Editorial

Super mandate and sobering reality

Published

1 year ago

2024/11/18

Monday 18th November, 2024

Following their stunning victory in last week’s parliamentary election, the JVP/NPP leaders must still be pinching themselves to make sure that they are not dreaming. Their mammoth majority is sure to go down in Sri Lanka’s history. However, the bigger the majority, the greater a government’s responsibility and the higher the possibility of the public expecting miracles and becoming frustrated. Above all, the Actonian truism that absolute power corrupts absolutely has stood the test of time. Giving politicians, especially untested ones, steamroller majorities could be just as much a recipe for disaster as keeping teenagers, alcohol and car keys together.

It was somewhat reassuring that JVP General Secretary Tilvin Silva lost no time in appearing on television on Friday and promising that the NPP government would handle its super majority carefully and responsibly. However, one expected that assurance to come from the General Secretary (GS) of the NPP, and not the GS of the JVP, which says it is only part of the NPP. Nevertheless, Silva’s pledge will go a long way towards allaying doubts and suspicions in the people’s minds as regards steamroller majorities. One can only hope that the JVP/NPP will honour its word.

The NPP government will have to knuckle down to work forthwith and make good on its promises. It faces a steep learning curve. The new government is full of novices, and most ministers to be appointed will have no experience whatsoever with governance, and there could arise a situation where the political authority becomes heavily dependent on the highly unpopular bureaucracy, as never before. Officialdom is as much responsible as previous governments for Sri Lanka’s current predicament and the resultant public resentment, which the JVP/NPP tapped to propel itself to power.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, a political greenhorn, became overdependent on public officials like P. B. Jayasundera, and the so-called professionals, such as doctors and university dons, failed pathetically. Behind every mega racket in the state sector, there is a rogue public official. The fake immunoglobulin fraud in the Health Ministry is a case in point. The fact that the members of the public service, which has become synonymous with inefficiency, callousness and corruption, threw their weight behind the NPP in the last two elections does not mean they are ready to mend their ways, work diligently, enhance their productivity and cooperate with the new government to achieve its goals for the sake of the country. There’s the rub.

The new government will find itself in the same bailout straitjacket as its predecessor, and the IMF, which is at the beck and call of the western bloc, is no respecter of popular mandates in the developing countries. So, whether the NPP government will be able to do things differently on the economic front remains to be seen. Unless it toes the western line, it will have screws being tightened by the international lending institutions.

The National People’s Power government ought to bear in mind that ‘People Power’ entered the political lexicon following a popular uprising in the Philippines in 1986 against dictator Ferdinand Marcos, who was backed by the US, which is now pontificating to Sri Lanka on the virtues of good governance. Marcos, whose regime was notorious for corruption and oppression, was ousted for more or less the same reasons as the Rajapaksa government.

But, in 2022, Filipinos elected Bongbong, son of Marcos, as their President. Ironically, his only qualification was that he was the scion of the Marcos family! Similarly, the forces the JVP/NPP boasts of having vanquished, are likely to make a comeback if the self-proclaimed liberators fail to carry out their promises. There have already emerged small pockets of resistance to the NPP’s clean-up campaign; Chamara Sampath (Badulla) and Rohitha Abeygunawardena (Kalutara) have retained their seats! These pockets could act like Covid clusters with the passage of time.

The NPP takes pride in having won handsomely in the North and the East as well in the recently-concluded general election—and justifiably so. That was a singular achievement. But would the people of the North and the East have been able to exercise their democratic rights, especially franchise, much less vote for political parties of their choice, if the LTTE had been around? The JVP did not support the country’s war against the LTTE. Most of all, whether the NPP will be able to retain its popularity in the North and the East will depend on how it handles contentious issues such as devolution and the UNHRC resolutions against Sri Lanka.

