Sri Lanka

"After four and half centuries of European colonial rule, when Sri Lanka became independent in 1948, Dubai was an undeveloped emirate without even basic facilities, Indian university degrees were not recognised in Sri Lanka and Singapore leaders vowed to turn their island into a Sri Lanka, which was then a Third World role model for economic prosperity, political stability and communal harmony. In 1948 Ceylon boasted the most powerful economy in Asia after Japan.

But 55 years later, Sri Lanka is locked in never-ending political turmoil, its economy ruined by two decades of armed conflict and consequential devastating impact on life. Fifty-five years after independence Sri Lanka has yet to master the fine art of nation building.

Dubai, now a prosperous city state, is running Sri Lanka's flag carrier Sri Lankan Airline and Sri Lankan students are rushing for admissions to schools and universities in India, while Indian entrepreneurs aggressively penetrate many sectors of the island's economy. And Singapore is a highly developed country."

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D.S. Senanayake

Don Stephen Senanayake was born on 20th October 1884, at Botale, a village in the Hapitigame Korale of the Negombo district in the Western Province.  D. S. Senanayake was the first member of the Senanayake family of Botale to enter the Legislative Council though his older brother, ‘F. R.’, could have at any time won a seat by election and was always a powerful influence behind the scenes until his premature death. Read Full Story

S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike

Bandaranaike, Solomon West Ridgeway Dias (1899-1959), the prime minister of Ceylon (1956-59), whose election marked a significant change socially and ethnically in the political history of modern Ceylon, was born on January 8. His father was the only son of Gate Mudliyar, Sir Don Solomon Dias Bandaranaike, and his mother was Lady Eslin Daisy Obeysekera, and they hailed from Horagolla, in Attanagalle. 

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Sir John  Kotelawala
Always frank and outspoken, Sir John never hesitated to call a spade a spade. He always enjoyed a good story even at his own expense. Anecdotes about his wit and rollicking sense of humour are told and retold to this day. Read More

Dudley Senanayake met with unexpected success in his  food production drive and the ‘green revolution’. It can safely be said that Dudley'’s food production drive in the late sixties was the most successful medium term economic plan ever to be implemented in this country. Read More

Sirimavo Bandaranaike, three times Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, was the first woman in the world to hold the office of prime minister. Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike rose to power in 1960 as a bereaved wife and mother of three, just a year after her husband, then prime minister, was assassinated by a Buddhist monk. Read More

A diverse nation

The British colonial policy of divide and rule sowed the seeds of renewed tensions between the Sinhalese and Tamil communities after independence. Tamils, although well-educated, were given a disproportionate number of top jobs in the civil service by the British. Once the Sinhalese majority held sway, its politicians sought to redress the balance with populist but discriminatory policies against Tamils. In 1956, the victory of SWRD Bandaranaike on a platform of Sinhalese nationalism led to him declaring Sinhala to be the country's official language among other anti-Tamil measures. Communal tension and violence increased from 1956 onwards as Tamils became increasingly frustrated.

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Paradise Lost

(TIME) Sri Lankans enjoy a party, and Independence Day--Feb. 4, 1948--was one of the grandest. There were fashion shows in the ocean side capital of Colombo, fireworks, ranks of spit-and-polish honor guards and special air tours over the proud, illuminated city. A day earlier the new parliament had opened in an exotic spectacle. From paradise-under-the-palms to one of the world's hellholes--what went wrong? The story of Sri Lanka's first 50 years is complex and depressing in a unique way. The electoral democracy that Britain bequeathed 50 years ago with such exotic pomp remains intact. But it has done little good. Sri Lanka is, in fact, an example of how democracy--so often described as a panacea for poor, struggling countries--can tear a country apart if politicians do the wrong thing Read Full Story

A WAR LINED WITH GOLD

Sri Lanka's arms dealers, a shadowy bunch of politicians, servicemen, bureaucrats and their relatives and friends, who conclude multi-million-dollar deals nearly every day pocketing hefty commissions are the only beneficiaries of the intensified military campaign against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Not many were surprised when one of the leading arms dealers in Sri Lanka, through whom the Air Force makes about 80 per cent of its hardware purchases, put up a glass, steel and concrete building almost overnight in the heart of the capital at an admitted cost of around 650 million rupees. It is mockingly referred to as the War Memorial. Read Full Story

  The crooked General

JVP : From the tyre pyres to kingmakers

With its anti-Government image and an ideology that is a mix of Marxism and Sinhala Buddhist nationalism, the JVP has once again look attractive to the rural poor and the youth. The JVP was founded in 1967 by Rohana Wijeweera, a drop-out from Moscow's Lumumba University. Within four years, the Che look- alike declared war on the Sirimavo Bandaranaike-led Government, which was put down with help from India and Pakistan. The second insurrection came in 1987, after the signing of the Indo-Lanka Accord, by which time the JVP had embraced an extreme form of Buddhist nationalism, enabling it to tap into the strong anti-India, anti-Government feelings prevalent at the time. By December that year, the JVP had killed several hundred functionaries of the ruling UNP and turned the rest into fugitives. Government retaliation turned the next three years into a blood-bath.   Read Full Story

  Haunting memories of the JVP

  A Lost Revolution: The JVP Insurrection 1971

  Rohana Wijeweera - The Age of Innocence, The April uprising & Tragedy or nemesis

Confessions of Vijaya's killer