Courtesy The Daily Mirror

President Dissanayake offering a floral tribute at the Mao Zedong Mausoleum during his state visit to China. Image courtesy – PMD

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If the government had the required convincing power it could have turned around one of the much talked about rice merchants of this country to their side in the quest to find a solution to the rice problem

There is a Colombo ‘elite’ still controlling the show from the availability of rice, coconuts, eggs, essential grocery items and who gets to study in which popular school

After Ranil Wickremesinghe handed the baton over smoothly to the winner at the 2024 Presidential Elections, Sri Lankans still had ‘concerns’ if ‘worries’ wasn’t the best word to use at that period of time. The concerns were whether an inexperienced set of lawmakers could play administrator roles and turn around a crashed economy. Now those concerns are slowly turning into worries. 

This is a country where its inhabitants see the word ‘worry’ etched in their minds. Some have it running in their blood. The present generation is looking for success stories from within the island itself to psych themselves up.

And the failure in such attempts makes hordes of youth leave the shores of beautiful Sri Lanka in search of greener pastures. There is a crude Sinhala saying ‘can beautiful be eaten’? We have to wait and see. But for how long? 

For those who want inspiration, you just have to make a study of those leaving villages and heading for Colombo with one set of clothes and a few rupees in hand to start a new life. Those are the people who have completed their studies, worked hard and climbed the rungs in the ladder of the executive cadre. But among these success stories we hear of how bogus Colombo addresses were created to admit children to popular schools. There is a Colombo ‘elite’ still controlling the show from the availability of rice, coconuts, eggs, essential grocery items and who gets to study in which popular school. The new government must include in their agenda to make Colombo a city where anyone putting in the hard work can prosper during a reasonable time. We cannot be nurturing pipe dreams for ever. It’s so expensive to live and work in Colombo.

Past governments very openly used giving free gifts and aid as tools to strengthen their vote base. This new regime has put that practice into oblivion. This regime under Anura Kumara Dissanayake has stated very clearly that it will lay an even playing field for everybody. But this regime must take note that all individuals don’t have equal skills or may have different skills; hence they need different types of help and facilities. This regime must cultivate the skill to cater to the individual who has the expertise or the potential to make a significant contribution to the nation’s economy. Right now, the government has recruited into their working cadre, professors and very educated people who are serving as decision makers of state institutes. There is a fear that the private sector may not get the same opportunities that the state sector gets when it comes to engaging in the same businesses in the future. 

This government is sweating to find a solution to the high prices of rice and coconuts. Soon they can utilise uncultivated lands and turn loss-making private properties for this venture. If the government had the required convincing power it could have turned around one of the much talked about rice merchants of this country to their side in the quest to find a solution to the rice problem. This rice merchant still pulls his own line. 

What the educated people of this country fear most is a certain characteristic in the less educated people. Sadly this feature in the latter is the lack of depth when it comes to cultivating patience. We have fears because it is the not very educated voter who decides who enters parliament and who serves as the executive president. 

Most of us don’t own cars, hence we take the bus or a tuk tuk to get to work. Now people employed in both these sectors are up in arms because the government recently gave orders to remove decorations from the vehicles they use in the transport business. The reactions of bus and tuk tuk owners have been harsh. Most of them have vouched not to vote for this government at the next elections. Decisions like these expose the lack of political experience in this regime. We fear the ‘agitated’ daily wage earner because they don’t think far when taking their next decision. 

The lyrics of the song ‘Master Sir’ ring in our ears at this time. It is still a popular song in this country and it is originally sung by Neville Fernando. The lyrics of the song tell us how peasants of this country were treated by the British when it came to employment. The peasants feared the British and hated the tug-of-war between the local hierarchy and the peasants who were workers. After the British left the island, the Sinhala elite took control of politics and served themselves; baring just a handful of individuals who worked for a common cause of the less privileged. 

Then we had power hungry individuals like Ranasinghe Premadasa and much later Mahinda Rajapaksa who ruled with the whip of terror in their hands. After that we were afraid of Gotabaya Rajapaksa, not because he had a military background, but because his thinking was not supported by any logic or reasoning.

The new regime under President Dissanayake is quite secretive in its dealings. Visuals shown on television during news in the night consists mostly of handouts and are accompanied by still pictures when it comes to covering of state events. This is the method used by the Chinese government when it comes to feeding the public with news. Just for the record, the present head of state of the Government of Sri Lanka is a on a tour of China. 

Our learned friends of Sri Lanka can negotiate business blunders ‘if’ the present regime would make any. But they cannot plan for the future when the government doesn’t stick to preplanned decisions and are secretive in its business dealings. Remember President Dissanayake, as an elections candidate, boasting that the regime he installs would not import a single grain of rice? Did he live up to this statement? 

Ranil, Mahinda and even Gotabaya to some extent were predictable in their dealings as Presidents, but not Dissanayake. This is why we are living in times of anxiety. To make matters worse for the new regime, the NPP has suffered many losses at some of the recent co-operative elections. Would this regime change its stance of adopting a work-driven approach to governance or change to playing politics for survival?