The Digital Aragalaya

Good morning. If you scroll through Facebook, Tuesday, December 23, 2025, the holiday cheer is being drowned out by a wave of “Angry” and “Sad” reacts. The “Digital Aragalaya” is shifting its focus from the Treasury to the village level, and the comments are becoming increasingly specific.

Here is what is trending in the Facebook comments section across the hardest-hit provinces:

1. The “Grama Niladhari” List Wars

In districts like Gampaha and Kandy, the top trending comments are under local news posts about “Aswesuma” emergency payments.

• The “Invisible” Victims: “My house was under 4 feet of water, but my name isn’t on the list. Meanwhile, the boutique owner whose shop is on a hill already got his 25,000 rupees. Where is the ‘system change’ we voted for?”

• The “Invisible” Victims: “My house was under 4 feet of water, but my name isn’t on the list. Meanwhile, the boutique owner whose shop is on a hill already got his 25,000 rupees. Where is the ‘system change’ we voted for?”

• The “QR Code” Barrier: Many elderly users are complaining that the new digital registration system for relief is a “barrier, not a bridge.” Comments like “My father doesn’t have a smartphone, does that mean he doesn’t get to eat?” are getting thousands of shares.

2. The “Kandy Road” Bottleneck

With the 115 billion rupee road-sloping project making headlines, travelers heading home for the holidays are venting their frustration.
• Holiday Traffic: Facebook groups like “Traffic Updates Sri Lanka” are flooded with photos of massive jams near Kadugannawa. The consensus in the comments? “If they have 115 billion, why are we still crawling past a few piles of rocks at 2 km/h?”

3. Nuwara Eliya: “Blankets vs. Photo Ops”

In the hill country, the mood is particularly somber.
• Selective Relief: Comments on the Governor’s page are calling out “photo-op relief.” Users are posting photos of local politicians handing out a single bag of rice while entire estates are still without electricity or clean water 20 days after the cyclone.

4. The “1.4% Breach” Debate

On the Financial Chronicle Sri Lanka page, the “intellectual” debate is raging.
• Nationalists vs. Globalists: A massive thread has developed over the World Bank’s $4.1 billion damage estimate. Comments range from “Don’t listen to the World Bank, they just want more debt control” to “If we don’t follow the Bank’s 3% growth warning, we’re heading for 2022 all over again.”

The Faraz Perspective 1

“Good morning. If you want to know the true state of the nation, don’t look at the Treasury reports— look at the comments section.
It’s a digital roar of frustration. People are tagging the President, tagging the Ministers, and asking the same question: ‘Where is the money?’ We have a trillion-rupee recovery plan on paper, but on the ground in Gampaha and Nuwara Eliya, people are arguing over a bag of dhal.

The ‘System Change’ we were promised was supposed to eliminate the ‘Grama Niladhari mafia’ and the political favoritism. But according to Facebook, the ‘hidden hand’ is still very much at work, just using a different colored pen.

Mr. President, the ‘Angry’ reacts are growing faster than your GDP projections. It’s time to move from ‘Emergency Tenders’ to ‘Emergency Transparency.’ If the people can’t see the list, they will assume the worst—and in this country, the worst is usually what happens.

I’m Faraz Shauketaly. Keep your comments coming, keep the pressure on, and as always… –God bless you all.”