SPC members given a traditional welcome by the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau at the airport
SCINTILLATING SRI LANKA!!
Amazing, educational, enriching, memorable, scintillating!
Just some of the adjectives used by members to describe their 10-day holiday of Sri Lanka, where they took in the sights and sounds of the country and its people.
The 20-member delegation of the Singapore Press Club Goodwill Mission saw the potential Sri Lanka has to offer - to its citizens, tourists, and investors - especially after a new president - Anura Kumara Dissanayake - was elected this year, promising economic reforms and change, for the betterment of everyone. These strong convictions and commitments were also shared by the new Prime Minister, Harini Amarasuriya, when we met her at the Prime Minister's Office. The anthropologist by training said that it was never her life goal "to become a full-time politician". But things happen in life and "sometimes we just have to seize it and go with it".
The Prime Minister also spoke of the "huge task" for the new government, to "making our public sector more efficient, more accountable, ensuring that our private sector can thrive, attracting foreign investment, engaging with our international partners in a much more transparent way, setting in place the kinds of systems that enable good collaboration and transparent collaboration". And she is confident this will be achieved.
This confidence was also seen in the people we met, who went about their daily work - from youth entrepreneurs in the start-up ecosystem with our visits to Hatch and meeting with nVentures, to tuk tuk drivers in the capital Colombo, and to the general public in Jaffna, the capital of the Northern Province, which was engulfed in a civil war for years. The air of optimism was all around.
The delegation also experienced Sri Lanka through the places we visited, the officials we met and the meals we savoured. We definitely came back with a better understanding of the country and the aspirations of its hardworking and friendly people. Among the highlights, and there were many, was the visit to Jaffna which was closed off during the civil war; a taste of the best crab and lobster meal dished out by the Ministry of Crab housed at an old dutch hospital complex in Colombo; the visit to the famous Dilmah tea plantation at Somerset Estate and enjoying its fresh hot tea on a cool afternoon; and riding the vintage train through the countryside from Nuwara Eliya to Ella! We also experienced the rich history of UNESCO World Heritage sites in Kandy and Galle, and wildlife at the Mineriya National Park Safari.A bonus highlight was the stay at the newly-opened integrated resort in Colombo - City of Dreams by Cinnamon Life. Although the resort's gaming component will only open in 2025, we still enjoyed the hospitality and top-notch F&B offerings.
Meetings with officials from the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau and SriLankan Airlines highlighted to us the directions taken to get more tourists to visit the country and enjoy the varied holiday offerings. The Bureau is also confident of return visits, with its tagline of "You'll Come Back for More". Delegation members feel it will be a successful campaign as many are already making plans to visit Sri Lanka again.
Much planning goes into such a trip, and for that, the Singapore Press Club must register its appreciation to the many people who helped ensure the delegation had a great time in Sri Lanka. Definitely, special thanks to High Commissioner H.E. Senarath Dissanayake and his staff at the Sri Lanka High Commission in Singapore, who scheduled the official meetings in Colombo and Jaffna, and connected us with relevant officials.
Bhagman Singh
Vice President, Singapore Press ClubChair, Singapore Press Club Goodwill Mission Organising Committee
(P.S. For members who missed out on the Goodwill Mission, please note that our travel agent for Sri Lanka is already planning a shorter trip, without the official meetings, for 2025. Members who are interested may sign up directly at our SPC Travel Portal, Equinox powered by Travel Trade Marketplace.)
Briefing and dinner hosted by Hatch, Sri Lanka’s leading Innovation & Entrepreneurship development organization with the country’s largest co-working space offering housing a community of 1000+ members in locations at Colombo and Jaffna, as well as having delivered 18+ Business Incubator, Accelerator and Open Innovation programs within the past 5 years, creating direct touch points with over 700 startups in Sri Lanka.
Lunch meeting hosted by Honorary Consul General of the Republic of Singapore in Sri Lanka, Dr Jayantha Dharmadasa (3rd from left)
Barbecue sunset dinner at Mount Lavinia Hotel hosted by Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau.
The delegation with the management of City of Dreams Cinnamon Life, the first integrated resort in Sri Lanka and South Asia and is expected to revolutionize luxury hospitality, entertainment, and leisure in Sri Lanka, presenting an extraordinary architecture and design and a collection of iconic and unparalleled offerings including 800 hotel rooms, retail, food & beverage outlets, MICE facilities, and much more.
Visit to Dilmah Somerset Estate tea plantation and high tea at The Grand Hotel.
Chef Dharsan of Ministry of Crab presented a gourmet meal for the delegation at their restaurant in Colombo.
Opening remarks by Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya when she met the Singapore Press Club delegation at the Prime Minister's Office, Colombo, 1 Nov 2024.
"The way the country was governed, where it became such a sort of where those in power consider that a privilege, but none of the responsibilities that come with the privilege. And it was a very elite network. And any of you who are familiar with the history of Sri Lanka, this has been a perennial concern. Unlike the rest of South Asia, we didn't have a movement that led to independence. Independence was almost granted to us on a platform, right, and the powers were transferred from the colonial government to the local elite very seamlessly, without a big struggle.
And I think it was your Prime Minister who came to Sri Lanka, your former, your late, Prime Minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, who came to Sri Lanka to consider Sri Lanka a model. And look where the two countries are today, right? So, something really, you know, something really disturbing happened between that visit and where we are today, and that's mainly to do with the kind of political culture that gradually kind of established itself in Sri Lanka, where graft, corruption and patronage became the way in which the system operated.
So we have a huge task ahead of us dealing with some of these entrenched practices, cleaning up the system, making our public sector more efficient, more accountable, ensuring that our private sector can thrive, attracting foreign investment, engaging with our international partners in a much more transparent way, setting in place the kinds of systems that enable good collaboration and transparent collaboration.
So you asked about my own experience, and I think from an academic to this, you know, it's like my life turned around. It's certainly not something that I planned to do. Never in my life goal, was never to become a full-time politician. But things happen in life, and sometimes we just have to seize it, and go with it. It's been a tremendous learning opportunity. I'm an anthropologist by training, so that has also helped me, I think, because it allows me to step back and observe what's happening also and understand the complexities."