COUNTRY PROFILE

Sri Lanka, known as Ceylon under British colonial rule, is one of the few Buddhist nations left in the world. Colonial Christianity still has a strong cultural influence in the cities, but the outlying areas are heavily Buddhist. The government strives to be democratic, but the strong Buddhist lobby emanating from the ancient orders of monks is pushing the nation closer to Buddhist ideals and principles. For centuries Sri Lanka has been a powerful Buddhist missionary sending base, spreading its influence throughout Southeast Asia and even the United States. Although the older churches are largely stagnant and declining in numbers, the newer Pentecostal and evangelical churches are experiencing rapid growth. While Buddhism is the state religion, Hindus, Muslims and Christians have lived here for centuries.

At the time of her election she said that politics was in her blood, even though her father was assassinated when she was 14 years old, and her husband was gunned down in 1989. Mrs Kumaratunga was educated at a convent school in Colombo. She spent five years at the University of Paris, and is reported to have taken part in the famous 1968 student demonstrations in that city. Today, she has abandoned most of her socialist beliefs, and is a firm supporter of Sri Lanka becoming a market economy.

Family politics Mrs Kumaratunga’s stronger academic background meant that she received none of the the taunts directed at her mother, who was accused by her detractors of being a "kitchen woman" - somebody who knew all about cooking, but nothing about running a country. Renowned by her supporters for her energy and intellect, it nevertheless took a long time for Mrs Kumaratunga to move out of the shadow of her mother, who was reluctant to countenance the idea of retirement. The two women have often quarelled with each other and with Mrs Kumaratunga’s younger brother, Anura, who is now a member of the opposition United National Party. During her 1994 election campaign and in power, Mrs Kumaratunga moved rapidly to accelerate the process of economic liberalization in Sri Lanka.

Civil war The victory of her Peoples’ Alliance coalition ended 17 years of rule by the United National Party. One of her most daunting problems was, and remains, the intractable civil war against the Tamil Tigers. In one of her first news conferences on assuming power, she spoke of extending the hand of friendship to the Tamil Tigers. Initially, it seemed that her overtures were making some headway, and there were numerous rounds of peace talks. But any atmosphere of trust between the two sides disintegrated within six months of her presidential election win. The Tamil Tigers resumed their hit and run tactics against the Sri Lankan army in the north and east of the country.

Changed tactics Mrs Kumaratunga’s tactic since then was to pursue a dual strategy in relation to the war: the defeat of the Tamil Tigers militarily coupled with a constitutional settlement that would give more autonomy to Tamil majority areas. She has personally supervised this approach. The recent loss of large amounts of territory in the north has been described as a significant setback for the government, which has lost around 10,000 men since she came to power. The government is now trying to win back land from the Tigers, and in the run up to the general elections, appears to have abandoned its dual strategy. The president recently said the war would be conducted on a "no holds barred" basis.

Suicide bomber Mrs Kumaratunga was herself almost killed in an attack by a suspected Tamil Tiger suicide bomber on the final day of campaigning for presidential elections last December. The bomber blew herself up just 5m from President Kumaratunga at the rally in Colombo, killing more than 20 people. The president suffered injuries to her right eye, and capitalised on the occasion to address the nation twice - first on radio and then on television where she appeared with a white patch on her eye. She went on to be re-elected for a second successive term as Sri Lanka’s president in December. She will be hoping that her harder line towards the rebels will help her capitalise on the Sinhala nationalist vote in the parliamentary poll.

LEADERS

President:
Chandrika Kumaratunga 

Politics in the blood Chandrika Kumaratunga came to power as president of Sri Lanka in 1994. Her family credentials for the job were impeccable. Both her parents were prime ministers of Sri Lanka: her mother, Sirimavoh Bandaranaike, was the world’s first woman prime minister.  Born in 1945, Kumaratunga hails from a family of politicians. Her father, Solomon Bandaranaika, was prime minister and her mother, Srimavo, was the world’s first female prime minister. Kumaratunga studied both in Sri Lanka and abroad, and became president in 1994. Despite early socialist beliefs, she has been a strong advocate of economic liberalisation in Sri Lanka since taking office. She has pursued a twin-track approach to the civil war, trying to offer the Tamil rebels some form of autonomy while seeking the upper hand on the battlefield. Kumaratunga has suffered a number of personal tragedies. Her father was assassinated when she was just 14, and her husband was gunned down in 1989. She herself survived an assassination attempt in 1999 while campaigning for re-election as president.

