Editorial

Political convulsions as economy totters

Published

4 years ago

2022/03/6

Days before he was sacked, former Energy Minister Udaya Gammanpila made a point that would surely have resonated with many of us when he asked: “Are we to eat apples and grapes sitting in the dark?” There will be little dispute over what he was urging – that we were importing a large number of inessentials. In that context, the ex-minister who maintained his ever-smiling face even after his summary removal, also announced that a list of 600 inessentials whose import were being banned had been identified. But up to the point of writing this comment on Friday, there has been no word of what these items were even though 72 hours had passed since the initial announcement.

Nobody need be too surprised about this. There will necessarily be a lot of chopping and changing before the list in finalized. There is no gainsaying the fact that the banning of what’s considered inessential by many or most will have their own implications. Vehicle imports, for example, have been banned since March 2020. While a great deal of foreign exchange was saved by this measure, the ripple effects both beneficial and adverse were many. One of these was the impact on vehicle exporting countries like Japan, Europe, India etc. with whom we do a lot of trade. They naturally resented loss of an export market, however small we were and applied pressure, subtle and otherwise, to resume imports.

Then there were the rackets. The original ban excluded tractors and freezer trucks. The result was that there were opportunities for freezer truck importers to take of the freezer unit and sell the trucks for which there was demand. The surge of tractor imports we saw at the time may have been partly due to the haulage capacity of tractor-trailer units in the context of the ban on truck imports. Brokers and analysts have revealed that the galloping stock market of 2021 when historic highs were recorded, was partly attributable to the very large number of particularly car importers whose money was not tied up in inventory as before, starting to play the share market particularly because of the then prevailing low interest scenario on fixed income instruments.

So the story goes. Nobody is going to die for the lack of apples, grapes and oranges. But we have to face up to the reality that in the context of the importance this country has laid on the tourism industry, the massive investments made therein and the sizable returns earned that have now largely dried up – but was slowly recovering – has its own needs including food and drink that tourists are accustomed to which we may regard as luxuries. Readers will remember a time when an imported orange was cheaper than our own hard-to-get peni dodang; that there were times when imported fruit compared favourably, price-wise, against homegrown produce. We are certainly not arguing that there should be no ban on the import of fruit but only stressing Newton’s third law, “every action has an equal and opposite reaction.”

So finalizing a list on non-essentials whose import would be banned in the context of what is admitted to be the worst ever foreign exchange crisis since Independence will by no means be easy. When the list is eventually gazetted, lobbying for exclusions backed by logical reasoning will be innumerable. We’ve just had a demonstration of the wishy-washy nature of our government which through the last budget slammed a 25% tax surcharge on companies and individuals with an income of over rupees two billion. Either deliberately or accidentally, neither the EPF, ETF nor other pension funds were excluded and we are now seeing the government assuring the Supreme Court that an amendment will be made during the committee stage of deliberations on the already presented legislation.

To come back to ex-ministers Weerawansa and Gammanpila: regular contributors Uditha Devapriya and Dayan Jayatillake have offered their analyses on this page. The sacking, head chopping or whatever one may choose to call it, was not entirely unexpected. The pot was on the boil for some time now with the president on public record that there must be collective cabinet responsibility with ministers not paddling their own canoes in the wider political space outside the cabinet room. This was when the two sacked ministers plus veteran Vasudeva Nanayakkara joined several other petitioners opposing the Yugadanavi power deal with the mega-U.S.-owned New Fortress Energy Company. The case was dismissed in limine (at the outset) on Friday and this would, no doubt, be a comfort factor to a besieged government. There has been no explanation on why Nanayakkara has been spared the axe. There are those who say that he was less aggressive towards Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa than his sacked colleagues. Whether the 11 parties taking a similar stand on the issues that brought the family and sections of the SLPP into conflict will remain united or break ranks in the wake of Thursday night’s cabinet changes remains to be seen.

Public anger against the government is vividly brought to homes countrywide in the evening television news bulletins every day with emphasis differing depending on the political alignments of the various stations. As we warned in this space recently the situation must worsen before it improves. On Thursday nine major business chambers warned that the country is headed for economic paralysis unless the forex crisis is tackled. They have made a series of recommendation, including resort to the IMF. The going is rough not only for the government but also the people at large. As usual the blow has fallen hardest on the poorest and what succour is possible, if at all, is anybody’s guess.

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Editorial

Justice, politics and hypocrisy

Published

12 hours ago

2026/06/10

Sahan Weerasooriya

Wednesday 10th June, 2026

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) gave in to pressure from protesters and took former State Intelligence Service Chief Maj. Gen. (retd.) Suresh Sallay, in custody, to hospital and allowed his family members and lawyers to visit him. If it had done so previously and respected Sallay’s rights as a suspect, without leaving any room for allegations of physical and psychological abuse of him and other such police excesses, there would have been no protests.

