What I Wish to See Happen in Sri Lanka

As Sri Lanka is about to have a presidential election, I decided to write about what I wish to see happen in Sri Lanka going forward. It includes what I want to see discontinue and remain of the current happenings. Out of the three main presidential candidates, the one I’m most concerned about coming to power is Anura Kumara Dissanayake. He leads the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and the National People’s Power (NPP) alliance. My issues with the JVP are their communist ideology and the two insurrections they were responsible for. I don’t think they have a viable plan.

I’m pleased with the interim President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s work on Sri Lanka’s economic recovery, but am displeased with his handling of human rights and the politics he’s playing. He is contesting the presidency as an independent candidate. I think Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) candidate Sajith Premadasa has sensible views on human rights, but I do not like his embrace of populism & the politics he’s doing and have concerns about his economic policies. I am not endorsing any political party or individual. I had written an article a few months ago about the current situation called “Displeased with All Sides”.

Abolish the Executive Presidency

I am of the view that the executive presidency should be abolished. The amount of power corrupts the person holding office. Recent cases of presidential abuse of power include President Ranil Wickremesinghe delaying the local government elections last year. The Supreme Court last month declared this to be a violation of voters’ essential rights. It was distressing to hear the President say following this that he wasn’t sorry for postponing the election.

In February this year, the President appointed the controversial Deshabandu Tennakoon as Inspector General of Police (IGP). This appointment was made a few months after the Supreme Court ordered Deshabandu Tennakoon to pay compensation for violating a citizen's fundamental rights and appeared to be unconstitutional. In July, the Supreme Court gave an interim order preventing Deshabandu Tennakoon from functioning as the IGP. It’s disappointing to see a lack of commitment from Ranil Wickremesinghe to abolish the executive presidency. Sajith Premadasa and Anura Kumara Dissanayake have committed to abolish the executive presidency.

Sensible Government

I wish to see a sensible government elected with sound policies. This would be a transparent government that follows proper processes and good governance. They would rectify the bad human rights situation currently going on, bring good human rights policies and repeal the controversial Online Safety Act. This government would not be corrupt and be without scandals. System change which people have been calling for would be implemented. Unity is needed in Sri Lanka with it being important for the government unifying the country including winning the trust of the minorities.

No More SLPP

The Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) is the party of the Rajapaksas which caused Sri Lanka to be in the mess that it’s in. There are members aligned with the Rajapaksas who have been part of the interim government and the SLPP independent group known as the Freedom People’s Congress (FPC) who are with the SJB. With the presidential election, some changes have been made. The SLPP decided to field their own candidate Namal Rajapaksa, yet most SLPP MPs chose to support Ranil Wickremesinghe. Two SLPP members who were in the interim government decided to contest this presidential election. I consider the SLPP to be a toxic party so I don’t wish to see any faction of them having a presence in the government.

Action Against Bribery and Corruption

Bribery and Corruption are major problems occurring in Sri Lanka. Action needs to be taken against politicians who’ve been engaging in these practices, especially those responsible for Sri Lanka’s economic crisis. We also need to work on bribery and corruption prevention. Sri Lanka is reported to have stolen assets stashed abroad, with serious allegations against the Rajapaksa political family. It’s essential to recover stolen assets utilising the Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative (StAR) of the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) & the World Bank Group.

Reducing the Crime Rate

Sri Lanka unfortunately has a high crime rate. Criminal activity seems to have been growing over the last five years. It’s distressing to hear of shootings going on causing loss of life. This gun violence needs to stop. The government needs to take action to reduce the crime rate as this is a serious national security concern. It’s important to incorporate teaching against crime in the school curriculum. It’s imperative to establish the rule of law in Sri Lanka.

Economic Recovery

I am of the view that Sri Lanka’s economic recovery is one present initiative going in the right direction. It’s good that the IMF program was secured. Both the SJB and NPP have said they would renegotiate the IMF agreement if they come to power. My view on the issue is this. If the IMF is willing to renegotiate and the new government comes up with sensible modifications which are able to ease the burden on the people and better reach the targets, then I am for it. My concern is of the government playing politics with Sri Lanka’s recovery where their attempts at renegotiation results in the IMF agreement being withdrawn or it’s approved with changes which makes the situation worse. I think the SJB is more sensible than the NPP when it comes to the IMF agreement.

