Features

Why most current political leaders are unsuitable for presidency

Published

2 years ago

2024/07/29

by Prof. Sunil Wimalawansa, MD, PhD, MBA, DSc., Prof of Medicine

Sri Lanka has reached a crossroads where it could save for future generations as a prosperous country or become a permanently underdeveloped nation like some debt-ridden African nations. Voters can change direction, but they need to be educated based on facts.

The current political landscape in Sri Lanka is fraught with issues that render the existing politicians unsuitable for the presidency. How can people trust members of parliament who continue to sell their duty-free car permits? Honesty, integrity, transparency, and following the election promises are essential. None of the current leaders can pass this est. Here are ten more reasons why uncurrent political leaders are suitable for running the country.

· Self-Serving Interests: Many politicians prioritise personal gains and political survival over the country’s welfare. Their actions frequently benefit themselves and their associates rather than addressing the needs of the public.

· Historical Failures: Besides 76 years of mockery of democracy, finances, and mishandling of governance, constitutional amendments for self-gain and major policies designed over the past four two decades to strengthen political authority and facilitate corruption rather than help the country’s economy and citizens.

· Lack of Vision :They have failed to present or implement effective economic policies, reduce the bloated government and its expenses, reverse unemployment and inflation, and reform education, agriculture, transportation, water and sanitation, legal system, etc., to benefit the country. There is no clear plan to ensure food, medicine, and energy security, reduce government expenses and regulations, or foster private sector growth.

· Reliance on Debt:Dishonestly borrowing money that provided no growth to pay them back (wasteful projects) and being addicted to financial mishandling and reliance on additional loans to manage government affairs have exacerbated the economic crisis, leading to bankruptcy and a debt (economic death) trap, worsening the country’s financial stability and sustainability.

· Suppression of Freedoms: The government has continued to enact new legislation (latest, the 22^nd amendment) to strengthen its power and suppress freedoms, unity, and progress, which threaten the sovereignty and democratic values of Sri Lanka. Are these done for whose benefit?

· Inefficient Crisis Management: Despite two years of addressing the economic crisis, the caretaker government has failed in two key fundamentals—implementing sustainable growth and an effective recovery programme, enabling loan payments, and reducing government expenditure. Instead, the unelected president imposed multiple tax burdens from EPF, VAT, and others without fostering economic growth and value-added exports and continued to rely on loans to pay loan interest.

· Lack of Accountability: There is a lack of transparency and accountability among all current leaders. Secret deals, unwise economic policies, and significant policy errors continue to harm the country and its people. Abolishing government oversight and independent commissions worsened the situation, facilitating fraud and embezzlement.

· Lack of Patriotism: The absence of genuine patriotic leadership is evident—lack of truthful, nationalistic speeches and actions, putting the country first, effective policies, and firm allegiance to maintain the sovereignty and the unitary nature of the country. The current practice of politicians focusing on short-term gains and retaining power through deception is continuing.

· Outdated Policies: None has yet to propose solid reforms for outdated policies in education, healthcare, infrastructure, agricultural modernisation, water supply/drainage/sewage, revitalisation of state-own-enterprises (SoE), etc. No detailed practical plan cost-benefit analyses are presented on how the country will regain food, water, medicine, and energy/power security, as well as eliminating poverty and critical aspects for the country’s development and growth.

· Mismanagement of IMF Relations : The current engagement with the IMF is a debt (death) trap rather than a solution. It seems designed to perpetuate poverty. Besides, the current leadership failed to expose the dual interests of the IMF and relies on and disseminates misleading information to justify their actions. All leaders, since 1970s, engaged in such deceptive practices for personal gain and to retain power.

Political Bickering and Deceit by Politicians For over seven decades, Sri Lankan politicians have used divisive tactics based on religion, race/ethnicity, or even creating violence to divide the communities to attract votes to stay in power in the political arena. They abuse privileges like selling duty-free car permits while enjoying perks that others do not have. They have been instigating uncertainties, insecurities, and unrest in the country intermittently, causing conflicts between communities. However, these prevent citizens from joining under one flag, one national anthem (and a new constitution) as one country and one law, working peacefully, successfully, and sustainably develop it. For this, Sri Lankans must be united.

Whether one has a religion or whether he/she is practicing it, personal beliefs and preferences are ‘private matters.’ Neither the government has the business to intervene in people’s private matters nor engage in commercial ventures (SoE). It should not mix religion and politics or political preferences, nepotism, favoritism, etc.

Voter deception, religious or race favoritisms by the incumbent government, and providing short-term benefits—jobs and “goodies” before elections must be prohibited—these are considered “bribes” by the government executives using taxpayer funds. Religious leaders should also use principles and disciplines and avoid interfering with mainstream politics or contesting elections; that is not their mandate. Instead, they should open doors for people to come in and inquire and should not fuel political ‘traps’ or violence, especially during election periods.

