Noise Cannot Govern a Country: Why Opposition Media Attacks Are Failing to Derail the NPP’s Forward March
When President Anura Kumara Dissanayake was elected in September 2024, Sri Lanka’s entrenched political elite and their loyal media ecosystem reacted not with introspection, but with panic. The verdict of the people was immediately dismissed as a “social media accident”, a temporary emotional outburst, a government that—according to confident television pundits and editorial writers—would collapse within six months.
The predictions were loud, repetitive, and certain.
The reality, six months later, has been quietly devastating for those who made them.
The Six-Month Myth
From the very first week of the NPP administration, a familiar narrative was aggressively pushed: that the new government lacked experience, international legitimacy, economic competence, and the temperament to govern. According to this view, the NPP was a protest movement, not a governing force. The IMF, we were told, would never work with them. India would keep its distance. China would remain cautious. Western capitals would watch with suspicion.
None of this has survived contact with facts.
Within months, electricity tariffs were reduced, directly easing pressure on households and small businesses battered by the crisis years. The government maintained continuity with the IMF programme, disproving claims that Sri Lanka would descend into financial isolation. President Dissanayake undertook official visits to India, China, Japan,USA and key Middle Eastern states, restoring balance to Sri Lanka’s foreign relations while avoiding the subservience that characterised previous administrations.
What was predicted as diplomatic paralysis has turned into strategic engagement.
International Relations Without Begging
Perhaps the most striking collapse of opposition propaganda has been in foreign policy. The NPP government has not only sustained international relationships—it has recalibrated them.
India engagement continued without the theatrics of dependency. China relations were stabilised without secretive debt traps. Japan re-entered development discussions with renewed confidence. Middle Eastern labour-hosting nations were approached with a focus on migrant worker protection rather than remittance extraction.
This is diplomacy without drama—and that is precisely why opposition media struggles to attack it.
There are no scandals to sensationalise, no leaked recordings, no midnight deals. So instead, silence is replaced with ridicule, speculation, and personal attacks.
IMF Compliance Without Social Cruelty
Another claim that collapsed quickly was the idea that the NPP would sabotage the IMF agreement. Instead, the government chose a more difficult path: compliance combined with redistribution.
Fiscal discipline was maintained, but social protections were not abandoned. Rather than shielding politically connected import cartels and monopolies—as previous governments did—the NPP prioritised export growth, productive sectors, and labour income stability.
The result?
In a single recent year, Sri Lanka received over USD 8 billion in remittances, a figure that reflects restored confidence among overseas workers and the diaspora.
This is not social media hype.
This is balance-of-payments reality.
Law Enforcement, Finally Turned Toward Power
Nothing has rattled the old order more than the reactivation of corruption investigations that were deliberately frozen for over a decade.
For the first time in recent history, the legal system has been “peopleised”—no longer functioning exclusively as a shield for the powerful and a weapon against the powerless.
Investigations are moving forward on:
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The MIG scandal
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Rajapaksa family financial dealings
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Ranil Wickremesinghe’s alleged misuse of public funds, including private travel passed off as official business
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Sajith Premadasa’s links to the Central Cultural Fund
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CPC fuel distribution manipulation during the crisis, including bribery-linked prioritisation of fuel deliveries
The question is no longer whether corruption occurred—but how long it was protected.
This explains the ferocity of the backlash.
Opposition Figures Without Moral Authority
The opposition’s problem is not merely electoral—it is ethical.
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Ranil Wickremesinghe, long styled as a technocratic saviour, now faces scrutiny for conduct that mirrors the very abuses he once criticised.
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Sajith Premadasa, unable to stabilise his own party after parliamentary elections, is dogged by questions about internal favoritism and elite protection.
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The controversy surrounding family links to the VAT scam, including convictions and imprisonment, further erodes moral standing—especially when relatives hold Political advisory roles connected to the British High Commission.
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Namal Rajapaksa, entering Parliament not through popular preference but through national list arithmetic, symbolises the exhaustion of dynastic politics rather than its revival.
And then there is Milinda Moragoda, operating through the Pathfinder think tank—rebranding failed peace narratives, curating archives with figures like Erik Solheim, and quietly positioning himself as a future presidential contender. Whether this is ambition or nostalgia remains to be seen.
Crisis Management Without Camera Politics
When the DITWA cyclone struck, the government did not outsource responsibility to press conferences. Committees were formed. Damage assessments were completed. An international donor conference was prioritised.
This is governance that does not rely on emotional spectacle.
Yet opposition media coverage focused on trivia: a shop closed for a day, a delayed bus, an administrative reshuffle.
The serious was ignored; the trivial was inflated.
Education, Reform, and Elite Resistance
Education reform has triggered predictable resistance—not from students or teachers, but from elites accustomed to privilege without merit.
Doctors striking not over patient care, but over school placements for their children. Groups demanding employment without competitive examinations. Administrators leaking information and presenting dismissal as victimhood.
These are not democratic struggles.
They are entitlement reflexes.
Religious Harmony Without Performance
One of the quiet successes of the NPP government has been religious and ethnic harmony.
Muslims and Tamils report a marked reduction in discrimination. State institutions are no longer instruments of communal signalling. Security policy is firm without being sectarian.
When false rumours circulated about the withdrawal of the Jaffna command centre, the Defence Ministry swiftly clarified—national security remains a priority.
There was no panic. No retreat. No appeasement.
Narcotics, National Security, and Reality
The government’s crackdown on drug trafficking and narcotics imports has intensified—another area where silence replaces scandal because enforcement actually works.
There are no flashy raids for cameras. There is sustained pressure.
And that is precisely why it goes underreported.
Media as a Political Weapon
Faced with this reality, opposition-aligned media outlets—Leader.lk, -HariDeshaya.lk, -Daily Mirror, and a constellation of social-media influencers—have shifted strategy.
Unable to challenge outcomes, they attack process.
Unable to disprove policy, they manufacture outrage.
A late bus becomes a governance failure.
A closed shop becomes an economic collapse.
A disciplinary action becomes authoritarianism.
This is not journalism.
It is political resistance disguised as reporting.
Winning the Only Battle That Matters
The NPP’s strength lies not in controlling narratives, but in earning trust.
The public understands the depth of rot inherited from previous regimes. They recognise false information when they see it. They remember who caused the crisis—and who is finally addressing it.
Opposition media can dominate headlines.
But headlines do not govern countries.
Reality does.
And in that arena, the NPP government is not merely surviving—it is advancing.