Good Governance

There was colonialism under which many countries, poor from Western standard, were conquered subjugated and brought under the control of the  respective Western Countries that colonised them. The Colonisation was  an immense enterprise that brought into the  countries of the Colonial rulers an immense wealth from which they have created a strong economic foundation which has  while assuring their prosperity, given them power over the subjugated nations, and allowed them to  claim wholly or in partnership with other Western countries the leadership of the World-the leadership of the Whites.

Then with the Russian revolution the patriotic nationals of the  Colonised countries  demanded a breakaway from the  colonial rule to be liberated as Independent Nations.  It was not to the liking of the Colonial rulers.  Some nations like Sri Lanka were given Independence on Constitutions written by accredited Englishmen such as - Donomore and  Soulbury,  keeping them as  members of the Commonwealth of Nations. 

Some Nationalist Leaders such as,  Lumumba of Congo, Jacobe of Nicaragua, Aillande of Chilli , Mossadeq of Iran were  physically disposed of with the employment  of the  notorious CIA ( the presence of which cannot be ruled out in Sri Lanka for a possible political or a physical  disposal of Mahinda Rajapakse)

With the independence of the colonies the Colonial rulers  faced an insoluble  social and economic crisis which they have still not been able to surmount, Therefore, they are  finding every possible means to stop the emancipation of the now independent former colonies from their former colonial  ties,  which are alien to their culture based on their religion, creed and  customs, to traverse a different path for development.

One such alien tie is democracy inculcated into us specially through the English educated class- still attached to the alien dress and language, who are still the guardians of that alien culture.

Democracy or at least the concept of it existed in Sri Lanka before the advent of the colonial adventurers.  One example of it is the Order of the Buddhist Sangha. It was established by the great Saint the  compassionate Buddha. It is organised in to a community participating as a whole functioning  according to an accepted system where each one takes the responsibility for the application of the rules of administration of the Order ,  following an established and accepted  rules of discipline.

But “ Democracy”  as introduced by the Colonial Rulers-the British  is perhaps  good for their system which they had established with the priviledges they had gained becoming rich with the plundered treasures of  great value  from the colonies, in addition to misappropriated  mineral  and agricultural resources of these colonies. Their “Democracy”  is a political and  an administrative  facility  with the resources they have acquired and  stockpiled for their future.

The Political Parties in these countries have very little difference be they Republican or Democratic, Conservative or Labour. It may be a question of how they manage the finances in effective  measures for a successful administration with high or low income tax and maintaining a workable  gap between employment and unemployment etc. 

There are no large scale development projects as the Western countries are already industrially and agriculturally developed, the infrastructures are in place with highly developed education facilities and health services,  Hence whether a  Democratic or Labour Government is replaced by  a Republican or Conservative Government or vice versa makes no great difference and their “ type of democracy” is workable in that manner, with a change of government every four or five years and limiting the term of office of a President for two terms.

But “ Democracy ” cannot work similarly in developing countries like Sri Lanka. Because the underdeveloped  countries  or developing countries unlike their  colonial counterparts who dictate terms and give lessons on democracy,  are deficient in all aspects of development such as the capital and skilled manpower. 

Therefore a four year change of government and a two term President cannot do much to bring a developing country in par with a developed country or  at least  bring development half way towards it.

In a developing country like Sri Lanka for example,  with a change of a  government or the change of a President the whole system of  governance changes. As Sri Lanka is  basically poor, it cannot in reality have  a Conservative Capitalist Government, as the rich are a minority. 

Nevertheless, there could be a government of a pseudo Conservative Capitalist party as it is in Sri Lanka, depending on Conservative or Labour, or Republican or Democratic  former foreign  Colonial countries for development, respecting their democracy, their judicial system and  accepting  their recommendations of  how to develop the country and with whom Sri Lanka should have diplomatic relations. 