Addressing the Economic Crisis from the Grassroots and Solving Unemployment

Unemployment is extraordinarily high in Sri Lanka, especially among the low-income and daily wage-earners. Because of direct and indirect taxes, the middle class is most affected by financial burdens. Therefore, an economically sound, practical, and workable plan must soon bring the unemployment rate to under 4%, indirectly increasing the country’s growth and tax revenue. There is neither a safety net nor a programme to pacify concerned citizens struggling to manage household budgets and feed their families.

One way to break through in the medium and long term is by establishing multi-disciplinary skilled learning centres and vocational and technical schools in each district. This can be done promptly by converting already mushroomed arts faculties/colleges into skills training centers/schools that provide two-year degree certification programs. Examples include training electricians, plumbers, carpenters, painters, mechanics, etc., and tripling nursing school and other allied health sector output.

Those mentioned above must be prioritised with modified four-year university educations in subjects like information technology and incorporation of artificial intelligence, which are critical for the country’s development through science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM), and medical and nursing education.

Such approaches will significantly increase the skilled workforce, enhance the country’s productivity and economic development, and attract FDICs. Besides increasing efficiency, automation, incorporating artificial intelligence, especially in production, data management, and analyses, automation (including meter readings), and research and development related to technology relevant to the country should be prioritised.

Parallel development of STEM, spirituality, and ethnic harmony

There must be a drastic modification of the teaching, including Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) subjects for all students. These must be nurtured with practical aspects of STEM subjects and utilising problem-solving. The current school and university curricula are outdated and provide sub-optimal benefits to studies and the country. These must be updated or preferably replaced with new ones incorporating technological advances highlighting their practical aspects.

In conjunction with the above, English must be made compulsory while other foreign languages must be available to students as optional courses, which is necessary to attract FDIC. They seek a highly educated and trainable labour force in Sri Lanka. The current curricula, however, do not provide these.

Getting out of Debt and Facilitating the Growth:

Getting out of the debt crisis and achieving long-term economic success is becoming impossible until the education system (especially skills training) is successfully addressed, and high unemployment is curbed. The government must disengage from ‘business’ and instead provide opportunities for people, the private sector, and industries to grow with fewer regulations, allowing them to thrive and create jobs.

The abovementioned changes must parallel the community’s spiritual, mental, and physical health progress, leading to less absenteeism and increased productivity, collaboration, and group work, essential for economic growth and GDP through exports. Meanwhile, increasing value-added exports would facilitate generating foreign exchange, enabling the repayment of loans to mitigate the debt crisis and poverty in Sri Lanka.

The country needs a capable, honest, trustworthy, and patriotic leader committed to its growth (not loans), modernisation, and to being a president for all Sri Lankans.

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Features

Proactive peacemaking becomes a paramount need

Published

22 hours ago

2026/06/4

Sahan Weerasooriya

Wasting wars: Some war-displaced people in Lebanon. BBC

It may be some time before the full impact of food inflation is felt in the West. Until such time the world would continue to keep itself in suspense over whether the Trump administration is in earnest when it seeks to convey the impression that it is backing a negotiated solution in West Asia.

As is usually the case, consumer stress would be one of the final determinants of political change. To the degree to which the average US consumer somehow ‘muddles through’ and puts the food on the table, to the same extent would the Republican sections of the US public in particular be tolerant of the Trump administration’s inconsistent handling of the West Asian war and the main issues stemming from it. That is, there would be no grave popular disaffection and a demand for political change in the short term.

However, the indications are that the Trump administration’s support base is suffering some erosion in the wake of the current economic crisis. While reports indicate that Democratic sections are firming-up their opposition to the political centre, Republican support for Trump is also showing signs of waning, we are given to understand.

The above developments are probably why Trump is on record as having given Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a ‘dressing down’ recently on his seeming intransigence on the question of giving negotiations a chance in West Asia. The show of displeasure could be really aimed by Trump at containing the impatience of the American public.

However, the current ground situation in the Middle East, particularly the uncontained bloodshed, is likely to impress on the thinking sections of the world that more than temporary political change is needed in West Asia and the US.

A well thought out political solution that addresses all the contentious issues at the heart of the Middle East conflict is what enlightened opinion would demand, and very rightly. Right now, the ‘peace efforts’ initiated by the Trump administration give the impression of being piecemeal solutions at best.

There have been, of course, numerous initiatives in the past aimed at bringing permanent peace to the Middle East. These failed mainly because they did not address in full the root causes of the conflict.

