Several things happened during the absence of Lankaweb.

In the absence of the Lankaweb we had no way to give vent to our pent up feelings  against an incessant 

campaign of falsehood against the President Mahinda Rajapakse and his government without a word of appreciation for all that they have contributed to the progress of the country and the welfare of the people.  

None in  the anti government lobby blinded by their desire to grab political power for themselves does not see the changes that have taken place in Sri Lanka since Mahinda Rajapakse was elected President. They give credit only to the elimination of terrorism though even that is not to the liking of the Tamils in the North , Tamils in the Diaspora, and perhaps Tamils in the South as well as they remain silent and unconcerned.

Sri Lanka after Independence remained attached to  its Colonial past.  We thought the West would stand by Sri Lanka as a developing sovereign state. We depended on small favours they  generously gave us. The IMF loans that sufficed small development projects came with conditions.

Sri Lanka Government which was nominally Independent still had to plan its development projects according to the  conditions specified by the World Bank.  The loans we got were not much compared to what we receive now,  but yet the Ministers of the then Governments made their money with small  Commissions. D.S.Senanayake was said to have kept with him documents concerning commissions on a tractor deal by G.G.Ponnambalem and said to have waved those documents when GG became unruly.  But the commissions received then were small, nevertheless they were corrupt practices.  In a way desire to profit from office  is human nature.

The loans we got then were insignificant, compared to the billions we get now. Therefore, those ambitious politicians of the opposition  who are unable to lay their hands  on such great richess complain of corruption above all what the President Mahinda Rajapakse had done for the country during his Presidency  since 2005. 

After the Badulla PC elections in which UNP finds a comparative increase of votes its leader Ranil Wickramasinghe says that UNP has new hope of ending  “ the chaos and misery that the Rajapakse rule has brought upon the people”. They turn a blind eye to the vast development  processes in all sectors that have taken place since the election of Mahinda Rajapakse in 2005.

President Rajapakse has not only been able to bring peace to Sri Lanka by  eliminating  the ruthless terrorists, but turned Sri Lanka into a  middle income country with a formidable increase of its GDP.  Sri Lanka today is a role model for other developing nations. It has left its dependence on the West and increased its foreign  relations in a hitherto unprecedented manner. The recent visits of the Prime Minister of Japan and the President of China are a triumph of Sri Lanka’s  foreign policy.

While USA and its allies try to take the Government of Sri Lanka and its armed Forces before a tribunal accused for war crimes, other Nations round the world acclaim the great social, and economic achievements of Sri Lanka. President Mahinda Rajapakse’s Mahinda Chintanaya is a far reaching innovative programme which has contributed to bring about vast changes in the development of Sri Lanka, modernising the country and changing every aspect of the lives of the people .  The Government of Mahinda Rajapakse  under its programme of development of technology in education has undertaken to provide Mahindodaya Technological Laborataries to 2000 secondary schools.

The Bill & Melinda Gate Foundation has presented its 2014 Access to Learning Award of One Million Dollars to Sri Lanka in recognition of its work to provide free access to computers and internet to underserved Sri Lankans in remote and rural areas.  Sri Lanka has increased its IT literacy rate from 20 to 40 percent. 

These are considerable achievements which  many people do not seem to accept looking only at squeezed out negative  aspects of development. No developing country can achieve development without assistant from other Nations.  China , Japan, Russia and many other Nations have come to assist Sri Lanka in its development process providing loans and making investments.  The Opposition parties decry the loans,  and the vast projects undertaken by China, but thanks for those loans we see the transformation of Sri Lanka into a modern Nation. 

Madeira a small  Island off Portugal is mountainous and all its roads  every where in the Island right up to its highest point of 2000 meters have been well built with carpeted two-way traffic lanes.  These infra structure development had been done on loans from France etc. It has enabled it to develop its tourism which is its main source of  revenue.  That is how countries are developed, though UNP blares out against taking of loans from China, merely  to mislead the people.

In a Rupavahini Programme  in Sinhala “Motherland and Citizens” ( mawbima ha Puravasiyo) in Doramadalawa of the 15^th September, 2014, a very learned young Buddhist Monk Venerable Medagoda Abeytissa said quoting a Buddhist discourse, that the nature of the ordinary people is such that even if they are given the whole world they will still pick holes and find defects, unable to appreciate what has been offered to them.

It is just like those words of Venerable Medagoda Abeytissa, the opposition to the government  does  not appreciate the unprecedented  development that the President Mahinda Rajapakse has been able to bring about in less than ten years (since 2005).

It is said that nearly 90 percent of the loans taken by the government  had been spent in the development of the North and East of Sri Lanka, where neither the Tamil people in those areas nor their Political leaders are able to take into account those massive changes that have taken place in the lives of the Tamil people living  in those Provinces. The TNA political leaders in the North still  refuse any friendly dialogue with the government, but appeal for the intervention of  foreign governments to fulfil their separatist Agenda. 

Sri Lanka’s tremendous development process is sadly slowed down  due to the Tamils of Sri Lanka.           

