Looking through coloured glasses.

Those who are critical of the  President Mahinda Rajapakse and his government are looking through coloured glasses.  Hence they take irreality of what they see as the reality.

There are those who looking through  glasses see only corruption, and every thing outside it is blurred and out of focus.  Some question,  what is the use of infrastructure development it is not the immediate need of the people ?  Mostly those who look through these coloured lenses other than those in the opposition  and the Tamil diaspora are those of the  Sinhala diaspora. The colour of the glass depends on their various affiliations, Catholics, anti socialist, those who seek an English educated political leadership etc., and others who have  an axe to grind against the President and his government.

For some of them the only reason to be thankful to the  President is his elimination and brining peace to the country, the other things are “minor details”.

Some says, they would even bow down to the President for what he has accomplished, but Catholics do not believe in bowing down ,as it is degrading, therefore they are only thankful.  He should be voted some say because he is the best of the worst.  What a generous appreciation of a man who risked his life and gave everything to make Sri Lanka the most fast growing economy in the world ? 

Oddly that aspect is blurred because of the colour of the glasses they look through.  Yet they are not prepared to give full credit to the President even for elimination of terrorism and bringing peace, as  it is a combined effort they say, with the Soldiers and assistance from India.

The glasses being dark in colour some fail to see what is evident.  From the time President Mahinda Rajapakse having failed to get the terrorist leader Prabhakaran  to negotiate a peace settlement, resorted to a Military solution , the American Ambassador to Sri Lanka Robert O’Blake along with his Western friends did not stop their “mantra” that there is no military solution  to end terrorism but only a negotiated settlement.  Then onwards America and the West did not end their effort for a regime change in Sri Lanka.

What is happening today, with resolutions in the UNHRC, EU quota restrictions issued on export of garments from Sri Lanka, and now with EU sanctions on fish import and lifting the ban on LTTE, are definitely not strictly legal, but a part of a political manoeuvres by the West with the object of a regime change.  

Ranil Wickramasinghe is a lackey of the West and the EU’s sanctions are to  make the President unpopular and thus help Ranil Wickramasinghe their puppet get the votes of the disgruntled people to defeat Mahinda Rajapakse in a Presidential election.  Ranil Wickramasinghe is of course not a man who could influence the Western leaders to do what he wants, but the Western leaders use him to realise their Agenda of a regime change in Sri Lanka.

“When the Western powers fail to get the government of Sri Lanka to do what it thinks they should be doing, what comes next will most probably be not another resolution but economic sanctions. Most Lankans will have heard of the sanctions against Iran which hurt Sri Lanka as well because we were unable to buy our crude oil from Iran as we used to do. Every motorist in this country knows that the sanctions against Iran hurt us as much as it did Iran.

However we should understand that the sanctions against Iran were imposed by the UN Security Council over its atomic power program. Even China and Russia have apprehensions about a Muslim atomic bomb because of the presence of Muslim extremists in both countries and they too gave their approval for sanctions against Iran.” Looming  US-EU Sanctions -Island  29 October, 2014.

That is not a” manthra” but  reality of what is happening which cannot be distinguished seeing through coloured glasses these anti government critics wear.

The UNP’s main complaint  against the President -the Rajapaksa regime as they call it, is the involvement of the  Rajapakse family in politics.  But again because of the coloured glasses through which they look they do not see the benefits that accrued to the President from his family ties to make a success of most of his undertakings such as  bring peace to the country and develop the North that had suffered  much from terrorism  in a record time.  It is significant  that  the North  has received as much or more development projects  compared to  the South.  While the President’s younger brother Gotabhaya Rajapakse looked after the military aspect his other brother Basil Rajapakse took over the development of the North. Now it is thanks to Gotabhaya Rajapakse that we see development and beautification of  towns in Sri Lanka.

