Unique human touch with the people

Lakshmi de Silva

It was a Sunday morning. The date was April 8, 2004. Then Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa offers a basket of white Lotus flowers to the Bo tree at the Nivaththidiya temple, Piliyandala to declare open the Ranveta.

From there he goes to Gampaha to participate in another religious ceremony at a temple and by mid day the Opposition Leader becomes the Prime Minister.

This was history. It happened only six years ago. But the transformation of a leader to the country was foreseen by the Maha Sangha. Mahinda Rajapaksa was conferred with a title Rohana Sri Janaranjana years before he becomes the President of this country.

Percy Mahinda Rajapaksa from his childhood had good public relations with whoever he met and had a good memory which other people did not have. His human touch paved way for his political career starting as a Member of Parliament, Minister, Opposition Leader, Prime Minister and the President.

Hambantota one of the difficult areas in Southern Sri Lanka brings out the village boy who addresses others akke, aiyye, malli, nangi to his fellow countrymen becomes the President in 2005. His human touch and the bond with people was immeasurable. He helped his village people, his countrymen and even some foreigners who were cheated by some Sri Lankans.

His significant political protest was paada yathra which shattered the then ruling party government of President Ranasinghe Premadasa. His bravery to form the Mothers Front and get signatures from all the parents or relatives of disappeared persons in to two volumes was commendable. He as a human rights activist and a lawyer saved thousands of youngsters from death with his brother Gotabhaya Rajapaksa who was an officer of the Army during the 1988/89 insurgency.

Unless for his tireless efforts lawyer Wijayadasa Liyanarachchi’s body could not have been obtained by his family. Some of the JVP leaders in the South would not be alive today to witness the freedom they enjoy in the present day if not for his agitation for human rights.

The 34 schoolchildren were murdered at Embilipitiya by the then UNP regime was brought to the notice of the International Community and the memorial for those innocents was erected near the Parliament by the efforts of human rights activist Mahinda Rajapaksa.

His service to mankind was admired and appreciated by the people of this country. That is why he now in the highest position - the number one citizen of this country. His endeavours were recognized by the other countries like the neighbouring India and had named their Human rights Centre in Dhera Dhune as Mahinda Rajapaksa Human Rights Centre. Palestine also named a road after the Sri Lankan President in that country for his continued support of the rights of the Palestinians.

Mahinda Rajapaksa was a born leader. He was brave. He did not consider one’s status when he helped. One day in 1982 three people, one a colleague of mine who had gone to a party at Ratnapura were standing on the roadside in the middle of the night. Two out of them were high on liquor and there were no buses at the time. They had to go to Pitabeddara in Akuressa.

Then they saw a jeep coming in their direction and the vehicle stopped. Someone in the vehicle asked “Where do you people want to go?”

My colleague said they wanted to go to Pitabeddara. “Come you could go with me,” the stranger said offering to take them. On the way they got to talking about various things but it was only when the person who took them in his vehicle told them, they came to know it was Opposition Member of Parliament Mahinda Rajapaksa. There was a foreigner who had been cheated of a large sum of money by some Sri Lankan.

He had not been able to recover his money but he came to Colombo several times and stayed at a hotel trying to find a way to recover the money. One day Mahinda Rajapaksa came to that hotel to attend a function and someone in the hotel who had known the plight of the foreigner had told him that if he told his problem to Mahinda Rajapaksa would help him. Thereafter the foreigner met him and explained his problem. Mahinda Rajapaksa got in touch with the Sri Lankan who had taken the money and persuaded him to repay.

When a businessman who had spent a large sum of money to construct a pond to breed freshwater fish found that he could not buy the fingerlings to start his project approached a bank for a loan. But the bank manager did not agree to give him the loan though he had the collateral and a project that would generate income.

At that time Mahinda Rajapaksa was the Fisheries Minister. The businessman approached him and told him his problem. But Mahinda Rajapaksa did not know the bank manager.

But he used tact. He made a telephone call to him as if he had known him well and enquired how he was faring at the job and whether he was happy. At the end of the conversation he said he had this friend who was in need of the manager’s help.

He would be coming the next day and would you please help Mahinda asked and the businessman got his loan and went ahead with his inland fishery project successfully.