Thursday 22nd May, 2025

British apparel manufacturer, NEXT, has closed its production unit in Katunayake, causing a loss of 1,400 jobs. However, it will continue operations at its other factories, according to media reports. It has cited high operational costs as the reason for its decision to close down the Katunayake factory.

The factory closure in question should be considered a wake-up call for Sri Lanka in view of the vulnerability of its export sector, especially the apparel industry, vis-a-vis the ongoing big power tariff wars, the rising global protectionist trend, and free trade agreements among other apparel manufacturing countries and the developed nations. One can only hope that the disturbing news from Katunayake will jolt the government and the Opposition into stopping their political battles and making a joint effort to strategise to navigate the daunting challenges the country’s export sector is facing.

Gomi Senadhira, an expert on international trade policy, who served as Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the World Trade Organization, has, in an article published in this newspaper today, sounded a prescient warning, which must not go unheeded. For many years, he has written extensively about challenges and problems Sri Lankan exporters are facing and suggested how to overcome them, but it is doubtful whether successive governments and policymakers ever take such expert opinion on board. Commenting on the Free Trade Agreement India and the UK have inked recently, Senadhira has warned that the prevailing conditions in the UK market, 12% duty as against 0% duty for Vietnam, Bangladesh and Cambodia, don’t augur well for the bulk of Sri Lanka’s apparel exports. Duty-free access to India would further aggravate the situation, Senadhira has said, for it will reduce Sri Lanka’s apparel exports very significantly unless urgent action is taken to improve the conditions on market access through the Developing Countries Trading Scheme or other arrangements. He has called for a proactive intervention by the government to save Sri Lanka’s apparel sector.

Negative global economic developments not only take their toll on Sri Lanka’s export sector, resulting in a drop in foreign exchange reserves, but also have the potential to wipe out tens of thousands of jobs, giving rise to serious social problems and political instability. Hence the pressing need for strategic planning to face any eventuality. But the government and the Opposition are busy fighting a political battle over some local councils.

The government is apparently labouring under the fatalistic belief that the US tariff issue will go away, and it will be plain sailing for Sri Lankan exporters thereafter. The Opposition is apparently cherishing the delusion that it will be able to fix the economy without much effort if it is voted into power.

Ironically, when Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa’s father, President Ranasinghe Premadasa, launched his ambitious garment factory project, the JVP let out a howl of protest, inveighing against him for what it described as making Sri Lankan women ‘stitch underwear for white women––suddhiyanta jungi mahanawa. It also coined a pithy slogan, ‘Kellanta garment, Kollanta pavement’ —’garment factories for girls and pavement hawking for boys’. Today, the JVP has had to protect the garment factories and save jobs. It must redouble its efforts to achieve that end, and the Opposition led by President Premadasa’s son should assist the government in that endeavour. There is no gainsaying that a long-term solution is for Sri Lanka to diversify its exports and export destinations while entering into free trade agreements with other nations. But as the apparel industry is one of the mainstays of the country’s economy at present, everything possible will have to be done to ensure its wellbeing.

Meanwhile, it is only wishful thinking that Sri Lanka will be able to achieve its development goals unless urgent steps are taken to stop the flight of young human capital. It behoves those who are wielding political power, others in pursuit of it, and public officials to put their heads together and make a serious effort to eliminate the factors that are driving the country’s youth away. Sadly, the government and the Opposition are at each other’s throat over political issues.

Wednesday 21st May, 2025

The battle raging over local councils has taken a nasty turn. The government and the Opposition are pulling out all the stops to seize control of the hung councils. They are apparently operating under the belief that the end justifies the means, and offering various inducements to the swing councillors holding the balance of power in a bid to secure their support. Their much-flaunted scruples and principles have fallen by the wayside.

The government is seeking to mitigate the political fallout of its electoral setback by attempting to secure control of the local councils where it fell short of absolute majorities due to a sharp drop in its vote share. The Opposition is making an all-out attempt to engineer majorities in the hung councils and use them as a springboard to winning future elections. Given the desperation of the government and its rivals, the swing councillors have become kingmakers.

The government has adopted a carrot-and-stick approach to secure the support of the swing councillors and some members of the Opposition parties in the hung councils. It has warned that it will not hesitate to dissolve the councils that it fails to secure control of and place them under special commissioners. This warning is intended to scare the non-NPP councillors into supporting the NPP. The government has made a mockery of its much-advertised commitment to good governance.

The JVP-led NPP is now critical of the mixed proportional system, under which the local council elections are held. It would have the public believe that it has not been able to win absolute majorities in many councils due to flaws in the electoral system. This argument is not wholly tenable. The Proportional Representation (PR) system has also been blamed for bringing about weak governments, but that did not prevent the NPP from obtaining a two-thirds majority in last year’s general election. If the government had been able to retain its popularity at the same level, it would have been able to sweep the 06 May LG polls as well and win a vast majority of the local councils outright. So, it has to blame itself rather than the electoral system for its failure to obtain working majorities in many of the councils it won.

