The show must not go on, Sri Lanka

On the ground level, where real life trumps dreams and the carnival-like atmosphere of the socio-political circus – things are still hard for the kos polos type of voter

Some days are better by far than others. There you go again then, blithe spirit, blissfully humming that the lark’s on the wing, the snail’s on the thorn, God is in heaven, all’s right with the world. And to the other place beginning with the same letter as heaven with the likes of Sunil H to whom life is nothing but one big question mark...

There are signs of a boom cycle in Sri Lanka. Life – including at the City of Dreams, courtesy Cinnamon – has a lot to offer ‘us islanders’ and other lovers from overseas of ‘the land like no other’. Grand openings to make your jaw drop, great offers for holidaymakers that won’t bleed your bank balance dry. Generous discounts from sundry purveyors of pleasure who want the hoi polloi to be gobsmacked at how well the economic reforms have affected the recovery process. All good stuff to help us be relaxingly unmindful of the grittier macro picture. Dream on.

However hard Handunetti may have tried to enunciate the issue at international forums abroad, here at home everything is just tickety-boo at the cocktail lounge level. Forget the international community’s pats on the back; all the fun and games are at the HFC carnival that is on over the weekend at hand. Can you say, “Careful, Sister, tough times may be ahead!” – or even remember how to pronounce ‘sovereign debt repayment default’ with a hard B – when you’re flooded with gratitude at how good life is in the bouncy castle and inundated by sweets and treats on train rides and the giant wheel? Just kidding, girls and guys; have a great time: and give my regards to the IMF.

FYI

The truth be told – I’m otherwise and elsewhere surrounded by, er, individuals who can’t be fussed to remember the horror house of fuel queue rationing and scarce essential commodities dimly lit by power-cuts. Of course, I’ve lost half of the half a dozen of my readers by being so blah about it. But goings-on in the blessed isle have me worried a tad bit more than usual. Hope that it will all come out in the wash and we won’t have to take on board a second default are fast fading these days in the light of recent developments in and around the polity. Today is not one of those days... sorry, bird I never was.

On the one hand, the electorate is getting and spending like there is no tomorrow. Or end of 2028, when our lenders will pull out all the stops. Of course, under all of the hype and hoopla there is – arguably, hopefully (ah) – a developmental mantra: pump in the money, pump up the volume, and hope to hell the tourists – bar the invasive alien species in Arugam Bay – will boost the economy into the stratosphere, 2025/6/7. 

On average, the bus-loads of sun, sea, and sand budget continentals, and the back-packing occidentals and orientals alike, bring in US$ 3 billion a year – with more select nature, culture, and adventure travellers nudging up the ante a bit. 

And with tourist arrivals from January to July pushing the 1.3 million mark, the target of five billion greenbacks in 2025 doesn’t seem to be pie in the sky. But it is the big-spending, high-rolling jet-setters that the state seems to be targeting to rake in the shekels these days, to bolster Sri Lanka’s tourism earnings of US$ 3.17 billion in 2024 by more than the 53.2% increase from 2.07 billion dollars in 2023. In the first four months of this year alone, tourism earnings have been 1.38 billion dollars, a 10.2% bump up from the same period last year. 

As long as the novelties like all-day street fairs and fun-and-games food fiestas don’t leave Marine Drive littered like lamprais wrappings after a Dutch Burgher treat gone bad, I’m on board with an L-board like that many tyro government types. So hold on to your hats, Handun & Co.; questions about the casinos and gambling tourism are about to get hairy in the environs of the House.

FTW

On the other – on the ground level, where real life trumps dreams and the carnival-like atmosphere of the socio-political circus – things are still hard for the kos polos type of voter.

For the abject poor (whom we always seem to have with us, no matter whether our governments are conservative, liberal, or progressive), the show we’ve put up goes on unseen, unheard; or if noticed from afar amidst the madding crowd, envied.

For the struggling lower socio-economic orders, the sacrifices they made before, during and after the supremely sovereign people’s struggle seem to have fallen by the road, given the heavy load they still have to bear.

For the conscientious middle-class taxpayer, being told that they must continue to tighten the belt so that the caravan of reforms stays firmly on the path to Samarkand – read economic stability in the medium term – seems to add insult to injury. And food prices may be the camel’s back straw.

For corporate houses claiming that they are still finding it hard to make the bottom line meaningful enough at the board room level to benefit the brigades of wage slaves on the factory floor, letters of credit to import new fleets of luxury vehicles are like caviar to the general (in the commonly mistaken sense of something precious to the powerful).

For just about only the arriviste parvenus, nouveau riche, and scions of landed gentry or independently wealthy not guilty of amassing ill-gotten gains, the carnival of dreams has a resonant sound. Over the din of the throng’s hubbub as they make their way down to a sunless sea for a stroll on the strand or a late night ice cream on the promenade.

BTW

All of this, by the way, despite the many major achievements of the government – as variously reported in the press and plastered on social media posts.

To wit (in the first six months of 2025): a profit of Rs. 24.4 billion reported for ports and shipping – a 66% increase from last year); a massive haul exceeding a trillion rupees courtesy Customs and Excise; FDI to the tune of US$ 507 million – a 101% increase over LY; earnings from tourism, not to repeat ourselves but to underline the point and the potential, 1.7 billion dollars – a growth of 10% from the corresponding period of 2024; foreign remittances valued at US$ 3.7 billion – a boost of 18% from the LY; and last, by no means least, a reduction of the budget deficit of 32.3%.

Also bringing tears of joy as well as consternation to followers of this mixed bag of developments in the land: news on the same day that the CID would like to conduct a cordial tête-à-tête with a past president once sporting the reputation of Mr. Clean; another former chief executive still seemingly beyond the long arm of the law vis-à-vis whatever riveting insights he may have into the alleged mastermind behind the Easter Sunday bombings of 2019; and the government of the day allegedly countenancing a volte-face by considering importing duty-free luxury double-cabs for state officials, reportedly including members of parliament to boot...   

One half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of the other. But the time may not be too far off for social justice to have the last word again. I hope not. That is too heavy a price for this generation of Sri Lankans to have to pay again – for a privileged few to indulge their fantasies.

Time for a smart savvy government to cease and desist with the fairy tale approach to fiscal matters, we feel. For example, spinning yarns about printing money not causing inflation. And also tell a long-suffering citizenry what the plan is and what Sri Lanka’s true prospects on the path ahead are? While previous administrations committed political suicide by playing dice with the electorate, we can only trust that this regime is keener on a second term – and an attendant shot at sustainable reform – than a first that favours deception but courts disaster for nation, state and country. We being poor have only our dreams. Tread softly.

(Editor-at-large of LMD | Reality bites)