Spokesman for the Archdiocese of Colombo Rev. Fr. Cyril Gamini Fernando has urged politicians and political parties to act with restraint and refrain from disrupting the ongoing investigations into the Easter Sunday terror attacks. The issue of Sallay allegedly undergoing ill-treatment at the hands of the CID is best left to the judiciary, he is reported to have said at a media briefing. His concerns should be heeded.

Protesters have categorically stated that they are not opposing the ongoing investigations in any manner and their intention is to ensure that the CID will stop violating the rights of Sallay held in custody under the PTA (Prevention of Terrorism Act), on a detention order issued by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who is also the Minister of Defence.

In this country, governments tend to undermine all institutions including the judiciary. They are no respecters of the doctrine of the separation of powers. There have been political witch-hunts against even some Chief Justices. The J. R. Jayewardene government sought to remove Chief Justice Neville Samarakoon over a public speech made by him; the Mahinda Rajapaksa administration ousted Chief Justice Dr. Shirani Bandarnayake in 2013 in a highly questionable manner, and the Maithripala Sirisena government removed Chief Justice Mohan Peiris in breach of due process in 2015. Political parties, lawyers’ associations and the media have been compelled to defend judicial independence against a proposed government move to raise the retirement ages of the Superior Court judges arbitrarily to the detriment of the judges awaiting promotion. It was vehement protests by lawyers, the Opposition and the media that prevented the Rajapaksa-Wickremesinghe government from summoning some Supreme Court judges before the Parliamentary Privileges Committee over a ruling that went against the interests of that administration.

Thus, given the overbearing nature of governments intoxicated with power, the task of protecting human rights cannot be achieved through judicial interventions alone. The challenge becomes even more daunting when the Attorney General’s Department and the police act in concert to serve the political interests of the powers that be.

Those who unashamedly cheered as their political opponents were arrested and detained under the PTA during previous governments have taken up the cudgels for Sallay’s rights. Prominent among them are SLPP and UNP politicians. However, the fact that previous governments abused the PTA and suspects suffered at the hands of the CID cannot be cited in extenuation of the continuation of the abuse of the PTA and the ill-treatment of detainees, including Sallay. The JVP-NPP government came to power, promising to usher in a new political culture and restore the rule of law. That pledge must be fulfilled.

Partisan politics does not spare anything in this country. The JVP-NPP government stands accused of having politicised the Easter Sunday carnage probe by appointing two members of the NPP’s Retired Police Collective as the Public Security Secretary and the CID Director. Is the Police Department short of competent investigators to handle crucial probes?

It is hoped that justice will be served for the victims of the Easter Sunday tragedy without injustice being done to the suspects under investigation.

Editorial

A tale of two govts.

Published

2 days ago

2026/06/9

Sahan Weerasooriya

Tuesday 9th June, 2026

The UNP has taken exception to a comparison made by a website (Manthri.lk) between the initial stages of the UNP-led Yahapalana government under the presidency of Maithripala Sirisena (MS) and the incumbent JVP-NPP administration led by Anura Kumara Dissanayake (AKD) in terms of legislative activity. Both governments came to power by effectively harnessing anti-incumbency sentiments and promising good governance. At the six-month mark, the MS administration led in legislative activity, Manthri.lk has pointed out. It gazetted three times the number of bills, compared to the corresponding period during AKD presidency and had twice as many passed. However, at the nine-month mark the AKD presidency overtook in terms of bills that were passed. By the 18-month mark the score changed. The AKD government passed 12 more bills than the MS administration, according to Manthri.lk.

Arguing in an accusatory tone that the aforesaid comparison, which appears in a Manthri.lk article titled, “Run Rate of Passing Laws in Parliament”, is quantitative and not qualitative, the UNP has said that a number of progressive laws were passed during the Yahapalana government during the first 18 months of the MS government. It has said they include the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, the Right to Information Act, the National Medicines Regulatory Authority Act, and the National Minimum Wage of Workers Act, but the Dissanayake administration has not delivered reforms as such; it has only scrapped some entitlements of the ex-Presidents and former MPs. The UNP has apparently manufactured a grievance to lay out some progressive laws it was instrumental in passing during the Yahapalana. However, what the UNP has left unsaid is that AKD’s JVP was a Yahapalana partner in all but name and pressured that government to honour its promises. Curiously, after being ensconced in power, the JVP has not cared to fulfil its key election pledges.

An interesting picture emerges when the comparison between the initial stages of the two governments is extended beyond the new laws and legal amendments they introduced. What matters most is not the “run rate” or the score as such, but how the game was played, so to speak. These memorable lines from Henry Newbolt’s “Vitaï Lampada” come to mind: “And it’s not for the sake of a ribboned coat / Or the selfish hope of a season’s fame / But his Captain’s hand on his shoulder smote — ‘Play up! play up! and play the game!’” Unfortunately, the spirit of duty and self-sacrifice are not virtues cherished in Sri Lanka politics.

