This is the time for unity
Address by President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the ceremony to pay tribute
to the Heroes of War at the Parliament Grounds on May 22, 2009
This is the first War Heroes commemoration rally being held in the
country that has obtained complete freedom after 30 years. I address you
today a country that is completely free, in a unitary state, under a
single national standard.
Many years ago many of you too, did not think it would be possible to
defeat the LTTE militarily. Not only you, even the international
community did not believe we would be ever able to carry out that task.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa acknowledges the greetings from
the multitude at the Parliament ground yesterday. Picture by
Saman Sri Wedage |
Some national leaders from abroad told me that the LTTE leader was
one who had achieved the best skills in warfare; that he had won in
battles against many of our military commanders. The LTTE had both
strength and experience. Therefore, we should not go to war with him.
They wanted what was already divided to be given to the LTTE.
However, I had a great belief in the people of this country and our
Security Forces; not only in the Commanders and higher ranks but in all
our brave troops. There were some who said our Army Commander was not
even suitable to lead the Salvation Army. Where are they now? I know
better about our people than the international community. We placed our
trust in our people. We had great trust in our sons and daughters.
The people of our country have a great love and devotion to their
land of birth. This love and devotion is mostly hidden. I knew that when
this love and devotion begins to emerge, it will not be second to any
power in the world. We can then stand up to any power in the world.
What we enjoy today are the benefits of that love for the country. We
have today destroyed the world’s most ruthless terrorists without
leaving any of their leaders.
Terrorists have nothing today. Some may still be hidden behind masks,
we know about them.
Today, the terrorists have no large camps to which they can forcibly
take away the children of Tamil mothers for military training.
Artillery, heavy weapons and tanks do not speak for the terrorists
anymore.
Aircraft and runways have been blown to smithereens. Oil storage
complexes, weapons factories, administrative centres of terror have been
uprooted from the motherland. Naval forces and ships can rest on the sea
bed. The days when they were able to build marine fortresses and
harbours are over. The courts of the Tigers have been swept out our
motherland forever.
In short, the entire 15,000 kilometers of territory once given
through a deed of gift to terrorists is entirely free.
In the past when a mother and father came to Colombo from Galle, one
came by train and the other by bus, to make sure their children would
have even one parent. The school van service was a solution the people
found for the terrorist problem. Traveling in public transport was
considered an invitation to death.
Mothers in the north did not send their children to school for fear
they will be dragged to war. Mothers in the south kept guard at schools
for fear of bomb attacks. When our children went to school, in the North
and East the children carried T-56 in their hands and cyanide capsules
round their necks. Now our people are free of these fears.
The National Flag flutters calling for unity today. This is the first
time that I address rally where the Nation Flag is seen with such pride.
There was a time when permission was needed from the LTTE to raise
the National Flag in Trincomalee. The LTTE wanted their flag too raised.
Where ever there is no right to hoist the National Flag, there is no
freedom.
The Lion Flag fluttering proudly at the Parliament grounds
yesterday. |
Today, both in the south and north, and every where the LTTE had
fortresses, it is the same flag that flies. Today, the National Flag on
the three wheeler in Dondra flutters in Jaffna, too. The flag that is
raised at the Dalada Maligawa in Kandy flutters in Puthumathalan, too.
We must be proud of this freedom we have obtained after 30 years. We
should rejoice in it. If not you cannot be a child of Mother Lanka.
However, in expressing that pride we should do so with great
restraint. We must not hurt the feelings of any others.
What you have in your hands today is a flag that has been adorned by
the sacrifices of the lives of thousands of our heroic troops, in
carrying on a battle as the world’s best and most disciplined army.
This flag flutters with pride not only in the south. It is also seen
on the houses of the Tamil people in the North, in the homes of the
Muslims in Trincomalee, and the homes of the Adivasis, too. Therefore,
at a time when everyone is thinking as being in one country, one should
not hurt the feelings of anyone.
If when you raise the National Flag to celebrate this victory a
single Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim, Burgher, Malay or any other person is
hurt, there is no purpose in that celebration. Dignified people do not
behave in such manner. Victory must be accepted looking towards the
future. In order to defend our victory there should be discipline.
Those of the all political parties are also celebrating with kiribath
today. This is because they too think of a single country. This is the
time for unity. If we take this flag to our hand and hurt the feelings
of any citizen, there will be no purpose in the freedom that was won for
us by the sacrifice of life our troops.
