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Afterthoughts on Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka's long history has been largely characterised by cultured civilisations and technologically-advanced kingdoms. It was our strong sense, however, that several decades of largely self-interested (or misguided) government, extensive bouts of outmoded socialism, rampant corruption, growing Sinhalese nationalism and religious tensions, and a simmering civil conflict with the Jaffna Tamils, have combined to deny Sri Lanka the economic success it once seemed well-positioned to achieve. Back in the nineteen-fifties Singapore's Lee Kwan Yew looked at Sri Lanka as a role model; today, Singapore has a GDP per capita on par with many developed countries while Sri Lanka's languishes at the level of many in sub-Sahara Africa. In many respects, it seemed to us that the nation is still fixed firmly in its past rather than addressing the challenges of its future. But the handful of privileged Sri Lankans we met seem to rather like it that way - one of them said to us, "If we got successful like Thailand, for instance, I'd have to leave. I'd go and live in India probably." Chances for broad-based economic progress in the country have to be limited when the educated elite have what they perceive to be
a vested interest in the status quo.
The status quo, of course, also works just fine from the selfish standpoint of a casual visitor, and Sri Lanka had surprised me with the variety of what it has to offer its visitors. Many people go just for the beaches, or for Colombo and Kandy. But it has so much more to offer. The heritage sites of Polonnaruwa, Anuradhapura, and Sigiriya are historically and culturally of world interest. The highlands of the tea country offer beauty, tranquillity and a rare chance to turn back the clock to life fifty or even a hundred years ago. The small fishing villages and beaches east of Galle are very different from the main tourist resorts along the coast south of Colombo. If Yala is anything to go by, the national parks and nature reserves that cover 8% of the country have much to offer the visitor in search of wildlife or ancient natural landscapes. And, everywhere, there is an astonishing abundance of birdlife that will satisfy both the serious ornithologist and the amateur bird-watcher.
And Sri Lanka's advantage is that all this diversity is so easily accessible given its small size - think
Ireland or Tasmania. So you don't have to fly around the country or drive great distances to see everything (although driving times can be unexpectedly long). It occurred to me that in some senses it is like a miniature India where you can see everything in two or three weeks - though both Sri Lankans and Indians alike would probably hate me saying that.
I was enchanted by Sri Lanka, and effortlessly fell in love with it. It is a romantic island, and it's geographic and cultural diversity provides a constant source of fascination for the observant traveller. I was left with a sense of uneasiness, however - discomfort that everyday life for the ordinary Sri Lankan is tough and uncompromising, a suspicion that the majority is being fobbed off with cheap and tawdry nationalism to perpetuate the power of entrenched political elites, and apprehension that things are going to get a whole lot worse before they get any better. I just hope I am wrong.
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