Could still do better

Dec 16th 1999|colombo

IN 1964, Singapore's founder, Lee Kuan Yew, said he hoped that his country would one day be like Sri Lanka. Mr Lee's little island has since far outstripped the Indian Ocean one in wealth, but the qualities he admired are still there. Sri Lanka has developed-country levels of literacy and life expectancy, and little abject poverty. Its dedication to equality has a long history. Sri Lanka's first general election under universal suffrage took place in 1931, just two years after the first British one. After independence, the government provided free education and health care to boys and girls alike, and subsidised consumption by the poor.

This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “Could still do better”