Riding a massive wave of anti-politics, the JVP/NPP succeeded in creating a kind of political Morton’s fork—a dilemma in which both choices are equally unpleasant—for the public by lumping its rivals into two groups, the Rajapaksa camp and others represented by the UNP, the SJB, etc.; it vilified both groups as corrupt, inefficient and worthless, while presenting itself as the only saviour. For this purpose, it had the public believe that the country had gained absolutely nothing during successive governments since Independence (1948). If so, how come an office aide’s son from Tambuttegama received free education and graduated from a state university with a science degree, and went on to become the President of Sri Lanka? It is thanks to successive governments that democracy has survived two JVP uprisings and a protracted war for the people to elect governments. The vast majority of professionals in the JVP/NPP, have also benefited from free education, free healthcare, etc.

True, most of the previous governments were characterised by corruption and abuse of power, and they contributed to the present economic crisis, but that does not mean that the country has not achieved anything since Independence, as evident from numerous development projects, impressive health indicators and high literacy rate. Interestingly, didn’t the JVP opt for honeymoons with the governments it keeps condemning, from 1970 to 2019? It was part of the SLFP-led UPFA government, which was in power from 2004 to 2010.

What made the NPP’s impressive electoral victories possible was the unstinting support of the ‘voters of passage’, who shift their political loyalties, based on changing circumstances, their own interests and the prevailing political climate. There is reason to believe that most of those who helped raise the NPP’s votes from a meagre 3% to a whopping 61% and its parliamentary seats from a mere three to a stunning 159 within just four years are the ones who voted overwhelmingly for Gotabaya Rajapaksa in the 2019 presidential race and for the SLPP in the 2020 general election and subsequently resorted to punitive voting against the Rajapaksas owing to contrition. Many of them are also known for virtue signaling. One of the biggest challenges before the NPP government will be to retain their support in future elections, especially the local government and provincial council polls slated for 2025.

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Editorial

Crisis and opportunity

Published

22 hours ago

2026/03/4

Sahan Weerasooriya

Wednesday 4th March, 2026

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake yesterday spoke in Parliament about the worsening Middle East conflict and its impact on Sri Lanka. Sidestepping the hot-button issue of unprovoked US-Israeli attacks that killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday, he called upon all parties concerned to resolve the conflict peacefully. There was a time when the JVP would openly market its anti-American rhetoric, but under President Dissanayake’s leadership, it is wary of criticising the US for attacking a sovereign nation and killing its supreme leader. Interestingly, even UNP leader and former President Ranil Wickremesinghe, widely considered pro-American, has called US-Israeli attacks unacceptable.

President Dissanayake read the economic consequences of the Middle East conflict accurately, reassuring the public. He said the Central Bank and the Finance Ministry had been tasked with assessing the developing situation and its economic consequences and recommending how to navigate issues affecting Sri Lanka. It is said that in facing any conflict, one should expect the best and prepare for the worst.

The first casualty of any conflict in the Middle East region is the global oil supply. Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz, located in its territorial waters, and threatened to attack all vessels that pass through it. This is bound to affect 20% of the global oil supply. Even before the closure of that vital sea route, Sri Lankans went on a fuel panic buying spree, causing long lines of vehicles outside filling stations. President Dissanayake referred to fuel queues in his speech, and assured the public that there would be no fuel shortage.

It is hoped that the government will be able to formulate a robust strategy to face any eventuality, with the Middle East conflict showing signs of spreading across the region. Sri Lankan economy is likely to receive multiple shocks, such as decreases in remittances and a decline in export earnings. The success of a national strategy to weather a mega crisis hinges on cooperation among political parties, especially in Parliament. Thankfully, the current Opposition has been acting responsibly during the past several days, without trying to aggravate the panic buying of fuel in sharp contrast to the manner in which the JVP instigated protests during the 2022 fuel crisis.

Revealing that sufficient fuel stocks were currently available and more oil shipments were on the way, President Dissanayake lamented the limited fuel storage facilities in Sri Lanka. This situation has come about because successive governments have not cared to develop the Trinco oil tank farm as a national priority. Only a section of the 99-tank complex built during World War II has been developed. According to media reports, 14 tanks have been given to Indian Oil Corporation (IOC); 61 are to be developed as a joint venture between the CPC and the IOC. The CPC owns 24 tanks with a capacity of about 10,000 MT each.