In April this year, the ADB forecasted Sri Lanka to reach 1.9% and 2.5% growth in 2024 and 2025 after two years of negative growth. I hope to see economic growth exceeding those numbers. A few years ago, the State Owned Enterprise Restructuring Unit (SOERU) was set up at the Ministry of Finance. Many State-Owned-Enterprises (SOEs) are a drain on the economy with their losses so this is an important move. Unfortunately, the restructuring unit has been facing delays and hasn’t restructured a single SOE so far. I hope that the SOERU would be strengthened enabling it to successfully restructure SOEs.

I’m writing this just before the presidential election has occurred. When you read this, the results of the election may have come out. I know that some of these topics I’ve written about are unrealistic. I see indications to some of them in different parties, but I don’t see one party having all of them. Our messed-up politics is causing so much damage and needs to transform into something new.

System Change in Sri Lanka

 

A key demand of the protests in Sri Lanka which kicked the Rajapaksas out of power last year is system change. This is something we have yet to see. In this article, I’ll be giving my thoughts on how system change can be carried out.

Constitution of Sri Lanka

One aspect relates to the Sri Lankan Constitution. Both Mahinda and Gotabaya Rajapaksa, during their presidencies introduced draconian undemocratic amendments to the Constitution strengthening the power of the President, doing harm to rule of law and independence of government institutions which were the 18th Amendment in 2010 and the 20th Amendment in 2020. Following these two Rajapaksa presidencies, there were restorative amendments to the Constitution passed which were the 19th Amendment in 2015 and the 21st Amendment in 2022.

We can’t keep going back and forth between authoritarian and restorative constitutional amendments. This cycle must end. What’s tragic is that many parliamentarians voted for the 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st Amendments. They didn’t see the dangers of draconian amendments and even if they did, their thirst for power prevented them from voting sensibly. Then with the 20th Amendment, they went back to voting for an authoritarian amendment again not learning their lesson.

Firstly, it’s important that we learn not to vote again for rulers who seek to strengthen their powers and engage in corruption. Secondly, we need to elect sensible parliamentarians who won’t vote for such authoritarian laws. In the Parliament we should have, the government and opposition members will have different ideologies and policies, but they would all believe in values such as rule of law, integrity, good governance and serving the country well. Both sides should be competing to perform better in these fronts which would be a healthy competition.

Unity

Unity is an issue Sri Lanka has had a problem with for many years with mistrust occurring among different communities. A positive factor of last year’s protests is that it was a rare case of Sri Lankans of different ethnicities being part of a common movement. While that was one moment which didn’t solve unity, it’s imperative that we don’t go back to the way we used to be. That can very easily happen.

We need to have a united Sri Lanka with a common Sri Lankan identity. We should use what happened last year as a stepping stone to overcome our divisions and make permanent unity. It’s important to reflect on how politicians divided Sri Lankans. Unity is a valuable subject to be taught in schools. This issue ties into my previous point of the need for common values across parliamentarians. Unity should be another common value across the political divide.

Abolishing the Executive Presidency

I am of the view that the Executive Presidency needs to be abolished. This concentrates too much power on one individual. I believe it has caused much damage to Sri Lanka and is a major factor which contributed to Sri Lanka’s present state. A President who gets elected on a reform mandate gets corrupted by the system resulting in him or her not performing as promised and infuriating much of Sri Lanka.

It’s worth noting that Gotabaya Rajapaksa got elected President when the 19th Amendment was in force. The 19th Amendment greatly reduced the powers of the President. A parliamentary system could make it less likely for an individual with no political experience to be elected Head of Government. I think that we should transition into having an Executive Prime Minister with a ceremonial President.

Bribery and Corruption

Bribery and corruption unfortunately is very common in Sri Lanka including politics, the public and private sector. We need to have systems in place to deter individuals from engaging in these practices. There needs to be successful bribery and corruption prosecutions especially politicians.

We have been enabling bribery and corruption for a long time. This needs to change. Saying no to paying bribes including politicians will make a difference. If a politician asks for a bribe, when saying no there are important points to tell them. They are, this is causing damage to Sri Lanka, the need for system change and mention their election comments against bribery if they said it. Sri Lankan businesses should implement policies of not paying bribes to the government and for their staff not to solicit bribes from customers.