However, the mixed proportional system, which requires 60% of local councillors to be elected on the ward basis and the remaining 40% under the PR system, has some deficiencies, which need to be addressed. There has been a steep rise in the number of LG members and most councils are hung and unstable. But the JVP endorsed the new electoral system, etc., by voting for the Local Authorities Elections (Amendment) Bill No. 16 of 2017, which became law. Minister Vijitha Herath has, in a recent television interview, claimed that the JVP did not oppose that Bill because it did not want the LG polls delayed. But it proved that it was not concerned about poll postponements by supporting another controversial Bill, which was obviously aimed at delaying the Provincial Council (PC) elections indefinitely. One may recall that in 2017, all political parties including the JVP voted for the Provincial Council Elections (Amendment) Bill, which the UNP-led Yahapalana government used to postpone the PC polls. Among the ardent supporters of that Bill was the TNA, which is now demanding that the PC polls be held!

Chief Government Whip and Minister Bimal Ratnayake has repeated President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s threat to restrict fund allocations for the local councils to be controlled by the Opposition parties purportedly because the government does not want the corrupt to help themselves to people’s money; thus, he has sought to intimidate the non-NPP councillors. In combating bribery and corruption, governments must rely on robust systems rather than fallible individuals, such as politicians and public officials. If the NPP government is confident that it has devised a system to tackle bribery and corruption effectively, then it need not worry about funds allocated to any local council whether it is controlled by the NPP or its rivals.

Minister Ratnayake’s threat at issue runs counter to the NPP’s solemn pledge to usher in a new political culture and will set a very bad precedent, which future governments might follow.

The government and the Opposition ought to read the popular verdict carefully, put an end to horse-trading, and engage in a meaningful dialogue on sharing power in the hung councils and running them efficiently for the public good.

Tuesday 20th May, 2025

May is the month when Sri Lanka’s ruling party politicians and their rivals fall over themselves to extol the military as the saviour of the nation, and gain political mileage in the process. We have government leaders and their political opponents wrapping themselves in the flag and accusing each other of having betrayed the military.

The NPP government buckled under pressure from the Opposition and made another about-turn. It announced last week that the National War Heroes Day commemoration would be held on 19 May with the participation of a former military officer-turned deputy minister as the Chief Guest. But as the Opposition intensified its propaganda assault on the government for belittling the importance of the event, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake attended it.

A separate commemorative event to honour war heroes is scheduled to be held today under the aegis of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who provided political leadership for defeating the LTTE 16 years ago. Why can’t these leaders sink their political differences and unite to honour the fallen warriors together?

The Rajapaksas politicised the sacrifices made by the military in defeating LTTE terrorism in 2009 and won elections in 2010. The then Opposition including the UNP and the JVP did likewise. It fielded former war-winning Army Commander General Sarath Fonseka as the common presidential candidate of the Opposition in 2010. Ironically, the TNA also backed Gen. Fonseka to the hilt while levelling allegations of war crimes against the army he had led!

General Shavendra Silva, one of the decorated combat officers who led the war against the LTTE from the front, has told the ‘patriotic politicians’ some home truths; he has, in an interview with Derana 24/7, expressed regret that successive governments have let down the Sri Lankan military. They have done precious little to counter adverse international propaganda and hostile actions against the Sri Lankan military.

Several former military officers are facing travel bans imposed by some western countries. Sadly, these nations and their leaders support terror backers and allow their territories to be abused for fundraising for terrorism and advancing terrorist agendas. They have failed to realise that they are making the same mistake as the young lady of Niger, who smiled as she rode on a Tiger and returned inside the animal. All the countries that created and/or backed terror groups to further their geostrategic interests have been hoist with their own petard. The US is a case in point.

Terrorism is no means to an end; it is the end and the means both. Hence the need for the scourge to be wiped out in all its forms and manifestations for democracy to thrive. The Sri Lankan military has done just that. If terrorism—both northern and southern—had not been defeated in this country, the voice of the public would not have been heard, and the people would still have been living in fear of bullets and bombs. Both the LTTE and the JVP ordered poll boycotts, murdered civilians and political leaders for defying their illegal orders, committed robberies and suppressed democratic dissent in the most brutal manner while destroying public assets worth billions of dollars. The JVP would not have re-entered democratic politics if its terrorism had not been eliminated. The defeat of the LTTE paved the way for the revival of democracy in the North and the East.

It was the military that saved Sri Lanka’s democracy by defending Parliament against a violent mob at the height of Aragalaya in 2022. But for its decisive action, the anarchical forces on the rampage would have marched on Parliament and torched it; the JVP has admitted that it was instrumental in inciting what would have been an event horizon for Sri Lanka’s democracy.

The biggest disservice politicians who are wearing patriotism on their sleeve have done to the military is that they have not made use of the armed forces’ sacrifices and achievements to develop the country. The Rajapaksas were busy enriching themselves and building their dynasty after the defeat of terrorism in 2009; the Sirisenas did likewise so much so that paddy farmers and rice consumers are at the mercy of a cartel of millers led by them. The UNP leaders indulged in cronyism and corruption, and the JVP engaged disruptive activities in universities and workplaces while shoring up its war chest and, above all, seeking shortcuts to power.

The best way the vociferous ‘patriots’ of all political hues can honour the military is to shed their differences and work together to achieve national progress and build a better future for all Sri Lankans.