Because of the colour of the glasses they see through some of the critics do not see the wonder of a Single man’s effort to Unite the Country and develop it from a “failed” state to a middle income country with  formidable economic progress never seen before in Sri Lanka.  The IMF and the World Bank had called Sri Lanka a country of missed opportunities, when they were handing out loans on their conditions.  Now the IMF see Sri Lanka in a different light. And that is due to the efforts of the President working with foresight  placing  the correct people in the  correct place.   The coloured glasses cannot  differentiate between the people  with honesty and integrity and a few that is not.

Those with  coloured glasses see only the negative side of progress and development,  nepotism, bribery and corruption.  Poor countries still on the path of development may also have bribery and corruption, but it is only when there is large scale development with  large investments  the bribery and corruption take a greater dimension.  That could be taken as a sign of vast development projects.  

It is best to have zero corruption, but we are dealing with human beings subject to human failings such as attachment(lobha) aversion (dosa) and delusion (moha).  These arguments some  critics say are good for the gullibles, the ordinary mass of people who can see the difference of what it had been Sri Lanka before 2005 and what it is today do not wear coloured glasses and see the reality,     and they are far from being  a gullible lot.  Sri Lanka has an educated population, they are not biased and prejudiced like many of the Sinhala diaspora.  Therefore they understand better  being able to  evaluate development  from ground reality.

President Mahinda Rajapakse is a good Buddhist.  He is generous not selective in offering assistance for the wellbeing of the people without discriminating against them for their religion, their communal difference or  for their social standing in  society.  He is against all those that cause suffering to the people, whether they are  terrorists, drug dealers, criminals or under world  mafia.  On full moon poya days the residence of the President “Temple Trees” become a temple where people gather to listen to Buddhist discourses. It is not to seek popularity, but to make the words of the Buddha vibrate in Temple trees, the residence of the  Citizen number one.

The President Mahinda Rajapakse  is not a mafia chief as some of the  critics who look at him through coloured glasses say, harbouring drug dealers, rapists , and criminals. A Sinhala Buddhist will vehemently protest against such innuendo against their dear President, who has changed their lives to an unimaginable extent. Those are allegations seemingly made turning towards the  Western enemies of Sri Lanka now preparing for a regime change.  Pointing out that is not another manthra to deceive the gullible.

Mahinda Rajapakse  has been  the President of Sri Lanka only for 9 years,   and within that period of time he had brought about positive changes to Sri Lanka, which had not seen such a great transformation for the last 57 years since Independence.  Of course looking  through coloured glasses one would see only the elimination of terrorism, and the rest pushed away as  obfuscations.

President Mahinda Rajapakse  is a shrewd politician, sagacious  and wise.  Though he is the President of a small country, he stands foremost among the world  leaders of today-Barrack Obama, David Cameron, Francois Holland, Angela Merkel, and the rest.  He is more than a  politician.  He is a statesman. He has principles on which he works .  Mahinda Chintanaya is his political philosophy which is the basic document of  his political vision for  the development of Sri Lanka. He does not change the basic principles in the document, but  changes only the means to achieve them. 

He does not change his principles for the sake of popularity.  He recognises what is wrong and what is right and fights against wrong and stand by what is right.  We have seen in many instances of communal disputes, where he has taken decisions ascertaining what is right and appropriate without allowing the incidents to go out of control. He does not precipitate into action but takes wise decisions.

President Rajapakse is a man with a foresight and  has a vision of what his country and his people need.  He is able to win over the people around him to believe in him and work with him to realise his objectives which are  beneficial to the people.  He has been able to show the people  the soundness of his actions, and the correctness of his decisions.

Those who look  at his actions  with bias and prejudice will fail to understand his intentions.

Some look  through really opaque glasses and is blinded by their own opinions.  They do not   hesitate to insult the president, using lowly uncouth language.

Despite the wrath manifested by those looking through glasses of different colours the  President stands like a rock continuing to do his work according to his plan- Mahinda Chintanaya for the good of the people and  the country.   He knows how to speak to the heart of the people, without attacking his opponents. He has not abused his executive powers.  He has allowed complete freedom to the media despite rumours spread by his opponents of white van kidnapping, and disappearances of journalists.