It’s important to teach school students the dangers of bribery and corruption including not participating in it and saying no to paying bribes. It would be useful for public servants and elected representatives to be instructed not to get involved in bribery and corruption when they start their roles. While this won’t prevent all public servants and elected representatives from engaging in these practices, it has the potential to noticeably reduce it.

Conclusion

I gave my perspective on four issues I think need to be fulfilled for system change in Sri Lanka. This is a small selection I gave with many more issues relating to system change needed. This process is an enormous challenge for us to undertake, but that shouldn’t deter us. We can accomplish system change. I’m interested in hearing your thoughts on this topic.

Thoughts on Gotabaya Rajapaksa's Resignation & Aftermath

 

As Sri Lanka is currently going through an unbearable economic crisis, starting in March there was a massive call for Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resign from the presidency and the ruling Rajapaksa family as a whole to vacate their government posts. Gotabaya was adamantly against resigning, but the protests resulted in him eventually resigning on the 14th of July following him leaving Sri Lanka to the Maldives and then Singapore. Gotabaya Rajapaksa was the most incompetent unqualified leader Sri Lanka ever had who ruined the country and its economy. I am going to give my personal views on Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s resignation and its aftermath.

I wanted Gotabaya to resign and I didn’t think he would do it when the protests began. Throughout the protests, Gotabaya kept deciding to do things that went against his nature such as talking of restoring the 19th Amendment and admitting his organic fertiliser policy was a mistake. I saw these statements as desperate attempts by him to stay in power. It seemed to me that eventually he would have nowhere to go except by resigning. There was the whole fiasco of him leaving Sri Lanka to the Maldives & Singapore and taking time to send his resignation letter. These protests made the impossible possible as Gotabaya Rajapaksa finally resigned as President.  

Opposition politician Ranil Wickremesinghe had become Prime Minister in May following the resignation of Gotabaya's brother Mahinda as Prime Minister. He had been the Acting President since Gotabaya left Sri Lanka. Soon after this, the process of electing a new President occurred in Parliament. The Presidential candidates were expected to be Ranil Wickremesinghe, leader of the United National Party (UNP), Anura Kumara Dissanayake, leader of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), Sajith Premadasa, leader of the UNP breakaway party Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) and Dullas Alahapperuma of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP). 

While I’m not a fan of Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa, I was hopeful he would do the right thing to secure the Presidency for Sri Lanka during this difficult time. I’m so displeased with him for backing out of the Presidential race to support SLPP candidate Dullas Alahapperuma. In my view, the negative qualities of Ranil does not make Dullas a good candidate. SLPP is the party of the Rajapaksas and Dullas has been staunchly pro-Rajapaksas. He once held the lion only flag at a political protest in 2015 which implies racism. Incidentally, this protest was against the summoning of Gotabaya Rajapaksa by the Bribery Commission. 

The JVP candidate Anura Kumara Dissanayake has made good critiques of the Rajapaksas, but I disagree with the communist ideology of his party the JVP. I don’t think the JVP would be a suitable party to be in government due to their inward looking economic policies including criticism of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The JVP’s violent past is also concerning. 

Ranil Wickremesinghe is very hated in Sri Lanka. I personally do not think Ranil is of the same league as the Rajapaksas. I think he is neither terrible as most people believe nor brilliant as his small minority of supporters believe. My view is that he is somewhere in between. I think Ranil does have a desire to improve Sri Lanka. I do think the other candidate Dullas Alahapperuma is in the same league as the Rajapaksas. Ranil Wickremesinghe ended up being elected President by Parliament. Even though most people don’t want him, I think he is the least objectionable of the three candidates. 

Unfortunately, if most of the key Sri Lankan political figures became President, you could list major reasons why they shouldn’t be leading the country. This is an example of what’s wrong with Sri Lankan politics. I wish that Parliament was able to elect a President who wasn’t so deeply unpopular & controversial, of a better quality and didn’t harbour Presidential ambitions. I would have liked it if Dr. Harsha de Silva of the SJB could have been elected President by Parliament. 

