Tuesday 4th February, 2025

All arrangements have been made for Sri Lanka’s 77th anniversary of Independence to be celebrated on a grand scale today. Interestingly, Independence is being celebrated under a government that is experiencing an inner conflict over when the British colonial rule actually ended in this country. Prior to its ascent to power, the JVP insisted that Sri Lanka had not ceased to be a British colony in 1948; the transfer of the reins of government from the British to a group of Brown Sahibs could not be considered true Independence, and Sri Lanka remained in colonial shackles to all intents and purposes until 1972, when the first republican Constitution was introduced. The government finds itself in an ideological bind in respect of Independence.

Independence Day is an occasion to reflect on the past 77 years and take stock of the challenges that lie ahead. Nothing is further from the truth than the claim that Sri Lanka has not achieved anything since 1948, and the post-Independence era has been a curse. True, misgovernment, corruption and economic mismanagement have brought about the present sorry state of affairs, but the country has not been without post-Independence achievements.

It is a textbook example of irony that Sri Lanka is celebrating Independence while preparing another national budget under the instructions of the International Monetary Fund, and seeking financial assistance from international lending institutions and donor nations. What is described as the largest-ever World Bank loan granted to Sri Lanka is being flaunted as an achievement! What is this world coming to when a country celebrates debt restructuring, foreign loans and aid from other nations?

The ‘Granary of the East’ has had to import rice–this time around, not due to a drop in the national paddy production, but because of the government’s failure to free the public from the clutches of a ruthless millers’ cartel, which is accused of hoarding paddy. Coconut imports are also on the cards. Whether a country that cannot even maintain adequate stocks of salt is equal to the task of investing in the agricultural sector and achieving self-sufficiency in food is the question.

It may not be too cynical a view that the only sector that is booming in Sri Lanka is its state service, which is so huge that there is one public official for every 15 citizens! There are already about 1.5 million state employees, but 30,000 more are to be recruited to the public service under the current dispensation, which has also promised substantial public sector salary increases.

Despite promises of reform, the incumbent government has fallen into the same rut as its predecessors, perpetuating the dependency culture for political expediency in the name of relief provision. It is expected to present an election budget shortly with an eye to winning the upcoming local government polls.

It is time for making difficult decisions to resolve the current crisis, and the need for the rulers and their political opponents to share in the suffering of the people who are making numerous sacrifices in the name of economic recovery cannot be overstated. The least they can do is to give up some of their perks and privileges and reduce the cost of government.

The focus of ongoing efforts to turn the country around has been on political and economic reforms. The near-collapse of the economy has caused economic reforms to get underway in earnest, and much is being spoken about moves to ‘create’ a new political culture. Such reforms are no doubt essential, but the attainment of the country’s desired economic and political goals consists in an effective social reform movement, which alone can bring about a radical attitudinal change in the public, promote rational thinking, and enhance national productivity, the be-all and end-all of economic development.

Monday 3rd February, 2025

It has now become abundantly clear that US President Donald Trump is trying to make America great again by creating a new world order according to his whims and fancies. His aversion to war is to be admired; he makes no bones about his contempt for belligerent NATO, and has not started any war himself, but in working towards the realisation of his ambitious goal of remoulding the world subservient to the US, he is proceeding with a Napoleonic zeal and a Nelsonian eye. He wants to wrest control of the Panama Canal, rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America, annex Canada and buy or take over Greenland. He is apparently trying to bite off more than he can chew and labouring under the misconception that there will be no resistance to his grand plans.

President Trump issued a slew of controversial executive orders, immediately after being inaugurated last month, in a melodramatic manner suggestive of a blend of Hollywood and Bollywood. They and the subsequent supplementary presidential actions have raised many an eyebrow globally to the extent of making one wonder if critics are justified in having dubbed Trump a neo-isolationist devoid of any strategic sense.

Trump has launched a mass deportation drive and waged a tariff war. Mexico and Canada will face 25% tariffs while China will have a 10% tariff to contend with. Mexico and Canada have chosen to stand toe to toe with the Trump administration, which remains intransigent, and China’s response has been muted.

The 90-day US foreign aid freeze announced by President Trump has stunned the world. According to the US State Department statements, the aid pause does not apply to the funds already disbursed and obligated programmes, but new aid initiatives must meet three criteria—they must be able to make America safer, stronger and more prosperous. The immediate casualties of Trump’s aid policy are the US-funded programmes pertaining to peace building, health, climate, diversity, gender equity, etc. Trump has already ordered that the US withdraw from the World Health Organization, and whether it will leave the United National Human Rights Council (UNHRC) remains to be seen. The US pulled out of the UNHRC during Trump’s first presidential term.

The US aid pause has crippled the operations of America’s premier non-military aid provider, the USAID (the United States Agency for International Development). The USAID website went offline on Saturday, causing much concern worldwide.

The US foreign aid freeze is said to be aimed at scrutinising and preventing wasteful spending. The State Department has said in a media communique that “it is impossible to evaluate programs on autopilot because the participants—both inside and outside of government—have little to no incentive to share programmatic-level details so long as the dollars continue to flow”. There is no gainsaying that the US taxpayers’ money should not be wasted, but foreign aid reportedly accounts for only about 1% of the US federal budget. Calls for USAID reforms are not of recent origin; even some aid recipients themselves have pushed for them. But the general consensus is that the new US government could have introduced reforms without disrupting the ongoing USAID operations.

