Birthday tribute to President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga

The Saviour of the Nation - humanist and leader

by Dr. T. C. Rajaratnam

Today is the birthday of President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. I wish her many more years as the leader of our nation.

President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga's success is her experience to cope with trials and tribulations in the cause of humanism, democracy, justice and freedom.

It is with strength and courage the President has overcome the barriers and made a decision that humanity prevails over anything else. Those who obstruct her, have scant regard for humanity and human conscience.

A thousand schemers who advance the politics of petty bickering and extreme partisanship, conspirators within and without are no match for the strength and decency of the human spirit - the humane President. It is also sad, that some for mean political mileage have exploited their office by dramatising certain events in the recent past and exploiting the private media to undermine and give an image to tarnish the image of the President. Perhaps these are traits of seeking power, seeking publicity and playing a multi-facial role in politics to gain by hook or by crook the arena to compete. Some are noted for lamenting that they were not aware of the contents of the Memorandum of Understanding for the establishment of a Post-Tsunami Operational Management Structure (P-TOMS). Some are noted for saying that they cannot understand as it is vague. Fortunately for the President, the main party in the opposition agreed to support the P-TOMS. In spite of all these obstacles, the President took affirmative action.

This affirmative action has been accepted by the entire world. It has been accepted by the major opposition party in Parliament.

Progress toward these noble goals is persistently threatened by the conflict now engulfing the nation, it commands our whole attention. We face hostile ideology, ruthless in purpose and insidious in method. To meet and overcome this successfully, we would see emotional and transitory sacrifices of crisis but rather those which enable us to carry forward steadily, surely and without complaint the burdens of a prolonged and complex struggle.

We have witnessed several explosions, several assassinations and disasters both created by man and nature. We must now learn how to use our resources in the interests of peace and human betterment. We should recognise the need for development. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.

We should at any cost strive to protect the liberty and freedom of humanity. To this end, the entire nation should honour the President for her affirmative action. Let both sides to a conflict explore the problems unite us instead of belabouring those problems which divide.

For every generation, there is a destiny. For some history decides. For this generation it has been our President and the decision has been magnanimous. She has saved the nation.

We must bring our country together amid all our diversity into a stronger community so that we can find a common ground and move forward as one. To this end, she has reached beyond our fears and our divisions to a new time of great and common purpose. To bring our people together she has openly and honestly dealt with the issues that divide us.

It is a moral imperative, a constitutional mandate and a legal necessity to support our President in her daring quest for peace. There are many of us who have silently wept in the privacy of our homes as a result of terrorist attacks and natural disasters that followed suit. As human beings we all suffered, some physically and emotionally but all others emotionally. Those days were not very long ago. Our President is determined to help all those who were affected. This is the right attitude of any leader. Discrimination is not just morally wrong, it hurts. When we allow people to pit us against one another or spend energy denying opportunity based on our differences, everyone is held back. A lot has changed. More humane attitudes have been nurtured in the minds of the people - all at the instance of one person - our leader, the President.

The nature and role of the President is affirmative. Managing diversity and individual opportunity and being fair to everybody is the key to our future economic success in the global marketplace. So must the government. Those who ought to co-operate and have collective responsibility are spent forces promoting more for destruction than for development.

She has indeed had more conversation than combat... she has always stated that any person could differ but should present an alternative.

She has moved beyond division and resentment to common ground. She has gone beyond cynicism to a sense of possibility. The President has acknowledged that we're not one race and we're not one ethnic group. But that we do share a common piece of ground here. She has recognised the need to respect our differences and hear them. The President has performed the noble task. Those who opposed her in her quest for humanism cannot succeed in their political endeavours - they are not worthy to even wipe the dust off her sandals.

Unnecessary conflict was brought to a just and honourable conclusion but from the resolution there are elements who create conflicts. This brings new hope that when some people are singled out for destruction because of their heritage and religious faith and we can do something about it, the world will not look the other way. It is the duty of the President to take affirmative action and cast away the elements that disrupt her attempt to resolve the conflict.

The decision of the President will bring new prospect in human affairs. A moment that will define our course and our character for decades to come. Our President will overcome all adversities.

