Elections have demonstrated people power

Dhanapala WEERASEKERA

While the UNP and the JVP continue to live in the past era, when voters decisions could be swayed by promises of individual benefits, such as cheaper and more abundant food, and a wide range of personal benefits, better life and fast solutions to almost every problem they faced, the voters in general have matured into a powerful democratic force, whose actions and assessments are based on issues of political and national importance.

In such a situation, the criticisms levelled at the Government and puerile platform utterances by the Opposition leaders and their spokesmen were taken as insults to their intelligence by the voters who, decades after independence have progressed to a position equal to politically advanced nations, where voters decide not on individuals nor on temporary personal benefits, but on the importance to their nation and its people.

Analysis

The leaders of the opposition never seem to learn. Their analysis of the election results shows that they still consider our general public as simpletons who would swallow any jargon they utter and is published in the media. The UNP tries to cover up their historic defeat by their calculation that all who did not vote at the elections are anti-government.

The correct assessment is that the vast majority of voters who chose freely, plus those who are generally supporters of the Government front parties voted together and of the voters who generally vote for the UNP, a large section decided to vote in support of the Government’s nationally important policies and achievements. A large number of UNPers traditionally loyal to the UNP felt it anti-national to vote against the Government, but live in hope that their grand old party will recover with a better leadership, refrained from voting.

Attention

As such the vast majority of non voters are really against the present UNP but do not want to cast a vote against the President’s leadership and the Government’s policies.

The latest effort to draw some attention to their fading image is pathetic to say the least. The UNP leadership wants a debate on the question of a ceasefire being pushed by pro LTTE factions, and attempts to project their party leader as a stalwart against any ceasefire despite the governments and the military leaders assurance that there is and will never be a ceasefire with the LTTE, ignoring the fact that the government has decided to refrain from use of heavy arms and air strikes quite obviously and justifiably to prevent harm to the civilians trapped in the small area left to the LTTE.

These are the same leaders whose position before the defeat of the LTTE was in favour of ceasefire agreements, and who granted ceasefire periods at a heavy cost to the country. These same people previously blamed the Government for using heavy arms and risking the lives of civilians. MP Jayalath Jayawardana joins in, reminding the public that it was he who first requested a settlement of problems by discussion and was accused of being pro LTTE.

He either does not understand, or actually had pro LTTE sympathies, and does not see the great difference between discussing and settling the problem when the LTTE was in domination, and the Tamils were under LTTE control and unable to make any decisions outside the approval of the LTTE and the present Government’s stand, that discussions and a final settlement will be definitely achieved by discussing with the Tamils, as well as other interested or affected representatives when Tamils are free to express their views and genuine Tamil leaders not subservient to the LTTE are able to represent them.

Dependant

The UNP and the almost defunct JVP state that the Government’s victory was unduly dependant on the anti-terrorist victories, ignoring the truth that the victories were possible due to the President’s firm decisions and correct leadership and confidence placed in the fighting Forces unlike many of our past leaders whose vacillation and interference with military strategies to suit national and international pro LTTE lobby.

The UNP forgets the fact that the UNP election victories in the early days of independence were mainly due to projecting the image of the first Prime Minister as Father of the Nation and ignoring the several other leaders of other parties and nationalities who contributed to gaining our independence.

Contributions

Our people in general are grateful to leaders of the past and still remember them for their national contributions though party politics has in many cases split even these memories. How then is it that the UNP expects people not to appreciate the great achievement in recent history by our present leader President Rajapaksa? Does it surprise them that the people laughed off and continue to ridicule the election claims by the UNP leaders? Some of them are worth repeating and answering.

In the initial stage of the final military push, the UNP’s stance was that the President should agree to the ceasefire demanded by the foreign powers. Not a word was ever mentioned in favour of the military offensive. Most public utterances by the UNP were in support of the foreign power’s demand for a ceasefire and strengthened the claim of such powers and their insinuations that there was anti Tamil violence by the Army.

When publicity was given to the massive continuing victories of the Forces, the UNP leader pipped in with a statement that most of the powerful arms used by the Forces had been imported during his government. He tried to get some credit for himself from the victories. The people however question why with such good arms which he claims were imported by his regime, he preferred a ceasefire and discussions instead of using such arms to fight the LTTE? His next accusation in the face of the victories and operations which resulted in the greatest ever release of hostages, was that the Government did not consult him or the Parliament about the final battle. He might as well have asked why we did not give prior warning to the LTTE.

The Government and the President are faced with an opposition led by the UNP, which does not even support the emergency regulations. The people have not forgotten the killing by the LTTE of the Special Intelligence Unit due to the loose political folly of the UNP when they came into power.

Lobby

The UNP next wants the statistics of the numbers killed, knowing that such figures are just what the pro LTTE local and foreign lobby wants.

He hopes that even a little of the credit earned by the President and the Forces will be reduced, and he too will be able to earn some little credit for himself too from the pro LTTE factions and the public hoping that they have forgotten the UNP history of human rights at Batalanda.

The people voted for, and continue to support the President and his Government not only due to the victories, but because they support his non vacillating leadership, unchanging anti LTTE stance, the strength to stand up for the interests of our country and all its people in the face of pressures of local and foreign powers.

Unwavering

His unwavering position of ‘country and its people first’ has won him the people’s support. It is very significant that the bulk of the votes received by the Government nominees are from the sections of the people most affected by the rising prices and financial stresses caused mainly by the global financial crisis and the war. The postal votes of public servants, the voters of rural areas, urban areas and even the middle class areas of Colombo voted for the Government.

They placed national interests above their own temporary shortcomings and problems, while the UNP’s votes were mainly from among the sections of people who were upper middle class and upper class and either were not affected by prices, or were those not prepared to make any sacrifices for the future of the nation. This is very clearly seen by the results in the Colombo city.

The manner in which the anti LTTE fight has been conducted and the manner in which he has placed the national interests before all else has created a strong confidence that despite present and even future hardships, they and the future of the country is secure under the leadership of the President.