Examination

Some call Tilvin Silva the phantom President. The JVP’s general secretary for thirty years, he is the party’s ‘nucleus’ and role model. The president calls him ‘aiya’. Hiranyada Dewasiri examines what Tilvin is doing with all this influence.

How did a UNP carpenter's son become the JVP's General Secretary? In the first half of a two part series, Hiranyada Dewasiri examines the experiences, the women, and the books that made the enigmatic Tilvin Silva who he is today – possibly the most powerful man in the country.

Getting things done has been a challenge for successive governments. Despite new laws and policy reform, good ideas keep getting stuck when they reach the implementation phase. One overlooked reason is the quality of our civil servants and the exams that recruit them.

Education reforms are underway — the most significant in the recent past. But can they reform history textbooks, which despite incremental improvements remain nostalgic, nationalist, and sometimes straight-up racist?

Sri Lanka’s tourism product is vast; blue waves, golden sand, cool forests, and historical ruins are spread throughout the island. But poor destination management and infrastructure development means that tourists congest at only a handful of tourist sites.

Judges and lawyers are using AI. But candid conversations about risks and ethical use trail far behind. Meanwhile, legal AI companies keep developing their products with newer, bolder features.

Other than Manila, no Asian city takes Christmas as seriously as Colombo. Some traditions are dying and new ones are emerging. As many migrate, armed with milk wine, salt beef, and figgy pudding, Burgher aunties and uncles fight the good fight to preserve the best of Christmas past.

The JVP-NPP government enjoys an unprecedented 159-seat supermajority in parliament. But a year after coming into power, sweeping rights-based reforms remain elusive. Will the promised system change truly materialise?

By clothing the presidency in such overmighty power, J.R.'s constitution magnified folly into catastrophe. Black July, the referendum that made a mockery of democracy, Indian intervention, all the way to Gota’s disastrous economic collapse — all bore the imprint of unchecked authority.

As war and the economic crises choked the domestic industry, some construction companies have looked to foreign markets. Today, Sri Lankan builders sign their names on projects from Uganda to Oman. But local conditions still clip their wings.