Features
Shared prosperity: A vision for South Asia

The Lakshman Kadirgamar Memorial Lecture 2023, delivered by Dr. A.K. Abdul Momen, MP
Hon’ble Foreign Minister of Bangladesh
on 03 Feb., 2023.
The event was hosted by the Lakshman Kdirgamar Institute
Of International Relations and Strategic StudiesColombo, Sri Lanka
I am profoundly honoured to have the opportunity to deliver this prestigious Lakshman Kadirgamar Memorial Lecture 2023. I thank the Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka, Mr. Ali Sabry, for this honour.
As an academician, it is my immense pleasure to share my thoughts with the esteemed audience of our close neighbour, Sri Lanka. I am also happy to return to this beautiful island, in less than a year, after the BIMSTEC Summit, held in Colombo.
At the outset, let me pay my homage to late Mr Lakshman Kadirgamar, one of Sri Lanka’s finest sons. He was Foreign Minister during some of the most challenging times in your recent history. Still, he steadily moved towards achieving his dream to build a multi-religious and multi-ethnic united Sri Lanka where all communities could live in harmony. He was a legal scholar and a leader, par excellence. He served to raise the level of the political discourse of Sri Lanka, both at home and abroad. His assassination was one of the most tragic losses for the country. However, we are confident that Lakshman Kadirgamar will be remembered by future generations of Sri Lankans for the values and principles he lived and died for which are even more relevant in present-day Sri Lanka.
I am aware of the regard the late Lakshman Kadirgamar held for Bangladesh. I am also aware that my Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina knew him well. Let me share an anecdote. During one of his visits to Bangladesh, after meeting my Prime Minister, on the way out, she impromptu took him to the stage of her political, public meeting and introduced him to the audience. He even spoke there for a few minutes. Mrs. Kadirgamar who is present here today, was a witness to that episode. That was an indication of how highly the late Kadirgamar was regarded by my Prime Minister. Perhaps all these prompted Mrs Suganthie Kadirgamar to think of hearing from Bangladesh at this year’s Memorial Lecture. I am deeply touched by this gesture. Thank you, Madam.
We see this as an extension of collaboration between LKI and our think tank BIISS.
Today I would like to share my thoughts on the theme “Shared Prosperity: A Vision for South Asia” which we hold very dearly to our heart.
It cannot begin without recalling our Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman who provided our foreign policy dictum “Friendship to all, Malice to None” which he later focused more on promoting relations with neighbours first. His able daughter, Hon’ble Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, aptly picked up the philosophy and extended it and went for its implementation.
Before I delve into the theme, it would be pertinent to put Bangladesh-Sri Lanka bilateral relations in perspective. The relationship is based on multitude of commonalities and close people-to-people contacts. Last year, we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the establishment of our diplomatic ties. We regularly exchange high level visits, are engaged in bilateral discussions on sectoral cooperation, including shipping, trade and commerce, education, agriculture, youth development, connectivity and so on. Our relationship is all about friendship, goodwill and good neighbourliness. Therefore, it is comfortable for me to speak before you in a broader perspective involving the entire region’s development aspect.
Now, why do we think of a holistic approach to prosperity? It is firstly due to the compulsion of the contemporary evolution of global order. We are now going through one of the most significant phases of human history, having already experienced an unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic. Just as we showed our capacity to tame the pandemic, another challenge came in our way – armed conflict in Europe. This has not only slowed down our recovery from the havoc done by the pandemic but also caused a global economic recession due to increase in energy and food prices and, more importantly, disruption of supply chain and financial transaction mechanism, owing to sanctions. Besides, we are also victims of rivalry between big and emerging economies and their strategic power play. All these necessitate the developing countries to get together.
The vision of shared prosperity becomes more relevant when we compare the development trajectory of South Asian countries. Indeed, we have made substantial progress. Some South Asian countries have already graduated to middle income status while others are making their way. Yet, poverty is still high in the region.
One predominant characteristic is that our economies display greater interest in integrating with the global economy than with each other. Regional cooperation, within the existing frameworks, has made only limited progress, being hostage to political and security considerations. The problems have their roots in the historical baggage, as well as the existing disparity in the regional structure. In addition, there are a number of outstanding issues and bilateral discords.
All these realities have left us a message that for survival, we need closer collaboration among neighbours, setting aside our differences; we must have concerted efforts through sharing of experiences and learning from each other.
In this backdrop, Bangladesh has been following a policy of shared prosperity, as a vision for the friendly neighbours of South Asia. Guided by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, we are advocating for inclusive development in the region. Our development trajectory and ideological stance dovetail our vision of shared prosperity for South Asia. Let me tell how we are doing it.
