Features
Big fishes in little ponds: The government’s and civil society’s rightward tilt
By Uditha Devapriya
The recent visits of India’s External Affairs Minister and a delegation from the Communist Party of China (CPC) reveal Sri Lanka’s geopolitical complexities, as well as its foreign policy failures. Even if Sri Lanka has not appreciated it enough, its two most powerful neighbours still prioritise us in their scheme of things. Anything that happens here is obviously going to be felt there. The issue, to me, isn’t that we haven’t acknowledged this properly: at times it almost feels as though we haven’t acknowledged anything at all.
I think we need to put these two visits in perspective, and properly. Sri Lanka is at a virtual standstill. Although tourist arrivals have improved considerably from last year, the country is still reeling from shortages. Queues are nowhere to be found, but that is owing to enforced privations and quotas. Sathosa is going through a price reduction spree, but malnutrition is high and the poor are skipping a meal or two a day. A recent World Food Programme (WFP) survey paints a rather grim picture: food insecurity is highest in the most deprived regions, including the Southern, the Uva, and the Sabaragamuwa Provinces.
All these are tell-tale signs. They are indicative of a fermenting mass of rebellion. What is intriguing is that they cut into the very electoral bases that pushed the Rajapaksas into power and kept them there for so long: in particular, the Southern peasantry. Indeed, if one is to locate the aragalaya less at Galle Face than across the entire country, then one would have to trace its origins to the farmers’ protests against the fertiliser ban. In such a context, it is in the interests of the State, whatever the party in power, to ensure that the minimum pain is inflicted on those most likely to strike back and re-enact last year’s events.
Unfortunately, this is precisely what the government has failed and is failing to do. From tax hikes to welfare cuts, from tariff increases to quantitative tightening, its target seems to be to curb consumption. To that end it is pursuing a heavily neoliberal agenda, focused almost entirely, as Kusum Wijetilleke puts it, on “selling the family silver.”
The government seems to think that the support of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank will be enough to implement these measures. It sincerely believes there is no alternative to them: hence the Energy Minister’s recent confrontations with the Public Utilities Commission Chairman, and his remark, actually bordering on a threat, that if tariffs are not hiked, we will all once again see queues and lengthy power cuts.
The Ranil Wickremesinghe government, in other words, is committing the two mistakes which every UNP administration – barring one, the Ranasinghe Premadasa regime – has committed, namely 1) to conflate legality or constitutionality with political legitimacy and 2) to consider international approbation as the green light for everything.
These are strategic errors that no regime has held for long: least of all the J. R. Jayewardene administration, whose assumptions about Western support cost it everything when India, exercising its hegemony, gave it the proverbial finger and intervened, and when none of the Western powers it had hedged its bets on came to the rescue. Vernon Walters, who was appointed Special Envoy by Ronald Reagan, advised Jayewardene to handle the Tiger issue with India and bluntly implied that the US would not intervene.
The UNP’s short-lived ceasefire proposal with the Tamil Tigers is another case in point. As Chanaka Talpahewa has noted in his book on the peace-talks (Peaceful Intervention in Intra-State Conflicts: Norwegian Involvement in the Sri Lankan Peace Process, Routledge, 2016), the party side-lined or excluded not just the country’s president, but also Sri Lanka’s most respected post-Cold War Foreign Minister, Lakshman Kadirgamar, in the belief that support from Norway, Japan, the US, and the EU would be enough. In this the UNP suffered from what Rajan Hoole calls the arrogance of power: the assumption that whatever it does can and will be accepted by the people, because it believes it to be right.
This is the same outlook that governs the Wickremesinghe regime’s stance on austerity and liberalisation. Read the UNP’s manifesto for the 2004 election, and you will discern the same sure-footedness and arrogance that has marked the party out so well throughout its history: its proposal to liberalise even strategic sectors, its belief in the private sector as the engine of growth, and its desire to emulate what it sees as international best practices in the realm of economic reform.
