Sri Lanka awash in loans

KOTA KINABALU: For many of us growing up in former British colonies, Sri Lanka has perhaps always had a special place in our hearts, not least due to its famed Ceylon tea. Tea time is a serious tradition in most parts of the British Commonwealth, and tea grown in Sri Lanka and some parts of India was often touted as being of some of the finest quality. As we sip our cups of hot tea in the late afternoon, images of assiduous tea-picking on the slopes of Kandy, a highland area of Sri Lanka, float inevitably before our minds.

But modern Sri Lanka was of course about much more than that. It was one of the crown jewels among Britain's sprawling overseas colonies around the world. Sri Lankans prize education and were politically awakened a long time ago, so much so that it was granted self-rule and then independence not long after the Second World War. Sri Lanka's early local government and even development models were the go-to standard for many other newly independent former British colonies.