{"id":156215,"date":"2026-05-15T15:59:41","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T22:59:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=156215"},"modified":"2026-05-15T15:59:41","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T22:59:41","slug":"a-benevolent-dictator-blossoming-in-sri-lanka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2026\/05\/15\/a-benevolent-dictator-blossoming-in-sri-lanka\/","title":{"rendered":"A Benevolent Dictator Blossoming in Sri Lanka?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Sarath Obeysekera<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Last night, I watched a remarkable scene unfold on national television. The President of Sri Lanka openly challenged senior railway officials who were reluctant to permit donor-funded repairs to damaged homes due to Ditwa belonging to poor families occupying railway reservations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The officials spoke the language of files, regulations, and procedures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The President spoke the language of humanity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What struck me most was his blunt and logical question:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These people have been here for decades. What did the Railway Department do all these years to prevent the encroachment?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That single statement exposed one of the greatest weaknesses in our public administration system \u2014 selective enforcement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For decades, governments, local authorities, and state institutions conveniently ignored encroachments on railway lands, canal reservations,river banks  and state property. Politicians collected votes, officials looked the other way, and poor people slowly built lives on lands they never legally owned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then suddenly, after floods, fires, or disasters destroy their homes, the same institutions attempt to become guardians of strict legality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The President was absolutely correct to reject such hypocrisy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He firmly instructed officials to allow the aid and repairs to proceed. He also pointed out that the authority can enforce evictions if they wish In another incident, he reportedly pressed a plantation company executive to assist poor estate workers to rebuild damaged homes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These actions reveal something increasingly visible in Sri Lanka \u2014 the emergence of a leader willing to override bureaucratic indifference in favour of practical humanity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some may criticize this style as excessive intervention. I see it differently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri Lanka today suffers not from lack of laws, but from paralysis caused by bureaucracy, endless procedures, institutional arrogance, and fear of decision-making. Files move from desk to desk while ordinary citizens suffer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes a country requires not merely administrators, but a decisive and compassionate leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

History shows that many developing nations progressed because leaders were prepared to cut through red tape when institutions failed the people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This does not mean dictatorship in the cruel or authoritarian sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It means what political thinkers once called a benevolent dictator\u201d \u2014 a strong leader who uses authority not for personal oppression but to protect ordinary citizens from the cruelty of rigid systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I personally experienced a similar situation during the major Colombo canal rehabilitation and upgrading programmes years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nearly 8,000 families living along canal banks had to be relocated or accommodated during urban development efforts. Technically, many were encroachers. But morally, could we blame them entirely?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where were the Colombo Municipal Council, the Land Reclamation authorities, and enforcement agencies when these settlements expanded over decades?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The poor did not create the failure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The system did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we had approached the problem with cold bureaucracy alone, thousands of vulnerable families would have suffered immensely. Development cannot be achieved simply with bulldozers and eviction notices. It must include compassion, relocation support, dignity, and realism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is why the President\u2019s conduct yesterday resonated with many ordinary Sri Lankans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He appeared impatient with bureaucratic insensitivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And frankly, many citizens are equally tired of officials who know how to say No\u201d faster than they know how to solve problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri Lanka desperately needs institutional discipline, but it also needs humane governance. Laws must serve people \u2014 not the other way around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The President\u2019s intervention may well signal the blossoming of a new style of leadership in Sri Lanka:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Firm, decisive, impatient with inefficiency \u2014 yet compassionate toward the poor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps that is exactly what this country needs at this moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regards

Dr Sarath Obeysekera<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Sarath Obeysekera Last night, I watched a remarkable scene unfold on national television. The President of Sri Lanka openly challenged senior railway officials who were reluctant to permit donor-funded repairs to damaged homes due to Ditwa belonging to poor families occupying railway reservations. The officials spoke the language of files, regulations, and procedures. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[116],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-156215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dr-sarath-obeysekera"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156215"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156215\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":156216,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156215\/revisions\/156216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}