Let us be united

PRESIDENT Mahinda Rajapakse's Address to the Nation after being sworn in to office on Saturday is bound to have brought warmth and cheer to many a heart.

Taking on the issues facing Sri Lanka in a most direct and unambiguous fashion, President Rajapakse made it very clear that he was for resuming the negotiatory process with the LTTE and taking it to its logical conclusion with the participation of all concerned parties.

This position should make it amply clear that the President is opting for continuity of policy as regards the ethnic conflict.

He also clarified that in this undertaking he was for a multilateral rather than a bilateral approach on account of his advocacy of a widely participatory approach to finding a settlement to the problem.

There is nothing intrinsically problematic in this approach provided the negotiatory process is conducted within a definite time frame.

This would help in obviating prolonged delays in negotiating a deal. Such delays have been our main stumbling block to arriving at a settlement in the past and we call on the State to be very mindful of this fact.

Generally speaking, it is best to be alert to the fact that prolonged delays and foot-dragging in the peace effort have been grist to the will of the opponents of a negotiated settlement.

Besides pledging to work towards economic rejuvenation and a "new Sri Lanka" on the basis of "Mahinda Chinthana", the President is also on record as saying that he believed his friends "are those who offer just criticism and not those who sing hosannas in my name".

This is most encouraging and we hope this sentiment would be swiftly translated into a set of guidelines which would usher in efficiency and enterprise in the public service in particular, rather than strengthen favouritism, nepotism and sycophancy in the State sector.

Thus far, apathy and inefficiency has reigned in the public sphere and a considerable proportion of such ills is traceable to the relentless politicization of the State sector along with the proliferation of political favouritism, sycophancy and nepotism. May we finally see an end to these decades-long blights.

We do not also intend to downplay the importance of nation-building which is closely connected to the problem of bringing peace. There is a strong tendency to see Sri Lankan society in terms of a majority and minority communities.

This is an unfortunate line of thinking which has been prompted by the deep polarities and divisions within the local polity. In short, we do not have in Sri Lanka a united nation.

The task before the new President is to also end these divisions and present Lanka as a united whole. This could be achieved on the basis of the provision of dignity and fair play to all and we earnestly hope President Rajapakse would busily go about the task of healing these rifts which have continuously bred conflict and division.

His pledge to respect all religions and permit the rights of all these sections is a step in the correct direction which promises healing and bonding within Sri Lanka.

The President should create the mechanisms which would help in fostering communal and religious harmony. We should arrive at a point where everyone, irrespective of community, religion and social class, would feel perfectly at home in Sri Lanka. This is the test of true citizenship.

We call on the Opposition to adopt a constructive approach in its dealings with the Government. The President has extended to it a hand of friendship and we believe this hand needs to be clasped if some progress is to be made by the country in the task of national rejuvenation.