.
The tour concluded with a celebratory dinner at the Spicy Wicket Restaurant, where each participant received a presentation in recognition of their involvement.
Enjoying an Aussie BBQ for lunch
The evening was made especially memorable by the presence of Pradeepa Saram, Consul General of Sri Lanka in Victoria.
Global-Ise Management—Ken Jacobs, Johann Jayasinha, and Dr Luckmika Perera (Consultant from the University of Melbourne)—did a magnificent job in planning and the execution of the advanced sports programme.
Coaches from Sri Lanka presenting a plaque to Global-Ise Management team
Ken Jacobs (centre), Johann Jayasinha, and Dr Luckmika Perera (on the right
Hi! How’s the beauty scene keeping with you?
Phew, this heat is awful but there is nothing that we can do about it.
However, there are ways and means to take care of your skin and I will do my best to help you in every way I can.
Well, this week, let’s go for a Bright, Smooth Skin.
Gram flour (also known as besan) is a traditional skincare ingredient known for its:
* Natural exfoliating properties.
* Ability to absorb excess oil.
* Gentle brightening and tan-removal effects.
* Suitability for all skin types, especially oily and acne-prone skin.
You will need 01–02 tablespoons gram flour (besan) and rose water, or raw milk, to make a paste.
You could add the following two as optional add-ins: A pinch of turmeric (for extra glow), and a few drops of lemon juice (for oily skin and pigmentation)
Add the gram flour to a small bowl and mix in the rose water (for oily/sensitive skin) or raw milk (for dry skin) slowly.
Stir well to make a smooth, spreadable paste—not too thick, not too runny.
Now apply this mixture, evenly, to your damp face and neck, and let it sit for 5–10 minutes (don’t let it dry completely if you have dry skin).
Gently massage in circular motions using wet fingers—this helps exfoliate.
Rinse off with lukewarm water, and then pat your skin dry.
Use it 02–03 times a week for best results.
Skin Benefits:
* Removes dirt, sweat, and oil without stripping natural moisture.
* Gently exfoliates dead skin cells, revealing smoother skin.
* Brightens the complexion and fades mild tanning.
* Helps clear clogged pores and reduce pimples.
* Leaves skin fresh and glowing—perfect for humid climates.
Showers may occur in coastal areas of the Western and Southern provinces and in Puttalam district in the morning and most other areas in the afternoon and night
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