Interestingly, US military assistance to some countries including Israel will continue. The Trump administration is reported to have agreed to exempt from its unprecedented funding shutdown the money spent on humanitarian programmes that provide life-saving medicine, medical service, food, shelter and subsistence assistance. This is a salutary decision, but humanitarian organisations are sceptical.

Critics have condemned what they describe as a purge of some top-rung USAID officials, who have been sent on paid administrative leave for 90 days. They are of the view that Acting Director of USAID Jason Gray has given away a clue about the Trump administration’s motive for the ‘purge’. He has said some ‘actions within USAID that appear to be designed to circumvent the President’s executive orders and the mandate from the American people’ have been identified’.

Foreign aid is not necessarily altruistic. It is considered one of the three pillars of US national security, the other two being defence and diplomacy. Speculation is rife in US foreign policy circles that the biggest beneficiary of the aid freeze at issue will be China. The EU is also coming under pressure to move in to fill the vacuum created by the US aid pause. It was the curtailment of western aid to Africa over human rights violations that enabled China to expand its influence over the African nations, and this prompted the EU to reconsider its aid policy. The American aid pause has the potential to make the developing world consider the US an unreliable partner.

It is not clear what the US is planning to do after the expiration of the 90-day funding shutdown. Trump is keeping the developing world on tenterhooks.

India’s angry protest last week about an incident in Palk Bay where a confrontation between the Sri Lanka Navy and an Indian fishing craft resulted in, according to the SLN, of an accidental discharge of a firearm that led to the “minor wounding” of two Indian fishers, provoked an indignant reader’s letter we run today. Responding to India’s demand that the decades long practice of Tamil Nadu fishermen poaching in Sri Lanka waters, and worse, using illegal bottom trawling methods destroying the marine environment endangering fish breeding, be treated in a “humane” manner, he asked what India’s reaction would be if the boot was on the other foot.

Sri Lanka’s Acting High Commissioner in New Delhi had been summoned to what’s called the South Block housing India’s powerful External Affairs Ministry for a dressing down. An official statement had also been issued by the Indians says among other things that “the use of force is not acceptable whatsoever. Existing understandings between the two governments in this regard must be strictly observed.”

What these understandings are not clear. India has for very many years been stressing that Sri Lanka must view the long-standing problem of Indian fishermen, mostly from Tamil Nadu, crossing the International Maritime Boundary and poaching in our waters “in a humane manner.” The pertinent question of whether the Sri Lanka Navy should watch on while such blatant poaching and damaging the seabed and resultntly our maritime resources goes on, has been pointedly asked.

Incidents like last week’s are invariably reported from either side of the Palk Strait from the perspectives of the parties involved. While Sri Lanka is on record saying that there was an accidental discharge of a weapon, India has taken the view that the SLN had fired at the vessel. According to our Navy “minor injuries” had been caused to two Indian fishers, while the Indian side claims that “serious injuries” have been caused.

Colombo takes up the position that when Indian fishing trawlers are confronted by the SLN, they resort to aggressive manoeuvres to resist arrest and the boarding of the vessels by naval personnel. In July last year, a Special Boat Squadron sailor was killed in a confrontation with an Indian trawler off Kankesanturai. The Fast Attack Craft he was on board was badly damaged due to what was described as “aggressive manoeuvring,” the SLN said.

The Navy claims that such incidents are not uncommon during operations it undertake to chase away Indian trawlers poaching in Sri Lanka waters often under the cover of darkness. India does not deny that its fishermen frequently cross the International Maritime Border as evidenced by the 537 Indian fishermen arrested and 70 trawlers impounded last year. In January, this year over 60 fishermen have been held and three trawlers impounded.

Just as much as Indian fishermen cross the maritime boundary and enter Sri Lankan waters, our fishermen also cross into Indian waters though not in the numbers or intensity as Indians do. This is often the result of Lankan multi-day trawlers returning home after fishing in the Arabian Sea inadvertently straying into Indian waters rather than poaching in those waters. The presence of Tiger prawns on our side of the boundary is a magnet that draws Indian fishers here. Also Indian fishermen had a free run in our northern waters during the war when there was a two mile limit on how far our fishermen could go out to sea. Having enjoyed that benefit for many years, they are naturally loath to give it up,

The two sides have held umpteen talks to resolve the problem of poaching in Sri Lankan waters, most recently during President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s state visit to India. But this issue which had long been a major irritant as far as Sri Lanka is concerned, as well as a thorn on the side of the Indian center with consistent Tamil Nadu pressure on New Delhi seeking intervention on behalf of their fishermen has not been resolved. But is the problem insurmountable?

There are similar issues between India and Pakistan along their maritime boundary in the Arabian Sea, but incidents of Indian fishermen aggressively poaching are very rare. According to Indian sources, there are two very good reasons for this. The first is the more aggressive patrolling by the Indian Coast Guard, as well as the Maritime Security Agency of Pakistan. Trespassing in this part of the troubled waters is also rare because fishermen know that if they are arrested, the prison conditions and treatment of poachers are anything but humane by both sides.

There is no proper official count of how many fishermen India and Pakistan hold from each other’s nations, but the appalling treatment of offenders and the military patrolling have been quite effective deterrents. Given the friendly ties between Delhi and Colombo, should not the two nations begin joint naval patrols to ensure that fishermen from their own countries do not stray into each other’s waters? India has much greater capacity than we do to implement this. But is the necessary political will to do so there?