By Fr J.C. Pieris –

Fr Chryso Pieris SJ

Some of my friends were perplexed by the attitude of this government regarding the Palestinian issue. So was I. The NPP does not consist of cynical, unsympathetic and self-centered political animals. We know they are compassionate humans. How come they are not affected by the Gaza tragedy, especially by the desperate situation of the children who are starving, traumatized and killed? How come they are so sensitive about anybody saying a word against Israelis? I reflected on it.

Sri Lanka is bankrupt. Hence it is a beggar. Sri Lanka is a beggar nation. Beggars cannot choose their friends or enemies. They have no choice. Beggars do not have the luxury of taking a stand in the international fora. Sri Lanka cannot afford such luxuries and make enemies. Every dollar from anybody, even Satan, is necessary to keep the nose above water. But beggars do not have debts. We are worse than beggars for we owe the world an enormous debt. Sri Lanka is a basket case. As a State our country is a downright failure. And our national self-esteem is in tatters.

In contrast look at the Maldives archipelago, a small but a sovereign nation. In 2024, a bill was submitted to the parliament calling for a ban on entry for Israeli passport holders. The ban came into immediate effect after it was approved by parliament on 15 April 2025. They can hold their head high and take such a stand because they are neither bankrupt nor do they have unpayable debts.

Our present government is in shackles. It is not free to do as it would like to. I feel sorry for it. I have actively supported the NPP. And it is trying its best to put things right in the country. I am sure they feel as we do regarding the genocide of Palestinians. But the reality is that the government hands are tied and mouths shut. Suppose we take drastic decisions to cut ties with Israel. And Trump in retaliation raises our tariffs to 50% as he did to India for refusing to stop buying Russian oil….. (Of course, India told Trump in no uncertain terms to go fly a kite. For, India is neither bankrupt nor has it unpayable debts.) But what will happen to us? Hundreds of thousands will be out of work and the free trade zones will be shut down. Sri Lanka is just managing to keep its nose above water. A big blow like the above will surely push it below the water level and we would be sunk.

Dear brothers and sisters of my country, how did we come to this sad and humiliating situation? How did we lose our national self-esteem vis-a-vis the world? Who robbed us of our last bit of pride we had in our motherland? Sri Lankans who travel abroad experience it in the way the customs officials treat their passport; they treat it like trash.

I do not need to go into the trouble of telling you who committed this treasonable crime. It is treason for it is the betrayal of the honor of our motherland. It robbed Sri Lanka of its self-esteem as a sovereign nation. It is the highest judicial authority, the Supreme Court which declared that the Rajapakse families (Mahinda Basil and Gota) who are responsible for the destruction of this country, and I would add, the betrayal of its honor. The Supreme Court gave only a verdict but no penalty was imposed. When the judicial courts are disrespected, people get a jail term. Shouldn’t the betrayers of the good name of our motherland, who bankrupted the country and killed our national self-esteem get an adequate punishment? Instead, they get housed, paid, fed and protected, all at our expense; What a stupid, weak country is this?

The Rajapaksas and their ilk, led by Sirisena, Wickremaeinghe, Cabraal, Jayasundara and the rest robbed this country to bankruptcy. I can give you a list of their heinous economic crimes but I know you are sick of hearing them. Worse than that, they created a culture of impunity; law and order was clay in their hands. They created an upside-down culture of bad is good; corruption is for the strong and honesty is for the weak; the laziest way of making money is the ideal and hard work is for the hoi polloi. In this culture you can get away with anything, even murder, with a few phone calls and some lucre. Like when a trafficker was about to be arrested by the Narcotic Police ‘some R’ flew to Negombo to save the ‘golaya’ and exposed himself as the Drug Lord of Sri Lanka. When the most nefarious mass murder of blood and gore in the 77 years of independence was perpetrated on Easter Sunday morning 2019, most of the index fingers of the citizens were pointing at ‘another R’. In this culture you do not rob small rural banks as the JVP and the LTTE did, you go for the biggest fish, the Central Bank. One of the scoundrels of the Central Bank robbery was called Mr Clean once upon a time! But he too fell and what a Humpty Dumpty fall!

The process of regaining the lost respect for our country and finding the lost national self-esteem had begun one year ago when AKD and the NPP took over the government and launched the Grand Project, “Clean Sri Lanka”. The on-going project is all inclusive, from getting rid of the drug menace, zero corruption to refurbishing and modernizing Bus Stands, Railway Stations, reforming education and bringing back law and order to the country.

Many of the government opposition with all the criminal elements of the underworld are in fear of punishment for their past evil doings. They keep telling one another that they must unite to evade going to jail. They broadcast utter lies about the government and some You Tubers comment as if with good intention and impartiality but really with hidden malice. This is about the latest Asset Declarations hullabaloo. They say that JVP/NPP activists rationalize their getting small favors and gifts from supporters who give them willingly and JVP/NPP cadre willingly receive them. But the hitch is when the critics equate a bag of precious gems to a comb of plantains. An anonymous man willingly gives a bag of precious gems to an old grandmother who willingly takes it. They say it is the same thing as the comb of plantains. If taking the comb of plantains is not wrong then receiving the multi-million-rupee bag of gems is also not wrong. Their logic is queer and the malice is evident. When the hot topic of Asset Declarations soon becomes cool, they will find some other nonsensical topic to avoid the main issues like drugs and stolen national assets.

What they do not understand and what the JVP has not explained clearly is that it is not merely a political party like theirs. It is more than that. It is a brotherhood and a sisterhood; a sort of loose community with a common vision and goals set by serious discussions and consensus. There is no room for personal profit in their vision. It is altruistic and service oriented. And their commitment to it is deep. Consequently, they are well disciplined. Of course, 159 angels did not come and sit in the parliament. They are human. Many are novices. Some are certainly not very diplomatic. But their sincere intention is to serve the people of this country and lift it out of the shit hole the previous governments have thrown it into. And that intention is scrupulously honest and transparent. The comb of plantains or the bag of rice is only a gesture of their comradeship and friendship. Nothing more. But the bag of gems is a horse of a different color.

We believe that AKD and his parliament can retrieve the lost national self-esteem. If they cannot do it nobody will or can do it. Therefore, just as the people in a two thirds majority placed their lives in the hands of NPP and trusted them so after one year they still trust AKD and the NPP.