In Bangladesh, human development is the pillar of sustainable development. Our Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, in his maiden speech, at the UNGA, in 1974, said, and I quote, “there is an international responsibility … to ensuring everyone the right to a standard living adequate for the health and the well-being of himself and his family”. Unquote.
This vision remains relevant even today. In that spirit, we are pursuing inclusive and people-centric development in association with regional and global efforts.
In the last decade, we have achieved rapid economic growth, ensuring social justice for all. Today, Bangladesh is acknowledged as one of the fastest growing economies in the world. We have reduced poverty from 41.5% to 20% in the last 14 years. Our per capita income has tripled in just a decade. Bangladesh has fulfilled all criterions for graduating from LDC to a developing country. Bangladesh is ranked as world’s 5th best COVID resilient country, and South Asia’s best performer.
Last year, we inaugurated the self-funded ‘Padma Multi-purpose Bridge”. A few days ago, we started the first ever Metro Rail service in our capital. Soon, we shall complete the 3.2 kilometer Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Tunnel under the river Karnaphuli in Chattogram, the first in South Asia. Several other mega-projects are in the pipeline which will bring about significant economic upliftment.
Our aspiration is to transform Bangladesh into a knowledge-based ‘Smart Bangladesh” by 2041 and a prosperous and climate-resilient delta by 2100. We hope to attain these goals by way of ensuring women empowerment, sustainable economic growth and creating opportunities for all.
The priorities of Sheikh Hasina Government are the following:
First, provide food, Second, provide cloths, Third, shelter and accommodation to all and no one should be left behind, Fourth, Education, and Fifth, Healthcare to all. To achieve these goals, she promoted vehicles like Digital Bangladesh, innovation, foreign entrepreneurs and private initiatives in an atmosphere of regional peace, stability and security, and through connectivity. Bangladesh has become a hub of connectivity and looking forward to become a ‘Smart Bangladesh’.
When it comes to foreign policy, we have been pursuing neighbourhood diplomacy for amiable political relations with the South Asian neighbours alongside conducting a balancing act on strategic issues based on the philosophy of “shared prosperity”. I can name a few initiatives which speak of our commitment to the fulfilment of the philosophy.
Bangladesh, within its limited resources, is always ready to stand by her neighbours in times of emergency – be it natural calamity, or pandemic or economic crisis. We despatched essential medicines, medical equipment and technical assistance to the Maldives, Nepal, Bhutan and India during the peak period of the Covid-19 pandemic.
We had readily extended humanitarian assistance to Nepal when they faced the deadly earthquake, back in 2015. Last year, we helped the earthquake victims of Afghanistan. Prior to that, we contributed to the fund raised by the United Nations for the people of Afghanistan.
Further, our assistance for the people of Sri Lanka, with emergency medicines, during the moment of crisis, last year, or the currency SWAP arrangement, is the reflection of our commitment to our philosophy. These symbolic gestures were not about our capacity, pride or mere demonstration, rather it was purely about our sense of obligation to our neighbours. We strongly believe that shared prosperity comes with shared responsibility and development in a single country of a particular region may not sustain if others are not taken along.
In addition, we have resolved most of our critical issues with our neighbours, peacefully, through dialogue and discussion. For example, we have resolved our border demarcation problem with India, our maritime boundary with India and Myanmar, and also our water sharing with India, peacefully, through dialogue and discussion.
For an emerging region, like South Asia, we need to devise certain policies and implement those in a sustainable manner. I would like to share some of my thoughts which could be explored in quest for our shared prosperity and inclusive development:
First of all
, without regional peace and stability we would not be able to grow as aspired for. To that effect, our leaders in the region have to work closely on priority basis. We may have issues between neighbours but we have to transcend that to leave a legacy of harmony for our future generation so that a culture of peace and stability prevails in the region. We can vouch for it from our own experience. In Bangladesh, we are sheltering 1.1 million forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals. If remains unresolved, it has the potential to jeopardise the entire security architecture of South Asia. So, here the neighbourhood should support us for their own interests.
Second
, we need to revitalize our regional platforms and properly implement our initiatives taken under BIMSTEC and IORA. We are happy that BIMSTEC is progressing better, but we should endeavour to make it move always like a rolling machine.
Third
, we need to focus on regional trade and investment. Countries in South Asia had implemented trade liberalization within the framework of SAFTA but in a limited scale. Bangladesh is in the process of concluding Preferential Trade Agreement/Free Trade Agreement with several of its South Asian peers. We have already concluded PTA with Bhutan; are at an advanced stage of negotiations for PTA with Sri Lanka and discussions for PTA with Nepal are on. In the same spirit, Bangladesh is about to start negotiations on Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with India.
