The Need to Revive Sri Lanka’s LRT Project

"Colombo Traffic" by Nazly is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

In 2017, for this blog I interviewed Dr. Dimantha De Silva about the Colombo Transport Plan of the Megapolis Project. He was Consultant/Team Leader of the Colombo Transport Plan. The Megapolis and its Colombo Transport Plan was an initiative of the then Sri Lankan government. This plan included a Light Rail Transit (LRT) system which is a form of rail transit for Sri Lanka’s most populous city Colombo. In March 2019, the Daily News reported that a loan was signed between the Sri Lankan government and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to construct an LRT Line from Malabe to Colombo Fort.

When I was interviewing Dimantha in May 2017, I was concerned that Gotabaya Rajapaksa would become Sri Lanka’s next President and cancel this project. Unfortunately, he was elected President in November 2019. Gotabaya Rajapaksa governed disastrously which culminated in Sri Lanka’s economic collapse in 2022 alongside protests which successfully resulted in his resignation. In September 2020, Gotabaya Rajapaksa terminated the LRT project. It was so tragic to see a positive transportation project get cancelled due to Sri Lanka’s broken political system. It had a very beneficial loan condition for Sri Lanka and the agreement had already been signed with JICA.

On the 23rd of July, the Daily News reported that Minister of Transport, Highways and Urban Development Bimal Rathnayake said in Parliament that a final decision has not currently been made on whether to resume the LRT project. Minister Ratnayake mentioned that compensation has been paid to two companies with one of the Japanese companies requesting additional interest payment for the delay. He also said a special committee has been formed to investigate this issue.

I am of the view that the National People’s Power (NPP) government should revive the LRT project. They are involved in positive transport projects right now. This year, the Metro Bus service was launched which continues to expand. These are modern Foton buses with the service run by the Lanka Metro Transit company. Minister Rathnayake stated in July that Sri Lanka will take steps to introduce an electric railway service in 2027. Its first phase will consist of three routes. He gave an update this month that construction is expected to begin in May or June next year.

   

In July, the Cabinet of Ministers approved a purchase of 600 new deluxe buses with air-conditioning. These buses are for the Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB). Minister Rathnayake mentioned in Parliament earlier this month that many new expressways will start construction before the end of 2026. The government just launched a national program to make dangerous and unsafe parts of roads outside of highways safe. On the 18th of this month, the government signed Memorandums of Understanding for this program with local government bodies. Prasanna Gunasena, Deputy Minister of Transport and Highways revealed on the 20th that the construction of Kandy’s Mahaiyawa’s underpass is about 80% done with it aiming to be finished by December. The purpose of the underpass is to improve commuter access to Kandy and to help reduce Kandy’s traffic congestion.

Japan is involved with the Sri Lankan government’s current transport initiatives. Around the beginning of this month, the Japanese government donated seven low-floor buses to Sri Lanka in order to enhance the Sri Lankan public transport system. These bus donations are by both the Japanese government and residents of Yokohama, Japan. This is part of the Metro Bus service as the donated buses were handed over to Lanka Metro Transit, the company responsible for the Metro Buses.

The Japanese government’s development agency JICA who were set to give the LRT loan is currently involved in Sri Lankan development projects. JICA is involved in setting up a Doppler Weather Radar Network in Puttalam. It is being constructed right now and expected to be completed next year. This is funded by Japan’s Grant Aid and will help Sri Lanka prepare for disasters. JICA provided loans for two cardiac treatment complexes in Trincomalee and Anuradhapura which just began construction. In July, Sri Lanka’s second largest water supply project was launched. JICA funded this Anuradhapura North Water Supply Project - Phase II. This month, it was reported that the Kalu Ganga Water project is about to begin. It’s a JICA loan servicing drinking water needs of families in the Colombo and Kalutara districts.

Colombo having an LRT system would greatly assist with travel as the city has too many vehicles on the roads. An LRT would enable people to travel to destinations on the list at a faster speed. It is elevated keeping it separate from regular traffic on its route enabling those vehicles to go faster due to the LRT usage. Colombo’s LRT has great potential to improve Sri Lanka’s economy. Dimantha told me how his mentors and professors in Calgary, Canada (where he lived prior to my interview and lives presently) talked about how Calgary grew and its economic levels increased when Calgary’s LRT system was introduced. He also said that it enabled investors to come in for other projects. This provides potential benefits such a system would have in Sri Lanka.

