https://www.scmp.com/rss/327020/feed Rajpal Abeynayake is a Colombo-based editor, attorney, and writer. He writes reports and commentaries about Sri Lanka's current affairs and his work has also appeared in the Nikkei Asian Review, The Straits Times, and The Australian. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com What with last year’s Easter Sunday terrorist attacks scaring away tourists and then the coronavirus pandemic disrupting travel all across the world, Sri Lanka’s economy has taken a battering recently – leaving it turning to powerful neighbours such as China for help. The South Asian nation’s economy grew 2.3 per cent in 2019, but this year it is forecast to shrink by as much as 3 per cent, prompting the government in Colombo to ask Beijing for a US$500 million loan from the state-owned China... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3093023/china-india-tensions-escalate-can-sri-lanka-avoid-becoming-pawn?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3093023/china-india-tensions-escalate-can-sri-lanka-avoid-becoming-pawn?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 13 Jul 2020 15:22:54 +0000 Sri Lanka’s tumultuous past is littered with hotly contested election battles and scorching campaign rivalries. But rarely has a national poll been as closely watched as Saturday’s presidential election. Almost certainly, the trajectory of the country’s economy, governance and foreign relations will be determined by this poll, seen by many as the most important since the island became independent in 1948. WHO ARE THE FAVOURITES? The election has largely been cast as a showdown between the... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3037695/terminator-versus-pad-man-sri-lankan-voters-tough-choice?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3037695/terminator-versus-pad-man-sri-lankan-voters-tough-choice?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 15 Nov 2019 00:00:14 +0000 Sri Lanka ’s pivot towards the United States since President Maithripala Sirisena came to power in 2015 was a marked departure from the pro-China presidency of former leader Mahinda Rajapaksa. But Mahinda – whose administration took in approximately US$4.5 billion of Chinese investment over almost a decade in power – is once again present on the campaign trail, endorsing his younger brother Gotabhaya for president in the November 16 election. A spokesperson for Gotabhaya, a popular former... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3034633/will-new-rajapaksa-pivot-sri-lanka-back-us-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3034633/will-new-rajapaksa-pivot-sri-lanka-back-us-china?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 28 Oct 2019 02:00:16 +0000 Rarely have Sri Lankan Muslims faced the level of persecution they are facing now. They have been besieged and cowed from the moment suicide bombers, apparently doing the work of Islamic State, blew themselves up in three churches and three luxury hotels in Colombo, claiming over 200 lives on Easter Sunday. On Monday, all Muslim ministers and Muslim Ministers of State – along with two Muslim Provincial Governors – resigned from their posts, saying the government could now investigate whether any... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3013095/anxiety-fear-guilt-bleak-eid-every-muslim-minister-sri-lanka?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3013095/anxiety-fear-guilt-bleak-eid-every-muslim-minister-sri-lanka?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 04 Jun 2019 13:30:13 +0000 It’s tense in Sri Lanka nowadays. Scarcely a day passes that the army does not discover a cache of arms, ammunition or other combat related material, such as radio-frequency jammers, in a mosque or nearby one. Even in a country almost inured to violence due to the nearly 30-year conflict between armed forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), such discoveries have left people stunned with fear because of what they suggest: “terror” and “Islamic State”. So when a minor traffic... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3009577/voice-nation-sri-lanka-loses-faith-government-it-looks-cardinal?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3009577/voice-nation-sri-lanka-loses-faith-government-it-looks-cardinal?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 12 May 2019 00:00:16 +0000 Details regarding the suicide bombers involved in the attacks in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday appear stranger by the minute. The copper factory belonging to one of them, 33-year-old Illham Ibrahim, had received favourable treatment from the state, it has now been revealed. When Sri Lanka Telecom wanted to dispose of copper cables, the tender was given to the suicide bomber’s operation, according to Ranjith Vithanage, president of the country’s Consumer Rights Protection Association. The copper... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3007913/strange-lives-sri-lankas-easter-sunday-suicide-bombers?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3007913/strange-lives-sri-lankas-easter-sunday-suicide-bombers?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 27 Apr 2019 07:30:07 +0000 Sri Lanka ’s politicians, both from the governing party and the opposition, have found themselves in a dilemma since Easter Sunday’s bloody massacre: how to balance essential security concerns with their need to keep the country’s Muslim minority onside. The bombings on Sunday, which targeted churches and high-end hotels as well as other sites across the country, claimed more than 250 lives. They have been linked to extremist fringe group National Thowheed Jamath, which authorities suspect of... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3007907/sri-lanka-rising-islamic-militancy-was-proverbial-elephant-room?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3007907/sri-lanka-rising-islamic-militancy-was-proverbial-elephant-room?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 27 Apr 2019 05:30:07 +0000 Interpol has joined the investigation into the devastating series of blasts across Sri Lanka on Sunday that killed 321 people, including at least 45 children, with attention now focused on a second extremist group known as Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen. In a special session of parliament on Tuesday, State Minister of Defence Ruwan Wijewardene said investigators were examining links between the local jihadist group National Thowheed Jamath and Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen. He also noted that the Easter Sunday... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/south-asia/article/3007368/sri-lanka-bombings-investigators-probe-global-terror-links?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/south-asia/article/3007368/sri-lanka-bombings-investigators-probe-global-terror-links?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 23 Apr 2019 12:24:39 +0000 Sri Lanka on Monday remained on lockdown, with a second curfew in force as authorities continued searching for suspects behind a series of suicide blasts that killed 290 people and injured 500 others in Colombo and other areas on Sunday. No one has claimed responsibility for the blasts, although the government believed a domestic Islamic militant group called the National Thowfeek Jamaath (NTJ) was behind the bombings with the help of an international terror network. “We do not believe these... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/south-asia/article/3007217/sri-lanka-blasts-islamic-extremist-group-blamed-attack?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/south-asia/article/3007217/sri-lanka-blasts-islamic-extremist-group-blamed-attack?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 22 Apr 2019 14:46:50 +0000 For those who understand the Chinese brand of engagement in Sri Lanka, new initiatives such as the recent US$1.1 billion loan Beijing gave to the island nation to build a motorway should not come as a surprise. This is merely the latest manifestation of “Buddhist diplomacy”, a term used by some analysts to describe efforts by China and India to embrace Buddhism as a tool in gaining influence in predominately Buddhist countries such as Sri Lanka. What does China have to do with a Maldives coup?... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2148443/chinas-buddhist-diplomacy-sri-lanka-motorway-enlightenment?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2148443/chinas-buddhist-diplomacy-sri-lanka-motorway-enlightenment?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 02 Jun 2018 03:02:30 +0000 Despite great public discussion regarding recent political turmoil in the Maldives – where the president has this year jailed two Supreme Court justices and declared a state of emergency to investigate what he claims was a coup attempt – Sri Lankan tourists continue to flock to the tropical paradise. “Everything from airline ticket sales to air cargo transport has seen an uptick in the past few months,” says Dino de Fonseka, senior partner of a travel firm in Colombo. De Fonseka says it’s only... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2144296/what-does-china-have-do-maldives-coup-ask-sri-lankan-tourists?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2144296/what-does-china-have-do-maldives-coup-ask-sri-lankan-tourists?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 05 May 2018 05:30:00 +0000