Fourth,
a well-connected region brings immense economic benefits and leads to greater regional integration. To maximize our intra- and extra-regional trade potentials and enhance people-to-people contacts, Bangladesh is committed to regional and sub regional connectivity initiatives. Bangladesh’s geostrategic location is a big leverage which was rightly picked up by our Hon’ble Prime Minister. She benevolently offered connectivity in the form of transit and trans-shipment to our friendly neighbours for sustainable growth and collective prosperity of the region. As for Sri Lanka, if we can establish better shipping connectivity which our two countries are working on, the overall regional connectivity would be more robust.
Fifth
, We live in a globalized world, highly interconnected and interdependent. Our region has gone through similar experience and history. Bangladesh believes and promotes religious harmony. We have been promoting “Culture of Peace” across nations. The basic element of “Culture of Peace” is to inculcate a mindset of tolerance, a mind set of respect towards others, irrespective of religion, ethnicity, colour, background or race. If we can develop such mindset by stopping venom of hatred towards others, we can hope to have sustainable peace and stability across nations, leading to end of violence, wars, and terrorism in nations and regions. There won’t be millions of refugees or persecuted Rohingyas. Bangladesh takes special pride in it as even before Renaissance was started in Europe in the 17th century, even before America was discovered in 1492, in Bengal a campaign was started by Chandi Das as early as 1408 that says “সবার উপরে মানুষ সত্য; তাহার উপরে নাই”- humanity is above all and we still try to promote it.
Sixth
, we have to look beyond a traditional approach of development and challenges and revisit the non-traditional global crises of the recent time. We are experiencing food, fuel, fertiliser and energy shortages due to global politics and disruption of supply chain; as littoral and island countries, we face similar challenges of natural disasters; we have vast maritime area which needs effective maritime governance; we need to curb marine pollution and ensure responsible use of marine resources. Our collective, sincere and bold efforts are required to minimize the impacts of climate change as well.
In this context, I would like to share Bangladesh’s understanding and position.
Ocean Governance:
· Blue Economy:
Bangladesh is an avid proponent of Blue Economy and responsible use of marine resources for the benefit of the entire region. We are keen to utilize the full potential of our marine resources and have developed an integrated maritime policy, drawing on the inter-linkages between the different domains and functions of our seas, oceans and coastal areas. Bangladesh also values the importance of sound science, innovative management, effective enforcement, meaningful partnerships, and robust public participation as essential elements of Blue Economy. At this stage, we need support, technical expertise and investment for sustainable exploration and exploitation of marine resources. As the past and present chairs of IORA, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka should find out ways of bilateral collaboration particularly in Blue Economy in the Bay of Bengal.
· Controlling of Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported (IUU) fishing:
IUU fishing in the maritime territory of Bangladesh needs to be monitored and controlled. Our present capability of marine law enforcement in this regard is limited. Here regional collaboration would be very useful.
· Marine Pollution: Marine pollution is a major concern for all littoral countries. Micro-plastic contamination poses serious threat to marine eco system. Responsible tourism and appropriate legal framework, underpinned by regional collaboration, would greatly help.
Climate Change and Climate Security in the Bay of Bengal:
We have taken a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach to make the country climate-resilient. Our Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan was formulated in 2009. Bangladesh has pioneered in establishing a climate fund, entirely from our own resources, in 2009. Nearly $443 million has been allocated to this fund since then.
Moreover, we are going to implement the ‘Mujib Climate Prosperity Plan’ to achieve low carbon economic growth for optimised prosperity and partnership. Green growth, resilient infrastructure and renewable energy are key pillars of this prosperity plan. This is a paradigm shift from vulnerability to resilience and now from resilience to prosperity.
As the immediate past Chair of the Climate Vulnerable Forum, we had promoted the interests of the climate vulnerable countries, including Sri Lanka, in the international platforms. Bangladesh is globally acclaimed for its remarkable success in climate adaptation, in particular in locally-led adaptation efforts. The Global Centre on Adaptation (GCA) South Asia regional office in Dhaka is disseminating local based innovative adaptation strategies to other climate vulnerable countries.