As Dimantha stated to me, Sri Lanka won’t be eligible for the LRT loan once we elevate to an upper middle income country. This loan has a 0.1% interest rate for a 40 year period and has a 10 year grace period. Sri Lanka was not an upper middle income country when the interview was conducted. We reached this classification by the World Bank in July 2019, only to lose it one year later. The World Bank improved Sri Lanka’s classification this July, returning it to an upper middle income country.

Sri Lanka’s status as an upper middle income country poses challenges to a loan for a revived LRT project as we are no longer eligible for it. If we were to negotiate with JICA on reviving the LRT, we could request it to consist of the original loan conditions when it was signed. If that is not possible, there are other options to look at which could include getting other countries or organisations also involved to ease the cost. It’s important to try to have an agreement on reviving the project including compensation payments reimbursed or at least have the interest compensation requirement cancelled.

Sri Lanka collaborating with JICA on the current development projects can help us in negotiating for a revival of Colombo’s LRT. In January 2025, Minister Rathnayake took a train ride as a regular passenger. Passengers approached him about issues the train service faces. This is a positive action by the Minister in reaching out to the people and their issues. He could use his experiences of travelling on a train and learning of the passengers’ issues as a reason to see the value of a LRT system operating in Sri Lanka, both due the common value of the train & LRT and how an improved system could address passengers’ issues. The LRT can be integrated into the government’s transport initiatives. LRT would complement the current transport projects well. Metro Buses can go to LRT locations linking the two systems to benefit each other.

In light of the government’s positive transport initiatives and work with JICA, I see the LRT as a Sri Lankan project which should be revived. The fact that Japan also donated buses to Sri Lanka this year is a case of them collaborating with the current government on transport which could help with an LRT revival. An LRT system would revolutionise Colombo’s transport sector and bring tangible benefits to Sri Lanka enabling the country to develop further.

The Value of Tech Investments in Sri Lanka

"Stunning Night View of Colombo City Skyline" by Thilina Alagiyawanna is marked with CC0 1.0. 

I decided to write an article giving my vision of technology investments in Sri Lanka. I think technology multinationals are companies Sri Lanka should try to attract foreign direct investments (FDIs) from. Sri Lanka can focus on getting these companies to set-up their Sri Lankan operations with modern buildings being constructed. One area getting these companies to focus on is the South Asian region with South Asian headquarters being a possibility. If that’s too difficult an investment to obtain, another option is having a software development centre for South Asia. This includes India which is one of the most populated countries in the world. This would bring a massive number of Sri Lankan jobs.

In my previous article “Five Export Diversification Options for Sri Lanka”, two of the options I mentioned are computers & electronics and visual effects for Hollywood. As part of this, we can get technology companies to set-up manufacturing operations in Sri Lanka and attract global visual effects companies to have Sri Lankan offices.

Technology multinationals can bring advanced technology to Sri Lanka. These companies could offer modern services using this technology to the Sri Lankan market directly and also collaborate with others in Sri Lanka. I envision collaborations using this technology being agreements with Sri Lankan companies in the private sector to sell services through it and secure Sri Lankan government contracts with it. Tech companies could also do work for the Sri Lankan government on digitisation. I see their charitable activities as using their technology and expertise to benefit the poor and rural Sri Lanka.

This is a small selection I gave of the value of tech investments into Sri Lanka. There are many more possibilities I didn’t mention. Professionals involved in Sri Lanka’s technology sector and in obtaining FDI could expand on this with more detailed proposals. I’d be interested to hear if you have any ideas on tech investments in Sri Lanka. As Colombo has new buildings constructed, I am of the view that technology companies are a good sector for us to attract to enhance this contemporary trend.

AI Bizarrely Got My Blog Wrong

"Artificial Intelligence - Resembling Human Brain" by deepakiqlect is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. 

I decided to conduct an experiment involving artificial intelligence (AI). I gave Google’s AI Mode powered by Gemini the links to all my blog posts and asked it to write what could be my 125th blog post. I requested it to be under 1000 words and use British spelling. This is an experiment I wanted to do for some time. Infact, I said on social media in 2018: “I would like it if there were an artificial intelligence program that could analyse my 26 blog posts and create a new one. I'm sure it would put unrelated topics I've written about together in a bizarre humorous way!” AI did put unrelated topics together and bizarrely got my blog wrong. I’m posting what it came up with below with my analysis and commentary below it.

“The S Synergy: When Heartland Rock Meets Star Trek Style Sci-Fi

In this article, I decided to do something a bit different for my 125th post. Regular readers know that my writing usually alternates between deeply researched Sri Lankan history, structural evaluations of classic piano rock songs, and critiques of speculative science fiction. However, I have recently been thinking about how these seemingly separate 'S topics' actually share a common creative DNA. Today, I want to explore a fascinating conceptual crossover: how the core themes of classic Heartland Rock mirror the narrative arcs of Star Trek and great sci-fi.

