Defining moment for Easteners

Today marks a defining moment for the people of the East where for the first time in over two decades they will be exercising their sovereign right of franchise sans the overpowering influence of the LTTE.

They will today walk to their polling booths en masse with their heads held high unbowed to any threats, intimidation or coercion which they had been subjected to during their slavish existence under the gun all these years.

Today they will vote of their own free will undaunted by any diktats and as free people who beginning this day will became their own masters and have a say in their own destiny. No more will any terrorist group have a hold of their lives and lead them by the nose.

In that sense the Eastern Provincial Council election today is a symbolic milestone that has enabled the people of the East to slough off the vestments of servility and rise as a proud people reasserting themselves in the soil of their birth.

For this, they have to be grateful in large measure to President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the Security Forces for redeeming them from the iron grip of a ruthless terrorist organisation and restating their pride and dignity as a people while enthroning their rights and liberties such as free expression and political dissent which were alien concepts to a community that was under seige.

It is now up to them to view this freedom in proper perspective and use today’s vote judiciously to ensure the start that has been made to set the region on the road to progress and prosperity would go ahead unabated without any hiccup.

It is incumbent on the Eastern voter today to vote with his head rather than his heart to ensure the dividends of his liberation will accrue to him without let or hindrance.

It is hoped they would use their better judgement ignoring parochial considerations keeping foremost in mind to deliver a verdict that would not in any way stymie the gigantic development programmes now proceeding apace on their behalf and for their emancipation and emergence from a harrowing ordeal.

Now that they have been given a free hand in their choice of elected representatives it is hoped that the Eastern voter would act with discretion in exercising this right and make the most of the opportunity afforded them to effect a transformation that would lead to progress, prosperity and deliverance to the Eastern populace while opening doors for brighter prospects. .

The Government has already showcased the East as a model of development. What has to be considered in this election is to use it as an opportunity to realise the dreams and aspirations of the Eastern population.

This is not an ordinary poll but one that would chart the destiny of a people who were left rudderless in an ocean of turmoil and turbulence. Mature leadership is necessary to ensure they pick up the pieces of their lives and hitch them back to their traditional moorings.

It is hoped such a leadership would emerge at the conclusion of today’s election that would be up to the task guiding these wounded people to their desired destinies.

There is much in the pipeline to be accomplished and the Government is pouring in all resources to ensure the East which had been languishing in the periphery all these years is brought on par with the rest of the country. Therefore, this election assumes special significance for the people of the East.

It cannot be treated as a mundane democratic exercise but that which has a lot riding for the future of the province. It should necessarily have a meaning to the people unlike any other poll where everything is forgotten once the dust settles down.

If there was one election in recent times on which the people’s expectations were riding so high it is today’s in the East. Let us hope that the new found freedom of the people of the East is reinforced by a fitting outcome at the polls that would usher in a new dawn to the Province and giving the Easterner a place in the sun.