In fact it is what is being  proposed  to day by a pro Western  pseudo capitalist opposition in Sri Lanka presenting a common Presidential candidate, against President Mahinda Rajapakse presenting himself for a third term with the genuine intention  to complete the tremendous development  of Sri Lanka he undertook since 2005 when Sri Lank was reeling on its heels under the threat of being territorially separated by a ruthless group of terrorists.

Does the absence of “good Governance “ means this departure from Western dictates, taking a  people  consisting of all communities-Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim, from poverty to prosperity based  on a democracy suitably adopted to benefit the people ? 

Does the absence of “ good governance” means  not depending solely on the former Western Colonialists, but also on  unconditional support and aid of the developed and developing Nations of Asia, the Middle East and Russia, without completely breaking  away from the West  ?

The former colonies now Independent came under the influence of left wing politics and their allegiance to the former Colonial rulers and the Commonwealth was affected and found Sri Lanka for instance turning towards other Nations  such as  China, Japan, and Russia and countries outside the Commonwealth and the West for its security and development.  Setting up the UNO did not faciligtate matters  for the developing countries.  The West set up the World Bank and IMF. 

These Banks were  to help the developing nations get loans from them for development without turning to countries out side the West for aid and assistance.

But  the loans from these Banks came with conditions  which deprived the developing countries  to help the poor with  welfare assistance.  These conditions  which were not people friendly irked  the governments and aroused the ire of the people of the  developing Countries, making them turn away from the capitalist West to Socialism.  The West therefore formed a block against Russia and  Socialism.  They failed to counter the influence of  Socialist Russia  amoung the developing countries with aid and generous loans accessible to the developing countries.

The West gradually lost its hold on the developing countries, but  were able to  hold  on to them through its  influence on the local political groups favourable to the West and Capitalism.  Sri Lanka  has its own  Conservative Capitalist political party the UNP as against the leftwing Political parties such s the SLFP, LSSP,CP.   The West used the Conservative Parties like the UNP in Sri Lanka to keep its influence alive despite the fact that the left wing politics were gaining ground in Sri Lanka along with its alignment with Russia and China.

This was unexpected and the West hastened to find other means to keep the newly Independent colonies under their control by interfering into their internal affairs using the UNO.  The election of the Director General of  the UNO became politicised and America and West used its aid to developing countries such as those in Africa and the Middle East to win r votes for the candidate favoured by the West.

The West introduced questionable methods for intervention in Sovereign States of the developing countries through RTP- right-to-protect and introduced  human rights to accuse developing nations  for violation of human rights. But the Western Nations reserved the right to violate human rights with impunity.

The West has assumed an overseeing  role of developing nations-specially with regard to Sri Lanka, pampering the minorities protecting them from the majority and accusing the majority for violation of human rights of the minorities etc. 

America takes an active role  in the  Human Rights Council of the UN in Geneva with a pro- American High Commissioners for Human Rights.  America is using the  UN Human Rights Council  passing resolutions against Sri Lanka  to stop by all means its present development process with Chinese assistance. 

America is  determined for a regime change in Sri Lanka.  USA and West have Commandeered pro-western Opposition  with Chandrika taking the leading role, Ranil Wickramasinghe groomed as their puppet to take over reins of the Government of Sri Lanka replacing Mahinda Rajapakse.  Maithripala Sirisena is just nobody for America and the West  but he is just the catalyst for the regime change.

America has an annual country report on developing countries presented to its Congress with which it accuses developing countries for political mismanagement and internal problems  which in reality are “ none of their business ” . Nonetheless, they use their own methods to evaluate good governance.  USA and the West do not understand their lack of the knowledge  of the thinking pattern of the people of Sri Lanka, their culture, and customs to determine whether  Sri Lanka  is being  governed correctly or not. Their measuring rods of good governance is inappropriate to make a correct appraisal.

But unfortunately the pseudo capitalist political parties like the UNP allied to the West supported by pro-West Chandrika are  ready to bend backwards to please  the whims and fancies of the West.  They have therefore  taken the slogan of a lack of good governance as measured by America and the West to put people against the  President Mahinda Rajapakse at the present Presidential elections. 