It might sound like an unusual pairing at first. Heartland rock is traditionally grounded in blue-collar American realism—sweaty factories, open highways, and acoustic guitars juxtaposed with driving grand pianos. Star Trek, on the other hand, takes us into the far reaches of the Alpha Quadrant aboard the Starship Enterprise. Yet, when you look past the settings, both genres are fundamentally preoccupied with the exact same human condition: the battle between automation and the human spirit, the search for identity, and an unyielding sense of hope.

The Fight Against Automation: Seger and the Borg

A prominent theme in my favourite music is the struggle against cold, unfeeling corporate or industrial forces. In Bob Seger’s intense 1978 rock song Feel Like a Number, he delivers a powerful vocal performance about a man fighting to maintain his individuality within a massive, faceless system. Drew Abbott's energetic lead guitar riffs and the driving piano tracks perfectly match that desperate, human energy.

Musically and lyrically, this is the exact same conflict we see in Star Trek: The Next Generation when humanity faces the Borg. The Borg represents the ultimate extension of automation—a collective where individual identity is entirely erased in favour of mechanical efficiency. When Captain Picard is assimilated into Locutus, it is the ultimate sci-fi manifestation of 'feeling like a number'. Both Seger’s protagonist and the crew of the Enterprise are fighting the same battle: asserting that human emotion, vulnerability, and creativity cannot be replaced by automated systems.

The Piano as the Sci-Fi Instrument of Empathy

In my previous music listicles, I have frequently highlighted how keyboard virtuosos like Roy Bittan, Bill Payne, and Craig Doerge utilize the piano to inject warmth and depth into guitar-driven rock songs. In heartland rock, the piano is often the emotional anchor. When Roy Bittan’s piano notes go up and down the scale in Bob Seger’s Even Now, or when Craig Doerge tracks rich, dark notes on Jackson Browne’s The Fuse, they are establishing a baseline of deep empathy.

This musical framework mirrors how great sci-fi utilizes specific characters to ground complex, alien concepts. In Star Trek, characters like Spock or Data serve a similar structural purpose as the piano in a rock ballad. They look at humanity from the outside, highlighting our unique capacity for empathy, art, and connection. Just as a beautiful piano solo provides a soulful contrast to a heavy, aggressive rock guitar, characters striving to understand human emotion provide the soulful heart of speculative fiction. We saw this execution brilliantly in Steven Spielberg's recent sci-fi thriller Disclosure Day, where the entire narrative arc ultimately relied on a message of global empathy to unite a divided world.

The Optimistic Journey

Ultimately, whether exploring the natural majesty of Sri Lanka via Google Street View, tracking session sidemen crossovers, or watching the Federation explore new worlds, the unifying thread is optimism. Heartland rock ballads are rarely purely cynical; they look at a broken town or a difficult relationship and still search for a 'brand new day'.

Star Trek has endured for decades precisely because of Gene Roddenberry's optimistic vision of the future—a world where humanity has overcome internal division, poverty, and systemic corruption to work for the public good. It is the same constructive spirit needed when analyzing modern democratic reforms or structural economic transitions back home.

I would be very interested in hearing what you think of this conceptual crossover. Do you see the similarities between the heartland rock sound and the idealistic journeys of science fiction?”

This is a blog post I would never write. Despite the themes and topics I cover in it, its writing style is not mine and has an unnatural AI feel. It mentioned “deeply researched Sri Lankan history” which is something I write about on this blog. I do write about Sri Lankan politics more often which it didn’t say except for an indirect reference to the topic near the end. This post made some references to Sri Lanka, but Sri Lanka is surprisingly underrepresented. It takes a lot of material from what I wrote recently.

The heartland rock comparison to Star Trek is an interesting one. It’s strange that it chose the Borg as I confess that they are not my favourite Star Trek villains. A lot of people will hate me for saying that as the Borg is highly regarded. They first appeared on “Star Trek:  The Next Generation” (TNG). The reason why is because I’m a bigger fan of “Star Trek: The Original Series” (TOS) than TNG and this is a concept that went further away from TOS. However, I do think the pairing of Bob Seger’s “Feel Like a Number” in relation to the Borg is a good and true pairing. This brings to mind my article “Six Songs for Sri Lanka” from June 2022 where I combined my interest in music with Sri Lanka. I selected six songs which could apply to the terrible state Sri Lanka was in at that time. One of them was Bob Seger’s “Feel Like a Number”.