We have been touched by tragedy, exhilarated by challenge, strengthened by achievement. Problems that seem to deepen can bend to our efforts.

We witnessed the trials and tribulations as a nation, we must also appreciate the fact that the President has so ably guided us to where we are today. For moving forward is rarely accomplished without considerable grief and sadness and whilst our sorrow may be profound the clouds will clear and the sun will shine on us again and we shall as a nation rejoice under the leadership of President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga. We need political stability for economic development. We have a nation suffered too much with too little help from those who ought to co-operate with us to jointly steer towards development.

The challenge of our past remains the challenge of our future; will we be one nation, one people, with one common destiny... or not? Will we come together or come apart? The President has laid a solid foundation. As a nation we should appreciate the noble quality of our leader.

The divide of race and religion has been Sri Lanka's curse. Prejudice, contempt cloaked in the pretence of religious or political conviction are no different. They have nearly destroyed us in the past. They plague us still. They fuel the fanaticism of terror - they are no different than the terrorists. These obsessions cripple both those who are hated and of course those who hate. Rob both of what they might become. We must live together, learn together, forge new ties that bind together and it is only then that there would be great results.

The demands of our time are great, and they are diverse. Let us meet them with courage and patience. Let us shape the hope of this tenure into the noblest chapter in our history. The President will overcome the crisis. We shall stand as a nation united. We should become more decent, more humane, more united.

President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga witnessed at a young age, the assassination of her father (then Prime Minister in office), the attempt to overthrow democracy, the martyrdom of her mother for the cause of truth, democracy and justice (the first lady Prime Minister of the world) the assassination of her spouse a Political Leader- Vijaya Kumaratunga and the attempted assassination of herself in 1999 during the Presidential election campaign wherein she lost the sight of one eye and assaults against the very foundations of a free society. The President recently learnt that there were some amongst her trusted team who would dare stab her in the back for power. The President bears no grudge or prejudice. She has a deep sense of responsibility and she has since assuming office spent more time for the country and the nation than with her own family. Yet she knows no hate. The sense of commitment, determination and courage to bring about a lasting solution.

Our nation has been torn apart by the evils of terrorism and natural disaster. Each time we as a nation suffered, the President too suffered as she too is human and humane and naturally it is difficult to feel like the most powerful person in the country at times like that, because, there is no answer-there is no justification for the pain.

We look for diplomacy. But there is no diplomacy with some of those opposed to us. We do not consider them opponents but they oppose every conceivable move we make to develop the country. Sometimes, there is no compromise with such people, no meeting of minds-no point of understanding-so we would have a just choice-defeat it or be defeated by it.

We must work as a community to ensure that everyone not just a privileged few get the collective ability to further the individual's interests. The governing idea of modern social democracy is community founded on the principles of social justice. That people should rise according to merit not birth; that the test of any decent society is not the contentment of the wealthy and strong, but the commitment to the poor and weak.

The President has taught us the courage to learn and change; to show how values that stand for all ages can be applied in a way relevant to each age. We are a community of people, whose self interest and mutual interest at crucial points merge and that it is through a sense of justice that community is born and nurtured.

The President has brought the faiths closer together in understanding of our common values and heritage a source of unity and strength. By the strength of our common endeavour we achieve more together than we can alone.

She has earnestly endeavoured to unify the nation. She is totally committed to serve the people. It is genuine, unwavering and it is selfless.

No progress can be made unless a common ground is established. To endeavour to establish common ground certain specific responsibilities on the people and political leader should be imposed. More of our people must set an example. People should be made conscious of their conduct. We must learn to discuss matters with those who are different from us. Not just people who agree with us but with somebody who is different.

A government that is smaller should live within its means and would do more with less. The mission of our government is to give people an opportunity to build better lives. We have much to do as the people. The government alone cannot do it. We as the people must co-operate and owe allegiance to the Constitution and its President.

President Chandrika Kumaratunga exercises her powers vested in her by virtue of the Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and make decisions in the best interests of the nation for the love and conscience of humanity.

(The writer is the Co-ordinating Secretary to the Chief Government Whip of Parliament, Advisor to the chambers for Academic and professional studies, UNOPS Consultant and a Foreign Correspondent)