By Raj Gonsalkorale “You have the complete right to convince any truth as a lie and any lie as a truth. That is your democratic right. You have the right to see the negative side when the government is doing something good. And also, you have the right to praise when a leader, government, institution […]

By Raj Gonsalkorale Sri Lanka has become one of the fastest aging countries in the world. Its share of the population over 60 years of age, which was 12% in 2014, has exceeded the average of all countries in the South-East Asian region. According to population projections, this proportion will reach 28.5% by 2050. With ageing […]

By Raj Gonsalkorale  Whence comes the power of words? Citizens of purportedly civilized nations have come under the sway of the rhetoric of demagogues. Soldiers have killed and been killed following the orders of military superiors. Leaders of some religious sects have put people to death for utterances labelled blasphemous or heretical. Leaders of others […]

By Raj Gonsalkorale Government has no wealth, and when a politician promises to give you something for nothing, he must first confiscate that wealth from you — either by direct taxes, or by the cruelly indirect tax of inflation. –John Wayne Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build bridges even when there […]

By Raj Gonsalkorale Paradox of Power: Militarily it is a unipolar world of U.S. hegemony; economically it is a multipolar world with U.S. leadership; but on many transnational issues – such as international terrorism, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, the migration of people, epidemic disease, drugs, and environmental degradation – we live in […]

By Raj Gonsalkorale The current administrative arrangements do not seem to have brought the required equality and equity to children with disabilities and addressed the challenges faced by them although some headway has been made over time.  A high-level State agency is needed for policy formulation, to coordinate implementation of policies and for  monitoring progress […]

By Raj Gonsalkorale  It’s the economy, stupid – Bill Clinton” It’s the economy, stupid” is a phrase that was coined by Jim Carville in 1992. It is often quoted from a televised quip by Carville as “It’s the economy, stupid.” Carville was a strategist in Bill Clinton‘s successful 1992 U.S. presidential election against incumbent George H. W. Bush –Wikipedia https://www.tradingview.com/news/te_news:429243:0-sri-lanka-gdp-grows-4-7-in-q2-2024/#:~:text=Sri%20Lanka’s%20GDP%20rose%204.7,highest%20in%20nearly%203%20years. As […]

By Raj Gonsalkorale When a politician promises to give you something for nothing, he must first confiscate that wealth from you — either by direct taxes, by indirect tax, and by inflationary pricing arising from more debt – paraphrasing a quote by John Wayne Election time is a bonanza time for the hearing pleasure of […]

By Raj Gonsalkorale The IMF may have their own agendas. But they are in the country because our politicians and officials failed to manage the economy leading it to bankruptcy. Some degree of economic and financial discipline is evident today, thanks to the presence of the IMF. Any proposed re negotiations should be on the […]

Raj Gonsalkorale Democracy must fall because it will try to tailor to everyone: “The poor will want the wealth of the rich, and democracy will give it to them. “Young people will want to be respected as elderly, and democracy will give it to them. “Women will want to be like men, and democracy will […]

By Raj Gonsalkorale The Treasury is aware that the country is in a difficult place. But that difficulty is not visible on the surface. Fuel is available, electricity is available and public and private transportation is in place. It’s the mirage that seems to matter to most rather than reality At the Treasury we are […]

By Raj Gonsalkorale Taxation needs to be looked at from a different perspective and models of taxation needs to be examined. Taxation should be looked at as part of a social contract between a government and the people who pay tax. It is part of a partnership between the government and the public and it […]

By Raj Gonsalkorale ‘Insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly expecting different results – Albert Einstein. The concept of a legislated economic plan that incorporates economic parameters (or targets) is an opportunity to end 76 years of insanity. The challenge for the major political parties is to accept the concept and then work out any […]

By Raj Gonsalkorale During the war, leaders of the Allied countries—the Soviet Union, United States, and Great Britain—received reports of mass shootings of Jewish civilians, including women and children. In 1942, they learned of the Nazi plan to annihilate Europe’s Jews. While leaders occasionally publicly denounced violence towards Jews, they prioritized winning the war over […]

By Raj Gonsalkorale On the 138th observance of World Labour Day, born from a historic struggle for rights, our nation stands at a pivotal moment. Regardless of political affiliations, it falls upon each of us to shoulder the unshakable duty of fortifying our economy and propelling our nation onward– President Ranil Wickremasinghe Political catch phrases […]

By Raj Gonsalkorale Political ethics requires leaders to meet higher standards than would be necessary for private life. They may have less of a right to privacy than ordinary citizens do, or no right to use their office for personal profit. Personal or private morality and political morality are often viewed as a conflict of interest […]

