There may
not be election meetings . There may not be house to house campaign by Candidates. But there may the possibility of voting for
your preferred candidate from the political party you support. Therefore there
are things that you have to think before you cast your vote.
We had been
a country that was in the process of being divided and communally separated by
a ruthless group of terrorists supported by the so called Western Democracies.
Yes Western Democracies. We were saved
from that eventuality thanks to the
people who elected Mahinda Rajapaksa as
the President of Sri Lanka in 2005, amidst
powerful forces against him within and without the country. President
Mahinda Rajapakse faced that terrorist situation with Gotabhaya Rajapakse as his Defence
Secretary.
Though many
now tries to take the credit for that
great victory against terrorism, it was definitely the determination and the unwavering confidence
Gotabaya Rajapaksa had of the
Armed Forces that they can successfully fight that “war” against terrorism .
Our Armed Forces
were willing to take all risks , knowing that they were in the command of the
reliable political leadership of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the Defence
Secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse, who himself had previously been in the war
against terrorism. Therefore the the Armed Forces stood firmly determined
to defeat terrorism for good.
Despite
that courageous decision taken and fulfilled, the people were ungrateful to
Mahinda Rajapaksa who gave back to them
the right to exist as a free people in a peaceful environment , yet defeated him at the Presidential election in January, 2015, to what they hoped was for a change for a better life, and we
now know what cost that change of heart
to bring to power the worlds worst government led by Maithreepala Sirisena and
RanilWickramasinghe with the support of JVP
which they called Yahapalanaya –good governance. What a deception it was need
not be reiterated. And the voting
Gotabaya Rajapkse as the President in
November ,2019 with a 19 lack majority was a vindication of that
deception.
The people
were wise to have elected Gotabhaya Rajapaksa as the President of Sri Lanka in
November, 2019. Sajith Pemadasa did his
best to balloon himself as the
appropriate Candidate with working
dynamos, fully charged batteries and above all with the genes of Ranasinghe Premadasa to lead Sri Lanka as
its President.
But the
people knew better, that neither Ranasinghe Premadasa, nor Ranil Wickramasinghe
with whom Sajith associated were commendable
men, and the son with such genes could
not be any better than the father.
It was an
error that the armed forces that wiped out the terrorists were considered to
have violated human rights by the worlds most stupid Institution the UN Human
Rights Council in Geneva, when actual violators of human rights were Ranasinghe
Premadasa and Ranil Wickramasinghe with
a history of burning rebellious youth on
pyres of rubber wheels and torturing
others in Batalanda torture camp.
If the
people were not wise enough not to have
been swayed by Sajith Premadasa’s exaggerated
trumpet blowing, we would have had the most disastrous President of all
times in Sri Lanka . We are fortunate that our people were not fooled by this “big” talk of loud mouthed
Sajith Premadasa..
Fortunately
for Sri Lanka , Gotabaya
Rajapaksa a far more intelligent and a
visionary leader who could bring back Sri Lanka from
the sad state it has been relegated to by the Yahapalanaya, was elected as the
President. But he has inherited an empty
treasury, and is compelled to govern under utterly modest financial conditions
as a a minority government in the
Parliament.
The
opposition led by the failed leader Sajith Premadasa who was finally elected in
the Parliament as the leader of the opposition
boasts that the opposition would vote
with “both hands” if the government were
to present any bills in parliament. But
that was a hoax to mislead the government.
Their intention was to allow the government to present a Bill in Paliament and then vote against it, thus putting the government into greater difficulty by having to dissolve the government and reappoint a new government.
That became
evident when the government presented a Vote on Account to parliament to pay
the debts, incurred by the Yahapalanaya which remain unpaid, thus blocking the
government from buying essentials such as manure for farmers and medicine for
hospitals etc.
This move
of the leader of the Opposition was a ploy
to embarrass the government, and antagonise
the people against the government. But Sajith did not see that it was the country and the people who
suffered as a result. This the people should take into account when they go to
polls to cast their votes, and vote
against the candidates put forward by the Samagi Peramuna of Sajith Premadasa,
the UNP lead by Ranil Wickramasinghe, and Anura Dissanayake led JVP.
JVP leaders
are clever to present to the people that both Samagi Peramuna of Sajith
Peramuna and Podujana Peramuna will not be
able to give the people the desired changes as it is they of the JVP, who have the key to provide the
people with what they desire.
But these
are mere words. Their true colours would be seen only if they ever come to
power. They stand for a new Sri Lanka
without its Buddhist cultural back ground , a country where there is no communal
difference . But JVP would still work with the UNP because they are politically
sheltered by the UNP.
JVP
cannot understand the heart beat of the people. Sri Lanka is
unique because of its Buddhist Cultural
back ground. The Sinhala people have no other country to claim to be theirs.