To rehabilitate the climate displaced people, we have undertaken one of the world’s largest housing projects which can shelter 4,500 climate displaced families. Under the “Ashrayan” project, a landmark initiative for the landless and homeless people, 450,000 families have been provided with houses. Keeping disaster resilience in mind, the project focuses on mitigation through afforestation, rainwater harvesting, solar home systems and improved cook stoves. In addition, the government has implemented river-bank protection, river excavation and dredging, building of embankment, excavation of irrigation canals and drainage canals in last 10 years at a massive scale. We feel, our national efforts need to be complemented by regional assistance.
As the chair of CVF and as a climate vulnerable country, our priority is to save this planet earth for our future generations. In order to save it, we need all countries, specially those that are major polluters, to come up with aggressive NDCs, so that global temperature remains below 1.5 degree Celsius, they should allocate more funds to climate change, they should share the burden of rehabilitation of ‘climate migrants’ that are uprooted from their sweet homes and traditional jobs due to erratic climatic changes, river erosion and additional salinity. We are happy that “loss and damage” has been introduced in COP-27.
Seventh
, South Asia needs a collective voice in the international forum for optimizing their own interests.
Finally,
and most importantly, South Asian leaders need similar political will for a better and prosperous region.
We hope that Bangladesh and its neighbours in South Asia would be able to tap the potentials of each other’s complementarities to further consolidate our relations to rise and shine as a region. May I conclude by reminding ourselves what a Bengali poet has said, and I quote,
Don’t be afraid of the cloud, sunshine is sure to follow.
With this, I conclude. I thank you all for your graceful presence and patience.
Joy Bangla, Joy Bangabandhu!
Features
Empowering Futures: Navigating intersection of innovation in globalised eduscape

In a recent interview with BBC’s Katty Kay, Sal Khan, the founder of Khan Academy and author of Brave New Words, presents a compelling and optimistic vision for the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into classrooms. His views align closely with the themes of innovation, equity, and lifelong learning that frame current debates in global education.
The global education landscape is undergoing profound transformation, driven by rapid technological innovation, shifting socio-economic demands, and the imperatives of globalisation. As education systems, worldwide, grapple with questions of relevance, equity, and sustainability, the emergence of a fluid and interconnected learning ecosystem—what scholars and policymakers increasingly term the eduscape—demands urgent attention and critical reflection. This eduscape is not merely a digital evolution; it encapsulates the convergence of pedagogy, policy, and technology in a transnational context, marked by both opportunity and inequity.
A tool: Powerful assistant
At the forefront of this transformation is the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into teaching and learning. Khan articulated a compelling vision for AI in education during the interview with Katty Kay. He envisions AI not as a substitute for educators but as a powerful assistant—enhancing personalisation, supporting creativity, and facilitating lifelong learning. His perspective reflects a growing body of scholarship that positions AI as a tool to augment human capabilities and address long-standing structural challenges in education.
However, the promise of innovation cannot be separated from the realities of educational inequity. The digital divide, disparities in access, and uneven capacity for adoption threaten to widen existing gaps. Moreover, the global diffusion of educational technologies raises questions about cultural homogenisation and the erosion of local pedagogical traditions. To navigate these tensions, a nuanced approach is required—one that blends technological advancement with inclusive policy, pedagogical integrity, and cultural responsiveness.
Investigation
I attempt to examine how innovation, equity, and lifelong learning intersect to shape education systems capable of empowering future generations. Drawing on recent developments in AI-enhanced learning, theories of constructivist and competency-based education, and global policy frameworks, such as Global Citizenship Education (GCE), this analysis aims to illuminate the pathways through which education can become more adaptive, inclusive, and transformative. Ultimately, this investigation seeks to articulate a vision for education that is not only future-oriented but also grounded in ethical and humanistic values.
The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into education, as envisioned by Sal Khan, represents a transformative yet complex shift in pedagogy. Khan presents AI as a tool to personalise learning, re-engage students, and augment rather than replace the role of educators. While this perspective aligns with broader scholarly enthusiasm for educational technology, critical examination reveals the nuanced challenges and conditionalities associated with implementing innovation within global educational systems (see Figure 1: ChatGPT-AI generated infographic).
Innovation: Transformative but Conditional
Technological innovations, such as AI tutors, learning analytics, and immersive simulations, have reshaped learning environments by enhancing personalisation and engagement. Tools like Khanmigo (AI-powered tutoring assistant developed by Khan Academy) demonstrate AI’s potential to support differentiated instruction and enable formative assessment in real time. These innovations are congruent with constructivist learning theories, which emphasise the active construction of knowledge through interaction and experience.