It’s sad that the SLPP are involved in the two leading candidates as Dullas is SLPP, Ranil consists of SLPP support with Dinesh Gunawardena as the new Prime Minister. Dinesh is the leader of the party Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP) which is part of the SLPP alliance, so he is de facto SLPP. The SLPP damaged Sri Lanka with their inward looking nationalism. I would prefer a UNP-SJB combination instead of an UNP-SLPP or SLPP-SJB combination. It’s a pity Ranil & Sajith couldn’t come together for the sake of the country.

I am greatly distressed by the violence carried out by the military and police against protesters and journalists on early morning Friday 22nd July at Galle Face. I fully condemn this inappropriate conduct. Ranil is wrong to have used the security forces in this way. The State of Emergency he declared needs to be revoked and the crackdown on protesters must stop. The protesters in fact agreed to withdraw from the area on that Friday afternoon. Ranil must not continue down this path. It’s imperative that he does not be the terrible President most people believe him to be. Gotabaya had been militarising governance which was disrespectful to the traditions of governance. Ranil should demilitarise governance and work on restoring the state of law in Sri Lanka.

I am of the view that the Executive Presidency needs to be abolished as I believe it contributed to much of Sri Lanka’s problems. I am especially concerned as the Executive Presidency currently consists of the strengthened powers brought in by the draconian 20th Amendment during Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s presidency. I think that the Executive Presidency should be replaced by a ceremonial apolitical President. Sri Lankan parliamentarians are sadly of such a bad quality right now. A general election needs to be held over the next year to elect suitable representatives for Sri Lanka and the right leaders. We need to change Parliament for the better. It’s disheartening to see all the corruption, bribery, lies and deceit that goes on. 

It’s an impressive achievement that the protests and activism was able to get Mahinda Rajapaksa and Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resign as Prime Minister and President as well as the Rajapaksas no longer being part of the government. It’s unfortunate that we were unable to transfer to suitable leadership that people have confidence in. Getting rid of the Rajapksas was the easy part. The more difficult task ahead is ending the queues, getting the economy functioning properly without the suffering & hardship, securing the IMF program, abolishing the Executive Presidency and holding a General Election. 

I don’t know what’s going to happen going forward. There’s a risk of things getting worse. I however choose not to be cynical about Sri Lanka and its future. I believe we can go forward. We need to push Parliament to abolish the Executive Presidency. This government definitely won’t be the good government we need, but the current activism can help make that dream a reality one day. May Gotabaya’s resignation be the start of a path to better things for Sri Lanka.

Let’s Not Revert (A Poem About Sri Lanka)

I wrote a poem about the future of Sri Lanka as the country is going to face a Presidential election

very soon on the 16th of November. This is my personal take on it, and it isn’t an in-depth discussion

about what has been going on and what could happen going forward. It’s a short expression of my

views in poem form.  

I don’t wish to see

Sri Lanka revert to

Pre 2015 again

There’s now a threat

Of white vans,

Authoritarianism,

Lawlessness, 

Inability to criticise,

And more coming back  

Yes, post 2015

Didn’t bring all

That was needed

And disappointments came

Though I feel

We’re headed in

The right direction

We did get

A reduction of 

Presidential powers,

Right to information,

Open policy debate

Among others

The current negatives

Don’t make the 

Pre 2015 status

More attractive 

What we need

Is to study

What went wrong,

What went right,

And take our country

Where it needs to be

Let’s strive to

Improve on our

Current state

To make the Sri Lanka

We wish to see

Thoughts on President Sirisena's Shocking Betrayal

Last month, the Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena sadly began degenerating into a greedy

power hungry politician. This noticeably started on the 26th of October 2018 in his shocking move

where he unconstitutionally sacked Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and appointed former

President Mahinda Rajapaksa as Prime Minister. This was followed by him proroguing Parliament on

the following day. Two weeks later, he made another unconstitutional move on the 9th of November
where he dissolved Parliament and called for general elections to be held in January. The dissolving

of Parliament has been temporarily suspended by the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka whose final

judgement is scheduled to be delivered of the 7th of December. It is very distressing to see the

President brazenly violate the Sri Lankan Constitution and betray everything he stood for. In this

article, I’ll be giving some of my thoughts on the President’s behaviour.