For how long have we waited for this day? For how long have we
suffered? How many lives of our children have been sacrificed? So many
of our people in the three armed forces, the police and civil defence
corps have sacrificed their lives in the past 30 years.
Remember that when this National Flag flutters in the wind it also
carries the last breaths of our heroes of war. I ask of you that as long
as we breathe we must remember these heroes.
It is the nation’s responsibility to look after the families of those
who sacrificed their lives in this battle. To the families of our troops
who have sacrificed their lives I say that other than the life of your
son, brother or husband, we will provide everything else to you; and
that as long as those you love rest in this earth, we shall always,
always remember you. What we won by so much sacrifice of life must be
protected. This War Memorial was erected before Parliament to pay our
heroes of war the due homage
The world still commemorates those heroes of war who died in the
Second World War to save the world from Hitler. As long as the poppy
flower blossoms those heroes are remembered. Today it is necessary to
name a flower of our own to commemorate the Sri Lankan heroes of war who
have saved this world from terror. It is necessary that we make the
world remember our heroes of war for as long as that flower blooms. It
is the only way to protect and defend this victory.
Earlier in 1856, there were five socio-political forces, known as
Sangha, Veda, Guru, Govi, Kamkaru. These comprised the Pancha Maha
Balvegaya. But today there is another important force. They are the
Heroes of War. The Ranaviru Balavegaya. Therefore from now on we will
have to say “Sangha, Veda, Guru, Govi, Kamkaru saha Ranaviru”. When the
heroes of war also join, this will be a six- fold force. We should go
forward today with these forces in the vanguard.
The new freedom of this country is a great responsibility. From the
first to the fourth Executive President and government of our country,
whenever they had to face a problem they had an answer at the ready. It
is to put all the blame on the war. But now that the war is over neither
I, nor any one who comes after, have no such thing to say. Our ministers
too cannot now be free of responsibility. No one can say that and escape
now.
We all have to show our success in work. That is the meaning of
accepting responsibility for the people. We took over the country
accepting that responsibility. We are ready to carryout that
responsibility in a manner better than any ruler in our history has
done. All of us should shoulder this responsibility, including the
working people.
As much as I have fulfilled the promise in the Mahinda Chinthana to
rid this country of terrorism, I now say that I will also fulfill the
promise the build the nation. We must eliminate corruption and waste
from the country. We must track down those behind the drug peddlers and
bootleggers.
You must now be able to live in this country as you did 30 or 40
years ago. Today, you have won an incomparable battle and come to the
position of greatness as a nation in the world. That nation should be
adorned with discipline.
Many are the obstacles placed in our way in this struggle. It was no
walk on a bed of roses. Our troops had to face torrential rains, they
were caught in major floods, waded across deep ditches, they struggled
through mud and grime. When the LTTE was building huge earth bunds some
in the south tried to build huge concrete walls against us, to obstruct
our work. The pressures that came at us internationally were not small.
As much as our friends, there were other states too, that hurt us very
much. But, today all of these countries are congratulating us on our
victory. Now the world sees that the path we took was correct. We cannot
have anger and hatred in our minds.
In this struggle the biggest beating and the most painful things
happened to me as the Head of State. Many tried to topple me; there was
much mud slinging and character assassination of me. It was me, and
others of my family, the Defence Secretary and the Army Commander that
they wanted to take to international criminal courts. Some are trying to
do this even now. But I am not afraid of walking up to any gallows,
having defeated the world’s worst terrorists, and I know that I have the
confidence and the strength of my people.
But I have forgiven all of the, who were obstructing us. If I have
been able to forget to all this wrong done to me, you must also be able
to do so. As I have put all of that to the past, you must also do the
same. In the face of this victory a section of our own people should not
be cornered. They should be drawn in to our midst. Let us create a path
where by which their wrongs and enmities of the past will be abandoned
and they work for the country in the future. All I need is for my
country, my motherland to shine in glory.
There are some who try to deprive us of this victory. This cannot be
done, because we have the strength of the people. I must on behalf of
the nation express my sincere gratitude to all parents who gave their
children and wives who gave their husbands for this great battle. Our
thanks go not only to the Defence Secretary, the Chief of Defence Staff,
the Army, Navy and Air Force Commanders, the Inspector General of Police
and the Director General of the Civil Defence Corps. It goes in full
measure to all officers and those of all ranks who contributed so much,
with such sacrifice to achieve this victory. I salute them all.
I now call upon all you take example and join in the new challenge of
building the Nation.
I invite you all to come together to achieve this. |