However, innovation is not inherently emancipatory. Some argue that without critical pedagogical grounding, digital tools risk reinforcing pre-existing hierarchies and inequalities. For instance, AI systems that lack cultural and linguistic sensitivity may marginalise diverse learner populations. Additionally, algorithmic systems can over-standardise learning and diminish opportunities for creative and critical thinking, if not guided by thoughtful instructional design. Hence, innovation must be deployed with a clear alignment to pedagogical goals and equity principles.
Equity: The Persistent Digital Divide
Equity remains one of the most pressing challenges in the digital eduscape. Although AI-enabled education offers tools to support inclusion, the digital divide persists across and within nations. In many contexts, students lack consistent internet access, digital devices, or the digital literacy required to navigate AI-mediated learning environments. As UNESCO underscores, technological access alone does not guarantee inclusion; educational systems must also invest in teacher training, inclusive curricula, and culturally responsive pedagogies.
Actually, inclusive education is not a technical issue but a structural one, requiring curriculum redesign and institutional commitment to address barriers related to disability, language, gender, and geography. AI can support equity only when these broader systemic factors are simultaneously addressed.
Lifelong Learning: Expanding Educational Horizons
AI-facilitated learning also intersects with the growing emphasis on lifelong learning. The concept of education as a continuous process aligns with global workforce demands and the emergence of micro-credentials, modular online learning, and flexible learning pathways. Also, lifelong learning environments, supported by AI and personalised platforms, offer learners greater autonomy and alignment with real-world competencies.
Nevertheless, these innovations carry risks. Without adequate institutional support, learners may be overwhelmed by fragmented learning opportunities and credential inflation. Moreover, those in marginalised communities may struggle to participate in such systems due to digital exclusion or lack of social capital. Thus, while lifelong learning is vital, it must be equitably accessible and embedded within coherent policy frameworks.
Globalisation: Balancing Global and Local Needs
Globalisation plays a dual role in shaping educational transformation. On one hand, it facilitates cross-border collaboration, knowledge exchange, and technological diffusion. On the other, it can homogenise educational practices and marginalise local cultures. While platforms, like Khan Academy, aim to offer globally accessible learning, they may inadvertently reflect dominant cultural assumptions about knowledge, language, and pedagogy.
To mitigate this, UNESCO promotes Global Citizenship Education (GCE), which encourages students to engage critically with global challenges while valuing local identity and diversity. Integrating GCE into AI-driven systems presents an opportunity to foster civic-mindedness and ethical engagement, but it also requires intentional curricular design and policy support.
Human Agency: Anchoring Ethical AI Use
Despite the capabilities of AI, the role of teachers remains central. As Khan emphasises, educators provide the social-emotional scaffolding, ethical guidance, and cultural context that AI lacks. Further, AI should support teachers in making informed instructional decisions, not replace them.
The impact of AI on learning depends less on the technology itself than on the values, intentions, and pedagogical frameworks that shape its use. Ethical AI integration requires professional development, participatory design processes, and safeguards to prevent misuse or over-reliance. Teachers, students, and communities must be active agents in determining how technology shapes learning.
Synthesis
While AI offers powerful tools to enhance personalisation, access, and creativity, its implementation must be grounded in inclusive, context-sensitive, and ethically informed practices. The global eduscape is marked by asymmetries in infrastructure, capacity, and cultural fit. Therefore, empowering futures requires more than technological adoption—it demands a reimagining of education that is human-centred, culturally responsive, and globally aware.
Conclusion
As the global education landscape evolves, the integration of innovation, equity, and lifelong learning emerges not as optional enhancements but as foundational pillars for sustainable educational transformation. Sal Khan’s vision of AI as a pedagogical scaffold—rather than a replacement for human educators—epitomises the balanced and ethical approach required to navigate the complex terrain of the modern eduscape. His insights underscore the importance of
aligning technological tools with human-centred values, equity-focused frameworks, and culturally responsive pedagogy.
Artificial Intelligence, when applied judiciously, holds immense potential to personalise learning, re-engage students, support teacher decision-making, and foster creativity.
Yet, its transformative capacity depends heavily on the context in which it is embedded. Without adequate attention to digital infrastructure, teacher training, policy integration, and socio-economic disparities, the very technologies designed to democratise education may inadvertently deepen inequalities.
This attempt is to explore the interplay between global innovation trends and local educational realities, highlighting both the possibilities and the perils of rapid digital transformation. It affirms that lifelong learning—flexible, modular, and competency-based—must be central to educational planning in the 21st century, especially in preparing learners to adapt to technological disruption and global change.
To truly empower future generations, education systems must be agile yet grounded, innovative yet inclusive, and global in outlook yet locally relevant. This requires not only investment in technology but also a commitment to inclusive policy design, community engagement, and ethical foresight. Moving forward, sustained cross-national research, policy experimentation, and institutional collaboration will be essential to shaping an eduscape that serves all learners—equitably, creatively, and sustainably.
