NPP and hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil

Since President Dissanayaka was elected executive president of our country and inherited the international debt the country is facing, both he and his political party, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), have become very circumspect and cautious regarding any comment on Israel and its genocidal war in Palestine.

Just to recap, to date, Israel has, through targeted attacks, killed over 64,000 civilian Palestinians. Included in this death toll, according to UNICEF, more than 50,000 are children. The report adds “…since the end of the ceasefire on 18 March, 1,309 children have reportedly been killed and 3,738 injured”.

Way back on November 1, 2023, in its own publication, the JVP cited the National Organiser and now Minister of Transport Bimal Rathnayake, who demanded that Israel stop its attacks of killing thousands of ordinary Palestinians, including children. He called for a ceasefire immediately, adding that the vast majority of countries in the world accept a free Palestine and a free Israel, except America and a few puppet states that support it.

Rathnayake also condemned business organisations which were working to provide Lankans jobs in Israel. He added, “Government should prevent Sri Lankans from being sent to unsafe areas”. 

He reminisced that in the 1950s, the Sri Lankan government advocated for the right of Egypt to nationalise the Suez Canal and the role Lanka played in the diplomatic committees established for that purpose. There is an appreciation for that even today. In order to get such an advantage for Lanka, it is essential to act from a fair and just position.

Unfortunately, today, the NPP/JVP-led government has gone silent on the ongoing injustices in Palestine and the Middle East. Israel has expanded its attacks to Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Iran. Most recently, it carried out a targeted attack on Qatar. Even the US lackey states in Western Europe spoke strongly against Israel’s expanding war against neighbouring countries in the Middle East.

Shockingly, our own government, of which Minister Bimal Rathnayake is a part, put out a mild statement without even mentioning Israel as the aggressor. As we pondered over the strange change in attitude of our government, we could not help but remember that the ruling party’s attitude toward local life-threatening problems, too, seems to have changed.

This NPP/JVP government was elected into power with a two-thirds majority on a promise to bring down the cost of living. It also promised to renegotiate the IMF Extended Fund Facility to our country. In the run-up to the presidential and general elections, the NPP claimed the IMF deal placed unjust burdens on the weakest sections of the Lankan community.

Sadly, the NPP government has not been able to change the situation of poverty since it came into power. Even worse, the government now sings in praise of the IMF agreement and is proposing an upward revision of electricity tariffs (over 6%) in keeping with the IMF mandate. 

With nearly 24% of our people living below the poverty line, any increase in electricity tariffs would mean this section of our people will no longer be able to use electricity. If this happens, the government’s lofty ambition to digitalise the economy will serve little purpose as a majority of our people will be ‘living in the dark’. 

The million-dollar question is why a political party which campaigned on a principle-based platform appears to be reneging on nearly all of its promises. 

Could it be that the government finds itself caught in an IMF deal and US President Trump’s tariff trap? The IMF is a US-dominated institution and works to maintain US leadership in the world’s economy. Should we then not be seeking answers to our vexing problems outside of these traditional sectors?

Today, major powers from India, to China, to Russia to some of the largest oil-producing countries and including African nations, have come together in BRICS seeking new strategic alignments. They also use their own currencies in commercial dealings. Joining them would effectively lessen our dependence on the US dollar and move us out of the US-West European-dominated economic orbit, and help find solutions to our problems in more accommodating economic surroundings.  

Does our government have the political acumen to recognise changing economic realities and take decisions beneficial for this country’s growth? Or will we hang on to the bootstraps of the old colonial powers?

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