Lessons for the NPP from Around the World
Photo courtesy of Challenge Magazine
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has now completed 18 months of his term. He has another 42 months ahead. He stands as both the centre of gravity and the symbol of the NPP government.
When he visits Jaffna he is often photographed walking alone on an empty road early in the morning wearing a short and a T‑shirt, stopping to chat casually with local residents. On another day he is seen travelling in ordinary clothes, smiling and conversing with tea pluckers, who are dressed fashionably for the occasion. We saw the President celebrating the new year with a rural family affected by Cyclone Dithwa. He held a daughter’s hand and spoke warmly with the family.
This kind of symbolic political imagery is not new to this country.
Maithripala Sirisena once sat on a wall gazing at the sky. On another occasion he was drinking tea in a modest roadside café or chatting in a Tamil household in Jaffna. Ranil Wickremesinghe posed for photographs while engaging posh female teenagers in political discussion and circulated images of himself walking with his political partner in matching outfits. Mahinda Rajapaksa kissed the ground upon arrival at the airport and carried babies at public rallies.
What all four of them share is the performance of a carefully constructed political theatre. All of them are common in venerating leading monks in front of the camara although their politics are in contrary to Buddhist principals.
President Dissanayake needs to understand that real politics lies elsewhere and not in photographs. The people did not endorse him because he bowed to monks or wore a double‑pocket shirt.
The 2022 aragalaya was the turning point where President Dissanayake and the NPP were able to grabbed the opportunity to emerge as symbols of the people’s struggle and aspirations. The NPP rose to power, riding the wave of a call for a new political culture unleashed by the aragalaya.
A comparable event occurred in 1986 in the Philippines when a mass uprising toppled the Marcos dictatorship and brought Corazon Aquino to power. That revolt was broadcast live across this country, just as the 2022 struggle was live on screen.
Aquino’s government restored civil liberties and moved the country towards democracy. Yet her presidency lasted only one term. During her tenure there were at least seven failed military coup attempts, with the attempts of 1987 and 1989 being particularly violent. These severely weakened her government.
Then came the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo, followed by major earthquakes that devastated the economy and hampered relief efforts. Daily power cuts lasting eight to twelve hours crippled industry and public morale. Land disputes surrounding her family’s Hacienda Luisita estate, unfulfilled promises of agrarian reform and corruption involving officials in her administration eroded her people power image.
Replace Aquino with President Dissanayake. Replace military coup attempts with the joint opposition, the GMOA, the Electrical Engineers’ Associations and similar forces. Replace Mount Pinatubo with Cyclone Dithwa. Replace the Middle East war‑triggered fuel crisis with our electricity crisis.
While corruption under the NPP is not as entrenched as during the Rajapaksa era, alleged corruption and unheard level of inefficiencies under the government are contributing to growing public disillusionment.
Education reforms were abandoned and no action was taken against a former speaker who submitted forged educational certificates. A JVP leader reportedly possessing personal wealth of Rs. 270 million serves as a minister, owns shares in Dhammika Perera linked companies and holds cryptocurrencies that are illegal in Sri Lanka. The housing controversy involving Minister Lal Kantha, who lectures civil servants on Marxism while conducting Lenin reading rallies, is another scandal. Minister Kumara Jayakody faces corruption charges in court.
It came to light that $2.5 million was lost to hackers due to negligent cross border payment practices. At the very least, the Finance Secretary should accept responsibility and resign. Another $625,000 that was transferred to US Post is missing. Sri Lanka has become fertile ground for cybercrime due to weak digital security.
The president’s media advisor, Chandana Suriyabandara, allegedly assaulted two journalists during the peace march of foreign monks. The ban on Theepachelvan Piratheepan’s books is shameful.
The government’s democratic reform record is poor. State media continues to function as a political tool. The Online Safety Act, previously condemned by the NPP, remains in force. The legislation replacing the Prevention of Terrorism Act, the Protection of State from Terrorist Activities (PTSA), has drawn sharp domestic and international criticism. There is no timeline for the promised independent prosecutor’s office. Provincial Council elections, delayed for over a decade, remain unscheduled. Letters showing provincial identity have been removed from vehicle licence plates in an act of anti‑devolution posturing. One after the other pledges of democratic governance lies unfulfilled.
These weaknesses could still be addressed. There remains over three and a half years. Yet the NPP seems to lack both the mechanism and political will to carry out damage control and course correction.
If the JVP’s tradition of criticism and self‑criticism still operates within its political bureau, one wonders how much internal turbulence it would cause.
The government’s opaque handling of the coal procurement scandal of millions of rupees and not disclosing the missing $2.5 million for four months marks a decisive shift. It signals the erosion of the NPP’s commitment to a new political culture and beginning of the losing the moral high ground.
Renovating bus terminals, railway stations or building expressways does not constitute political change. The Rajapaksa era saw unprecedented highway development yet it failed because corruption was systemic and political arrogance rampant.
Chile’s 2022 political change was widely discussed in Sri Lanka – the election of 35 year‑old leftist Gabriel Boric. While Boric enacted meaningful pro‑people reforms, he failed to deliver constitutional change. Crime rose, racial tensions increased and in 2026 the presidency was won by far right Trump‑style candidate José Antonio Kast.
Boric’s ascent resembles Anura Kumara’s in important ways. His base was largely the student‑youth movement and the urban progressive middle class, social forces that are inherently volatile.
In contrast, Brazil’s Lula da Silva rests on a solid working class base, strong support among the poor and organised social movements. Colombia’s Gustavo Petro draws strength from trade unions, students and indigenous and Afro‑Colombian communities. Left leaning, both leaders practise coalition politics.
The Rajapaksas relied on Sinhala‑Buddhist extremism. The UNP once had a broad urban and rural base until it was hollowed out under Ranil Wickremesinghe. The SLFP succeeded by integrating Sinhalese- based Pancha Maha Balawegaya with left‑centre social forces.
We know that the NPP functions largely as a front for the JVP. The critical question remains: if the JVP’s traditional base was only three to ten per cent, what is the real social foundation of this government?
At present the survival of the NPP depends not because of its own performance but on the weakness of an incoherent opposition. Hungary’s Viktor Orbán once appeared invincible yet was undone by a political movement that began only two years earlier.
That is why it is unwise to dismiss the opposition as defeated and irrelevant, dear Red comrades.
