sri-lanka-13-full-pdf-ebook.pdf

out from huge billboards and signs on the sides of
buildings, in countless publications and more. It’s a
cult of personality that he hopes will allow him to
stay in power beyond the next election, which must
happen by 2016. His extended family can be found
throughout the government and business; one of his
brothers, Gotabhaya, is Secretary of Defence.
Along with Rajapaska’s domination of Sri Lanka’s
official life has come a wide range of allegations of
abuses of power. In 2013 alone, Human Rights Watch
said the government ‘targeted civil society through
threats, surveillance, and clampdowns on activities
and free speech’. Navi Pillay, the UN Commissioner
for Human Rights, denounced ‘a climate of fear’ that
is undermining democracy and eroding the rule of
law. Amnesty International said flatly: ‘There are no
human rights in Sri Lanka.’ Rajapaksa and his circle
deny all these claims but life can be hard for those
inside the country who disagree.
Journalists who go beyond the docile coverage
in the main newspapers have suffered much abuse.
Opposition politicians have faced pro-government
mobs when they’ve tried to investigate Rajapaska’s
massive Chinese-financed construction schemes
around his hometown of Hambantota. Even Sarath
Fonseka, who was Rajapaksa’s military chief during
the final victory over the LTTE, ended up in jail af-
ter he challenged his former boss for the presidency
in 2010.
In 2014 a radical band of Buddhist monks at-
tacked Muslims while the police and military looked
on. Sri Lanka’s Minister of Justice, Rauff Hakeem,
himself a Muslim, condemned this even as he admit-
ted the government had done nothing to prevent it.
Given that many Sri Lankans say they are willing to
overlook Rajapaska’s alleged misdeeds because the
prospect of a return to war is worse, the stoking of
ethnic tensions ahead of elections looked suspicious
to many.

Welcome Tourists!
The many allegations of official misdeeds so far
don’t seem to have affected Sri Lanka’s tourism.
Visitor numbers are booming, even if the numbers
themselves are a bit fuzzy. About 1.2 million people
visited the island in 2013, an approximate 20% in-
crease on 2012 figures. These kinds of numbers are
fuelling a boom in tourist construction that can be
seen across the nation. New hotels are rising up on
previously unspoilt beaches while families are build-
ing guesthouses near popular tourist sites.
Predictably, a host of environmental concerns
have been raised about all the development, but
with most Sri Lankans anxious to better their
lot and the government calling for tourism to con-
tribute 7.5% to the country’s GDP, such worries are
easily ignored.

POPULATION: 20.3 MILLION

AREA: 65,610 SQ KM

GDP: US$59.4 BILLION

GDP PER CAPITA: US$2926

ANNUAL INFLATION: 4%

UNEMPLOYMENT: 4.1%

SRI LANKA US UK

population per sq km

≈ 30 people

belief systems

(% of population)

10

Muslim

13

Buddhist Hindu

70

7

Christian

75 would be Sinhalese

9 would be Sri Lankan Moors

4 would be Indian Tamil

11 would be Sri Lankan Tamil

1 would be other

if Sri Lanka were

10 0 people