Sri Lanka’s political moment: Rediscovering our kinship and common history
As the new administration has begun to unpack promises made during a hasty election campaign, it is clear that they are constrained by their own political capacity, the limitations of a minority government and more generally by what is politically feasible at present. Within the government, ministerial appointments have had to exceed the bounds that were promised in order to accommodate and retain the diverse – and unlikely – coalition that now controls the executive. Even then, multiple ‘government spokespeople’ have contradicted themselves and statements made by their leader on numerous occasions – indicating weak leadership and lack of consensus even among members of Cabinet. It is of primary importance – in my analysis – that we understand how the volatility within government and critical vulnerabilities in its policies imperil not only the present administration and its vital reforms agenda, but also the Sri Lankan state as we know it. I shall therefore focus this analysis on identifying critical vulnerabilities in the government’s policies that undermine not only its mandated reform agenda but also the geographic and political make-up of the Sri Lankan state – in the face of challenges posed by political forces that are at the fringe of government as well as those external to it. I will then discuss a key elements that I believe should necessarily be part of a comprehensive framework for addressing the question of national and political reconciliation in Sri Lanka; that would help overcome some of the long-term structural problems that have plunged the Sri Lankan state and generations of its people into cycles of violence for well over a century.
