Features
JVP-NPP Manifesto sparks a season of debates

by Kumar David
The NPP released its initial political Manifesto entitled a Rapid Response to Overcome Current Challenges on December 21 last year ( https://www.npp.lk/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/NPP-Booklet-English.pdf). Notably it is introduced as an “initial” document so presumably after accumulating public comment and benefitting from debate and perhaps a consultative seminar (physical or Zoom) a final version will be written up later this year. Therefore this is open-season for debates and dialogue. The Sajith-SJB and the SLPP, the only other entities with national-level clout, are sterile; they will surely print drab scraps nearer the elections, or crib from the NPP draft. Forget them for now.
Last week (2 January) I introduced the Rapid Response document and a mass of feedback has landed on my desk, or is it more fashionable to say computer-screen. Three or four articles intended to cut the ground under the JVP’s (apparently) rising popularity have also appeared in the Island, the Sunday Island and the DBS Jeyaraj column. I do not intend to reply to any because I have no mandate to speak for the JVP or the NPP, only for myself and make no reference to these authors by name. The were varied: (a) The Rapid Response document is too general and lacks nuts and bolts details, (b) the JVP must not make itself a footstool of the Sajith-SJB in the latter’s quest for presidency and parliamentary power, (c) denigration of the history of the JVP from alpha to omega, and (d) re the Tamils, “I have reservations about your (KD) assurance that the JVP now is not the JVP of 1971 and 1989”.
My responses, not the JVP or NPP’s – as said I am nobody in these circles – follows after I enumerate issues on which I agree (a, c, d, e and f) or disagree (b and g) with the post-Somawansa JVP. The Tamil question I discuss separately at the end.
a) Joining Chandrika’s government was WISE; the JVP proved its ability to run ministerial administrations.
b) Quitting CBK’s Administration on relatively flimsy grounds, instead of staying on and proving her error in enrolling right-wing opportunists was IMMATURE.
c) Supporting MR in 2005 and SF in 2010 were ARGUABLY the best options in the circumstances.
d) Campaigning for the Single-Issue Common-Candidate strategy in 2019 and leading the drive to defeat an MR third-term was 100% CORRECT.
e) Electoral bids in the 2019 and 2020 were JUSTIFIED as it was reasonable to hope that the NPP would poll better than it did.
f) Consolidating JVP-NPP strength and now emerging (apparently) as a significant force is GOOD.
g) Failing, concurrently with (f), to take the lead in consolidating a joint-opposition alliance to stall potential junta adventures is WRONG.
Thoughtful if cautious JT of liberal political disposition had this to say when I remarked that it was absurd to ask the NPP Manifesto to spell out economic policy down to nuts and bolts. This is both absurd and undesirable and just what a programme must not do. A Manifesto lays out broad attitudes and thinking, it must not become a straightjacket. As circumstances evolve it is necessary to respond flexibly. My interlocutor was unconvinced and responded:
“I agree that no manifesto can spell out each nut and bolt and how and where they will fit. But I remain convinced that the NPP-JVP needs to tell the voter more about its economic policy. Saying it is ready to take over governance and guarantee an “adooshitha palanayak” is inadequate. A severe economic crisis already here and there are foreseeable trends to which the NPP-JVP needs to respond now. The point I have consistently made is: What is their (JVP’s) true analysis of the crisis facing Lanka? What are the solutions they offer to solve this crisis? Don’t the voters need to know now? If it is to become a credible alternative government the JVP needs to provide its answers to these question.
The NPP document does do quite a bit of this! But JT is sympathetic to the JVP and discards the SJB and the SLPP as dead-ends, so the NPP must consent and include in the second version of the Manifesto carefully drafted details. The drafters can benefit from a review of NMSJ’s constitutional proposals – see Jayampathy Wickremeratne for a short review of the proposals.
Fraternité or Liberté?