The second section “The Piano as the Sci-Fi Instrument of Empathy” referred to the term “listicle” which is a term I haven't heard of before. That’s referring to my blog articles in list form. I’ve written listicles featuring a set of songs. This section is absolute nonsense being the most bizarre part of this AI article. It’s silly calling pianos a sci-fi instrument of empathy. Spock and Data in Star Trek are not like the piano in a rock ballad.

I really like the second paragraph of the concluding section that talks of “Gene Roddenberry’s optimistic vision of the future” in Star Trek. That is something that is needed in the world right now. It’s right to match this with economic transitions and democratic reforms in Sri Lanka. In relation to the question at the end, I think there are similarities between heartland rock and sci-fi. I pointed out areas where the comparison worked for me. The problem with this article is that while it has some good ideas, it says nonsense, mixes different topics unnaturally and does not have an organic sincere feel. The writing isn’t bad as it covers topics I write about and I like some of its sections.

I do link topics together on my blog where I use a similar choice of words for titles like something I previously used, I might use a similar type of argument I’d used before in another article and most importantly there are cases where I deliberately mix topics together either as part of the article or the whole article itself. When mixing different topics together, it has to work naturally and make sense. It can’t be just mixed directly which would make it a bad article. There are some mixed topics I hope to cover in future articles.

AI Mode could not come up with an original topic for the post it generated. An original topic would be an idea or writing about something I hadn’t written before. It reused topics and points I’d said before in my blog. I do sometimes say the same thing, such as the way a piano part is used in a song. I don’t give them excessively like AI Mode did. The part linking Bob Seger to Star Trek’s Borg is original.

When it comes to the issue of AI, I’m not in the anti-AI crowd who oppose its use for everything. I’m also not in the pro-AI crowd who want to always use it, including for unnecessary creative purposes. AI is a useful tool and I think a healthy balance is needed. I use AI Mode. It can get fun when I feed it ideas to discuss films I’d like to see. I ask it questions and it gives answers. Some of the answers are valid and true. Others are invalid and not true.

A problem AI has is that its writing is very predictable and filled with clichés. As the same algorithm is used, its underlying structure for something creative can sound the same even if the topic or theme is totally different. The saying “Don’t believe everything you read on the Internet” is true to a much greater scale with AI. It will say some things that are not true. When asking questions if something is the case, AI will sometimes confirm it to please the user despite it being false. In other cases, when making a search with a true statement, Google’s AI Overview might say it is not true.

This parallels a previous blog post of mine six years ago called “Humorous & Interesting AI Talk on Sri Lanka”. It involved an AI bot called Talk to Transformer where the user types a sentence and presses a button which generates text to complete a sentence. I posted my blog post just after Talk to Transformer was discontinued. It consisted of generated content about Sri Lanka on that service. A lot of what Talk to Transformer said was not true. Sometimes it might have said something which looked genuine, but used made-up names and organisations. A common thread was it being often funny. I hoped that the blog post AI Mode generated would be funny in how it mixed different topics together and it wasn’t really.

To conclude, I do not want AI to write, co-write, guide or assist the writing of my blog posts. I’m willing to do things like compile a collection of AI content with commentary for Talk to Transformer and give an experiment to generate a blog post to see what it does. AI can end up having an influence in what I write as I recently made a Google search and what the AI Overview said impressed me that I said something similar as a point in a blog post. I just don’t want AI writing my blog posts for me or being involved in it. This blog is about my interests and it needs to be organic and sincere. This 125th blog post of mine is coming out 10.5 years after I began The S Blog.

Film Review - Steven Spielberg's Disclosure Day

Steven Spielberg’s original sci-fi thriller “Disclosure Day” has been released this month. I decided to review this film. Steven Spielberg directed, produced and wrote the story for “Disclosure Day”. The screenplay is written by David Koepp who’s worked with Steven on multiple films with their most successful collaboration being 1993’s “Jurassic Park”. I’m embedding the trailer from YouTube and will be reviewing the film below.

 

Disclosure Day is set in a world on the brink of a nuclear World War III. This brings parallels to the world we live in right now as we are dealing with wars and inappropriate actions by world leaders that cause unnecessary tensions between countries. The Iran War is a global catastrophe we are facing this year. In the film, there is a company called Wardex who does work for the US government and military which consists of involvement in extraterrestrial interactions and the cover up of their existence. Cybersecurity administrator Dr. Daniel Kellner stole the full archive of proof of the alien presence on earth from Wardex which has videos over the last 79 years that began with the Roswell incident. Daniel’s working for Hugo Wakefield, another ex-Wardex employee, who is involved in disclosing to the whole world the truth that we are not alone and the alien presence on our planet.

