17 February, 2023: “I’m not here to be popular.” says the Sri Lankan PM. What unpopular decisions is he referring to? A ReferencePepper!
Ranil Wickremesinghe, the president of Sri Lanka, announced that the country will remain in bankruptcy for three more years as he attempts to fix its financial situation.
He declared that in order to guarantee that the bankrupt nation recovered from the economic collapse, he would move through with the transfer of powers inside a united Sri Lanka and keep making his ‘unpopular decisions’.
President Wickremesinghe suggested that the 13th Amendment to the Constitution must be completely implemented.
What is the 13th Amendment?
The 13A law, which was introduced following the Indo-Sri Lankan agreement of 1987, has been under pressure from India to be implemented in Sri Lanka.
Tamil shall be one of Sri Lanka's official languages, according to the 13th amendment, which was first approved on November 14, 1987. It also provides regional councils with significant power that will be established all around the nation.
This was seen as a gesture of good will to the Tamil community.
Now, this upset another community:
The powerful Buddhist monks who represent the Buddhist community in Sri Lanka staged a major protest. The monks started a starve-to-death protest in Colombo demanding Gotabaya Rajapaksa's government and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa step down after a series of failures.
But their issue was not only the failures of the Government. The Buddhist community is upset over the Government's decision to promote the Tamilian community in Sri Lanka.
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The protesting Buddhist monks burnt a copy of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution stating that they would not permit the implementation.
Why did they do that?
For that we would first need to briefly tell you about the demography of Sri Lanka
Sinhalese make up 74% of the Sri Lankan population.
Sri Lankan Tamils, whose ancestors have lived in the island for centuries comprise close to 12% of Sri Lanka's population.
The rest are Moors and Malays at about 7% and the rest mare mostly Burghers (descendants of European colonists).
Now, coming to the religious following, most Sinhalese are Buddhist (around 72.8% as per the Statistics available) and most Tamilians are Hindus. The Malays and Moors are Muslim. And then there are Sinhalese and Tamils who follow Christianity. The 1978 constitution, while assuring freedom of religion, grants primacy to Buddhism.
So, the protesting Buddhist monks are upset that the implementation of 13th amendment will dilute their supremacy and give significant power to the Tamilians in Sri Lanka when they are merely 12% of the total population.
Addressing the Parliament, President Wickremesinghe said there will be no division of the country, contrary to fears expressed by sections of the Buddhist clergy.
Then, why did Sri Lanka sign the 13th amendment which seems unreasonable to the majorities? Well, that background we will write about shortly. In the meanwhile, back to the main story:
“Remember, I’m not here to be popular. I want to rebuild this nation from the crisis situation it has fallen into. Yes, I’m ready to make unpopular decisions for the sake of the nation. People will realize the importance of those decisions in two to three years,” he said. His comments come days after the influential Buddhist clergy protests.
Wickremesinghe also informed Parliament in a significant policy speech that negotiations with the IMF to release a USD 2.9 billion [₹23,900 crores] rescue package are approaching their end.
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The Sri Lankan government has implemented tough economic policies, including tax and utility bill increases. Protests against these policies have been planned by opposition and labor organizations.
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The IMF agreed a USD 2.9 billion [₹23900 crores] bailout plan for Sri Lanka over four years in September of last year, depending on Sri Lanka's capacity to reorganize its debt with lenders. According to data provided by the Treasury, Sri Lanka owed close to USD 40 billion [ around ₹3,00,000 Crores] in bilateral, international, and commercial loans as of June 30, 2022.
According to officials, the IMF board could approve the USD 2.9 billion [₹23900 crores] facility in March with the help of promises from creditors.