Hubbub SL: babel at the junc and torn between two+ voices

It is a crying shame on us all that more than a quarter of the citizenry are still finding it difficult and even impossible to make ends meet. Not even the deflationary milieu that we are slowly but surely coming out of has made a difference to the poor 

In the wake of last week’s Opposition rally at Nugegoda, one thing is clear: Sri Lanka – the SL of this article’s title – is (as usual, perhaps as always) deeply divided over the babel sounds of political debate. 

 Our socially bifurcated populace is diametrically opposed to each other about whether the rally was a success or a failure. It’s divided about whether SL is in a good way or a good place, or not. Also what the reality about the country’s prospects are, going forward.

 On the one hand, the rally’s organisers, relying on the sight and sound of 10,000 protestors in the market square, claimed a monumental triumph for the spirit of Opposition to an allegedly corrupt and incompetent Government, and promised to usurp their mandate. 

 But on the other hand, the rally’s opponents, resorting to logic and simple arithmetic, estimate that 10,000 protestors divided amongst the 10 parties represented, amounts to small fry by way of comparison to Opposition marches of the past. A calculated dismissal of the blank cheque that these political movements of yesteryear, discredited by the vote at three successive elections, still command currency in today’s socio-political coinage.   

 I won’t mention the critics of #Nugegoda2025. Who, relying on the smell of something unsavoury in the atmosphere, dismissed the Opposition’s outraged outcry on the grounds that it needs to sober up. In more senses than one. High time to grow up, young follow-me-lad, and move out of mobilising the masses with appeals to appetize their spirits rather than any sense of reason. 

 SMEs

 And as to whether SL is in a good way or place or not, well, it depends on whom you’re talking or listening to, or following on social media.

 If, like the naive or sentimental schoolboy, you’re growing tumescent while lending your senses to state sponsored gas or other fluids, you’d bend over backwards to agree that all is hunky-dory.

 Or, as a deputy ministering angel of the Government given to “always look on the bright side of life” à la Monty Python’s pithy exhortation, you’d be rehearsing these... A good year for the country’s industrial/entrepreneurship journey! A 9.7% sectoral growth! About 15,000 new entrepreneurs! Substantial debt relief for SMEs! And 15 key structural reforms! Huzzah! 

 “We restored confidence. We accelerated industrialisation,” he affirmed in a Facebook post.

 If, on the other hand, you’re more likely to lend your shell-like ears to the ranks of Tuscany, you’d forebear to cheer. Despite the hallelujah chorus of corporates looking for the main chance or awaiting the distribution of lucrative scraps from the state’s table. There is a national airline up for divestiture, we understand.

 It would be that you forbore because of, inter alia, the plight of SL’s myriad MSMEs. These micro, small and medium-sized enterprises will indubitably suffer no small setbacks in FY2026/7, following the Government’s announcement of a value-added tax tweak in the financial year ahead. 

 As biz mag LMD comments: “In what seems like a desperate attempt to widen the tax net ... the Government announced a reduction in the VAT threshold from Rs. 60 million to 36 million rupees from April 2026, which will undoubtedly burden the smallest of our businesses with the convoluted administration of value added tax and compel them to raise prices – and this in turn will be borne by consumers who continue to be challenged by the cost of living.” 

 XYZ%

 Not to be daunted by armchair critics or deterred by inconvenient data to the contrary, our ministering angel presses home his point about prosperity under the progressives.

 There is a plan – there always is a plan or a policy, isn’t there – to roll out an incentive scheme for high-productivity enterprises as part of the Government›s policy to programatically strengthen partnerships between the public and private sectors. Another proposes creating an efficient State sector with the diligent digitalisation of the bureaucracy and public enterprises for transparency as well as efficiency. With an eye on boosting the export-oriented SME sector, will introduce – do get a move on – a banking system for small and medium-sized enterprises to obtain collateral-free loans and a relief bank to bolster non-performing loans from commercial banks.

 Last not least – a one-stop shop (now where have we heard that before?) – to clear bottlenecks as regards much-needed investments.   

 At least this cherub comprehends the economics of the matter. As opposed to other ministering angels in their prime who can’t tell the difference between a 6% and a 2.04% budgetary allocation for education. 

 There are three things I can’t remember: I can’t remember names, I can’t remember numbers, and I can’t remember anything I said on the campaign trail outside Colombo Fort R.S. 

 EFF

 There are arguably other perspectives in civil society including the media. One of which, as they say, “from a layman’s perspective”, dryly captures ‘the big picture’ (LMD, Nov 2025) – namely, that our macroeconomic plan, policy and progress “continues to reflect the diktat laid out by the IMF”. 

 They hail this, too, as a “relief”, countering it with the observation that this is so, “even if it means that the incumbents continue to ditch the promises they made to the electorate”. 

 At stake? A show of hands in favour of the IMF’s $ 3 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF)! Please note, this opinion piece argues, “Sri Lanka doesn’t have a choice but to do [sic] stay on course.”

 It also does not fail to impress on a captive audience in chamber corridors and along the cocktail circuit that this is where the putative ‘good news’ ends. For far too many of our fellow citizens “continue to live below the poverty line wondering ... when their turn – out of the misery – will come.”

 There is a twist in the tale: “It is a crying shame on us all that more than a quarter of the citizenry are still finding it difficult and even impossible to make ends meet. Not even the deflationary milieu that we are slowly but surely coming out of has made a difference to the poor.”

 It has made a difference to the rich. Or at least the business class. 

 To wit: there has been an economic recovery of sorts – with six consecutive quarters of growth averaging five percent. Quarter-on-quarter increases in turnover and profitability of companies listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange reflects the market’s response to relative political stability. Disposable consumer income has improved and consumption patterns have been normalised despite a high tax regime. Credit growth in the first three-quarters of the year exceeded a trillion rupees largely thanks to the ongoing imports of vehicles driving corporate sentiments positively. The nation as a whole has experienced a remarkable if not always rapid progress since 2022, one of the most outstanding recoveries globally. And halfway decent political commitment from successive administrations has boosted investor confidence ahead of pending policy stabilisation. 

 Take a bow but don’t rest on your laurels, SL. And despite assurances that we’re batting on a good wicket as regards beginning to stand on our own two feet after 2028 vis-a-vis debt repayment, one can’t take anything for granted.  

 As for the safe and sanguine middle classes, that great nation of shopkeepers whom the proletariat loathes yet serves grudgingly, they’re still hung up on the manufactured dissent that’s best expressed in demands for unanswered questions to be answered forthwith. Who killed Cock Robin? What about those other sparrows who fell while ye Gods of this Age turned a blind eye? Where is the alleged greater mastermind of the Easter Sunday 2019 attacks?

 Back to the junc. There hubbub reigns since Opposition claims duly falls on deaf ears and  Government has no proper response – or need of one – save to throw the power switch and futilely silence the demagogues stirring up apathy. 

 One half of the political establishment cannot understand the pleasures and the pains of the other. It is business as usual between the Government of the day and the Opposition for the moment. If all the plans, policies, programs and sundry projects of successive governments were laid end to end, it would still not reach a satisfactory conclusion save the need for solidarity between political enemies in a time when Sri Lanka still needs the friendly representation of all its elected representatives. It is the seed-bed of present discontent, past agitation and future regime changes. 

(The author is Editor-at-large of LMD)