Three years that instilled a sense of patriotism

Darmitha-Kotte

Listening to the morning ‘Subharathi’ programme on the National Service of the SLBC this morning, makes one feel proud that at long last the Sinhala listeners are able to listen to programmes with a nationalistic flavour to them.

While most of the English programmes thrive on aping foreign aspirations even in the English accents we hear from those who conduct such programmes which is a far cry from the excellent renditions we heard from the likes of Jimmy Barouche and Vijaya Corea, the Sinhala programme mentioned above makes the listener feel a sense of belonging as well as pride about our country.

Before 2005 during the leaderships of Chandrika Kumaratunga and Ranil Wickremesinghe their agenda which was blatantly flaunted, was to ridicule nationalistic sentiments and patriotism and to be cynical towards the Sinhala Buddhist culture at every possible turn. Many attitudes and things have changed in this country after November 2005 when President Mahinda Rajapaksa took over the mantle of Executive President from Chandrika Kumaratunga and subsequently the leadership of the SLFP.

Within the Colombo 7 elitist politicians President Mahinda Rajapaksa was described as a person who could not speak English properly - this was their yardstick to judge the capabilities of a person. They all crossed their fingers in the hope that he would crumble before long and that they could regain their political supremacy which unfortunately seems to have fallen by the wayside.

Today we have an Executive President who is proud to wear the National Dress that his father also wore, is proud to speak in Sinhala and keep the listeners spellbound with his eloquent speeches in which he extols the virtues of patriotism and the Sinhala Buddhist culture and heritage that is part and parcel of this island called Sri Lanka.

He is proud of the achievements he has gained during a mere three years which others could not achieve in 17 years (1977-1994 under UNP), 11 years (1994-2005 under CBK as President with a two year stint of Ranil Wickremesinghe as Prime Minister).

Our country has begun to regain the self-esteem which we had lost completely save for the valiant fight that the late Lakshman Kadirgamar as Foreign Minister put, to place Sri Lanka back on the international map and erase that black mark the UNP left us for posterity.

Since 2005 Sri Lanka has been able to convince most of the Western governments, our neighbouring countries India and Pakistan that the current Government is determined to eradicate terrorism from this country and that the exercise is by no means targeting the ordinary Tamil civilian but the LTTE terrorists.

He has also stated in simple clear language, that ‘terrorism’ whether it is in USA, UK, Europe, Australia, Iraq, Pakistan, India or Sri Lanka - are all one and the same inhuman, brutal terrorism wreaking untold misery on the entire country.

Within these three years, even the USA and UK have now begun to tone down their accusations and support President Rajapaksa in his efforts to free this country and bring back peace and harmony to all citizens.

Since 2005 President Rajapaksa has managed to hand over the war front operations entirely to the Commanders of The Combined Armed Forces without interference to carry out their duties to free this country of Prabhakaran’s brutality towards his own Tamil community which he professes to represent as ‘Sole Representative’ and even this myth is crumbling fast due to the fact that Tamils living in the North are realizing how much they have suffered due to the LTTE atrocities and how their families have been held to ransom.

Other than the unrepentant and blind TNA who still continue to be the mouthpiece of the LTTE within the Sri Lankan Parliament, most other Tamils living in this country are extremely happy that before long, terrorism will be wiped out from Sri Lanka.

The morale of our valiant soldiers is at an all time high and they are moving forward into LTTE areas with caution, discipline and strategic precision. The once proclaimed ‘un-winnable war against the LTTE’ proclaimed by the UNP and then Chiefs of the Armed Forces, has now taken a 360 degree turn with the able command of Sarath Fonseka leading the Armed Forces. The last heroic achievement is their entry into Pooneryn and the withdrawal of the LTTE from their stronghold.

Since 2005 the current Government under President Rajapaksa has been able to carry on programmes running parallel with the ongoing terrorist war, agricultural and economic to boost the local economy even though it may sometimes seem to be with a few hiccups on the infra-structural areas.

Those living in big cities are talking about the ‘untold suffering of the masses’ for their own political agendas while the villagers feel that they have a better future under this government taking into consideration all the decisions taken to give the local economic stakeholders a better deal to protect the local economy.

Since 2005 the INGOs, NGOs, Foreign Funding Agencies, Western Governements that have for so long been dictating how we must run our internal affairs and country, are beginning to feel uncomfortable in the presence of President Rajapaksa because he dares to challenge them and tell them where to draw the line unlike formerly when Ranil Wickremesinghe would rush his Ministers all the way to American, British and European leaders to obtain medication even for a ‘cough!’

Since 2005 we are now hearing of various measures being taken by the GOSL to instill decent moral standards in the minds of the young in this country.

Many programmes which give a sense of identity and pride by identifying oneself as a Sri Lankan are being conducted to gradually make our citizens proud and patriotic.

Buddhism and Buddhist programmes on SLBC have been increased to instill proper religious practices in the minds of the majority of this country.

There is no doubt that the President must be a happy man while going down memory lane and looking back at three years of achievements. Let us hope that we will all witness the day when we can celebrate unity, peace and harmony among all communities with the achievements of our Armed Forces as they move forward to perform their duty and eliminate terrorism from Sri Lanka.