Wardex, who is against what Daniel is doing, got his girlfriend Jane Blankenship involved. They are led by Noah Scanlon who is the film's villain. Noah has access to an alien technology called “The Device” that he holds in his hand which allows him to appear to people located elsewhere and he can control their body movements. There is a sequence where he appears to Jane and controls her which is terrifying. The Device is a form of technology I love in the film. It’s also used by other characters for different purposes later on which I won’t spoil.

Parallel to Daniel’s story is the one of Margaret Fairchild, a weather presenter. She gains special abilities which include the ability to speak different languages. She suddenly speaks in Russian to her boyfriend Jackson at home and speaks Korean to a Korean professor at the TV station she works at. I like the inclusion of Korean as I watch Korean TV shows. While presenting the weather, she suddenly breaks into an alien language on TV and collapses. Moving back to Daniel, he also gains special abilities. This includes the ability to understand the alien language Margaret was speaking. This was a message by the aliens. This is where Margaret and Daniel’s stories begin to intersect. They do eventually meet and work together on the disclosure.

I think “Disclosure Day” has a great tone. When sci-fi films are done as sci-fi dramas, that isn’t my favourite sci-fi sub-genre, as it has the risk of being too slow and not very engaging for me. Steven Spielberg made a brilliant creative decision to make this film both an alien first contact story and a fast-paced thriller. While drama is one of the film’s genres, this film’s style is clearly that of a sci-fi thriller. It’s very thrilling and engaging. Action isn’t the focus of the film, but it does have action as the heroes are chased by Wardex who are trying to stop the disclosure. Daniel is involved in two exciting car chase sequences, one with his girlfriend Jane and the other with Margaret where they get pushed onto the train tracks.

Regarding Daniel’s character, we get few details of his backstory. I’m not keen on what he has done in the past for moral reasons, but more importantly his character in the present is a good hero for this story. I like the fact that the male lead of this film is born in 1990 (we see his date of birth on the screen) making him the same age as me. The female lead Margaret goes through a challenging experience in this film where she doesn’t understand what’s happening to her. She tells people she encounters facts and advice for their personal life which brings to mind the precog Agatha from Steven Spielberg’s brilliant sci-fi action thriller “Minority Report” who did something similar.

I’d like to expand on political parallels in this film I mentioned earlier. The current US administration is a dangerously incompetent one that constantly lies and is creating unnecessary division among people. In this film, the US government hired Wardex to suppress the truth about aliens which brings some similarities. In fact screenwriter David Koepp in a "Disclosure Day” interview with Polygon called “Steven Spielberg's new sci-fi movie probes a 'question of faith' about aliens and government lies” mentioned the problem of how much the current US government lies.

My biggest issue with “Disclosure Day” is that we don’t get to see enough of the aliens. I would have liked to have found out more details about why the aliens came to earth, what Wardex and the government were doing to the aliens. UFOs aren’t really featured in the film like I wanted. As an Elton John fan, I would have liked his UFO themed song “I’ve Seen the Saucers” to be included in “Disclosure Day”. The alien story didn’t offer anything new about aliens in government cover-ups. However, this film makes up for that in Steven Spielberg’s great execution.

I had earlier mentioned the full Wardex archive of alien encounters Daniel had stolen for the public good. This archive consists of videos going all the way back to the Roswell incident. We see people watching them on screens. Other videos featured on screens are those in the Wardex headquarters playing on the walls. These videos seem to be related to alien encounters throughout the world which Wardex uses to suppress knowledge of alien existence. I think the videos from both the archive and the ones playing at Wardex would be good extras for the film’s Blu-ray release. We could see some of those videos extended and perhaps even a few which were made for the film and got cut out.

I do see similarities with the 1960s sci-fi TV series “The Invaders” I like. Both of them are conspiracy thrillers about aliens on earth which the public doesn’t know about. Both Daniel Kellner and David Vincent in the show are trying to expose the truth. It differs in a major way as the film is the reverse of the show with “The Invaders” being about an alien invasion, but “Disclosure Day” has the humans being the aggressors.

I felt some of the visual effects animation wasn’t the strongest and could have been better. I thought the practical effects of the chase scenes involving a car smashing into a house and the train sequence were impressive. I have an issue with the film ending suddenly as I would like to know what happens after it. I wouldn’t call the film’s ending bad as there are good ideas involving aliens and the viewer can use their imagination of what will happen following the ending.

