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On 4th January 2024 reports that “President Ranil Wickramesinghe said a decision has been taken to deploy a ship from the Sri Lanka Navy on the Red Sea area, contributing to the security of the region against Houthi activities.”

What exactly does “ a decision has been made” imply? Did the President make this decision on his own? Or is there anyone else implicated in this decision? Did the Parliament know? Did the cabinet know?

The President is empowered to declare war and peace, according to the Constitution. But one would assume that directly in defence of Sri Lanka and its people. Is he also empowered to deploy our forces overseas, put us all in danger as a consequence of this decision, apart from putting members of Navy in harm’s way for no good reason that has been explained to us with clarity?

The Houthis are described as “Iran-backed.” This complicates things further, and if it is in fact true, it requires much reflection before Sri Lanka gets involved. Iran is a major market for Sri Lankan tea. That apart, is there a possibility this would escalate into a regional conflict? Was the Foreign Ministry consulted in making the decision to deploy our Navy in such a context?Where do we Sri Lankans come into it? Most of the world apparently decided to stay well away from active involvement in the Red Sea theatre.

Most of the world wants to see an immediate ceasefire to the whole conflict, so the tragedy unfolding in the Middle East can be halted at the UN General Assembly, Sri Lanka voted with the majority of the world for a ceasefire. This has been the limit of conflict thus far.What would a Sri Lankan Navy ship, from this impoverished country unable to pay its debts, heavily dependent on the IMF, and with a population heading towards a crisis of a economic survival, be doing in the Red Sea at this time, taking on Houthis, in a conflict that is not ours, in a context where claims of genocide and collective punishment which are war crimes, are invoked? Isn’t this contrary to Sri Lanka’s own Operation Prosperity?

2024 has been described as a year of unavoidable hardship by the government. It is also an election year, which would correct the anomaly of an unelected person being the President of the country. With the deployment of our Navy in the Red Sea, it would also be the first time that a person unelected even to the Legislature would be involving our country’s military in theatre of conflict far from our shores, to engage in possible violence on behalf of another country with all its probable consequences for ordinary citizens of this country who are already suffering the consequences of bad decisions taken by their leaders.Are we acting as mercenaries for another country, in order to pay our debts? If so, shouldn’t we know? In the absence of such information, the decision to deploy our military outside our borders, would be unilateral geopolitical decision by the President.

Shouldn’t such serious decisions be made after much thought and consultation, including with the Opposition parties? Or, given their silence are they also complicit in this decision? In this election year, we would like to know. If there is any Constitutional reform to be undertaken, it is that an interim President has to be elected from among elected members of the legislature, so that any abnormal decision such as the SLN deployment in a fraught situation in the Red Sea would be made by someone who had at least got a mandate from the people as proof of their faith in the capacity of that person to make life and death decisions on their behalf.