COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's new government has launched a nationwide project aiming to make it the cleanest country in Asia and enforce the principles of environmental justice.

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake kicked off the “Clean Sri Lanka” initiative on New Year’s Day, saying it would be focused on restoring the island nation’s environmental system.

Dissanayake, during a launching ceremony at the presidential secretariat in Colombo on Wednesday, said: “This endeavor goes beyond merely cleaning up the environment.

“It aspires to restore the deeply eroded and deteriorated social and environmental fabric of our motherland. We aim to create cleanliness and rejuvenation across all sectors of society.”

He added: “Every citizen must take responsibility for fulfilling their respective duties to ensure the success of this collective vision.”

The program is one of the main priorities of his administration, alongside poverty eradication and digital transformation.

Dissanayake assumed the top job in September and further consolidated his grip on power after his National People’s Power alliance won a majority in the legislature in November.

He is leading Sri Lanka as the nation continues to reel from the 2022 economic crisis — its worst since independence in 1948.

“Our firm resolution is to usher in transformative change for our country this year,” he said. “This year marks the start of a new political culture in our country, as we lay the necessary foundations for its development.”

The “Clean Sri Lanka” program is a part of efforts that will be overseen by an 18-member task force.

When Dissanayake announced the initiative last month, he said it aimed “to make Sri Lanka the cleanest country in the Asian region.”

The “Clean Sri Lanka” official website says it aims to engage communities to keep public spaces safe and clean, streamline waste disposal across the country and ensure that its world-famous beaches are clean.

It also seeks to fight corruption, promote accessible infrastructure for people with disabilities, improve air and water quality, and reduce the nation’s carbon footprint.

“If we do not make ours a cleaner country, our roads to be safer, how can we expect to develop tourism? Unless we make our public spaces disabled-friendly, how can we get them involved in the economy,” it stated, adding that the initiative was crucial to help Sri Lanka rebuild its battered economy.

Sri Lanka’s poor waste management was under global spotlight in 2022 when several elephants — which are endangered in the country — were found dead after consuming plastic in an open landfill in the eastern village of Pallakkadu.

The nation of 22 million people generates more than 1.5 million tonnes of plastic waste annually but recycles only 3 percent, compared to the world average of 7.2 percent.

JAKARTA: Indonesia’s Constitutional Court on Thursday said a law setting a minimum vote level before political parties could nominate a presidential candidate was not legally binding, which could potentially lead to a wider slate of nominees running in 2029.
The current law requires parties to win 20 percent of the vote, whether individually or through a coalition, at a legislative election to put forward a presidential candidate. It was challenged by a group of university students who argued it limited the rights of voters and smaller parties.
Chief Justice Suhartoyo granted the petition, saying the threshold “had no binding legal power,” but the ruling did not specify if the requirement should be abolished or lowered.
All political parties should be allowed to nominate a candidate, judge Saldi Isra said.
Rifqi Nizamy Karsayuda, the head of the parliamentary commission overseeing elections, told local media that lawmakers would take action following the ruling, calling it “final and binding.”
Indonesia’s law minister did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the ruling.
Arya Fernandes, political analyst at Center for Strategic and International Studies, welcomed the ruling as it allowed smaller parties to nominate a candidate and lessened their dependence on bigger parties.
Arya said lawmakers could still make revisions to the law that would limit the ruling’s impact as the court did not abolish the vote threshold.
Indonesia’s presidential elections are held every five years. The most recent was held last year and won convincingly by President Prabowo Subianto, who took office in October.
Thursday’s ruling comes after the same court lowered a similar threshold for regional positions such as governor and mayor to under 10 percent of the vote from 20 percent in August last year.
After parties supporting Prabowo and outgoing president Joko Widodo sought to reverse changes to the ruling, thousands took to the streets to protest against what they said was a government effort to stifle opposition.
In a separate ruling on Thursday, the court limited the use of artificial intelligence to “overly manipulate” images of election candidates, saying manipulated images “can compromise the voter’s ability to make an informed decision.”