At bottom the Middle East conflict is mainly about race and religious hate bred by socio-economic and material inequalities. For instance, if the Palestinian people were not displaced and deprived of land occupied by them at the time of the founding of the Israeli state, ethnic enmities would not have grown to the current unmanageable proportions.

When addressing the above questions, though, it must be remembered that the Israelis too were a displaced people who were entitled to land and a state of their own in the Middle East. Basically, out of these seemingly irreconcilable and conflicting demands have grown the Middle East imbroglio.

Middle East peace is considerably about reconciling these demands and arriving at a solution that would ensure the creation of two states that would opt for peaceful co-existence thereafter.

As long as the US does not see the need for a non-partisan solution that addresses the needs of both ethnicities and religions and goes all-out, as it were, to have it implemented, the Middle East would continue to bleed.

However, staunching the blood flow through the creation of two states would be only half the job done, though a very important part of it. More pernicious, pervasive and difficult to remedy are the inter-ethnic and inter-religious hatreds that have been unleashed over the decades.

However, if substantial, long-lasting peace is to be fostered in the region the latter ‘demons’ would need to be exorcised from the hearts and minds of the communities concerned. No doubt an uphill task but one that must be undertaken by those who wish the region well.

The UN would need to put its ‘best foot forward’ in such undertakings but it is time that it dawned on the international community and other caring quarters that Middle East peace, and all other such uphill challenges, require proactive peacemaking on the part of all civilized sections for their effective management. That is, public involvement in peacemaking too is a must.

Since hatreds are harboured in the human consciousness the enmities embedded in the latter need to be managed and defused judiciously alongside other undertakings in a peace process. In the case of West Asia, such enmities could be even spread globe-wide besides being multi-dimensional. For instance, it ought to be thought-provoking that Iran is insistent on a peace initiative that would also include Lebanon.

Besides security considerations it is also ethnic and religious affiliations that account for Iran making this demand. For instance, the Shias are a numerically important religious community in Lebanon and they provide a significant number of Hizbollah fighters, who are in a vital sense carrying out a ‘proxy war’ for Iran. It also needs to be factored in that Iran is a Shia-majority country.

Thus trans-border religious affiliations could add to the complexities and enormity of ethno-religious conflicts. However, the task of managing centuries-long enmities needs to be launched and prodded on with by peacemakers since a downing of arms alone would not guarantee substantive peace.

It is not realized sufficiently that the process of ending hatreds begins with mutual apologies by antagonists to a conflict for the harm inflicted on each other. This would be anathema in some ears but there is no getting away from the requirement. It is the vital first step to permanent peace anywhere.

In fact there could be no reconciliation worth speaking of without such mutual apologies. It is a point worth re-iterating in these times when even the government of Sri Lanka is voicing the need for national reconciliation. Well, without the words, ‘I am sorry’, there could be no permanent end to enmities – they would do well to remember.

The above requirements may not go down very well with governments, but they resonate in the hearts and minds of most people, since they are inheritors of religious traditions of some kind.

This is a principal reason why peacemaking works well when publics too are involved in them. The effectiveness of such campaigns increases several fold when they have a Mahatma Gandhi or a Jawaharlal Nehru at their helm. A strong proactive involvement by the public in peace could lead to the emergence of such leaders at some point in these campaigns.

Features

Dialog Brings Sri Lanka’s Largest Digital Vesak Experience to Matara

Published

22 hours ago

2026/06/4

Sahan Weerasooriya

From left to right: Hon. Saroja Savithri Paulraj, Hon. Sunil Handunnetti, and Lasantha Theverapperuma experience the Dialog 5G Ultra-powered VR tours.

Official Digital Partner of the 2026 ‘Dakshina Prabha’ National Vesak Zone

Dialog Axiata PLC, Sri Lanka’s #1 connectivity provider, collaborated with the Ministry of Buddha Sasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs to bring one of Sri Lanka’s largest and most technologically advanced Vesak experiences to the ‘Dakshina Prabha’ National Vesak Zone. The three-day celebration, in Matara attracted more than hundred thousand visitors, who engaged with a series of innovative digital activities powered by Dialog 5G Ultra, including Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Virtual Reality (VR) experiences, digital pandols and a Data Dansala. The opening ceremony was attended by Hon. Sunil Handunnetti, Minister of Industry and Entrepreneurship Development and Hon. Saroja Savithri Paulraj, Minister of Women and Child Affairs, along with distinguished guests and Dialog’s senior management.

One of the key attractions at the venue was the Dialog 5G Ultra-powered Virtual Reality (VR) experience, which attracted more than 35,000 participants. The activation enabled devotees to virtually visit and pay homage to sacred Buddhist sites, including the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi in India and the Atamasthana in Anuradhapura, directly from the Vesak zone in Matara.