The Yahapalana government carried out a mega racket, the Treasury bond scam, shortly after its formation in 2015, severely denting its anti-corruption credentials. The JVP-NPP administration did likewise in January 2025, a few weeks after sweeping a general election and securing a two-thirds majority. A freight container scandal ruined its reputation; that was followed by a coal procurement scam. Driven by political expediency, both governments unashamedly embraced the very rotten political culture they had vowed to upend while out of power.

MS and AKD secured the executive presidency by pledging to abolish it. But they reneged on that promise after savouring power. MS embarked on his reelection campaign and sought to gain a boost for it from his war on drugs, but the Easter Sunday terror attacks ruined his chances of contesting another presidential election. AKD remains silent on his much-advertised pledge to do away with the executive presidency. His election manifesto, A Thriving Nation: A Beautiful Life, promises to introduce a new Constitution, abolish the executive presidency and ensure that a President without executive powers will be appointed by the parliament, but several government politicians have said AKD will seek a second term. The JVP/NPP has thus demonstrated that it also acts out of expediency and not principle. It is emulating its predecessors notorious for their Machiavellian approach to promises. A common denominator among all governments since 1994 has been the unfulfilled promise to abolish the executive presidency.

Most criticisms of the UNP-led Yahapalana government under MS presidency apply, mutatis mutandis, to the incumbent administration led by the JVP.

Editorial

Probe Sallay’s complaint

Published

3 days ago

2026/06/8

Thilina Walpola

Monday 8th June, 2026

Former Director of the State Intelligence Service Maj. Gen. (retd.) Suresh Sallay, currently being detained at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) over the Easter Sunday terror attacks, has begun a hunger strike in protest against alleged inhumane treatment by CID officers. His wife has complained to Inspector General of Police (IGP) Priyantha Weerasuriya about the conditions of detention. She has told the media that Sallay is determined to continue his hunger strike. The police have denied mistreating Sallay.

Sallay has suffered physical and psychological abuse, at the hands of the CID, according to his lawyers. One of his counsel, Udaya Gammanpila, told the media on Saturday that Sallay was even denied proper meals, and the previous night the CID had served a small portion of rice with some gravy on a piece of newspaper placed on the floor of his cell. That had prompted Sallay to launch the hunger strike, Gammanpila said. Curiously, a notorious drug dealer, Nadun Chintaka alias Harak Kata, was allowed to consume food from the CID canteen while being detained at the CID.

Sri Lanka’s overcrowded, squalid remand prisons are hellholes, and even a brief stay there amounts to punishment, as is public knowledge. The same goes for the detention or holding cells at the CID headquarters. Degrading interrogation practices, including psychological coercion and physical abuse, aimed at breaking a suspect’s will, are antithetical to international good practices followed by modern crime investigators in civilised societies. Unfortunately, some officers of Sri Lanka police have used such cruel methods with impunity under successive governments. One may recall that a high-ranking police officer found guilty of having violated a suspect’s fundamental rights and the ban on torture was appointed IGP. Deshabandu Tennakoon is his name.

Allegations made by Sallay through his lawyers and family members against the police remind us of the horrors of the Spanish Inquisition, Nazi Straflager (punishment camps), Gestapo interrogation centres, the CIA black sites and the Batalanda torture chamber. Hence the need to do away with the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act, which allows suspects to be detained indefinitely and made to undergo untold suffering in the name of interrogation.

A very serious allegation frequently levelled against Sri Lanka police is that they make arrests, detain suspects, and conduct investigations to support political motives rather than to establish facts impartially. Justice and public trust in the legal and judicial processes become the victims of the partiality, if not servility, of the police and some of the Attorney General’s Department personnel to the powers that be and their deplorable efforts to support popular political narratives about crimes.

The integrity of the ongoing CID investigation into the Easter Sunday terror attacks is severely compromised, for the JVP-NPP government has elevated a member of the NPP’s Retired Police Collective (NPPRPC), Shani Abeysekera, as the CID Director to probe the Easter Sunday terror attacks, which the CID itself failed to prevent while he was serving as its Director in 2019, when the current Public Security Ministry Secretary Ravi Seneviratne, also a member of the NPPRPC, was the Senior DIG in charge of the CID. All those who failed to prevent the carnage in spite of repeated warnings of the impending bomb attacks must be brought to justice. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has caused quite a stir by making predictions about judgements to be delivered in court cases against his political opponents and drawn heavy criticism from the Bar Association of Sri Lanka and other lawyers’ associations for trying to raise the retirement ages of the superior court judges arbitrarily. How can the current dispensation be expected to uphold the rule of law, justice and fair play?

The denial of a suspect’s right to be heard, with the prosecutors, given to rehearsed, performative courtroom presentations, making various allegations designed to generate headlines and please the powers that be, violates the principle of natural justice. Justice must be served for the Easter Sunday terror victims, but without injustice to suspects in custody.