By Raj Gonsalkorale Prime Minister Netanyahu: “We can’t finish the war without eliminating Hamas leadership” (https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/politics/1707129128-gantz-denies-plan-to-replace-netanyahu-through-likud-report). US President Joe Biden told Israel’s prime minister a military operation in Rafah should not happen without measures to ensure the safety of civilians, the White House has said. In a call with Benjamin Netanyahu, Mr Biden said Israel […]

By Raj Gonsalkorale There was no fight for . . . freedom which involved a fight for principles, policies, and programmes . . . No. It just came overnight. We just woke up one day and we were told, You are a dominion now.” —S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, Ceylon Prime Minister (1956–1959) Sri Lanka […]

By Raj Gonsalkorale The Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum for the year 2024 is held from January 15 – 19 in Davos, Switzerland, under the theme ‘Rebuilding Trust’. It aims to restore collective agency, and reinforce the fundamental principles of transparency, consistency, and accountability among leaders. Judging from events unfolding in various parts […]

By Raj Gonsalkorale In an interview with the Daily Mirror in December 2023, Senior JVP member Dr Nalinda Jayatissa stated that in the latest opinion poll, JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake was leading among all the prospective presidential candidates and there was no need for the JVP to take up arms once again – https://www.dailymirror.lk/opinion/JVP-led-NPP-believes-in-a-unique-Sri-Lankan-economic-model-based-on-socialist-principles-Nalinda-Jayatissa-former-MP/231-273197 […]

By Raj Gonsalkorale As Aaron David Miller, a Middle East expert at the Woodrow Wilson Center, observes, a strange, self-sustaining relationship remains. Israel’s hawkish government — comprising many politicians who have little interest in seeing the creation of a separate Palestinian state — dwells on the security threat that Hamas’s crude rockets pose. Hamas depends, Miller writes, on “an ideology and strategy steeped in confrontation […]

By Raj Gonsalkorale Economic mismanagement by successive regimes made Sri Lanka bankrupt. Rather than proposing a collective self-reflection, analysing mistakes made and looking to the future rather than dwelling on the past, some politicians are throwing stones from glass houses and pretending they are fully clothed Emperors. It is common knowledge that the Sri Lankan […]

By Raj Gonsalkorale The international outlook is uncertain again amid financial sector turmoil, high inflation, ongoing effects of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and three years of COVID – The IMF Global growth is projected to slow significantly amid high inflation, tight monetary policy, and more restrictive credit conditions. The possibility of more widespread bank turmoil […]

By Raj Gonsalkorale On the night of April 14, 1912, though, only a few days into the Titanic’s maiden voyage, its Achilles’ heel was exposed. The ship wasn’t nimble enough to avoid an iceberg that lookouts spotted (the only way to detect icebergs at the time) at the last minute in the darkness. As the […]

By Raj Gonsalkorale It was the Roman lawyer, Cicero, who in his De Re Publica, uses the literary device of the Dream of Scipio to give the authority of Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus, the greatest of the Roman Republic’s citizen soldiers, to the proposition that the ‘populus’, the people, served by a true republic is […]

By Raj Gonsalkorale As for food security, the foundation would do better by supporting agroecological (agrochemical-free) approaches to agriculture, which various high-level UN reports have advocated for ensuring equitable global food security. This would leave smallholder agriculture both intact and independent from Western agro-capital, something which runs counter to the underlying aims of the corporations […]

By Raj Gonsalkorale An Eastern analogue is found in the Suvannahamsa Jataka, which appears in the fourth section of the Buddhist book of monastic discipline (Vinaya). In this the father of a poor family is reborn as a swan with golden feathers and invites them to pluck and sell a single feather from his wings to […]

By Raj Gonsalkorale Many Sri Lankans are concerned about their next meal, the high cost of living, deteriorating health, stagnant incomes, how to buy school requisites for their children, malnutrition and increasing poverty which they experience on a day-to-day basis. While restructuring the economy is a must, politicians must balance this with redress for the […]

By Raj Gonsalkorale The IMF agreement is much more than the USD 3 billion that accompanies it. In the overall scheme of the country’s foreign debt (now estimated at around USD 48 Billion) and overall debt at 115% of GDP, with no funds for foreign debt repayments and no foreign exchange to purchase essentials, the […]

By Raj Gonsalkorale Former Prime Minister of Australia Paul Keating has labelled the AUKUS military alliance and more specifically the recently concluded submarine deal as the worst mistake Australia has done in its history. His national press club address has been widely publicised and does not need repetition here. It is however interesting to discuss […]