Therefore Sri Lanka
has to preserve its Buddhist Sinhala identity
which JVP opposes on the ground of
equality for all.
This is
contrary to what the people desire and therefore the people should not vote for
them as it would be a wasted vote.
Today the Government of the President Gotabaya
Rajapaksa is facing great difficulty in
the administration of the country due to
the financial mismanagemnt of Yahapalanaya. Perhaps the sudden fall of the
price of fuel could be utilised by the
government holding back the immediate benefits going to the people and use the fall off to bring substantial changes delayed due to the present financial difficulties, enhanced by the Corona virus
and the government’s great effort to save the country from making it go to a pandemic
level, and until a new Budget is passed
in the Parliament after the elections in April.2020.
The
Opposition led by Sajith Premadsa and the JVP are trying to stop this
possibility to allow the government to give the people the desired
financial relief and find a way out of the present financial
difficulties by insisting at their political platforms that the Government should give the people the benefit
from the falling down of the fuel prices.
The
Opposition leader and the JVP are not
clamouring for these demands for any love they have for the people and
the country but merely to put the people against the government ad stop it from
getting a two third majority.
The
financial crisis that the Government is facing
is not its making but that of the
Yahapalanaya Government which had failed
to pay the bills for construction work ,
pay for the purchase of manure during their period of government, and pay he
unpaid bills for the purchase of medicine.
The
financial difficulties the government is facing
is a national issue where a
reasonable, concerned Opposition should cooperate with the government by voting in the parliament for the Vote on Account if they are really
interested in the welfare of the people.
But Sajith Premadasa is a political leader without political maturity, working for his
own personal aggrandisement. Therefore the well being of the country and its people are
far from his thoughts.
Sajith
Premadasa is campaigning with the
intention of becoming the Prime Minister.
But as the Minister of Housing in
Yahapalanaya Government he was a failure. Further more he had not even participated in any important
debates in parliament, and above all he does not show qualities of a
Prime Minister. That may be the reason why apparently Ranil Wickramasinghe seems
to wants his defeat . Ranil Wickramasinghe is also
refusing to give him the leadership of the UNP .
These are
the matters the people should think of and take into consideration at the polls
and vote to give Mahinda Rayapaksa led
Podujana Peramuna a resounding victory. That would be a vote to bring Sri Lanka to what it had been before the 8 th
January, 2015 and for its development into
a modern Sovereign
National State
with different communites living in
harmony as Sri Lankans.
There is a belief amoung the
English Speaking Colombians that a “tyranee” of absolute majority should be
avoided. That comes from the believers in an exaggerated democracy dentified as
British..
Democracy we have seen from our own experience and that of many other
countries, is beign dictated to us by
the so called developed democracies insisting that the developing countries should adhere to
a strict democratic norm as defined by them. But this norm is apparently different
from their democracy..
These pontificators contrary to their strictures have adopted democracy
to fit into their own purposes. We see the functionality of the UNHRC in Geneva too have got into
a habit of looking at democracy differently according to the countries they
deal with.
But developing countries should not adopt the western
interpretation of democracy as such a system will not allow the developing countries to rise
above their “developing” status. In 2015 Mahinda Rajapaksa lost at the
Presidential election because his opponents carried a campaign against
him that the 18th Amendment to the Constitution was for him to continue to be a
life-long President.
Which was wrong as President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s Government after successfully
eliminating terrorism and after a
planned economic development program successfully brought “ The Sri Lankan
economy to a robust annual growth at 6.4 percent over the course of 2010 to
2015. Sri Lanka
is now focusing on long-term strategic and structural development challenges as
it strives to transition to an upper middle income country.” “ Sri Lanka
increased from below 15% of GDP in the mid-1970 to about 25% of GDP in 2010/
This is a remarkable trend.” (World Bank).
The President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s intention was to keep the pace of
development by continuing to lead a government for a further period of five
years to strive transition to an upper middle income Country, which he
would have been able accomplish if he
was elected President at the 2015 Presidential election.
That was what Sri Lanka
missed in January, 2015, and the
result is that the Yahaplanaya reversed the development process to an
economic growth below that of Afghanistan .
Today we have President Gotabaya Rajapakse who with a keen intelligence
and determination will follow the steps of his elder brother now his
Prime Minister to bring Sri Lanka pack to the correct path for its development
and bring back the pace of development set by President Mahinda Rajapakse to take
Sri Lanka to the next level of an upper
middle income country and more.
To accomplish that for the people of Sri Lanka he needs a two third
majority so that he will not have to depend on any other political party, or
allow other political parties to become
a deterent to reacho reach the target he has set.
Therefore
the people of this country should not hesitate to give their fullest support to the President Gotabaya
Rajapakse by giving a land slide victory
to the candidates put forward by Podujana Peramuna and its allied Parties led
by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse.