Firm resolve to defeat terrorism, evolve political solution
Our development strategy towards empowering the rural economy of our
country, where majority of our people live, has now become relevant to
the global economy itself in the context of the emerging world food
crisis and environmental challenges to our own survival. We have an
additional burden.
The following article, based on the address by
President Mahinda Rajapaksa to the Oxford Union on an invitation of the
Oxford Union and the Sri Lankan Society of Oxford University earlier
this year, is reproduced here to mark the completion of three years in
office by President Mahinda Rajapaksa. The speech, one of the most
significant and wide-ranging speeches by the President, covers a gamut
of issues from terrorism to rural development to human rights.
We are threatened by the challenge of terrorism and the need to
protect the rights of our fellow beings.
Sri Lanka where I was born and bred is a country where our culture is
firmly rooted in rural tradition. The Sri Lankan culture has been
essentially conditioned by the great religion of Buddhism, but later
influenced by Hinduism, Islam and Christianity.
Great legacy
It is not surprising then that in a world where rulers constructed
massive castles and grand palaces to demonstrate their power and wealth,
our kings constructed huge reservoirs - tanks, as we call them to
provide water to sustain food production and ensure sustainable
livelihood to the people. The great legacy left behind by our ancient
rulers, and which is in use even today scattered across three vast
provinces of my island home, is the massive irrigation network.
Buddhism taught us that we have no absolute ownership of the forests,
the rivers, the oceans and the atmosphere that sustain life; that every
generation holds the environment in trust, so that its abuse is
prevented; and that our duty was to hand down the environment to future
generations without harm.
Even today, over 77 per cent of our people still live in rural areas
because of a wide range of attractions in our rural home base. I myself
hail from the deep south, from an agrarian village with a beautiful
natural environment.
I am extremely proud of that fact. The attraction in our villages is
not only the economic resources and greenery, but also the traditional
culture, arts, religion and bio-diversity which are incentives to keep
our people away from migrating into urban townships.
The horrors of poverty and suffering that have engulfed many booming
Asian cities have not affected Sri Lanka.
Democracy
Strengthened by the caring attitude inherited from our ancient
rulers, we were able to adapt to modern democracy with great ease. It
was in 1931, while still under the British, that Sri Lanka was granted
universal franchise.
You will recall that Britain achieved this status only in 1926. Since
then we have continued to develop and strengthen democratic institutions
in Sri Lanka. Political pluralism has always been fundamental to our
democracy. We have parties of different political views represented in
our Parliament.
This diversity uniquely enriches Sri Lanka’s political canvass. The
Government, although elected by a Sinhala Buddhist majority, represents
a coalition of Sinhala, Tamil, and Muslim communities and all the
religious groups in the country. You will be hard pressed to find a
similarly representative Government in any of the other democracies of
the world. I am proud of our vibrant parliamentary system, the strong
judicial establishment, and the independent press.
Women in Sri Lanka enjoy equal opportunities with men. Over 60 per
cent of our medical practitioners are women. Over 80 per cent of our
teachers are women.
The nursing profession is dominated by women. The legal profession
too is increasingly dominated by women. Women have also entered sections
of the work force previously monopolised by men such as, academia,
engineering, computing, quantity surveying and architecture.
I recall with great delight that Sri Lanka produced world’s first
elected woman Prime Minister in 1960. Her husband, S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike
was also a prime minister of Sri Lanka.
Highest literacy
For decades we have invested in education and health. My country
enjoys one of the highest literacy standards in the world, while still
being categorised as a middle income developing country and more than 97
per cent of our children are enrolled at school.
Our infant mortality rate and maternal mortality rate at child birth,
is on par with that of many developed countries. The country provides
free healthcare to all. Education is free and universal from childhood
to university. During the primary and secondary school life of every
child the government provides free text books and uniforms.
One of my long-lasting joys is the sight of thousands of children in
crispy white uniforms heading for school each morning. This is probably
a sight that one cannot witness in many other places of the world.
Children are precious to us. I believe they are our future. We have
ensured a massive investment in our children.
children’s Welfare
My Government firmly believes that no child must be deprived of his
or her childhood. We have created a separate ministry to look after the
welfare of our children. We do not employ any children in our labour
force, and no one below the age of 18 is recruited to our Armed Forces -
unlike the LTTE, which engages thousands in its baby brigades.
These children are robbed of their childhood, and brutality is
ingrained into their character, making them life-long misfits for
society.
Sri Lanka has achieved a very high standard in the United Nations
Human Development Index, and we have already, to a large extent,
achieved the Millennium Development Goals.
There are no signs of obvious starvation in any part of the country.
In fact for over 25 years, since the beginning of the LTTE’s violent
challenge to our very existence, to our sovereignty, the Government has
been sending food, medicine and educational material to the two
districts dominated by the LTTE.
Every single teacher, nurse, doctor, hospital and government official
in the LTTE controlled areas is appointed and paid by the Government.
Very few countries grappling with terrorism have been so accommodating.