POLITICAL OVERVIEW 

Two parties, the United National Party (UNP) and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) have dominated Sri Lankan politics since independence. The UNP ruled from 1948-56 under three prime ministers, D.S. Senanayake, who was seen as evenhanded in his treatment of ethnic groups, his son, Dudley Senanayake and Sir John Kotelawala. The 1956 election was a turning point and saw the beginnings of communal violence. 

The SLFP won the 1956 election under SWRD Bandaranaike, who ran on a 'Sinhala only' platform, which decreed that Sinhalese would be the only official language and that Buddhism would be pre-eminent in society. Tension rose and riots erupted in 1958. 

The SLFP ruled from 1956-65 (apart from a brief period in 1960). They were led by Bandaranaike, who was assassinated in 1959. After his death his widow, Sirimavo, took over, becoming the world's first woman prime minister. She continued the campaign to push Sinhalese interests over those of the Tamils. Dudley Senanayake returned to power in 1965. 

In 1970, Sirimavo Bandaranaike resumed power and in 1971 her new government sanctioned new university admissions regulations that discriminated against Tamils. In 1971, the Maoist JVP emerged on the scene and began an insurrection in 1972. The government imposed an emergency rule that lasted six years. In 1972 a new constitution was introduced and the country's name was changed from Ceylon to Sri Lanka. The changes also made the protection of Buddhism a constitutional principle and weakened the role of the president who was now to be appointed by the prime minister. 

The Bandaranaike government also pursued a quasi-socialist agenda, with the nationalization of large plantations. 

The UNP came to power under J.R. Jayewardene in 1977 and there followed a new constitution in 1978, with a stronger presidency based on the system of the French Fifth Republic. Jayawardene was elected president by parliament in 1978 and by national elections in 1982. A 1982 referendum also extended the life of the parliament by another six years. Jayewardene ended many of the excesses of the Bandaranaike government but failed to fully confront the causes of communal tension and problems. 

The 1982 election was boycotted by the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) and its 16 members were expelled for not swearing a loyalty oath. Rioting on an unprecedented scale broke out in 1983 leading to a breakdown of order that has yet to be resolved. As the 1988 elections drew closer, Jayawardene announced that he would not run for President. 

Ranasinghe Premadasa of the UNP defeated Mrs. Bandaranaike of the SLFP in the 1988 presidential elections and the UNP won an absolute majority in the 1989 parliamentary elections. Premadasa was assassinated on May 1, 1993 and was replaced as President by Prime Minister Dingiri Banda Wijetunga, who appointed Ranil Wickremasinghe as Prime Minister. 

The SLFP returned to power in coalition in 1994. The coalition, the People's Alliance, won a plurality in the August 1994 parliamentary elections. Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, the daughter of Sirimavo Bandaranaike and the widow of the assassinated film-star-turned-politician Vijaya Kumaratunga, became President.

Tamil Tigers

A fearsome force: From the early 1970s, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have developed into a formidable fighting force involved in guerrilla atacks against the Sri Lankan armed forces and on political targets. The LTTE’s power base remains economically deprived Tamil agricultural workers whose families lost their livelihood due to economic reforms in the late 1970s, as well as unemployed urban Tamil youth who faced economic and social discrimination.

Help from abroad Different Indian administrations have been responsible for training and arming the Tamil rebels in the past in different parts of the sub-continent. With the expansion of the international wing of the LTTE, which operates from London and Paris, the LTTE made substantial purchases of sophisticated weaponry. Most of the supplies were from the countries of the former Soviet Union. They have also captured large quantities of arms from the security forces. Most of the finance for the purchase of arms and other political and military activities is raised through expatriate activists in the West. Methods are reported to vary from extortion, illegal trade and front organizations to legitimate business and charities.

Dedicated fighters Tamil Tiger recruits are given a rigorous military training and ideological makeover. On passing out, each one is handed a cyanide capsule to be worn around the neck. Martyrdom is achieved through avoiding capture by suicide. The dedication of the rebel force is demonstrated by the very small number who are captured alive by the Sri Lankan security forces. The Tamil Tigers are notorious for their suicide attacks, and the LTTE has carried out at least five times more such attacks than other similar organizations put together. The suicide attackers consist of highly-motivated men and women who turn themselves into human bombs by strapping explosives onto their bodies.