There are hundreds of websites and news papers attacking him.  The only website that allows pro government articles is the Lankaweb.  The Media Federation which always come forward to attack the President and his government and defend the journalists did not come forward to defend the article  written by Shenali Waduge which drew criticism to the  title of the article “How meaningful are Jayalalitha’s love letters to Modi ?” The Media Federation defends only journalists who write against the President and the Government.

Shenali Waduge is one of the best investigative Journalists who exposes dangers to Sri Lanka coming from within and from outside.  Her articles which should be given widest possible publicity are unfortunately not published in National News papers like the Island, the Daily Mirror, and the Sunday Times. The Daily News which published some of her articles seems to shy  away after the incident of the  article about Jayalalitha’s Love letters, which needed an “unnecessary” apology by the Foreign Ministry.

President Mahinda Rajapakse who challenged the most ruthless group of terrorists was the fist in the terrorists killer  list.  But he faced them without fear.  He stood up against the foreign Ministers from UK and France who demanded a ceasefire. He finally eliminated the terrorists and brought peace to the country, but now he is in Western governments list of  regime changes, and war criminals.  The Western Governments  have no principles  and they work under the “command” of the pro terrorist Tamil diaspora who provide them votes for political power.

President Mahinda Rajapakse has no reason to remain in fear.  He is prepared to take risks for the sake of his country and his people.  Sri Lanka has eliminated terrorism, and that is no crime.  The Armed Forces of Sri Lanka was aiming their guns at terrorists and at no time at the Tamil civilians.  The USA and its allies who should look into themselves to see who are  war criminals are accusing Sri Lanka to evade the finger of accusation from being  pointed at them.

What those looking through coloured glasses do not see are the  enormous development projects of the President.   President Mahinda Rajapakse had been active attending to his duties as the President of Sri Lanka  to take it forward into development and prosperity ever  since he was elected President   in 2005.  He has not allowed himself to get entangled in rumours, scandals, and misleading half truths. But he had organised  his team of Ministers, academics, scientists, and technicians, and the Armed Forces for  a continuous process of development of the country in all sectors. He organised the means to eliminate terrorism, at the same time he set about infrastructure developments.

To day Sri Lanka is not what it was in 2005 when President Mahinda Rajapakse  was first elected  into office.  He has organised and developed  every sector of the country:  in Tourim, in Agriculture, transport,  Education, taking IT Education to villages, supply of electricity to almost entirety of Sri Lanka , supply of fresh water, development of the health sector, development of towns, opening the train service from Colombo to Jaffna, and reducing  unemployment amoung many other achievements. 

But  these unparalleled  development processes that modernised  a poor country that had been  suffering under terrorism  for thirty years, within a short period of nine years , are unfortunately invisible for those who are looking through coloured glasses which show only bribery and corruption.

The USA and the West instead of accusing the President Mahinda Rajapakse for uncommitted violation of human rights or war crimes should nominate him for the noble Peace Price for having accomplished the elimination of a ruthless terrorism which they have so far failed to do.

The President of Sri Lanka has also been able to maintain diplomatic relations  with the west extending it to Asia, Middle East and Africa.  Sri Lanka  is also participating   in various development project in Africa. Sri Lanka under President Mahinda Rajapakse has made it possible for its own entrepreneurs, scientists and technicians to work in harmony to develop their inane talents and capabilities.

 “ It is in that back ground it has been announced that Sri Lankan engineers has produced the first Super Electric motor Car. “Sri Lanka will be in the international spotlight this December when the Lankan owned company Code Gen International reveals its first fully electric super car, 'Vega'. Brainchild of Code Gen CEO Harsha Subasinghe, this project was initiated to show that Sri Lanka can take on projects of this magnitude and successfully deliver.”

Therefore those who look through coloured glasses should take them out to see the reality that besides corruption which is a global menace prevailing in every country, there has taken place in Sri Lanka an unimaginable process of modernisation.  And to take it forward until it blossoms into grandeur the President Mahinda Rajapakse should be re-elected for a further term at the next Presidential election.