The Common Candidate of the Opposition has stated that the President Mahinda Rajapakse does not understand the meaning of the word good governance as if he- Maitripala Sirisena understands it better.  The word is a meaningless connotation as far as it concerns  Sri Lanka.  It comes from the West suggested by an NGO , now used  by the Opposition as a clarion call to the Voters to refrain from voting for a President , who according to them is  immersed in corruption lacking any knowledge of good governance.

These are mere ideas pumped into the heads of the Sri Lanka Opposition by the Western NGOs and used as words from the gospel used as a means to down grade  the greatest National leader of our time the President Mahinda Rajapakse.

The opposition to the President Mahinda Rajapakse is under a delusion  that they can make Good Governance  together with corruption a  political slogan to defeat the President Mahinda Rajapakse at the presidential election.

They (the opposition to the Preident) hope with that to come back into politics and change all that the President Mahinda Rajapakse has done, thus ushering in an era of utter political chaos as the amalgam of politicians that have got together to support the opposition Presidential candidate have nothing  in common  except a ferocious  desire to defeat the President Mahinda Rajapakse at any cost.

Good governance is an empty slogan  for the ordinary people of the country, for whom the man Mahinda Rajapakse is the only leader that can take the country forward and give them peace and happiness that they have already experienced in the elimination of the most feared and hated terrorism that controlled their lives  for thirty years and took away under most atrocious circumstances  their kith or kin, or persons- men, women or children,  known   or distantly connected.  What is good governance compared to those losses and the times spent in fear of an unknown death by being blown off by a claymore  or a suicide bomb ?

Of all the governments  Sri Lanka had since  1948, the government of the President Mahinda Rajapakse is the last that could  be accused for absence of good governance- whatever that means. In evaluating Mahinda Rajapakse’s exceptional qualities as the President and a National Leader,  one has to take into account his first swearing in as the President in 2005.  Some of those who jump to Criticise President Mahinda Rajapakse tend to forget that beginning when Sri Lanka was at the end of the tether so to say without a solution to a terrorism that had been going on for  thirty years. 

Four Presidents had going through it,  one assassinated by the terrorist, one the most unworthy of all Presidents loosing her eye in a terrorist attack.  No one saw a solution to the problem other than handing over part of Sri Lanka to the terrorists, which the West encouraged Sri Lanka to do. JR Signed a peace accord merging the North and East and introducing an Indian Amenment 1 in to the Constitution. Premadasa  made a gift of arms, ammunition and money and got assassinated by way of a thankful gratitude. Ranil Wickramasinghe  signed an agreement with the terrorist leader handing overto him “ land under terrorist control”.  Chandrika offered North and East of Sri Lanka to the terrorist leader for ten years, to do what he wants with it. Her successor Mahinda Rajapakse was made of other mettle and would not give in so easily to terrorism, which caused him the ire of the West.

The West repeatedly demanded Sri Lanka to find a political solution as terrorism had out grown a military defeat and stood tall as  Goliath and no David was within sight.  When all hope had dwindled in to grey ash, Goliath  found at last his match in a David  from  Beliatta a village in the deep south of Sri Lanka. 

Mahinda Rajapakse from Beliatta who took over the reins as the President of Sri Lanka  was determined, full of confidence and sure of success. He was as good as a chequer player. He knew where to place his knights and pawns on the chequer board to check mate his opponent the feared terrorist.  He was fearless like David with his catapult in his hand facing Goliath.  Mahinda Rajapakse  who placed his entire confidence on his selected man –his own brother Gotabhaya for a military  assault against the terrorists, was prepared to give him a relentless political support.

It was a perfectly well planned effort that  resulted in the complete elimination of terrorism.  Now after the flames have died  in to ash, and the grass has gown over the battle ground, there are  the phantoms of the past Colonial rulers rising from their graves to accuse the mighty forces of  Sri Lanka led by Mahinda Rajapakse for violation of human rights and war crimes, for the sin of having eliminated terrorism which the west believed invincible. Whatever the enemies and the adversaries  say the President Mahind Rajapakse  after the elimination of terrorism did not rest on his laurels because his challenging tasks were still incomplete.