The 2004 manifesto was more or less thwarted by a populist backlash against the SLFP’s rightward tilt, a backlash organised by the party’s centre-left wing and led by Mahinda Rajapaksa. Now the Rajapaksas’ own rightward tilt has provoked a return to the UNP and its prescriptions: what the President himself calls “bitter medicine.”
At one level, though what is happening now is somewhat unprecedented. In 2004, the UNP lacked a civil society which was in broad agreement with its policies. It now has this civil society tacitly by its side. “[I]n Sri Lanka,” comments Pasan Jayasinghe (“Vistas of stability: Challenges to President RW’s Govt.”, DailyFT, January 9, 2023), “there is almost dogmatic fervour among the economic establishment for ‘necessary reforms’.”
This is nothing new. Once upon a time, Sri Lankan think-tanks focused on food security, poverty, and industrialisation. Today, that focus has shifted to neoliberal reforms, most discernibly that toxic, odious combination of privatisation, foreignization, and welfare cuts. These institutions castigated the Rajapaksas for what they saw as their “heterodox” and “unorthodox” economic policies; now, with the “correct policies” in place, they flag every other reform authored by the present government as “necessary.” Those who condemn or oppose them are thus conveniently dismissed as populists, opportunists.
That is not to say that these organisations lack critics. They do have them, mostly if not only from the left and centre-left, and they do have a presence. Yet deprived of funding and agency – one only needs to look at the state of social science think-tanks now and compare them to what they were in their prime, in the 1970s and the early 2000s – many of these progressive institutions have become pale, emaciated replicas of themselves.
As a result, the right and centre-right have gained some dominance within civil society, rendering its critics virtually powerless. Indeed, as Rajiva Wijesinha has pointed out in his excellent book Representing Sri Lanka, think-tanks which used to dwell on social justice and equity have, since the Reaganite and Thatcherite “revolutions”, converted to neoliberalism, promoting free markets and foreign, specifically Western, intervention in the Global South. Dr Wijesinha notes that this has not spared even the Liberal Party.
“… I was beginning to feel increasingly uncomfortable with the way in which International Liberalism was echoing the ideas of what I thought of as doctrinaire neoliberalism. Gone were the days of John Kenneth Galbraith… His contempt for Reaganomics – ‘the rich do not work because they do not have enough money, the poor do not work because they have too much’ – had been replaced by advocacy of wholesale withdrawal by the state from the social services necessary to develop a level playing field.”
Representing Sri Lanka: Geneva, Rights and Sovereignty, 2021, Godage, page 33
Once upon a time, Sri Lanka’s unusually protean middle-classes used to fall in line with these views. Recent calls for debt moratoriums, from no fewer than 182 economists and former political officials, including an ex-Finance Minister, however, have provoked heated debates within this class. While a considerable section held up boards urging the then government to “go to the IMF”, these sections now are too chastened by the current dispensation’s zeal for austerity to hold on to and advocate those slogans.
Predictably, right-wing think-tanks have been dismissive of the above petition, particularly since their focus has shifted from their support for the aragalaya, which they rationalised in terms of the Rajapaksas’ unorthodox policies, to their thinly veiled support for stability at whatever price: hence the recent tweet from one of their heads, candid as it is, affirming or approving Rishi Sunak’s anti-protest legislation and implicitly calling for similar legislation to put down “disruptive” demonstrations against IMF imposed austerity. Such tweets should not, of course, surprise those who already knew the real intentions and objectives of these organisations. But it will surprise those who thought otherwise.
Where do we go from here? For a while, people will keep debating and disagreeing with these think-tanks and their representatives. When push comes to shove, and when that fermenting mass of rebellion I mentioned earlier reaches boiling point, though, they will associate them with one of the most hated and loathed administrations in Sri Lanka’s post-independence history. When that happens, Pasan Jayasinghe concludes, “the economic establishment… will need to find far better narratives to pin their destructive agenda on.” This obviously includes Colombo’s ubiquitous neoliberal think-tanks.