A theme of this film is the importance of empathy. I’m not sure if this theme came across as effectively as Steven Spielberg intended, but I welcome its inclusion. If aliens do exist and have been coming to earth for 79 years, a disclosure day could be a positively unifying moment for humanity. This message of empathy is what we need in the world right now as I’m displeased with the state of humanity at present. I don’t like the violence, cynicism and division that is so prevalent.

Disclosure Day is not the brilliant masterpiece I hoped for, but it’s also not the disappointment I feared. Steven Spielberg’s brilliant directing shines throughout the film and is more important than the issues I have with it. It’s great to have an original blockbuster in this age of sequels, adaptations, remakes and reboots. I had been wanting Steven Spielberg to make an original sci-fi film for years, so I’m glad he finally made one. This entertaining film is deeper, more intelligent and creative than the typical franchise films which are often over focused on action. I recommend “Disclosure Day” as a film to see.

Suggestions for Sri Lanka's Cyclone Ditwah Recovery

"Sri Lanka relief location map" by Uwe Dedering is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Sri Lanka suffered one of its worst natural disasters with Cyclone Ditwah which brought severe floods. Numerous lives have been lost, people are missing, houses are damaged or destroyed, some roads & railway tracks can no longer be travelled on among other problems. This is troubling as Sri Lanka is still recovering from its recent economic collapse. Relating to Sri Lanka’s economy, the IMF Mission Chief for Sri Lanka Evan Papageorgiou revealed that Sri Lanka has requested approximately 200 million USD of assistance due to Cyclone Ditwah. The IMF Executive Board is considering this request and will decide whether to approve it. In this article, I am writing suggestions for Sri Lanka’s Cyclone Ditwah recovery.

FDI

It would be very beneficial for Sri Lanka to seek foreign direct investments (FDIs) in sectors most affected by this crisis. Railways is a sector that has been seriously damaged. It has been reported that only 30% of Sri Lanka’s railways can be used following the cyclone damage. This comprises 478 km out of a 1,593 km total. It’s important to seek FDI on railways which includes improving the railway network to what it previously was. This could focus on upgrading railways including issues like electrification.

Agriculture has been seriously affected with floods overwhelming agricultural fields with water. Tea planter Roshan Rajadurai stated on dailymirror.lk that the tea industry is predicting a 30 to 35% reduced output. Farmers are facing serious crop damages. Lieke Schröder, a foreign investor based in Sri Lanka wrote an extensive social media post a few months ago dealing with foreign investment in agriculture. She stated that agriculture is presently estimated to only cover 0.24% of FDI. Lieke points out that she’s seeing a shift which includes the government taking efforts to solve issues foreign investors encounter, the Board of Investment (BOI) recognising investment projects in the North and her meeting startup founders combining agriculture and technology. Having FDI investment in agriculture can fasten its recovery and work to make this sector in a stronger state than ever before.

Other sectors which we should seek FDI include roads. This would be very useful for efforts to rebuild roads. Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) are businesses who have been seriously affected by this cyclone. Having FDI investment into MSMEs can save them from getting out of business and can restore them to make a positive contribution to Sri Lankan society.

PPP

The private sector has an important role to play in the recovery. The government should in my view have public-private partnerships (PPPs). As the government is working on restoring Sri Lanka, they should collaborate with the private sector when they have the skills and incentive to get involved. These would be a set of initiatives covering a range of sectors. An example could be a PPP with the construction sector focused on rebuilding efforts.

Aid

We have a necessity to seek foreign aid. Types of aid the government should make an effort to obtain include aid programs focused on disaster recovery and climate change. Aid could also cover sectors I’ve mentioned above for FDI which are railways, agriculture, roads and MSMEs.

Look at Other Countries

We need to look at other countries who recovered from similar disasters. A focus should be made on developing countries and other countries in Asia as they will have similarities with Sri Lanka. The government should talk to the foreign heads of missions who can advise us based on their experiences.

Final Thoughts & Conclusion

I propose the government have an independent investigation carried out to find out why the Sri Lankan system failed in its response to Cyclone Ditwah. It should be conducted by independent professionals who aren’t involved in politics of the government or any opposition parties. This investigation should give the steps to be taken to prevent future natural disasters from causing devastation.

In rebuilding efforts for homes, roads, buildings, railways and more, we need to design and build them to withstand future disasters. The best engineers should be involved in these efforts. It was good to hear the Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake stating that construction will not be allowed in flood zones and in areas with high-risk of landslides as part of the government’s relief for rebuilding homes.