The greatest road construction project ever undertaken by a government of Sri Lanka since 1948 is again  by the government of the President Mahinda Rajapkse. He completely revolutionised the road construction by introducing modern highways from Colombo to Matara, and from Katunayake to Colombo.  This was accompanied with the construction of  overhead bridges, Concrete  and carpeted roads. The pinnacle of this road construct project was the Colombo Jaffna railway constructed with aid from India .  President Mahinda Rajapase had  begun a non-stop development process.

At the end of the completion of every one of these great undertakings  he approached the next task before him with the same determination and  confidence as it was with the elimination of terrorism, there were no shortage of critics  despite the fact that no other President  besides the President Rajapakse had dared launch on a series of development project with so much of ardour and hope of success. He was indeed a great patriot who dedicated every ounce of his energy in the development of his beloved country giving his people a country which they could be proud of.

The opponent of the President Mahinda Rajapakse show as example of  corruption the construction of roads.  This they do   without understanding the  tremendous engineering feat involved in the construction of high ways. They divide the total expenditure in kilo meters  of construction, and  questioning why there is a great disparity in the cost of construction of one highway compared to another. 

They compare the cost of construction of highways in Australia and Kenya and ask why it had coast so much more in Sri Lanka.  Having  had the privilege of being with one of the Engineers who had worked on the Colombo –Galle  Highway and now working on the outer circular road. I saw the on going construction of the outer circular road, the huge bridge being constructed  placing block by block.  It  is the work of  Sri Lankan workers, under the Japanese contractors assisted by Sri Lankan, Philipine and Pakistani Engineers

The land on which the road is built is a waterlogged marshy land . Lot of preparation has gone on the land itself before the road  had been constructed on huge cement towers driven deep into the land. The first layer of the road is earth checked for its reliability, some times collected from different parts  of Sri Lanka and transported to the place of work.  The sites where earth had been removed have to be  prepared , grass and shrubs  planted on it, and conserved   to avoid land slides.  The next layer of gravel is constantly checked for its quality and resistance before the road is carpeted. All that cost a tremendous amount of money.

Every land area where the highways were  constructed had required careful examination  and different construction methods had been used depending on the situation of the land and its quality of resistance. In Sri Lanka the highways run through villages and towns unlike in Australia  or Kenya where villages are either not by the highways or are far apart.  In Sri Lanka the highways run through villages.  Therefore facilities have to be provided for the people in villages on either side of the  highway to move from place to place. The 124 Km long southern highway  required the construction of  a large number of overhead bridges for the use of the villagers on either side of it.

Hence the critics who blatantly say the cost of construction  of highways are far excessive and that the discrepancy between the cost of construction of one highway and another  is a  proof  of  pilfering by way of commissions and bribes is an exaggeration  and  unverified statements made to bring disrepute to the Government.  Good governance is not measured from vague statements of vilification. 

One who makes a sincere objective evaluation of the work carried out by the Government of the President Mahinda Rajapakse since 2005 from  the elimination of terrorism, construction of roads to extending science education to the village schools, would see the extent of work the Government has carried out, which would have been impossible if there had been no good governance.

The President Mahinda Rajapakse  has begun a continuous process of development we have to forget democracy of the west and make democracy a workable method for Sri Lanka which has come out of a disastrous terrorism.  Therefore we cannot change pilots half way, which would result in a catastrophe.  We should therefore continue with President Mahinda Rajapakse to allow him complete the  process of development he began since 2005, and for him to unite the people which he alone can do,  and end corruption , and  criminality  and make our people peaceful and disciplined. 

In order to continue development,  to create a disciplined, safe and secure environment and give peace and happiness to the people, let us not hesitate to allow the President Mahinda Rajapakse  remain  the pilot until we reach our goal of success, unity and prosperity.