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If not for President Rajapaksa the LTTE would still be in power
today. During the past 30 years there were many good Generals who were
leading the war, but they did not get the political directions and
guidance like what the President provided to finish the war.
In any country there are two classes vying for political power: the
capitalist class and the working class. The party representing the
capitalist class will cater to the interests of their class.
The reader might remember that Mrs. Bandaranaike brought a Land
Reform Act whereby any person could own only up to 50 acres of land.
The Bandaranaikes who owned hundreds of acres gave up their lands in
accordance with this Act. But when J R came to power in 1977 the first
Act he brought up in Parliament was to abolish the Land Reform Act!
The Bandaranaikes introduced legislation that catered to the working
class. The Paddy Lands Act is a good example. The Insurance Corp, State
Engineering Corp, Steel Corp, Transport Board etc. were all established
not by the UNP.
The Employees Provident Fund was established by SWRD where millions
of the working class (to which you and I belong) were increasingly
benefitted.
Would the UNP have set up the EPF? What would retirement be like to
an employee if he did not have the EPF? That is why because I belong to
the working class I will not vote for the UNP which represents the
Capitalist class.
Nepotism is defined in the dictionary as follows. “Favouritism shown
to relatives or friends in conferring office or privileges.” In his book
‘Three Prime Ministers’ G L Fernando vividly describes how D S wanted
his son Dudley to be Prime Minister after D S So seniors like Sir John
and Bandaranaike had to be left out.
This led Sir John to write the famous ‘Premier Stakes’, Bandaranaike
walked out of the UNP and formed his own party. So the first nepotist in
post-independent Sri Lanka was D S Senanayake.
The Rajapaksa family is a unique family. President Rajapaksa is
undoubtedly the best President we ever had. His brother Gotabhaya is
handling Defence excellently as no one has ever done before. His other
brother Basil is second to none. And now the President’s son Namal is
blossoming into a beautiful flower.
If one has listened to his speeches over TV one would conclude that
he would become a very good leader in the future. He is cultured and
very well-behaved. This has to be contrasted with the sons of some
Ministers who get involved in brawls in nightclubs.
Inspite of the economic depression in the Western world where
thousands of companies and banks crashed and there is massive
unemployment, Sri Lanka weathered the storm, inspite of expenditure for
the war and today there is a allround economic development in the
country. Inflation is low and there is almost full employment in the
country.
There were no power cuts during the past four years due to the
massive electricity projects. New Harbours and Ports have been
constructed. A new international airport is being built.
Massive road development has been undertaken. If the President gets
the 2/3 majority in Parliament, JR’s electoral system would be abolished
and within the next four years we could come close to countries like
Singapore and Malaysia economically. So how can one vote for the UNP?
None are so blind as those who refuse to see!
RENFRED PEIRIS - Moratuwa
The Kandy Music Society Young Performers Concert 2010 was held at the
Girls’ High School hall recently. The parents and all participants
anticipated a great evening, but to the great dismay of everyone who was
present, the entire program was haphazardly organised.
The judge for this event was a very well respected professional who
is well- known and is supposed to be a close associate of the organiser?
My sole intention and criteria is not to insult or bring disrepute to
anyone, but having one judge looked very fishy. There were certain
events which were in Tamil, which the respected professional couldn’t
understand.
This is not the fault of the judge, as the organiser who is learned
and very well respected in the music circles should have known better.
There should have been a minimum of two judges.
I hope incidents of this nature will never ever take place hereafter,
as I have decided not to send my children for any future participation
in concerts of this nature as I presume it is a great debacle and a big
farce.
LI KUANG SHU - Kandy
In this technically advanced era the electrical engineers of our
nation could not invent and install a device that could on and off the
street lamps adjusting to the required time accordingly.
I say this as the authorities depending on the street-lamp lighters
are unaware of the colossal wastage caused owing to the filaments
getting fused when these lamps are kept burning for a long time.
Sometimes a visit by an electrical engineer to an advanced country to
find out how the street-lamps are functioning without the lamplighters
could be useful to our country too.
NAZLY CASSIM - Colombo 13
Warapitiya is a fairly big Grama Seva Division with a large amount of
untapped resources all round. The Bentara Ganga is the most important
among them. The private land not properly used, uncultivated paddy land,
unemployed youths can be included in the list.
The present day youth should be invited as partners in new
development projects. Thus giving them access to new jobs. Then the
‘Mahinda Vision’ of doubling the per capita income may rush here with
new vigour. The new factories, new training centres, new development
projects have to come up to fulfill the aims and objectives of the new
government.
Firstly the existing programs have to be rescrutinized and
re-oriented to suit the timely needs of the village. The deviational
tactics have to be used to raise the quality of life along the new
lines.
The question of development should be viewed in broad magnitudes. The
areas of priority have to be identified targeting at the all round
development.
In addition construction of a new bridge joining the Western and
Southern Provinces at Ladduwa-Thunduwa or Meegama-Ittapana will
facilitate easy travel. Further it will bring the tourist centres in
close touch with the agriculturally rich areas in the South.
I N K DE SILVA - Warapitiya
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