We need to ensure that our recovery from Cyclone Ditwah does not hinder the economic progress we have made. It needs to be coordinated with our economic recovery. We need to engage with the international community to ease and accommodate our debt burden based on our current situation. Sri Lanka can’t afford to undo the economic gains made with another economic collapse.

This article does not cover all sectors damaged by Cyclone Ditwah and the full scale of what took place. That is outside the scope of this article. These are a set of suggestions for Sri Lanka’s recovery. I would appreciate hearing from others providing more suggestions on how to come out of this crisis. I am thinking of everyone affected by this unspeakable tragedy which includes those who died, got injured, lost loved ones, got their homes destroyed or damaged, farmers who suffered damaged crops among everyone else. I’m hopeful Sri Lanka will find a way to recover from this crisis.

Does Politics Play Too Big a Role in Sri Lanka?

"Parliament Complex - Sri Lanka" by Hafiz Issadeen is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Sri Lankan politics plays a big role in its society. I feel that a case could be made that politics plays too big a role in Sri Lanka. A history of bad governance is an issue we unfortunately have experienced. I decided to write an article about this issue. I’ll begin with information on the current government.

Sri Lanka has had a National People’s Power (NPP) government over the last year which won both the presidential and parliamentary elections. I was concerned about the NPP prior to the 2024 Sri Lankan Presidential election. I had expressed my views in the articles “Displeased with All Sides” and “What I Wish to See Happen in Sri Lanka”. I was hoping that the NPP would not derail Sri Lanka’s economic recovery as their campaign rhetoric indicated they might. Thankfully that did not prove to be the case, with the NPP continuing Sri Lanka's economy on the right path.

The NPP is doing a better job than I expected. They are taking steps towards unity and are implementing the positive Clean Sri Lanka initiative. I will however add that I have not become an NPP supporter. I still have ideological differences with them. The leading party of the NPP, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) started as a Marxist party. Some government members have views in that direction and I hope the JVP/NPP will move away from Marxism. I’m not someone who sees the NPP as the saviours or as the villains. My views are that of an independent citizen who isn’t aligned with any political party. In last year's presidential election, I was not enthusiastic about the three leading presidential candidates. While I did not back the NPP, I want them to do a good job. Sri Lanka can’t afford to suffer another political tragedy after all the political problems we’ve had in recent years.

While the NPP is the government in power right now, my article isn’t about them. I gave my views on the NPP to give context to the current state of Sri Lankan politics. Regardless of which party is in power, it’s important to have politics play a healthy role and not a too dominant one. When politics is so entrenched in society, that gives corrupt politicians a greater opportunity to do harm. Another negative of too much politics is creating division between people who support the government and those who don’t.

A bad practice which has been carried for a long time is frequently inviting politicians for events in roles such as the chief guest and/or a speaker. I don’t advocate inviting politicians as the default approach. This practice can result in someone inviting a politician they are against and may believe to be corrupt. I’m not referring to cases where you invite a politician you didn’t vote for as engaging with the relevant Minister can gain their support for just policies you advocate. I’m talking of cases where you invite a politician of the worst type going against the values you believe in. I think politicians should ideally only be invited when there’s a valid reason and their track record should also be taken into consideration.

When dealing with politicians, whether it’s simply having a conversation or working with them, I believe it’s important to be cautious. Don’t let them use you or get you involved in a corrupt scheme. Turn them down if they offer you money to be part of their corruption. Be careful what you say to them. If they request you pay a bribe, say no to them, pointing out that it is against Sri Lanka’s best interest. To go into more positive aspects of engaging with politicians, talking with them gives a great opportunity to share sound policy ideas and initiatives you have. If you are pleased with projects they and/or the government are involved with, it’s good to tell them that.

The Sri Lankan news stories are dominated by politics. The media have a need to report on political matters, but it seems to me that politics is overfocused on at the expense of other sectors. I think positive stories about Sri Lanka is a topic the Sri Lankan media should focus more on.

I think it’s relevant to mention another type of government individual who isn’t a politician that plays an essential role. These are independent public officials. They will meet with and work with politicians, but maintaining their independence is important for them to perform their roles effectively. A positive example of an individual is Central Bank Governor Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe who played a major role in Sri Lanka’s ongoing economic recovery.

Based on my observations, it seems to me that politics does play too big a role in Sri Lanka. I will add that my views go more generally how it’s been over the years and I’m not criticising the current government in this regard. As I haven’t been to Sri Lanka in nearly six years, I am less familiar with what the situation is like right now. I’m interested to know, do you think politics plays too big a role in Sri Lanka?