This itself illustrates the caring nature of our society. These
noteworthy achievements have been possible because of a holistic view of
human development to which we have always been firmly committed. We
believe that development becomes meaningful to the vast mass of the
people only when its fruits are capable of being enjoyed by all segments
of the people.
Our development model as presented in my election manifesto, the
Mahinda Chintana, signifies the empowerment of the rural economy.
The centrepiece of this new strategy will be the development of
modern infrastructure throughout the country to provide a basis for
development of agriculture, industry, construction, tourism, SMEs and
transport services that will bring about new opportunities to our people
in the rural economy.
Our strategy has enhanced the public investments over 6 per cent of
GDP to support Randora - meaning Golden Gate - our infrastructure
development initiative to develop new ports, power generation and
distribution networks, and integrated townships to the link rural
economy to the global economy and create new space for growth.
We have integrated strategies to promote insurance, shipping,
aviation, trade, logistic industries and petroleum explorations, and
above all, skills and knowledge to position Sri Lanka as an emerging
economic hub in South Asia.
Gama Neguma
Empowering people at grass roots level is equally important in this
whole development process. Gama Neguma meaning revival of the village,
is an initiative to empower communities, adopting bottom up programmes
originating from communities and reflecting their needs.
A series of rural development initiatives have been implemented,
permitting the community to prioritise their needs and objectives. These
initiatives are monitored by community leaders to ensure that a larger
volume of resources are productively used for the betterment of the
rural community. The main thrust of this programme is to retain people
in rural environments, rather than encouraging them to move into urban
areas; which has been the pattern in many developing economies.
Achievements
Why should people move into urban areas and live in slums or
sub-standard housing, when they can live in very healthy environments in
villages, and enjoy clean air, water and pure and good food. It is my
belief that rural people are much healthier than those who live in urban
cities.
Consolidating our achievements in human resource development, we are
now working towards a knowledge economy based on productivity, skills,
knowledge and technology. Therefore, education and health is being
undertaken at grass roots level through multi-faceted government
programmes. In particular, I am very keen to ensure that our children
are able to become global citizens through the use of Information
Technology.
The essence of our rural empowerment programme is to ensure that
rural infrastructure development takes place at a rapid rate. So far
neglected rural roads are being paved today with concrete to make them
last the monsoon rains that are common in our part of the world. Rural
electricity programmes, community water supply schemes, minor irrigation
projects, housing and market facilities are included in our rural
infrastructure development drive.
In essence our strategy is to level the playing field between the
‘urban, organised minority’ and the ‘rural, unorganised majority’, in
the national development process. I am encouraged that our development
strategy - Mahinda Chintana - Vision Towards a New Sri Lanka, sustained
a near 7 per cent economic growth during the last three years, and
reached US dollars 1,600 per capita income in 2007. Except in one
district, people below the poverty line have declined drastically in
2007.
Challenged
Unfortunately we are being challenged by “the most brutal terrorist
group in the world” as the LTTE has been described by the FBI. Suicide
killings using even women and children have become their hallmark.
They killed Rajiv Gandhi, the former Prime Minister of India, and
Ranasinghe Premadasa, the former President of Sri Lanka.
A senior Minister of my government, a Tamil speaking Catholic, was
brutally murdered by a suicide killer, along with a former Olympic
athlete among many others participating in a sporting event. They also
killed our former Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, a scholar of
distinction, and legal luminary. The LTTE is the most brutal terror
outfit the world has ever seen, and defeating them requires global
support.
What Sri Lanka is doing, in my opinion, is fighting this terror
outfit single handed to ensure that democracy and respect for human life
prevail in the world. If we fail in our war against the LTTE, the world
will fail in its fight against terrorism, and democracy will be the
victim. This is the plain truth.
There is a considerable challenge to the Security Forces of my
country, whose goal is simply to protect the innocents and their simple
way of life.
We need to understand that our Security Forces do not go out of their
way to harass innocents, or to discriminate against a minority.
It is the terrorist group that decides when to strike: They decide
the time, the place and the opportunity. They are in no way constrained
by the values and procedures which rightly control the responses of
democratic Governments. These realities must be taken into account as
the basis of a fair and objective assessment of Sri Lanka’s situation.
success
Although many have said that the LTTE is invincible, we have freed
our Eastern Province of their terror. Within one year we have restored
democracy thereafter nearly two decades.
As our Forces seek to defeat and disarm the LTTE, we are firm in our
resolve to have a negotiated solution to the crisis in Sri Lanka.
I do not believe in a military solution. We have attempted talks with
the LTTE on several occasions - thrice since my election as the
President - but they have not reciprocated. They have always left the
talks with lame excuses. We are still ready to talk, once we are certain
of their genuine intent for a political solution... and their readiness
to give up arms.
The protection and advancement of human rights continues to be a
challenge for all of us, not only in Sri Lanka but globally. I only seek
to encourage you to think of Sri Lanka as a country that has achieved
considerable success in caring for its citizens. |