Sri Lanka is changing. We talk about the changes we like or don’t like, but rarely where the whole thing is going. This is one thought exercise towards what Sri Lanka could be in the future. It is overly hopeful and probably wrong.

The year is 2020. Roads and airports connect every part of Sri Lanka within hours. Meanwhile its closeness to India and China makes the island a hub for global commerce (and intrigue). Sri Lankan people are wealthier, healthier and better educated than before. However, personal freedoms are doled out per a Singaporean model and power is not significantly devolved. Life, however, is better.

Travel

The main factor in pacifying and developing the north turned out to be not political devolution but connectivity. Efficient roads and airports now connect Jaffna, Vavuniya, Mannar, Killinochchi and Mullaithivu to the south, and the world. The north has matched and surpassed previous levels of agricultural production and trade flows freely along the Adam’s Bridge to India.

Meanwhile Hambantota Port is a crucial shipping hub as well as a military base for Chinese warships as they expand their dominion over the southern seas. However, most tourist arrivals remain Indian. They come for the variety of destinations and the ability to go from hill country to beach to jungle in a matter of hours.

Trade

Aside from the boutique hotels in Kalpitiya and the power plants in Norochcholai, however, average people have set up shops along the many roads that connect the country. The entire nation also has phone and broadband internet coverage, fueled by the northeastern telecom boom after the war. This was also followed by a boom in education, including distance learning and private (mostly Indian) universities. This led to a more educated workforce able to use their connectivity to provide services worldwide.

The former IDPs, however, lag behind, along with estate Tamils. Their resettlement was initially troubled and they remain  under limited military occupation. However, in time their homes saw development wholly neglected under the LTTE. So were proper schools, hospitals and connection with the rest of the country. Though radical elements remain in the diaspora, more have come back to make positive investments in the country. This was spurred largely by the call of Sri Lanka’s first Tamil Prime Minister.

Governance

Most government servants continue to be Sinhala speaking, but ubiquitous mobile phone translation service makes it possible to communicate in Tamil, English, Hindi or Mandarin. That is, the decades old 1919 government information service now employs translators. Their translations are accepted and indeed routine at police stations and government offices islandwide.

Meanwhile, visitors and settlers in the north and east can also get service from the largely Tamil speaking government servants there. Many more young people are bi or tri-lingual, but more for opportunities in business and tourism than government service.

Culture

Sri Lanka is now known internationally as a tourist destination as well as a cultural hub for the Galle Literary and Film festivals. It is also a destination for Indian and international yacht racing as well as a popular conference spot. Kandy is a centre for international research into Buddhism, meditation and their intersection with neuroscience. Meanwhile kovils and temples throughout the north have been restored and thousands gather for the annual pilgrimage from Jaffna to Kataragama. The Ravana Tour of ancient Ramayana sites is also especially popular with Indians.

Politics as usual

Ongoing issues still persist. Rule of law was deeply damaged by the demands of both war and development. Power still flows largely from connections rather than legislation, disadvantaging the poor of all races. Tamil people especially still smart from the slow lifting of emergency rule and suspicion and inequality which still persist. Few, however, sympathise with the splintered LTTE, now driven further underground after radical elements staged violent attacks in Toronto.

Instead, the local warlords and often underworld elements who collaborated by joining the government have matured into cunning but not entirely criminal politicians. There remains widespread corruption and abuse of power, but it at least trickles down into some development. A new generation of young politician is emerging, its ranks unculled by war. They promise a new hope, ideals to match the development the country has seen.