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Washington’s voluble ambassador, Julie Chung, was the first to shoot out of the blocks, so to say, congratulating the government for signing the debt restructuring agreement with its bilateral creditors.

She was all ga-ga, as though Sri Lanka had just landed on the dark side of the moon, from where its excited citizens could not see the victory the Wickremesinghe panjandrums claimed it had won, but Julie Chung and her neoliberal cheerleaders were well aware of what was coming.

Not to be outdone, India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar stuck his oar in and pledged India’s continued support to its vassal-like neighbour. And why shouldn’t he? After all, half of this country or more has been gifted to the Modi empire, and it was not too long ago that Tourism Minister Harin Fernando, now trying to play with bat and ball, told an Indian audience in Mumbai that Sri Lanka was part of India.

He must have been catching up on his education, especially India-Sri Lanka relations dating back to Chola and Pandian times.

It was all a political game, well timed and well played.

From where I am thousands of kilometres away, I could not say whether Ambassador Chung had joined in bursting fire crackers at the ambassador’s residence as those gathered at the Sirikotha headquarters of a revivalist UNP did in a victory celebration carefully choreographed by the IMF.

Naturally, it did not want some others around the world to know that what happened to other countries where its economic mantra had failed had begun to happen in this country like no other.

Meanwhile, from the Central Bank to the Finance Ministry, our IMF-wallahs, who have an undying faith in the stories sold by this Washington-based international institution, joined in celebrating Sri Lanka’s victory, which is yet to be won. That could be a long time coming if it does not fall flat on its economic face before Ranil’s real victory march planned for 2048 centenary celebrations.

So, at a perfectly timed victory speech to the nation announced well ahead of time so the people would down tools to turn their eyes on TV screens as they usually do when our cricketers play the T20s or whatever they are called, President Wickremesinghe did his victory lap, saying Sri Lanka “won”.

Up until now, part-time president Ranil Wickremesinghe, doubtless aspiring to be full-time president—a position that has always eluded him—had kept his intentions close to his chest.

There were those who really thought that he would keep out of the presidential race given the poor ratings recorded in opinion polls, which themselves seemed extremely wayward and untrustworthy, knowing little of their origins.

But those who have known Ranil Wickremesinghe from the early days, like some of us have, dating back to the mid-1970s, would know that he could have more tricks up his sleeves than Houdini.

Shortly after the signing of the bilateral agreement was announced by President Wickremesinghe, Hong Kong’s long-standing South China Morning Post—for which I freelanced for a while as a diplomatic writer before returning to the Hong Kong Standard—wrote that “many analysts see this politically charged speech as more of an effort to boost his standing before the election than an accurate portrayal of the country’s still troubling economic situation.”

Most troubling has always been the lack of transparency in official circles dealing with negotiations with the IMF. Quite often, opposition MPs—Dr. Harsha de Silva, to name one—and others conversant with such matters have demanded documents and agreements connected with IMF negotiations but have been denied them through prevarication or procrastination.

It had taken much effort by interested parliamentarians and the media to obtain the relevant documents, which could only tell what the government and the IMF had agreed to or in what direction the negotiations were heading.

Holding back such important documents is especially objectionable when the government might be confidentially entering into agreements and deals when both the temporary president and the administration appear to lack a people’s mandate to commit a country to agreements that could prevent future governments from pursuing their own economic policies.

Curiously, while the IMF, particularly in its governance diagnostic assessment, drew attention to the lack of “regular civil society participation in oversight and monitoring of government actions is restricted by limited transparency, the lack of platforms or inclusive and participatory governance, and by the broad application of counter-terrorism rules,” the government seems to ignore the need for transparency and keep the public in the dark as though it has very much to hide.

What it does is disclose information once the deed is done. It seems very much like some government procurement practices when no open bids are welcomed and contracts are granted to chosen companies or a consortium, like the recent entry visas for foreign tourists deal that raised a huge ruckus but passes on as though nothing untoward has happened except the higher price to be paid, in more senses than one.

While Ranil Wickremesinghe resorted once more to draw allusions from the Caucasian Chalk Circle and the dangerous path he had to walk in his efforts to save the nation when nobody else would step on the slippery path, there was a lot in that address to the nation that went unsaid.

The more I listened to it, the more I was reminded of the prophet Moses, who led the Israelites to safety from the pursuing Egyptians by parting the Red Sea. Where would Sri Lanka have found a saviour at that moment in time when Gotabaya was looking for some dependable and capable patriot to fill his running shoes.

So one will have to wait a few more days to hear the rest of the story when he addresses parliament, and prime minister Dinesh Gunawardena will pick up the pieces. Perhaps they will tell us who will pick up the bills when more loans are taken to pay the unpaid loans and they are nowhere to reach for the ATM card?

Perhaps they could whisper it to the new generations, who will have to reach into their depleted pockets as they wait for the New Dawn in 2048, when Sri Lanka will be rubbing shoulders with the leading nations of the world.

As I wait to hear the next Messiah-like promises that will lead Sri Lanka to a new Eden (without a serpent, I hope), I am reminded of comments made by a group of internationally recognised economists invited to a Colombo meeting of academics and others on the IMF negotiations and their aftermath. I quote one paragraph for the edification of our expert negotiators.

“The legislative drive to take policy measures from a flawed agreement and convert them into binding laws through the Economic Transformation Bill is detrimental and dangerous. It is an attack on democratic norms and the system, intended to tie the hands of the incoming government irrespective of the mandate it receives from the people.”

Now, did I not hear President Wickremesinghe tell Sri Lanka’s First National Students Parliament recently that Sri Lanka is the “only country in Asia that has completely protected democracy”?

Somebody certainly has got Minister Kanchana Wijesekera’s electricity wires crossed. It is
not me.

(Neville de Silva is a veteran Sri Lankan journalist who was Assistant Editor of the Hong Kong Standard and worked for Gemini News Service in London. Later, he was Deputy Chief-of-Mission in Bangkok and Deputy High Commissioner in London.)