April 22 – April 28, 2024 | Vol.14, #17

Sri Lanka is projected to fall short of its budget target on revenue to GDP (gross domestic product) for the 33rd consecutive year in 2024, according to the recently released report State of the Budget 2024.

To read the State of the Budget 2024, click here

01. SLFP‘s internal tussle as an external hustle
02. The Language Divide
03. The TV coverage of the issues
04. This week’s cartoons
05. This week’s memes
06. Other topics covered in reportage

Past issues can be viewed here

Disclaimer: This week’s TMA is focusing on the reported ongoing internal power struggle of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP).

Photo credits: Ada Derana

• March 30: The executive committee of the SLFP led by former President Maithripala Sirisena removed MPs Mahinda Amaraweera, Lasantha Alagiyawanna and Duminda Dissanayake from the working committee of the SLFP.[1][2]
• April 1: The Colombo District Court (CDC) issued an interim injunction preventing the enforcement of the executive committee’s decision following a complaint by Amaraweera, Alagiyawanna and Dissanayake.[3][4]
• April 4: Former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga sought an enjoining order from the CDC preventing Sirisena from functioning as the chairperson of the SLFP.[5][6]
• April 9: The politburo of the SLFP appointed MP Nimal Siripala de Silva as the acting chairperson and Dissanayake as the acting general secretary of the party.[7][8]
• April 21: The executive committee of the SLFP rejected the actions of the politburo and appointed MP Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe as the acting chairperson and MP Dushmantha Mithrapala as the acting general secretary of the SLFP.[9][10]
• April 24: The CDC issued restraining orders preventing MPs Rajapakshe and Mithrapala from holding positions in the SLFP.[11][12]

Analysis

Over the past three weeks, the Sinhala press reporting, TV coverage and social media posts predominantly featured the SLFP’s internal tussle.[1] This week’s TMA will briefly unpack this tussle along three tiers.

Tier I: Mapping of the actors in the SLFP tussle

The SLFP is divided over its leadership, with the party embroiled in an administrative contestation concerning its leadership appointments. Two distinct camps within the SLFP are tangled in a legal battle to secure the leadership of the party. The following section will map out the key actors associated with the SLFP’s internal tussle (see Figure 1).

Camp 1: The first camp, identifying itself as the executive committee of the SLFP, seems to be clustered around former President Maithripala Sirisena. Some of the key actors in this camp include MPs Dushmantha Mithrapala, and SLFP member Rohana Lakshman Piyadasa. This camp appointed the current Minister of Justice Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe as the acting chairperson and Mithrapala as the acting general secretary of the SLFP.

Camp 2: The second camp, identifying itself as the politburo of the SLFP, seems to be clustered around former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga. Some of the key actors in this camp include MPs Nimal Siripala de Silva, Duminda Dissanayake, Mahinda Amaraweera and Lasantha Alagiyawanna. This camp appointed de Silva as the acting chairperson and Dissanayake as the acting general secretary of the SLFP.

Camp 3: Outside the above two camps are former General Secretary Dayasiri Jayasekera and current Vice President Thilanga Sumathipala.

Figure 1: Mapping of the SLFP’s internal tussle

Tier II: Public cynicism over the SLFP tussle

A much closer and deeper reading of the Sinhala media discourse reveals a prevailing sense of public cynicism over the SLFP’s internal tussle. This internal tussle is seen as part of a larger external hustle of two larger political forces. On one side, media commentary suggests that the SLFP – under the leadership of Chandrika Bandaranaike – will be supporting President Ranil Wickremesinghe in the event of an election. On the other side, the speculation is that under the leadership of Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe the SLFP will coalesce with the SJB in the event of an election.

Additionally, Wickremesinghe is positioned as a mastermind nudging the SLFP into an internal tussle to attract SLFP members from camp 2 (Kumaratunga cluster) to the UNP and separately to split the votes of the SJB by creating a path for Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe to contest at the presidential election under the SLFP banner.

Tier III: The lack of public regard for the leaders of the camps

Further analysis of the Sinhala media discourse on the SLFP’s internal strife reflects the lack of public regard for the leaders of the SLFP camps. The public cynicism over the internal tussle, as examined above under Tier II, seems to be undergirded by this lack of public regard for the leaders of camps 1 and 2 embroiled in the SLFP’s internal tussle.

First, Sirisena (camp 1) – as analysed in a past issue of TMA – continues to be perceived as a symbol of shambolism. Sirisena is widely portrayed as untrustworthy, unintelligent and unaccountable.[2] Thus, the lack of regard for Sirisena appears to increase cynicism about and decrease interest in the SLFP’s internal strife.

Second, Kumaratunga (camp 2) is portrayed as engaging in the tussle to protect the ‘political class’ she represents, rather than addressing the genuine concerns of the SLFP constituency or people in the country. Therefore, the lack of regard for such feudal political interests also appears to increase cynicism about and decrease interest in the SLFP’s internal strife.

Overall, what appears to be an internal tussle of the SLFP is seen more through a lens of a hustle, in which external actors are trying to attract votes to themselves, divert votes away from their opponents and split the SLFP votes ahead of an election.

April 19, 2024 marked 36 years since the death of Poopathy Kanapathipillai (commonly known as Annai Poopathy), who fasted unto death to protest against the atrocities committed by the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF). Only privately-owned Tamil channels IBC Tamil and Dan News made any reference to the incident.

The data on television coverage is based on the monitoring of the primetime news telecasts of selected Sinhala language TV channels uploaded to YouTube.

Courtesy of Aruna, Apr.22, 2024

Courtesy of Aruna, Apr.23, 2024

Courtesy of Lankadeepa, Apr.26, 2024

Courtesy of Sunday Lankadeepa, Apr.28, 2024

Courtesy of Aruna, Apr.29, 2024

The common enemy

He looks simple
But, he stole a mansion worth eight billion and vehicles worth 32 billion
People like this are so rare

1. Proposed debate between the economic councils of the SJB and the NPP
2. Preparations to obtain the third tranche of the International Monetary Fund Extended Facility Fund (IMF EFF)
3. Alleged increase in criminal activities
4. Collection of taxes from companies that have evaded the payment of taxes
5. The proposed Sri Lanka Electricity Bill

To view this week’s news summaries, please click here