The writer is an international relations analyst, researcher, and columnist who can be reached at udakdev1@gmail.com
by Dr Gotabhya Ranasinghe
Senior Consultant Cardiologist
National Hospital Sri Lanka
When we sought a meeting with Hon Dr. Ramesh Pathirana, Minister of Health, he graciously cleared his busy schedule to accommodate us. Renowned for his attentive listening and deep understanding, Minister Pathirana is dedicated to advancing the health sector. His openness and transparency exemplify the qualities of an exemplary politician and minister.
Dr. Palitha Mahipala, the current Health Secretary, demonstrates both commendable enthusiasm and unwavering support. This combination of attributes makes him a highly compatible colleague for the esteemed Minister of Health.
Our discussion centered on a project that has been in the works for the past 30 years, one that no other minister had managed to advance.
Minister Pathirana, however, recognized the project’s significance and its potential to revolutionize care for heart patients.
The project involves the construction of a state-of-the-art facility at the premises of the National Hospital Colombo. The project’s location within the premises of the National Hospital underscores its importance and relevance to the healthcare infrastructure of the nation.
This facility will include a cardiology building and a tertiary care center, equipped with the latest technology to handle and treat all types of heart-related conditions and surgeries.
Securing funding was a major milestone for this initiative. Minister Pathirana successfully obtained approval for a $40 billion loan from the Asian Development Bank. With the funding in place, the foundation stone is scheduled to be laid in September this year, and construction will begin in January 2025.
This project guarantees a consistent and uninterrupted supply of stents and related medications for heart patients. As a result, patients will have timely access to essential medical supplies during their treatment and recovery. By securing these critical resources, the project aims to enhance patient outcomes, minimize treatment delays, and maintain the highest standards of cardiac care.
Upon its fruition, this monumental building will serve as a beacon of hope and healing, symbolizing the unwavering dedication to improving patient outcomes and fostering a healthier society.We anticipate a future marked by significant progress and positive outcomes in Sri Lanka’s cardiovascular treatment landscape within the foreseeable timeframe.
by Fr. Emmanuel Fernando, OMI
Jesuit Fr. Aloysius Pieris (affectionately called Fr. Aloy) celebrated his 90th birthday on April 9, 2024 and I, as the editor of our Oblate Journal, THE MISSIONARY OBLATE had gone to press by that time. Immediately I decided to publish an article, appreciating the untiring selfless services he continues to offer for inter-Faith dialogue, the renewal of the Catholic Church, his concern for the poor and the suffering Sri Lankan masses and to me, the present writer.
It was in 1988, when I was appointed Director of the Oblate Scholastics at Ampitiya by the then Oblate Provincial Fr. Anselm Silva, that I came to know Fr. Aloy more closely. Knowing well his expertise in matters spiritual, theological, Indological and pastoral, and with the collaborative spirit of my companion-formators, our Oblate Scholastics were sent to Tulana, the Research and Encounter Centre, Kelaniya, of which he is the Founder-Director, for ‘exposure-programmes’ on matters spiritual, biblical, theological and pastoral. Some of these dimensions according to my view and that of my companion-formators, were not available at the National Seminary, Ampitiya.
Ever since that time, our Oblate formators/ accompaniers at the Oblate Scholasticate, Ampitiya , have continued to send our Oblate Scholastics to Tulana Centre for deepening their insights and convictions regarding matters needed to serve the people in today’s context. Fr. Aloy also had tried very enthusiastically with the Oblate team headed by Frs. Oswald Firth and Clement Waidyasekara to begin a Theologate, directed by the Religious Congregations in Sri Lanka, for the contextual formation/ accompaniment of their members. It should very well be a desired goal of the Leaders / Provincials of the Religious Congregations.