However as I cautioned readers JT is a “classic” liberal, hence I need to digress and explain the inadequacy of liberalism in today’s world. Year 2021 was bad for liberal democracy globally; there were military take-overs in Burma (February), Chad (May), Mali (August), Guinea (September) and Sudan (October). Khaki-clad thugs imposed varying degrees of brutality; Buddhist Burma the worst. The incapacity of liberal economics to deliver public goods bamboozled some into accepting coups in desperation. When maalumiris (capsicum) sells at Rs 960 a kg, surely food riots can’t be far off. True-blue liberals in their love of democracy (bless them) overlook that feeding families and schooling children is the priority of the poor. They neglect livelihood concerns to pursue a liberal agenda. That said, one must never let criticism of liberalism turn into repression as in Russia where liquidation of Memorial which unearths Stalin’s crimes or, imprisonment of Putin’s foes on trumped up charges is routine. In Hong Kong, Beijing’s acolytes are snuffing out press freedom, cashing in on the idiocy of the 2019 rioters which led to draconian legislation passed by the National Peoples’ Congress in Beijing. The HK judiciary mercifully is still independent but it does stringently enforce laws on the book.
In Lanka deception crept into the 2019-2020 elections when dumb majorities swallowed the bait and threw their weight behind known authoritarians – “A little bit of dictatorship” was prescribed even by some in the sangha. Russia, China and the West prioritise their own interests not a concern for other people’s democracy. International actors striving to increase their global influence now mimic a low intensity Cold War. Beijing is explicit; Moscow stretches to back-up putsch leaders like Mali’s Goita and Sudan’s al-Burhan, and carries online disinformation. The first fissure in the international stance against military juntas this millennium was the 2013 Egyptian coup. The Western world, led by America denied calling that the military takeover a coup and embraced el-Sisi’s cabal which is now also a darling of Saudi Arabia, the UAE and China.
“Liberté, égalité, fraternité” is a far cry from mercantilist free-market capitalism, the lode star of twentieth and twenty-first century liberalism. In all the great revolutionary events of Europe (1789, 1830, 1848, 1870, 1905, 1917 and 1923), in the surges of 1945-48 and 1966 and in post-Soviet 1990 liberation, material hardship of ordinary people was a crucial driver. I mention cultured Europe to alert true-blue liberals to pay attention to livelihood misadventures. If liberals lose the masses they will lose democracy! This is the plus point of the NPP’s left inclined manifesto, though granted it needs enhancement.
Turning back the khaki-clad thugs
Where I am most critical of the JVP-NPP is when in reply to my demand (g) above some say: “The regime is weak; it can’t get out of this mess. If the situation changes, we can reconsider”. This is like a man who waits till after death to take an insurance policy! Points (f) and (g) in my enumeration are complementary; they are not either/or propositions; both must be done. I know what is holding the JVP back on (g). It has suffered a long history of being used and discarded by bourgeois parties. Now it suspects well known Sajith salesmen of singing the united-front song for their master’s benefit. Yes that’s why Sajith’s choristers caterwaul loudly. But that’s all beside the point. The JVP must lead a defensive treaty not because Sajith wants to use it as a footstool but because it, the JVP, understands the need for a well prepared united-front to throwback emergent threats.
Oh for the tactical clarity and firmness of touch of a Lenin! The left must take the right stand on issues at each point in time knowing that every political actor is strategizing to benefit from everybody else’s moves. The JVP needs strengthen its theoretical confidence and sureness of touch so as to reinforce its base while also leading alliances for defined purposes.
A brief comment on a thoroughly negative and destructive piece in the DBS Jeyaraj website must suffice. But for the fact that I know the author VI and hold him in good regard I would have assumed it was written for the benefit of the SBJ or the SLPP; but this cannot be the case. It is carelessly drafted and pays inadequate attention to the evolution of the JVP from a pre-1989 phase, via the Somawansa interregnum to its current avatar. Pity that it reads like a harangue! But the life-story of the JVP is outside the scope of this essay.
(https://dbsjeyaraj.com/dbsj/archives/75542 posted on 21 Dec 2021).