Fearsome reputation The fighting force is said to be around 10,000 men and women, who use artillery, surface-to-air missiles and rocket launchers. They also are known to recruit under-age children to fight. Apart from fighting a conventional war, the apparent willingness of the Tigers to target civilians has been highlighted in instances when they have deliberately attacked villagers. In one pre-dawn attack in late 1999, Tiger units were accused of hacking to death women and children in a majority Sinhala village. The LTTE is also blamed for ethnically cleansing Jaffna, when they asked all non-Tamils to leave the de facto Tamil state in 1990.
 Country profile: Sri Lanka Nestling off the southern tip of India, the tropical island of Sri Lanka has beguiled travelers for centuries with its palm-fringed beaches, diverse landscapes and historical monuments. But for nearly two decades, the island has been scarred by a bitter civil war arising out of ethnic tensions. Home to an ancient Buddhist kingdom, Sri Lanka suffered repeated invasions from southern India. Known as "Serendip" to Arab geographers, it was to fall under Portuguese and Dutch influence and finally came under British rule when it was called Ceylon.

The island has a long-established Tamil minority in the north and east. The British also brought in Tamil labourers to work the coffee and tea plantations in the central highlands, making the island a major tea producer. But the majority Buddhist Sinhalese community resented what they saw as favouritism towards the mainly-Hindu Tamils under British administration. The growth of a more assertive Sinhala nationalism after independence fanned the flames of ethnic division until civil war erupted in the 1980s between Tamils pressing for self-rule and the government. Most of the fighting is in the north. But the conflict has also penetrated the heart of Sri Lankan society with Tamil Tiger rebels carrying out devastating suicide bombings in Colombo in the 1990s. The violence is damaging the economy and harming tourism in what is one of South Asia’s more advanced and potentially prosperous societies.

FACTS

Population: 19 million
Capital: Colombo
Major languages: English, Sinhala, Tamil
Major religions: Buddhist 69%, Hindu 15%, Christian 8%, Muslim 8%
Form of government: unitary multiparty republic
Monetary unit: 1 Sri Lanka rupee = 100 cents
Main exports: clothing and accessories, gems, natural rubber, textiles, tea

CONSTITUTION 

Sri Lanka became independent on February 4, 1948. The constitution of September 8, 1978 guarantees fundamental rights under a unitary state with strong executive power. The President, elected directly for a six-year term, serves as head of state and commander of the armed forces. The President also appoints a cabinet of ministers. The President's deputy is the Prime Minister who leads the ruling party in parliament. 

The legislature consists of a 225-member unicameral parliament. Its members are chosen by universal suffrage from electoral constituencies for six-year terms. All Sri Lankans over 18 can vote. 

The 1978 constitution guarantees independence of the judiciary, under the Indo-Sri Lankan accord of July 1987, the government of Sri Lanka agreed to devolve significant authority to provincial councils, which are directly elected for five-year terms. Despite enormous unrest and social problems, Sri Lanka has a democratic tradition matched by few other developing nations. 

OBSTACLES TO MINISTRY

• Buddhist State Religion
• Tamil Conflict - War with Hindu Tamil separatists has destabilized nation
• Weak National Church
• Declining numbers
• Leadership vacuum in Church
• There is an acute need for full-time pastors and lay leaders

SPIRITUAL POWER POINTS

• Adam's Peak - Major Hindu, Buddhist and Islamic pilgrimage site
• Kelaniya (Colombo) - Important Buddhist temple near the capital
• Anuradhapura - Ancient center of Buddhism; includes sacred Bo tree
• Temple of the Tooth - Sacred tooth relic of the Buddha is preserved here

FESTIVALS AND PILGRIMAGES

• Sinhala & Tamila New Year (April) - Includes anointing with oil at key astrological times
• Wesak (May) - Celebrates birth, enlightenment & death of Buddha
• Esala Perahera (July or August) - Big event in Kandy honors sacred relic of the Buddha

• Pilgrimage to Saman's/Adam's Peak (December to April) - Annual pilgrimage for Hindus, Buddhists and Muslims

Special thanks to Geroge Otis, Jr., "Strongholds of the 10/40 Window,"
 publisher, ISBN # 0-310-40031-7; and country profiles by BBC