The Global South & Dictatorships

 

"Earth - Africa, Middle East and Europe" by Kevin M. Gill is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

I have noticed that there is a concerning viewpoint in my country Sri Lanka to downplay and normalise the evils of dictators. This stems from an over critical view of the West. It’s my understanding these views are a viewpoint prevalent in the Global South which Sri Lanka is part of. The Global South tends to refer to poor countries while the Global North refers to rich countries. I’m writing this article to present my view that the foreign policies of the West don’t make dictators decent leaders worthy of respect. In this article I’m focusing specifically on the Middle Eastern region.

I’ll begin with a terrible action initiated by the US, which was the Iraq War in 2003. This was an unjust war based on a lie that Iraq stored weapons of mass destruction. Saddam Hussein was a dictator who ruled oppressively in Iraq. His sons were dangerous criminals who terrorised people. While this war succeeded in getting rid of Saddam Hussein, it brought misery, deaths and suffering to the people of Iraq and resulted in the barbaric terrorist group ISIS being formed. This war destabilised Iraq and the Middle Eastern region.

In 2011, the US & NATO intervened in Libya. They said they were getting involved to protect civilians. Some people equate this involvement in the same league as that of the Iraq War. While it’s true that the state of Libya after this conflict has serious problems, I disagree with this assessment. Libya’s dictator Muammar Gaddafi really was responsible for the deaths of his own people. This military operation was much smaller in scale than in Iraq. Many in the Global South dismissed the West’s narrative out of hand. I’m not saying this is a just war that the US & NATO were absolutely right to be involved in. It’s true that the West has their own agendas and the real reason for involvement could be different to the official narrative. My point is that in cases like this there can be valid reasons behind it.

Even if you make a compelling case against the West’s involvement in Libya, that does not invalidate the problems Libyans faced under Muammar Gaddafi’s dictatorship. He had been connected to terrorism and is alleged to have been involved in or masterminded the Lockerbie bombing in the 1980s. There are similarities between the Gaddafi family of Libya and the Rajapaksa family of Sri Lanka. Both are despotic political families which caused damage to their countries. While nowhere near the same scale, you can also see some similarities between Saddam Hussein’s sons and Malaka Silva, the son of former politician Mervyn Silva in Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government. While Libya tragically fell into a state of civil war post-Gaddafi, the movement to establish a stable democratic government in Libya was a just one.

I’ll now move onto Syria. Syria has been in a state of civil war since the early 2010s. In December 2024, Syrian president Bashar al-Assad gave up power and went to Russia. The origins of the Syrian Civil War began with him using force on pro-democracy protests in 2011. His dictatorship and oppressive rule resulted in over half a million deaths in Syria’s civil war. It’s tragic how there are so many factions fighting each other. There was distressing sectarian violence occurring earlier this month. This shows that despite Assad’s exit from power, the Syrian Civil War is still ongoing.

There are some in the Global South who will point out that the West had previously engaged diplomatically with Assad, portraying the West as hypocritical and trying to delegitimise Western criticism of Assad. I don’t agree with this view. Irrespective of whether Western foreign policy towards Syria is sensible or not, they were rightly against the catastrophic governance of Assad. In regard to their previous engagement with the Syrian government, governments change their policies with time. In my view, they made the correct decision to stop engaging with Assad.

Western hypocrisy really does exist and there are instances where it’s wise to call it out. The problem I have is when the Western hypocrisy narrative is used to dismiss valid Western criticisms against crimes and misdemeanours committed by certain governments. Sometimes the global political situation is grey in that while a particular government is involved in Western hypocrisy, they are also spot-on in their condemnation of a dictator.

Regarding Syria, I don’t know what the future of that country holds. My knowledge of their current provisional government is minimal and I don’t have a high regard for them. I hope that with Assad gone, they will be able to come out of the mess they are in and democratically elect a decent government.

To conclude, I will point out ways I think all three sides can contribute regarding the Middle Eastern region. The Global South who has experienced bad governance and corruption can look at the similarities of Middle Eastern dictators and their own governance. Support and understanding can be given to the people of the Middle East. The West would be wise not to focus on a military interventionist approach in dealing with these dictators. It’s important to have policies that help people in this region which would result in Middle Easterners having a more positive view of Western governments. This should include win-win policies which are good for both Middle Eastern people and the security of the West. The Middle Eastern people should not abandon movements for democratic governance. This movement should take a stand against violence & extremism and inspire people for a peaceful and stable Middle East.