(The writer, a senior Chartered Accountant and professional banker, is Professor at SLIIT, Malabe. The views and opinions expressed in this article are personal.)
Features
Government’s success in building trust needs to expand

The government has been trying to overcome the most serious economic breakdown in the country’s modern history. By negotiating without prevarication with the International Monetary Fund and by allowing the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption, the police and the courts to do their work, it has persuaded foreign partners and the general public that it can be trusted. That credibility now gives the government an opportunity that its predecessors failed to obtain. It can and must use the trust it has gained to confront the legacy of war and heal a country that is still divided.
The clearest indication of its credibility is the new relationship with the IMF. Last week the Executive Board of the IMF completed the fourth review of the Extended Fund Facility and authorised the disbursement of another USD 350 million to Sri Lanka. At the same sitting it granted waivers after the government admitted that it had under reported expenditure arrears during earlier reviews and outlined steps to improve the integrity of its data. Instead of imposing penalties, the IMF was lenient to acknowledge the corrective action and the deeper commitment to fiscal transparency.
In other cases, as in Ukraine in 2001 and Dominican Republic in 2004, the IMF has frozen assistance when borrowers misstate information. That it refrained on this occasion speaks well about the confidence it places in the government’s determination to reform. Tariff increases, steeper taxes and the withdrawal of blanket subsidies have caused economic hardship to the people, yet the government has persisted. Reserves have stabilised, inflation is low and output is returning to modest growth even as turbulence in global trade poses fresh risks. Debt restructuring with bilateral and commercial creditors is close to completion, and the automatic electricity tariff formula, another unpopular measure, has been brought into play.
People’s Priorities
As a result of inflation that took place in the past, and the failure of salaries to catch up, real income is still below precrisis levels. A survey undertaken by the National Peace Council in August 2024 just before the presidential election revealed that the first priority of people in their choice of candidate was economic development. The study conducted by Dr. Mahesh Senanayake and Ms. Crishni Silva of the University of Colombo offers valuable insights into the key drivers of voter behaviour within Sri Lanka’s dynamic political context. Despite the continuing economic problems, voters seem willing to wait as they continue to place their trust in the government’s sincerity.
The NPC survey examines how factors such as economic concerns, perceptions of leadership, trust in public institutions, and prevailing social issues influence electoral decisions. The research showed that voters overwhelmingly prioritised candidates who would offer clear strategies to address Sri Lanka’s economic crisis, fight corruption, and ensure good governance. 93% of respondents indicated they would vote based on a candidate’s ability to resolve the economic crisis. 83% prioritised candidates committed to tackling corruption. 86% favoured candidates with strong educational backgrounds, signaling a preference for qualified, competent leaders over political dynasties.
Trust also depends on tackling corruption. Nothing corrodes confidence faster than impunity. It is in relation to accountability for economic crimes that progress is most visible. Recently, a bench of three judges, acting on an indictment filed by the Bribery Commission, sentenced two former ministers to prison terms of twenty and twentyfive years for misappropriating public funds in a sportsequipment procurement scandal. The convictions, the first of their scale against former cabinet members, signal that no office is beyond the reach of the law and that economic crimes will be answered in court.
The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption together with the police and judiciary is showing that state institutions can tackle the problems of corruption if the government does not interfere to block them discharging their mandates. The same principles should hold where it concerns non-economic crimes as well. The recent arrest of a former Karuna group cadre for the murder of the Vice Chancellor of Eastern University nearly twenty years ago, shows this is possible. The success in dealing with economic crimes and making those guilty of those crimes accountable to the law and the courts shows the way to dealing with the festering problem of human rights violations that took place during the three decades of war.
International Involvement
The failure of successive governments to deal satisfactorily with the issue of war crimes has led to demands for international involvement in ensuring accountability for war crimes and serious human rights violations. This has been resisted by successive governments on the grounds that direct international involvement in the form of being investigators, prosecutors and judges will be an unacceptable erosion of national sovereignty which will give power to those from the international community who have no longer term stake in the country in the same way Sri Lankan citizens have. In the past this was also an excuse for inaction.
UN Human Rights High Commissioner Volker Turk dealt diplomatically with this issue. His offer of international assistance was to offer support to domestic mechanisms. He said, “Sri Lanka has struggled to move forward with domestic accountability mechanisms that are credible and have the trust and confidence of victims. This is why Sri Lankans have looked outside for justice, through assistance at the international level. Ultimately it is the State’s responsibility and it is important that this process is nationally owned – and it can be complemented and supported by international means.”