Violating His Own Restrictions

In April 2015, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka was passed in Parliament. The

President was one of the key people responsible for the 19th Amendment. Some features of the 19th

Amendment include the restoration of the two-term limit for Presidents and the removal of the

President’s ability to sack a Prime Minister & to dissolve Parliament until the first four and a half
years of its term. Having done the last two actions, he has violated the very restrictions he was
instrumental in bringing about.

Unethical Conduct  

I think this conduct is very unethical as the President purported to remove the man who helped him

win the Presidency and appointed the very man he contested against. In November 2014, Maithripala

Sirisena who was then the Health Minister in the Mahinda Rajapaksa government, crossed over to

the opposition to be the Common Candidate to campaign against his former boss. Defeating

Mahinda Rajapaksa seemed very difficult then and it was achieved on 8th January 2015. The

President even said in 2015 after former President Rajapaksa got nominations to contest in the 2015

general elections that if the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) won, he wouldn’t appoint Mahinda

Rajapaksa as Prime Minister. What President Sirisena did is a betrayal of his mandate of good

governance, accountability, reconciliation, media freedom among other issues. He was elected to

usher in a new era to Sri Lanka and had the potential to be a good President, but he has sadly

reverted to the lowest level of political indecency.

Since the 26th of October, he has been acting in such a disgraceful way. He has been getting

involved in and supporting a very bad form of governance. Incidents include the forceful taking over of

state media by those loyal to Mahinda Rajapaksa, apparent bribery as United National Party (UNP)

MP Palitha Range Bandara claims that he was offered $2.8 million USD to crossover and the

disrupting of Parliamentary proceedings by many United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) MPs. I

don’t believe the appointments to the role of Prime Minister and the Cabinet by President Sirisena

were constitutional, but even if you put aside the constitutionality of his actions, it’s very distressing to

see his reactions following the no-confidence motions passed against Mahinda Rajapaksa and his

purported government. Firstly, it’s him not accepting the first no-confidence motion. He requested the

first clause stating that the appointments were illegal to be removed which was adhered to resulting

in a second no-confidence motion being passed. He again did not accept the second no-confidence

motion. This is disgusting behaviour to request for something, have it granted and then not do what

you promised.

Party Centric Thinking

An issue I had with President Sirisena was that he had been focusing too much on his party the

SLFP which got into conflict with his mandate and his working relationship with Ranil

Wickremesinghe & the UNP. It is my perception that those actions led to this moment. I wish he
had been an Independent President, that is being a President with no party allegiances. I think this

arrangement would have resulted in him accomplishing more, making more sensible decisions and

not reuniting with Mahinda Rajapaksa.  

The Need to Abolish the Executive Presidency

The President’s actions to me are a reason why the Executive Presidency should be abolished. It

shows that the powers of the Sri Lankan President can easily corrupt those who come in with good

intentions. This is despite the fact that President Sirisena himself was responsible for reducing

presidential powers. In fact, founder of the Citizens’ Movement for Good Governance (CIMOGG),

Attorney-at-Law Elmore Perera who contributed in 2016 to my article “Impact of the 19th Amendment

One Year On” said the thought provoking words in my correspondence with him that I didn’t include

there, “It was widely agreed that 35 years of experience had shown that the Executive Presidency

had contributed immensely to several of the ills that plagued the country.”

The Presidential system enables Governments to be formed where the President and the Prime

Minister are from two different parties. This results in the two leaders getting into conflict with one

another, which happened in the relationship between Maithripala Sirisena and Ranil Wickremesinghe

despite the fact that they came together on the same platform. I am in favour of a ceremonial

President which Sri Lanka did have from 1972 to 1978. I think that a ceremonial President would not

get into conflict with the Prime Minister, as the President in this situation wouldn’t be a member of a

political party. I further think that an Executive Prime Minister would have less opportunities to abuse

his or her position than an Executive President.

Conclusion

These are very sad and difficult times for Sri Lanka, which is so disturbing as the cause of these

problems comes from the President elected against the type of governance he has been currently

practicing. I am pleased that the actions of Maithripala Sirisena and Mahinda Rajapaksa seem to be

getting weakened and remain confident that the status quo in Parliament prior to the 26th of October

can be restored. It’s encouraging to see activism against the actions of the President by many Sri

Lankans. This activism gives hope that it can drive our country further once we are out of this mess.