The NPP, JVP and the Tamils
One of my fiercest interlocutors was Pineapple Lover, a Tamil with pristine left credentials (LSSP, Hector and Vama) who to this day remains far to the left of the liberals. Here are his reproaches – abbreviated.
“I have strong reservations about your assurance that the JVP is no longer the JVP of 1971 and 1989. In your Sunday Island/Colombo Telegraph column today (2 Jan) you correctly explain the left’s post-1956 debacle on the national question. You say that the LSSP and CP despite heroic and steadfast commitment to secularism and pluralism during 1956-60 finally gave in and were part of a government which implemented blatantly racist policies like standardisation and gave constitutional status to a unitary state, Sinhala and Buddhism”.
“The JVP’s racism did not end in 1989. As late as 2006 it went to Court and got the North East Province bifurcated. Given half a chance the SLFP and UNP (in all their forms) will roll back the 13A, but up to now only the JVP has carried the threat through. I think a political party built in the 60/70s on racism which and according to you murdered the likes of Vijaya Kumaranatunga for supporting 13A in 1988, and post-88 achieved the breakup of the North East Province, has been consistently Sinhala Buddhist. Those like you who are sympathetic to the JVP brush over this saying: “If you detect any slippage on the national question in the programme blame not the NPP, hold the Sinhalese people to account.”
This is a strong and well-grounded indictment. But I continue to hold from my knowledge the NPP and from the presence of Comrades Lal Wijenayake, Prof Vijaya Kumar and Dr Harini Amerasuriya, all of whom will make short shrift of any racism in NPP inner councils, that there is no tangible racism in the NPP. I think not in the JVP either though I am less familiar with its leaders and have never observed the Central Commission in session. A far-ranging interview with JVP leader Anura Kumara by Susitha Fernando however is a better guide because it goes well beyond the NPP programme and anything the JVP has openly said before.
https://www.dailymirror.lk/opinion/We-dont-believe-in-Sinhala-only-power-Anura-Kumara-Dissanayake/231-228317
Features
Religious extremism set to gain from rising Israel-Iran hostilities

Many of the international pronouncements on the current dangerously escalating Israel-Iran hostilities could be seen as lacking in adequate balance and comprehensiveness. The majority of these reactions could be said to be failing in addressing the aspects of the conflict that matter most.
For example, there is the recent UN General Assembly resolution on the crisis which calls for an ‘immediate, unconditional and lasting ceasefire in the Gaza’ and which goes on to urge ‘Member States to take necessary steps to ensure Israel complies with its international legal obligations.’ An immediate and durable ceasefire is indeed the number one requirement in the Middle East today but could it be ‘unconditional’? Could it ignore the principal requirement of Israel’s security? These posers need to be addressed as well.
Besides, it is not only Israel that should be compelled to meet its ‘international legal obligations.’ All the states and actors that feature in the conflict need to be alerted to their ‘international legal obligations’. While it goes without saying that Israel must meet its international legal obligations fully, the same goes for Iran and all other Middle Eastern countries that enjoy UN membership and who are currently at odds with Israel. For instance, Israel is a UN member state that enjoys equal sovereignty with other states within the UN fold. No such state could seek to ‘bomb Israel out of existence’ for example.
As a significant ‘aside’ it needs to be mentioned that we in Sri Lanka should consider it appropriate to speak the truth in these matters rather than dabble in what is ‘politically correct’. It has been seen as ‘politically correct’ for Sri Lankan governments in particular to take up the cause of only the Palestinians over the decades without considering the legitimate needs of the Israelis. However, a lasting solution to the Middle East imbroglio is impossible to arrive at without taking into account the legitimate requirements of both sides to the conflict.
The G7, meanwhile, is right in stating that ‘Israel has a right to defend itself’, besides ‘reiterating our support for the security of Israel’ but it urges only ‘a de-escalation’ of hostilities and does not call for a ceasefire, which is of prime importance.
