An opportunity squandered on politics of fear

THERE is today a pervasive sense of stagnation surrounding the current administration of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, a feeling that a historic opportunity for change is slowly but surely being wasted.

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This malaise is not born of impatience alone, but of repeated and visible retreats by an administration that came to power with an overwhelming mandate for transformation.Across multiple fronts, the pattern is the same: promise, hesitation, capitulation, and finally disappointment.

The latest setback in education reform illustrates this malaise starkly. Faced with pressure from misogynist, repressive elements, many cloaked in religious authority, the Government has once again chosen to retreat rather than lead. Instead of standing its ground and pursuing reforms that are essential for a modern, inclusive, and equitable education system, it has cowered before imaginary threats and manufactured outrage. These “ghosts” it fears are neither representative of society nor decisive in electoral terms. Yet the Government behaves as if they hold veto power over policy.