There have been only half-hearted efforts to develop the Trinco tanks owned by the CPC. It is up to the NPP government to expedite the development of these facilities and increase the country’s petroleum storage capacity significantly to face global supply disruptions and price escalations. After all, President Dissanayake, during the 2024 presidential election campaign, rightly flayed previous governments for their failure to make use of the Trinco oil tanks and promised to develop them under an NPP government.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka is now paying the price for ignoring the wise counsel of renewable energy experts who have been striving to knock some sense into successive governments, but in vain. If their advice had been heeded and steps taken to lessen the country’s fossil fuel dependence, we would have gained tremendously.

One can only hope that the current crisis will strengthen Sri Lanka’s resolve to strategise and invest more in producing renewable energy, especially by expanding solar power generation, to overcome formidable challenges arising from escalating fossil fuel prices and supply disruptions. At the same time, the government should incentivise the use of electric vehicles with higher tax concessions to reduce the country’s reliance on fossil fuel imports and promote a cleaner transport sector.

Editorial

Hoarders run riot; govt. all at sea

Published

2 days ago

2026/03/3

Thilina Walpola

Tuesday 3rd March, 2026

Sri Lankans had to languish in long queues outside filling stations for days on end in 2022, when the country was short of foreign exchange for fuel imports. The JVP/NPP leaders made the most of that situation; they condemned the government of the day, instigated protests and shored up their electoral prospects. Today, winding queues have appeared again outside filling stations due to panic buying and hoarding triggered by the ongoing Middle East conflict though the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) has assured that it has fuel stocks sufficient for more than four weeks. The government is apparently all at sea, unable to stop panic buying and hoarding. Curiously, it has baulked at adopting the QR-based fuel dispensing method to keep panic buyers and hoarders at bay.

CPC Chairman D. J. Rajakaruna yesterday claimed that the QR-based fuel issuance method had been introduced during a fuel crisis, and therefore there was no need for it to be reintroduced as the country had enough fuel stocks. His argument is flawed. That method needs to be introduced as a temporary measure to clear the queues and prevent panic buying and hoarding from causing a countrywide fuel shortage. The government seems to be labouring under the misconception that it will be able to get rid of queues by stepping up the fuel supply. This measure is ill-conceived, for it will lead to more hoarding, with queues persisting. Most of all, it is not possible to replenish fuel stocks at all filling stations countrywide daily to meet the increasing demand, and even if the CPC accomplished that task by any chance, queues would still not go away; tuk-tuk operators are in overdrive stocking up on fuel. Trishaws never leave fuel queues; they rejoin queues after obtaining fuel and pumping it into cans. They are not alone in doing so. If police care to conduct raids, they will be able to detect hoarded fuel in many houses.

What the persistence of fuel queues signifies is that the public does not take the government’s assurances seriously; there seems to be a serious trust deficit. Worse, those who have listened to the government and refrained from joining fuel queues find themselves at a disadvantage; with panic buyers and hoarders waiting in queues and buying all the fuel. At this rate, they, too, will be compelled to join the queues, cursing the government.

The government seems to think that panic buying and hoarding of fuel will help boost its revenue substantially as petroleum products are heavily taxed, but it ought to look at the bigger picture and take urgent action to prevent the depletion of its fuel stocks if it is to avert a crisis. The current conflict in the Middle East is bound to take a heavy toll on remittances from expatriate workers, export proceeds and tourism earnings at least in the short term, thereby causing a severe strain on the country’s foreign currency reserves. There is a pressing need to control the forex outflow, but hoarding of fuel will create a situation where the government will have to spend more foreign exchange on oil imports. If fuel stocks are depleted—perish the thought—it will take months to replenish them, and emergency purchases will have to be made at a premium. Such an eventuality will entail huge economic and political costs.

Has the NPP government stopped short of adopting the QR-based fuel dispensing method lest the credit for tackling panic buying and hoarding should go to the previous rulers who introduced it to manage a far worse fuel crisis? It will be a big mistake for the government not to curtail the huge increase that panic buying and hoarding have led to in the demand for fuel.