It is only an enduring ceasefire that could lay the basis for a cessation of hostilities which could in turn pave the way for the provision of UN humanitarian assistance to the people of the Gaza uninterruptedly for the foreseeable future. There is no getting away from the need for a durable downing of arms which could engender the environment required for negotiations between the warring parties.
Meanwhile, some 22 Muslim majority countries have ‘warned that continued escalation threatens to ignite a broader regional conflict that could destabilize the Middle East’ and called ‘for a return to negotiations as the only solution regarding Iran’s nuclear program.’ This statement addresses some important issues in the crisis but one hopes that the pronouncement went on to call for negotiations that would take up the root causes for the conflict as well and pointed to ways that could address them. For instance, there is no getting away from the ‘Two State Solution’ that envisages peaceful coexistence between the principal warring parties.
The ‘Two State Solution’ has been discredited by sections of the world community but it outlines the most sensible solution to the conflict. As matters stand, the current escalating hostilities, if left unchecked, could not only lead to a wider regional war of attrition but bring about the annihilation of entire populations. There is no alternative to comprehensive negotiations that take on the issues head on.
Besides, all who matter in the current discourse on the crisis need to alert themselves to the dangers of appealing to the religious identities of communities and social groups. When such appeals are made religious passions are stirred, which in turn activate extremist religious outfits that operate outside the bounds of the law and prove difficult to rein-in. This was essentially how ‘9/11’ came about. Accordingly, speaking with a sense of responsibility proves crucial.
In fact, it could be argued that a continuation of the present hostilities would only benefit the above outfits with a destructive mindset. Therefore, comprehensive and constructive negotiations are of the first importance.
The above conditions should ideally be observed by both parties to the conflict. Israel, no less than the Islamic and Arab world, needs to adhere to them. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has no choice but to say ‘No’ to extremists within his cabinet and to ‘show them the door’, inasmuch as hot-headed extremists in the Islamic and Arab world need to be opposed and alienated by the relevant governments.
Meanwhile, the US is on a duplicitous course in the Middle East. Whereas it has no choice but to rein-in Israel and convince it of the need to negotiate an end to the conflict, it is choosing to turn a blind eye to Israel’s military excesses and other irregularities that are blighting the Gazans and the ordinary people of Iran. It ought to be plain to the Trump administration that it is promoting a barbaric war of attrition by continuing to provide Israel with the most lethal weaponry. Currently, it is anybody’s guess as to what the US policy on the Middle East is.
The Islamic and Arab world, on the other hand, should come to understand the imperatives for a defusing of tensions in the region. Decades of conflict and war ought to have made it clear that the suffering of the populations concerned would not draw to a close minus a negotiated peace that ensures the wellbeing of all sections concerned.
As pointed out, the security of Israel needs to be guaranteed by those quarters opposing it. This will require the adoption of a conciliatory attitude towards Israel by state and non-state actors who have thus far been hostile towards it. There needs to be a steady build-up of goodwill on both sides of the divide. If this is fully realized by the Arab world a negotiated solution will be a realistic proposition in the Middle East.
Features
She deserves the crown

We had no luck coming our way at the Miss World 2025 contest – not even our immediate neighbour, India – but I’m glad that Miss Thailand was crowned Miss World 2025 as Thailand happens to be my second home … been to Amazing Thailand many times, courtesy of the Tourism Authority of Thailand.
In fact, even before the Miss World 2025 grand finale, which was held at the beautiful venue of the HITEX Exhibition Centre, in Hyderabad, Telangana, India, my colleagues at office all predicted that Miss Thailand, Opal Suchata Chuangsri, would emerge as the winner.
Yes, indeed, Miss Thailand not only won the hearts of millions but also became the first ever Thai to claim this much sought-after title.
Prior to winning the title of Miss World 2025, Opal Suchata was Thailand’s representative at Miss Universe 2024 and took home the third runner-up title.
Her Miss Universe crown, unfortunately, was subsequently forfeited, due to a contract breach, but she did not let that demotivate her, though, and went on to compete and win the title of Miss World Thailand 2025.