However, the reluctance to get into the area of war crimes persists due to the possibility of political backlash. The visit of the High Commissioner to the Chemmani mass grave site was made possible because the Magistrate’s Court in Jaffna stood firm and acceded to the demand made by human rights lawyer K. S. Ratnavale that the High Commissioner should be given access to the Chemmani site. The court overruled objections by the government representatives who said that the High Commissioner should be given access only to the entrance to the Chemmani site and not to the mass grave itself. A process that is independent and open to scrutiny would strengthen the government’s standing both at home and abroad.
Winning Trust
Allowing independent observers to monitor evidence preservation, witness protection and laboratory analysis could offer the assurance victims now demand. The government already has a model for such openness. It has accepted extensive external oversight of its fiscal policy. IMF staff examine Treasury books each quarter, verify information and insist on course corrections when targets are missed. The general population now believes this supervision helps rather than weakens the country. It is regarded as a seal of confidence that attracts investment and assures taxpayers that rules apply to all.
Sri Lanka will not lay the ghosts of its war to rest until the truth about the missing persons is ascertained. Although not much reported in the media in the English and Sinhala languages, in the north and east, the issue of the Chemmani mass grave has revived painful memories and made this the topic of everyday discussion. In view of justifiable concerns and past failures to protect evidence, an international role in safeguarding evidence can be considered. In addition, international experts can be brought in to ensure that the evidence is gathered and analysed in a scientific way drawing on international experience.
Just as the government has won the trust of the IMF and the general public regarding its commitment to improving their economic lives, it can win the trust of the people of the north and east who lost their loved ones in the war. The government can design an accountability process that is credible, nationally owned and internationally respected. This can pave the way for national reconciliation of which Sri Lanka can be an example to the world that is increasingly conflictual and divided.
by Jehan Perera
Features
Oh Palestine, Palestine: Unchaining education

Why do the books deceive?
Why is every letter of the alphabet chained,
every human mouth bridled
From Concerto Al-Quds by Adonis (On Palestine): Trans: Khaled Mattawa
Why is every letter of the alphabet chained, indeed, as this poet asks. If I may attempt an answer to this question, I will want to raise it as an epistemological and pedagogic concern. And I do have to raise it as a question of Palestine as well, for our lives caught in the systems of knowledge production, and shaped by their parameters, have to reckon with one of the greatest political infamies of our shared global history: Palestine.
Many of us watch with horror the war on Gaza. We are anxious about the ongoing conflict, and the uptick on the war, with USA bombing Iran and the counter offensives. The war in Ukraine had already raised concerns about an impending World War III. Continuous wars, one leading to the other, had always been a part of our lives in recent times. We had always put it down to geopolitics and the West’s need to dominate and shape the world order in the way it wants to. Palestine had always been central to this. But this understanding, important as it is, has to be combined with a theoretical and semiotic understanding of what Palestine stands for, in very material terms; its peoples, the multiple dispossessions that the land has undergone, the horror of war and mayhem, the resistance of the Intifadas – in other words, in historical and political terms. We need to do this as our own act of solidarity and strategy, because our “books deceive.”
Colonialism, Neocolonialism and Neoliberalism
Let me begin, genealogically, with neoliberalism, the current political and economic moment. It is no overstatement to say that today neoliberalism as an economic and cultural truth of modernity (progress) has become naturalised, an uncontested premise of our economic and political system, an economic and political world order that combines colonialism with extreme economic appropriation, misappropriation. Neoliberalism is a neocolonial moment, in which the world’s working population is turned into an exploited (reserve) army of labour for global capital. We see colonial capital reinvented as global capital and financial markets, crisscrossing the world and masquerading as the new world order, the messianic deliverer. Yet, Palestine tells us, no!
One of the enduring colonial characteristics of the neoliberal moment is the way land in the third world, and in colonised regions across the globe, has been a chief marker of the process of dispossessing people of their livelihoods in their places of living. Global capital recolonises land through marketising it as a commodity. Colonialism has always been about land, the control of land, the control of the people of the land, the exploitation of land, and the exploitation of the labour of its people.
In the neocolonial, neoliberal world we live in, this colonial legacy repeats itself not just as farce, but as tragi-comedy. And then we have the tragedy of Palestine. Neoliberalism can be understood as the deep vulgarisation of the tragedy of colonialism. As neocolonial subjects, we gleefully adapt, change and create policies on education that have become a blanket endorsement of the global north’s, and the global order’s, politics and policies. Committees, Commissions and Collaborations converge to market these policies. The books continue to deceive.