Besides being a formator/accompanier at the Oblate Scholasticate, I was entrusted also with the task of editing and publishing our Oblate journal, ‘The Missionary Oblate’. To maintain the quality of the journal I continue to depend on Fr. Aloy for his thought-provoking and stimulating articles on Biblical Spirituality, Biblical Theology and Ecclesiology. I am very grateful to him for his generous assistance. Of late, his writings on renewal of the Church, initiated by Pope St. John XX111 and continued by Pope Francis through the Synodal path, published in our Oblate journal, enable our readers to focus their attention also on the needed renewal in the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka. Fr. Aloy appreciated very much the Synodal path adopted by the Jesuit Pope Francis for the renewal of the Church, rooted very much on prayerful discernment. In my Religious and presbyteral life, Fr.Aloy continues to be my spiritual animator / guide and ongoing formator / acccompanier.
Fr. Aloysius Pieris, BA Hons (Lond), LPh (SHC, India), STL (PFT, Naples), PhD (SLU/VC), ThD (Tilburg), D.Ltt (KU), has been one of the eminent Asian theologians well recognized internationally and one who has lectured and held visiting chairs in many universities both in the West and in the East. Many members of Religious Congregations from Asian countries have benefited from his lectures and guidance in the East Asian Pastoral Institute (EAPI) in Manila, Philippines. He had been a Theologian consulted by the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences for many years. During his professorship at the Gregorian University in Rome, he was called to be a member of a special group of advisers on other religions consulted by Pope Paul VI.
Fr. Aloy is the author of more than 30 books and well over 500 Research Papers. Some of his books and articles have been translated and published in several countries. Among those books, one can find the following: 1) The Genesis of an Asian Theology of Liberation (An Autobiographical Excursus on the Art of Theologising in Asia, 2) An Asian Theology of Liberation, 3) Providential Timeliness of Vatican 11 (a long-overdue halt to a scandalous millennium, 4) Give Vatican 11 a chance, 5) Leadership in the Church, 6) Relishing our faith in working for justice (Themes for study and discussion), 7) A Message meant mainly, not exclusively for Jesuits (Background information necessary for helping Francis renew the Church), 8) Lent in Lanka (Reflections and Resolutions, 9) Love meets wisdom (A Christian Experience of Buddhism, 10) Fire and Water 11) God’s Reign for God’s poor, 12) Our Unhiddden Agenda (How we Jesuits work, pray and form our men). He is also the Editor of two journals, Vagdevi, Journal of Religious Reflection and Dialogue, New Series.
Fr. Aloy has a BA in Pali and Sanskrit from the University of London and a Ph.D in Buddhist Philosophy from the University of Sri Lankan, Vidyodaya Campus. On Nov. 23, 2019, he was awarded the prestigious honorary Doctorate of Literature (D.Litt) by the Chancellor of the University of Kelaniya, the Most Venerable Welamitiyawe Dharmakirthi Sri Kusala Dhamma Thera.
Fr. Aloy continues to be a promoter of Gospel values and virtues. Justice as a constitutive dimension of love and social concern for the downtrodden masses are very much noted in his life and work. He had very much appreciated the commitment of the late Fr. Joseph (Joe) Fernando, the National Director of the Social and Economic Centre (SEDEC) for the poor.
In Sri Lanka, a few religious Congregations – the Good Shepherd Sisters, the Christian Brothers, the Marist Brothers and the Oblates – have invited him to animate their members especially during their Provincial Congresses, Chapters and International Conferences. The mainline Christian Churches also have sought his advice and followed his seminars. I, for one, regret very much, that the Sri Lankan authorities of the Catholic Church –today’s Hierarchy—- have not sought Fr.
Aloy’s expertise for the renewal of the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka and thus have not benefited from the immense store of wisdom and insight that he can offer to our local Church while the Sri Lankan bishops who governed the Catholic church in the immediate aftermath of the Second Vatican Council (Edmund Fernando OMI, Anthony de Saram, Leo Nanayakkara OSB, Frank Marcus Fernando, Paul Perera,) visited him and consulted him on many matters. Among the Tamil Bishops, Bishop Rayappu Joseph was keeping close contact with him and Bishop J. Deogupillai hosted him and his team visiting him after the horrible Black July massacre of Tamils.