If panic buying and hoarding of fuel do not show signs of abating today, the government ought to swallow its pride and adopt the QR-based fuel issuance method. Nobody will think less of it for doing so; however, it will incur public wrath if it fails to ensure that fuel is readily available countrywide.

Editorial

A world order defined by sheer madness

Published

3 days ago

2026/03/2

Sahan Weerasooriya

Monday 2nd March, 2026

We are witnessing a new world order that is anything but rules-based. The US has once again demonstrated that might is right. Big powers have placed themselves above international law and reduced the UN to a mere spectator.

US President Donald Trump has graduated from abductions to assassinations in dealing for foreign leaders he considers hostile. The US and Israel seem to think they have succeeded in engineering a regime collapse in Iran by assassinating Supreme Iranian Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and scores of others in a series of air strikes on Saturday. Those killings must be condemned unreservedly. President Trump has audaciously claimed in a social media post that a wicked man was eliminated. The question is whether those who ordered Saturday’s air strikes, killing many Iranian civilians, including schoolgirls, can consider themselves any less wicked.

If history is anything to go by, air strikes alone cannot bring down long-established systems, and there is no guarantee that the toppling of a repressive regime always yields positive results and helps bring order out of chaos. Iraq and Libya may serve as examples. They remain fragmented and are in a far worse situation than they were under Saddam Hussain and Muammar Gadhafi respectively. The US and its allies plunged those two countries into anarchy in the name of eliminating repressive regimes.

The US and Israel are accused of waging a diversionary war for the benefit of President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Both of them are facing scandals at home. Trump is troubled by a renewed scrutiny of the Epstein files and a Supreme Court judgment preventing him from imposing tariffs according to his whims and fancies. Netanyahu is facing bribery and fraud charges, and will be in serious trouble if voted out of power. He has to cling on to power at any cost. Fighting wars purportedly to save Israel seems to be the only way he thinks he can keep his political enemies at bay at home.

Iran has threatened to destroy Israel and the US, but its military capabilities are limited, as is known to military experts. It would never have taken on the US militarily or done anything fraught with the danger of triggering disproportionate military retaliation. It has been nowhere near developing nuclear weapons. The casus belli that Trump and Netanyahu used to attack Iran reminds us of the falsified intelligence dossiers President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair unashamedly produced in a bid to justify the invasion of Iraq. They said Saddam Hussain had stockpiled weapons of mass destruction, but they could not trace any.

The current Iranian regime, whose crackdown on protesters claimed thousands of lives, has weakened international opposition to US aggression significantly. However, some prominent Democrats have already condemned Trump’s bombing spree. U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin has pointed out that Trump’s military action is illegal in that according to the US Constitution, if the President wants to start a war, the Congress, elected by the people, needs to sign off on it. He has said the Senate needs to come back immediately to vote on Trump’s senseless and illegal bombings. The Republicans have defended Trump’s military aggression, claiming that it is in the interests of the Iranian people.

One can only hope that the US Congress and judiciary will make Trump act with restraint.

****

Adopt QR remedy

The escalation of the Middle East conflict has triggered panic buying of fuel in Sri Lanka. Long lines of vehicles could be seen near fuel stations in various parts of the country at the time of going to press. The Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) had to step up fuel supply yesterday while claiming to have fuel stocks sufficient for more than one month and urging the public not to panic. The raging conflict is bound to affect the global fuel supply, and this is why Sri Lankans have panicked.

There is no reason to doubt the veracity of the CPC’s claim that it has sufficient fuel stocks, but panic buyers are impervious to reason. Unless hoarders are kept at bay, the CPC will run out of its stocks soon. One may recall that during the 2022 economic crisis, pumps ran dry at most filling stations mainly due to excessive hoarding. Rationing helped bring the situation under control.

The only way to stem the current wave of panic buying of fuel is to activate the QR-based fuel issuance system. Unless the government adopts that method forthwith and arrests panic buying, hoarders will have a field day and create a fuel shortage.