Lalith, thank you for the article and enjoyed reading it. But I would beg to differ on the 3 Points on which you base the resurgence of Sri lanka in the coming years.

Sri lanka has a Buddhist culture true but most Sri lankans, at least a huge majority of them now-a-days do not know jack about Buddhism (other than a few Jataka stories that were hammered into their heads when kids). I am not talking about youngsters who listen to rap music but the so called adult Sri lankans, people in the 30-65 year age bracket – the age bracket from which most of our leaders – be it political, financial or academic – come from. If you observe how Sri lankans function in general, before long you would see that most of their actions are not driven by compassion, wisdom or ethics. At the drop of a hat they will be at each other’s throats uttering absolute filth to say the least.

Same applies to our high literacy rate. It is a primitive indication of the proportion of humans that can read and write. It says nothing of the emotional intelligence of that population. If the majority of Sri lankans had a high emotional intelligence coupled with high Buddhist philosophical thoughts Sri lanka would not be in this sh!t in the first place.

Last but not least, ‘Our tradition of democracy’. Are you nuts? Since when did we have a good functioning democracy. All the leaders and the ministers who came along did not and do not give a flying f*ck about the Law of the Land. They have always been above the Law. Even every Sri lankan kid knows this and the Police like to keep it that way. The simple fact that thugs like Dr. Dutugemunu are still being kept in the pariament and as minister at that speaks volumes of the Mahinda dharmathawaya. The Dharmathawaya that will reign Sri Lanka for the next 6 years.

So let’s not fool ourselves about Sri lanka being a wonderful Buddhist country with a high literacy rate and a function democracy. IMHO, those factors are very hollow indeed.

Yikes, I hope I didn’t sound too pessimistic. Didn’t mean to be.
Thanks for reading ppl : )

It is only in the seventies that our govt. was electing politicians on popularity and thuggery alone.The Premadasa era acecelerated this trend and now there is no going back.

The middle and the hard-working class can only wring their hands in vain as they struggle to make ends meet amidst wide-scale corruption and nepotism.

Sri Lankan migrants who enjoyed a decent standard of living in Sri Lanka are out-numbered by those who exploit the capitalist system in the West, dealing in credit card scams, intimidation and thuggery and human trafficking and become very rich much to their chagrin only because they do not know or care to make their living the latter’s way.

This situation is a conundrum the answer to which is hard to find.

As one of the directors at Lake House advised me when I was forced to write something pro-govt which was utter fallacy, `Lake house is a snake-pit. If you want to survive here you either become a snake or call it quits’.

As Bhikkhu Bodhi says “As private individuals we cannot hope to resolve by our will the larger patterns of conflict that engulf the societies and nations to which we belong. We live in a world that thrives on conflict, and in which the forces that nurture conflict are pervasive; obstinate and terribly powerful. But as followers of the Enlightened One what we can do and must do is to testify by our conduct to the supremacy of peace: to avoid words and actions that engender animosity, to heal divisions, to demonstrate the value of harmony and concord. The model we must emulate is that provided by the Master in his description of the true disciple: “He is one who unites the divided, who promotes friendships, enjoys concord, rejoices in concord, delights in concord, and who speaks words that promote concord.”