SJB MPs Dr. Harsha de Silva, Eran Wickramaratne and Kabir Hashim - Pix by Lasantha Kumara 

By Darshana Abayasingha 

The SJB yesterday stressed on an urgent and critical need for Sri Lanka to enter into a program of structured reforms to navigate a course away from bankruptcy. 

Addressing a media briefing in Colombo, SJB MP Kabir Hashim averred State sector reforms are a bitter pill to swallow, and challenged any party or person with a workable alternate plan to present such a solution.

He added the SLPP has often given leadership to pseudo-leftist camps under various guises, promoting violence and racism as opposed to policy on their path to power. He blamed the SLPP camp for painting reforms as a dangerous word. 

Sri Lankan politicians should focus on enacting right policies rather than following populist measures and misleading the public, Hashim said.

“The SJB is not a party that blindly follows Western liberal policies. We also don’t follow archaic leftist policies. We stand for a socialist free market economy that are relevant for the times and the situation we find ourselves in. We are deep in debt to both international and local stakeholders and we are now bankrupt. Do we really have any other alternative to reforms?” he remarked.

Reforms and restructuring must begin with the political system, and this would lead the way to the ‘system change’ that protestors demand, Hashim said, and queried if the SLPP is ready to support such measures. 

He also said the SJB is concerned of media reports of a request to Cabinet to pay over Rs. 117 million in compensation to Government officials allegedly victimised by the previous Government. Hashim noted that such compensation is valid should be requested and mandated by court not via Cabinet. “Some of the persons should receive the maximum penalty for the crimes they have committed, and now they seek compensation.”

Joining the discussion, SJB MP Eran Wickramaratne added Sri Lanka must embark upon a program to improve its performance in combatting corruption. He said Sri Lanka has been plunged into bankruptcy to protect the jobs and incomes of a few individuals, and stressed the need for reforms to create an equitable society.   

“Sri Lankan must enter the Stolen Assets Recovery Programme of the United Nations and the World Bank. This has to be deployed in Sri Lanka, but the Government is silent on this matter. What is lacking in this country is not laws but proper implementation. Sri Lanka must come out of the corruption space. 

“We perform poorly in the Global Corruption index, and we have to be serious about tackling corruption. People have losing trust in the system and that is why they came to the street and chased away the president. We don’t want that happening again. An independent anti-bribery prosecutors office has to be set up, and I call upon the Government to look at that immediately,” Wickramaratne said.

The MP questioned the fairness of increasing taxes and utility bills of loss-making state institutions, where officials have paid themselves bonuses despite the colossal losses. The SJB will support any measures from the Government for a practical plan of reform and restructuring, he said.

SJB MP Dr. Harsha De Silva also challenged any party or person to propose an alternate path to restructuring given the current state of the Sri Lankan economy. “Some people are threatening action against those who say we must go to the IMF, but then what is the alternate plan?”

Sri Lanka must engage with its creditors and restructure its debt on an urgent basis, and for this the country must demonstrate its willingness to achieve debt sustainability through a system of reform.

“We need the IMF stamp of approval to kick off that process. Markets work on trust and confidence, and right now there is very little confidence in Sri Lanka. No one is saying this country will be run by the whims of the IMF,” de Silva stated.

The SJB MP said the main Opposition has done what no other Opposition has done before and presented the Government with a workable economic plan in the absence of one from the State, and urged the Government to meet it half way.

Finance Ministry updates creditors on measures taken so far to ensure debt sustainability