Speaking Of Asia

Bad politics, bad management, bad luck: Why Sri Lanka reels

The roots of the country's troubles are deep. Getting rid of the Rajapaksa clan won't be enough to get Sri Lanka out of its predicament.

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In the last years of the quarter century of civil war that ended in 2009, it is said the fish in the seas around Sri Lanka used to die of old age - to control arms smuggling fuelling the insurgency, Colombo had banned boats with outboard motors from putting out to sea.

These days, the boats aren't going out for another reason.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on April 07, 2022, with the headline Bad politics, bad management, bad luck: Why Sri Lanka reels. Subscribe