SRI LANKA: All in the Family

"The last word in family planning" is how Britain's Guardian described it. The paper was referring to the Bandaranaike clan of Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon), who have managed to turn government into something of a family affair. At the head of the Indian Ocean republic is Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike, the Prime Minister and widow of S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, who held this post from 1956 until he was assassinated by a Buddhist monk in 1959. Since Mrs. Bandaranaike was last elected in 1970, an imposing number of her relatives—both from her own family, the...

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