The fact that they- the TNA politicians are not interest in the welfare of the people, but seek only benefits for themselves has come to light recently in an article in Asian Tribune of the 19^th September,2014, which reports that Mr Mahalingam the former Indian Consul General in Jaffna had paid 102 Million Rupees  to TNA to be distributed to all the Candidates for the NPC elections  at the rate of 2 million  Rupees to each one of them.  In addition the Tamil diaspora is reported to have paid 57 million Rupees as election fund  to TNA. 

But the report states that the money received had not been distributed to the Candidates as required  but the major portion of it had been swindled by the Leader of TNA Mr.R. Sampanthan, without  giving any part of it even to the TULF leader Ananda Sangaree.

In the meantime it had also been reported that the old boys of the Trinity College Kandy are filing action against Rod Gilbert the  Principle of Trinity college for having paid Rs. 202 million to LTTE from College Funds.

The NCP Chief Minister C.V.Wigneswaran questions why he should work with the government when  funds allocated for the development of the  North come from donor countries and could be directed to the NCP.  He is a former Supreme Court Judge and seems to have no knowledge of Administrative procedures,and Financial Regulations, already assuming that the North is a separate state cut away from the Government of Sri Lanka. 

Vasudeva Nanayakkara the brother-in-law of C.V.Wigneshvaran the Chief Minsiter of NCP has said that he would give only conditional support to Mahinda Rajapakse in a future election. Vasudeva has not understood that he and his party are managing to keeping their heads above in the  waters of political rapids thanks to the President Mahinda Rajapakse. Both LSSP and CP have lost their place in Sri Lanka's political arena.

R.Sambanthan is no more the Leader of the TNA, its new leader Mavai Senathirajah has said “ We as a people would… be concerned  about our historic habitats, our option to determine what is best for us to ensure self –government in the Tamil-speaking North-East of the country within a united Sri Lanka.” 

But the Chief Minister of the Eastern Province has said that the people of the Eastern Province  will not agree to a merger of the  North and East, and emphasised that the separation has been legally decided and there is no question of going back to it.

A group of Indian Journalists visiting Sri Lanka has said  the development programs like the one launched in Sri Lanka were not found in any other country in the South Asian Region, and the island’s rural population  is reaping the full benefits of infrastructure development.  The group has added that they are confident  that Sri Lanka would be a fully developed country   within the next decade.  The journalists have promised to brief the Indian people on the development programs Sri Lanka has undertaken regardless of ethnic and religious differences.

The National General Secretary of the Bharathiya Janatha Party(BJP) P.Muralidar Rao  visiting Sri Lanka to attend the International Conference of Asian Political Parties had said that Sri Lanka has been transformed into a thriving  country with the dawn of peace.  Sri Lankans are enjoying the dividends  of peace.  He has added that,  he had visited Sri Lanka five years ago, and that he was amazed to see the vast changes that have taken place  in the country after five years and observed that Sri Lanka is now heading towards progress and prosperity.

But  meeting with Sri Lanka’s prophet of separatist politics the Justice Minister Rauf Hakeem,  Mr.Muralidar Rao had said that he strongly emphasises the importance of having the 13^th Amendment implemented.

Sri Lanka should perhaps write a new Constitution leaving out the cancerous 13 Amendment.

The 24th of September,2014 saw the Yal Devi Express from Colombo reaching the Jaffna Railway station after an absence of 25 years.  Some prophecies that it would enable the reconciliation of the  two communities the Tamils and the Sinhala.

Buddhists monks get more involved in politics leaving the Sinhala Buddhists behind to fend for themselves. 

While the  Buddhist monks keep seeking political solutions to Sri Lanka, criminality, and suicides amoung the Sinhala Buddhists keep rising.  Moral standards have fallen to nadir. Yet Madoluwawe Sobhita Thero wants to be the common Candidate of the opposition at the next Presidential elections. 

It is time that the three Buddhist Nikayas unite to find a solution to bring the Sinhala Buddhist back to the temple to teach them to  uphold Buddhist moral standards.  That is the call of the Buddhist monks, which they have laid aside to dabble in politics which is best left for the laity.

We will soon have the Pope  Francis  visiting Sri Lanka .  He is a good man to be received though we know that he cannot invoke an absent God to help us solve our problems.  Our problems have to be solved by ourselves without any divine intervention.  If he can at least bring about  unity  amoung the Communities  by making them understand that before God there is no ethnic difference it would be a most welcome visit.

The successor to evil Navi Pillai  the former UNHigh Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr. Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein does not seem to have troubled him self to evaluate the biased reports made by  Navi Pillai and seems to be following the path already traced by her.  He calls for more accountability from the government of Sri Lanka.

In the Office of the UN Human Rights Council there is an unchanged policy, the policy dictated by Navi Pillai.  Therefore if the new UN High Commissioner for Human Rights wants to understand the reality of the situation with regard to human rights in Sri Lanka and other countries,  he should take a new approach first by shaking up his Office-changing the Staff, who will continue to feed him with biased,mostly false and unsubstantiated  information collected by Navi Pillai.

Now that the Lankaweb is back we will have more to write as days go by.  Thank you Lankaweb and its indefatigable team.

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