Coming from a family that was in the hospitality industry, her upbringing, in this kind of environment, made her aware of her culture and helped her with her communication skills at a very young age. They say she is very fluent in Thai, English, and Chinese.
Obviously, her achievements at the Miss World 2025 contest is going to bring the 22-year-old beauty immense happiness but I couldn’t believe that this lovely girl, at 16, had surgery to remove a benign breast lump, and that made her launch the ‘Opal For Her’ campaign to promote breast health awareness and early detection of breast cancer, which also became the topic of her ‘Beauty with Purpose’ at the Miss World 2025 contest.
Opal Suchata intends to leverage her Miss World title to advocate for other women’s health issues, as well, and sponsor a number of charitable causes, specifically in women’s health.
Her victory, she says, is not just a personal achievement but a reflection of the dreams and aspirations of young girls around the world who want to be seen, heard, and create change.
What’s more, with interests in psychology and anthropology, Opal Suchata aspires to become an ambassador for Thailand, aiming to represent her country on international platforms and contribute to peace-building efforts.
She believes that regardless of age or title, everyone has a role to play in inspiring others and making a positive impact.
And, what’s more, beyond pageantry, Opal Suchata is an animal lover, caring for 16 cats and five dogs, making her a certified “fur mom.”
She also possesses a special musical ability—she can play the ukulele backwards.
Opal Suchata is already a star with many expressing admiration for her grace, leadership, and passion for making a difference in the world.
And there is also a possibility of this head-turner, from Thailand, entering the Bollywood film industry, after completing her reign as Miss World, as she has also expressed interest in this field.
She says she would love the opportunity and praised the Indian film indstry.
She akso shared her positive experience during her visit to India and her appreciation for the Telangana government.
Congratulations Opal Suchata Chuangsri from Amazing Thailand. You certainly deserve the title Miss World 2025.
What is important is that the Miss World event is among the four globally recognised beauty pageants … yes, the four major international beauty pageants for woment. The other three are Miss Universe, Miss Earth and Miss International.
Unfortunately, in our scene, you get beauty pageants popping up like mushrooms and, I would say, most of them are a waste of money and time for the participants.
Features
Wonders of Coconut Oil…

This week I thought of working on some beauty tips, using coconut oil, which is freely available, and quite affordable, as well.
Let’s start with Coconut Oil as a Moisturiser…
First, make sure your skin is clean and dry before applying the coconut oil. This will allow the oil to penetrate the skin more effectively.
Next, take a small amount of coconut oil and warm it up in your hands by rubbing them together. This will help to melt the oil and make it easier to apply.
Gently massage the oil onto your face and body, focusing on dry areas or areas that need extra hydration.
Allow the oil to absorb into your skin for a few minutes before getting dressed.
Start with a small amount and add more if needed.
* Acne and Blemishes:
Apply a small amount to the affected area and gently massage it in. Leave it on overnight and rinse off in the morning. Remember to patch test before applying it to your entire face to ensure you don’t have any adverse reactions.
* Skin Irritations:
If you’re dealing with skin irritations, coconut oil may be just what you need to find relief. Coconut oil has natural anti-inflammatory properties that can help soothe and calm irritated skin.
Simply apply a thin layer of coconut oil to the affected area and gently massage it in. You can repeat this process as needed throughout the day to keep your skin calm and comfortable.
* Makeup Remover:
To use coconut oil as a makeup remover, simply apply a small amount onto a cotton pad or your fingertips and gently massage it onto your face, in circular motions. The oil will break down the makeup, including waterproof mascara and long-wearing foundation, making it easy to wipe away.
Not only does coconut oil remove makeup, but it also nourishes and hydrates the skin, leaving it feeling soft and smooth. Plus, its antibacterial properties can help prevent breakouts and soothe any existing skin irritations, so give coconut oil a try and experience its natural makeup removing abilities, and also say goodbye to acne and blemishes!
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