Sri Lanka-Singapore Free Trade Agreement
By Gomi Senadhira
senadhiragomi@gmail.com
“You might tell fairy tales, but the progress of a country cannot be achieved through such narratives. A country cannot be developed by making false promises. The country moved backward because of the electoral promises made by political parties throughout time. We have witnessed that the ultimate result of this is the country becoming bankrupt. Unfortunately, many segments of the population have not come to realize this yet.” – President Ranil Wickremesinghe, 2024 Budget speech
Any Sri Lankan would agree with the above words of President Wickremesinghe on the false promises our politicians and officials make and the fairy tales they narrate which bankrupted this country. So, to understand this, let’s look at one such fairy tale with lots of false promises; Ranil Wickremesinghe’s greatest achievement in the area of international trade and investment promotion during the Yahapalana period, Sri Lanka-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (SLSFTA).
It is appropriate and timely to do it now as Finance Minister Wickremesinghe has just presented to parliament a bill on the National Policy on Economic Transformation which includes the establishment of an Office for International Trade and the Sri Lanka Institute of Economics and International Trade.
Was SLSFTA a “Cleverly negotiated Free Trade Agreement” as stated by the (former) Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade Malik Samarawickrama during the Parliamentary Debate on the SLSFTA in July 2018, or a colossal blunder covered up with lies, false promises, and fairy tales? After SLSFTA was signed there were a number of fairy tales published on this agreement by the Ministry of Development Strategies and International, Institute of Policy Studies, and others.
However, for this article, I would like to limit my comments to the speech by Minister Samarawickrama during the Parliamentary Debate, and the two most important areas in the agreement which were covered up with lies, fairy tales, and false promises, namely: revenue loss for Sri Lanka and Investment from Singapore. On the other important area, “Waste products dumping” I do not want to comment here as I have written extensively on the issue.
1. The revenue loss
During the Parliamentary Debate in July 2018, Minister Samarawickrama stated “…. let me reiterate that this FTA with Singapore has been very cleverly negotiated by us…. The liberalisation programme under this FTA has been carefully designed to have the least impact on domestic industry and revenue collection. We have included all revenue sensitive items in the negative list of items which will not be subject to removal of tariff. Therefore, 97.8% revenue from Customs duty is protected. Our tariff liberalisation will take place over a period of 12-15 years! In fact, the revenue earned through tariffs on goods imported from Singapore last year was Rs. 35 billion.
The revenue loss for over the next 15 years due to the FTA is only Rs. 733 million– which when annualised, on average, is just Rs. 51 million. That is just 0.14% per year! So anyone who claims the Singapore FTA causes revenue loss to the Government cannot do basic arithmetic! Mr. Speaker, in conclusion, I call on my fellow members of this House – don’t mislead the public with baseless criticism that is not grounded in facts. Don’t look at petty politics and use these issues for your own political survival.”
I was surprised to read the minister’s speech because an article published in January 2018 in “The Straits Times“, based on information released by the Singaporean Negotiators stated, “…. With the FTA, tariff savings for Singapore exports are estimated to hit $10 million annually“.
As the annual tariff savings (that is the revenue loss for Sri Lanka) calculated by the Singaporean Negotiators, Singaporean $ 10 million (Sri Lankan rupees 1,200 million in 2018) was way above the rupees’ 733 million revenue loss for 15 years estimated by the Sri Lankan negotiators, it was clear to any observer that one of the parties to the agreement had not done the basic arithmetic!
Six years later, according to a report published by “The Morning” newspaper, speaking at the Committee on Public Finance (COPF) on 7th May 2024, Mr Samarawickrama’s chief trade negotiator K.J. Weerasinghehad had admitted “…. that forecasted revenue loss for the Government of Sri Lanka through the Singapore FTA is Rs. 450 million in 2023 and Rs. 1.3 billion in 2024.”
