Dissanayake's challenge is to reset Sri Lanka's economy

Economic reforms are crucial if it hopes to pay off its huge foreign debt from 2028 onwards

- RAHUL JACOB

Among the less well-known winners in Sri Lanka's parliamentary election last week was Krishnan Kalaichelvi, the daughter of a Malaiyaga Tamil tea-estate worker. In the annals of South Asia's mistreatment of minorities, the Malaiyaga occupy a tragic place. They were brought to the island as indentured labourers in the 19th century by the British, with hundreds of thousands then forcibly repatriated to Tamil Nadu after an inhumane agreement between India and Sri Lanka in the mid-1960s. This is a community that would seem unlikely supporters of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP)-led National People's Power party (NPP). Yet, by focusing on economic hardships and convincing voters across the country that the party has a changed approach to minorities, the NPP won a two-thirds majority in parliament, a feat no other party has achieved.

With the huge mandate for 'saba wensak', or genuine change in Sinhala, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake must push through reforms such as the devolution of power to the north and east—and an even more tricky revamp of the economy, so that Sri Lanka can begin to pay off its huge international debts from 2028 onwards. The breadth of support he has received in the north and east, where he had performed poorly in the presidential election in September, is an advantage. Contrary to the cliché, less than two months is actually a short time in politics, especially for a seismic shift in voter loyalties to the NPP from parties that once had solid minority support.