Decolonising Knowledge: The Other
Decolonising knowledge has gained some traction in the postcolonial world, particularly in the areas of knowledge production and in education. It does put up a valiant challenge to colonial premises of advancements. Yet, much of this interesting trend, a politically demanding one, has become entangled for the most part, in creating east/west or north/south binaries. More often than not decolonisation merely re-narrates colonial paradigms in nationalist idioms, an act that Frantz Fanon, the arch anti-colonialist theorist warned us against in Black Skin White Masks and Wretched of the Earth. While we look on with horror at what is unfolding in Palestine, a century after the brazenly racist, colonialist Balfour Declaration that inaugurated the settlement of European Jews in Palestine, Palestine might well be a starting point for us to engage in a conversation on decolonisation. In such a re-examination of what Palestine was and is today, we may have to side step geopolitics as the point of entry and instead recentre colonial pursuits and persuasions as our primary focus.
The area around West Asia (called the Middle East from the European perspective) has always been, materially and metaphorically speaking, the pathway to the land masses around Russia, China and the Indian subcontinent in Asia. Politically and culturally, it was the crucible in which a European identity was forged, forming its crucial Other. The crusades are an early indication of it. In early modernity, the lines harden. Can one forget the expulsion of Jews and Muslims from Spain in 1492, the same year, Columbus lands in Bahamas, to inaugurate that side of the genocide project? When Emilia in the play Othello, tells Desdemona, “I know a lady in Venice would have walked barefoot to Palestine for a touch of his [Lodovico] nether lip,” we can immediately see the central role Palestine plays in the nascent colonial imaginary of Shakespeare’s Europe. Shakespeare’s classic play on race immediately centres this othering of Othello as a question of the European Christian versus all others, including other Christians. The play is not just about race, but is about race and sexuality, one of those constitutive anxieties of the European psyche that helped shape colonial appropriations in the name of a putative moral superiority. Sometimes we seem to be still stuck in early modernity. Tracing the place of Palestine in the colonial imagery is important for any epistemological project of decolonisation.
Epistemologically and pedagogically, the question of Palestine should lead us to question our own nationalisms and nation state prerogatives. The Naqba in Palestine was in 1948, the same year, the people of Malaiyaham in Sri Lanka were disenfranchised, just a year after the conflagration that the independence of India and Pakistan was. These were not fortuitous. We have story after story to tell of this series of dispossessions. As Mahmood Mamdani insists, in Neither Settler nor Native, writing on Palestine, one needs to think beyond the nation and nationalism. Beyond the specificities of the conflict and war in Palestine, solidarity for Palestine may want to begin with this exploration of our shared colonial legacy, leading us into far reaching queries about the sociopolitical order of global capital in the world today. Decolonisation lies at the heart of an active democratisation process of the polity, both nations, and nation states, challenging the global world order at the same time. In any project that examines our knowledge systems, and in any putative attempt to decolonise education, we may need to begin with that.
As Adonis, the poet, writer and theorist, has enjoined us, every letter of the alphabet needs to speak freely, openly and honestly. Palestine, in 2025, has to show us the way and the friends of Palestine have to set the tone for this challenge. And then, just then, we may be able to turn around and look back at what happened in 1996, in Chemmani, and look at the children buried in the shallow graves of mass murder, without flinching, all while accepting responsibility.
In Jerusalem, and I mean within the ancient walls,
I walk from one epoch to another without a memory
to guide me. The prophets over there are sharing
the history of the holy … ascending to heaven
and returning less discouraged and melancholy, because love
and peace are holy and are coming to town.
From, “In Jerusalem” by Mahmoud Darwish
(Sivamohan Sumathy is attached to the Department of English at the University of Peradeniya)
Kuppi is a politics and pedagogy happening on the margins of the lecture hall that parodies, subverts, and simultaneously reaffirms social hierarchies
by Sivamohan Sumathy
-
Features3 days ago
One of the finest foreign ministers the nation missed
-
News3 days ago
Cheap alms bowls imports hit Sri Lanka makers, monks
-
Opinion6 days ago
COPE findings and USJ reaction: External students left high and dry
-
News5 days ago
New KDU Medical Faculty admission policy challenged in Supreme Court
-
Features3 days ago
Going through Colombo Medical School
-
Features6 days ago
A shining example …
-
Sports3 days ago
Liverpool team join family of Diogo Jota, brother for funeral in Portugal
-
Editorial5 days ago
‘Celebration of debt’ and harsh reality