If these numbers are correct, as tariff liberalisation under the SLSFTA has just started, we will pass Rs 2 billion very soon. Then, the question is how Sri Lanka’s trade negotiators made such a colossal blunder. Didn’t they do their basic arithmetic? If they didn’t know how to do basic arithmetic they should have at least done their basic readings. For example, the headline of the article published in The Straits Times in January 2018 was “Singapore, Sri Lanka sign FTA, annual savings of $10m expected”.
Anyway, as Sri Lanka’s chief negotiator reiterated at the COPF meeting that “…. since 99% of the tariffs in Singapore have zero rates of duty, Sri Lanka has agreed on 80% tariff liberalisation over a period of 15 years while expecting Singapore investments to address the imbalance in trade,” let’s turn towards investment.
Investment from Singapore
In July 2018, speaking during the Parliamentary Debate on the FTA this is what Minister Malik Samarawickrama stated on investment from Singapore, “Already, thanks to this FTA, in just the past two-and-a-half months since the agreement came into effect we have received a proposal from Singapore for investment amounting to $ 14.8 billion in an oil refinery for export of petroleum products. In addition, we have proposals for a steel manufacturing plant for exports ($ 1 billion investment), flour milling plant ($ 50 million), sugar refinery ($ 200 million). This adds up to more than $ 16.05 billion in the pipeline on these projects alone.
And all of these projects will create thousands of more jobs for our people. In principle approval has already been granted by the BOI and the investors are awaiting the release of land the environmental approvals to commence the project.
I request the Opposition and those with vested interests to change their narrow-minded thinking and join us to develop our country. We must always look at what is best for the whole community, not just the few who may oppose. We owe it to our people to courageously take decisions that will change their lives for the better.”
According to the media report I quoted earlier, speaking at the Committee on Public Finance (COPF) Chief Negotiator Weerasinghe has admitted that Sri Lanka was not happy with overall Singapore investments that have come in the past few years in return for the trade liberalisation under the Singapore-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement. He has added that between 2021 and 2023 the total investment from Singapore had been around $162 million!
What happened to those projects worth $16 billion negotiated, thanks to the SLSFTA, in just the two-and-a-half months after the agreement came into effect and approved by the BOI? I do not know about the steel manufacturing plant for exports ($ 1 billion investment), flour milling plant ($ 50 million) and sugar refinery ($ 200 million).
However, story of the multibillion-dollar investment in the Petroleum Refinery unfolded in a manner that would qualify it as the best fairy tale with false promises presented by our politicians and the officials, prior to 2019 elections.
Though many Sri Lankans got to know, through the media which repeatedly highlighted a plethora of issues surrounding the project and the questionable credentials of the Singaporean investor, the construction work on the Mirrijiwela Oil Refinery along with the cement factory began on the24th of March 2019 with a bang and Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and his ministers along with the foreign and local dignitaries laid the foundation stones.
That was few months before the 2019 Presidential elections. Inaugurating the construction work Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said the projects will create thousands of job opportunities in the area and surrounding districts.
The oil refinery, which was to be built over 200 acres of land, with the capacity to refine 200,000 barrels of crude oil per day, was to generate US$7 billion of exports and create 1,500 direct and 3,000 indirect jobs. The construction of the refinery was to be completed in 44 months. Four years later, in August 2023 the Cabinet of Ministers approved the proposal presented by President Ranil Wickremesinghe to cancel the agreement with the investors of the refinery as the project has not been implemented! Can they explain to the country how much money was wasted to produce that fairy tale?
It is obvious that the President, ministers, and officials had made huge blunders and had deliberately misled the public and the parliament on the revenue loss and potential investment from SLSFTA with fairy tales and false promises.
As the president himself said, a country cannot be developed by making false promises or with fairy tales and these false promises and fairy tales had bankrupted the country. “Unfortunately, many segments of the population have not come to realize this yet”.
(The writer, a specialist and an activist on trade and development issues . )
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