Visitors receive complimentary mobile data through Dialog’s QR-powered Data Dansala.

Dialog also conducted an AI Digital Vesak Greeting Card Competition from 21 May to 01 June 2026, attracting numerous entries from across the country. The shortlisted designs were showcased across 20 large LED screens throughout the venue and across Matara City, and were also made available for download via mobile devices. Further, through the use of AI, traditional Jathaka Katha were reimagined in a digital format, demonstrating how technology can be used to preserve and enhance cultural and religious heritage. Together, these initiatives blended traditional Vesak celebrations with emerging technologies, offering visitors a unique and immersive way to engage with Vesak traditions.

Extending the spirit of Vesak through connectivity, Dialog conducted a special Data Dansala powered by its QR Reload platform, enabling visitors to receive complimentary mobile data by scanning QR codes placed across the venue. In addition to the Matara National Vesak Zone, similar Data Dansala activations were also conducted at the Gangaramaya and Bauddhaloka Vesak zones in Colombo.Visitors also had the opportunity to create personalised Vesak-themed digital photos through an AI Photo Booth, generating AI-enhanced portraits using their own photographs and adding a contemporary digital element to the Vesak celebrations.

Visitors watch AI-generated Jathaka Katha

Commenting on the initiative, Hon. Sunil Handunnetti, Minister of Industry and Entrepreneurship Development, said, “The 2026 Dakshina Prabha Vesak Festival marked the first time AI-powered digital innovations were incorporated into a National Vesak Festival in Sri Lanka. Presenting Buddhist stories and teachings through technology created a new and engaging way for visitors to connect with these traditions. We thank Dialog for supporting this initiative and for working closely with us to bring our vision to life. Their contribution played an important role in making this first-of-its-kind event a reality.”

Lasantha Theverapperuma, Group Chief Marketing Officer of Dialog Axiata PLC said, “We thank the Government of Sri Lanka for the opportunity to support the 2026 Dakshina Prabha National Vesak Festival and for embracing technology as part of this year’s celebrations. As the Official Digital Partner, we were privileged to contribute through our Dialog 5G Ultra and AI capabilities, creating new ways for visitors to engage with Vesak traditions while preserving their cultural significance for future generations.”

Beyond supporting the National Vesak Zone in Matara, Dialog also enhanced the Gangaramaya and Bauddhaloka Vesak zones through a range of digital activations during the Vesak season. The company additionally continued its sustainability initiatives, including the Thirasara Aloka Poojawa, which illuminated rural places of worship through solar-powered lighting solutions.

Features

Beauty, elegance and talent…for women

Published

22 hours ago

2026/06/4

Sahan Weerasooriya

Universal Woman is an international pageant focused on “beauty, elegance, and talent” for women, positioning itself as a platform to shape global ambassadors. The 2026 edition will be held in Cambodia, and Sri Lanka will be there, as well.

According to reports coming my way, contestants, at the international event, will work with industry trailblazers, under international standards.

Sri Lankan supermodel, runway and pageant trainer Chulpadmendra Kumarapathirana, is the National Director for Universal Woman Sri Lanka 2026.

With over two decades in the industry, Chula was crowned Miss Sri Lanka 2006, and has since shaped the next generation of titleholders through her Colombo-based Chulpadmendra Catwalk Studio, widely regarded as one of the country’s leading modelling academies.

The team behind Universal Woman Sri Lanka 2026

A former host of Derana Miss Sri Lanka for Miss World 2008 and a judge for Miss Universe Sri Lanka 2025, Chula now serves as National Director for Universal Woman Sri Lanka 2026, leading the franchise’s search for Sri Lanka’s delegate to the international final in Cambodia.

Applications for Universal Woman Sri Lanka 2026 are being taken, via WhatsApp: 077 659 4994, says Chula.

The judging panel for Universal Woman Sri Lanka 2026 includes Senaka De Silva, Pageant Aesthetic Advisor & Chairperson of the Judging Panel, Angela Seneviratne, Caroline Jurie, Rozelle Plunkett, and Suraj Mapa.

Universal Woman Sri Lanka 2026 officially began its journey with a first round of auditions, held in Colombo, marking the start of an exciting new chapter in Sri Lanka’s pageant industry.

Launching the first round of auditions

The platform aims to empower women while selecting an intelligent, confident, and inspiring representative to compete at the Universal Woman International Pageant 2026 in Cambodia, this September.

Universal Woman Sri Lanka now moves forward with the vision of creating one of the country’s most prestigious and empowering pageants while preparing to crown a queen who will proudly represent Sri Lanka on the international stage.