Man of the hour
‘Igniting the flame of hope’:
With
warm wishes, salutations, religious ceremonies and social rejoicing
islandwide, accompanied by planting of 1.1 million trees, to mark the
occasion of the second term of office of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and
his birthday, the Opposition, however, seems to be disconcerted with
bull-headed ideas.
Hailing from a political family, President Mahinda Rajapaksa
qualifies as the most experienced and senior politician today who, over
forty years, has transformed from the ‘youngest member of parliament’ in
1970, 13th Prime Minister in 2004 and finally ascended to the highest
office in Sri Lanka as the fifth and sixth Executive President, elected
democratically with the consensus of the voters in this country.
Man of the hour |
Short memory
Today he excels as the supreme Leader who had the moral fibre to face
up to the challenges fearlessly the country confronted for over 30 years
from a ruthless terrorist affliction. He gave an unmatched promise to
the people that he would annihilate the Liberation of Tamil Tiger Eelam
completely from the Sri Lankan soil and salvage the nation from terror
and barbarism in order to restore peace, bring equality and tranquility
once again and managed to accomplish his promise under three years in
office.
Sri Lankans, by nature, have a very short memory of demented quality.
Today some of us have forgotten about the dark days when every single
person suffered from psychosis of death in one form or the other; how
wives waited anxiously till their breadwinning husbands returned home in
the evening, parents hung around at school gates nervously to pick their
children to safety as smell of fatality, casualty and mortality were the
order of the day and loss of life had become part and parcel of a new
daily episode with bombs exploding, people dying, buildings collapsing
and the economy taking a sledge hammer beating all the while.
Post colonial era
How can the only leader in the post colonial era who saved his nation
from the clutches of terrorism, and the one who won all elections
democratically, who is in touch with the grass root affiliations and
walks with the people, eats with the people, who is determined to work
for his people and being well aware of the needs of the common man,
irrespective of ethnicity or religious background, be called a
‘dictator’ as some are attempting to portray sadistically?
Politics is a pitch and toss game which is inversely proportional to
voice and choice of the people in a democracy where only one individual
or a single party can be the winner. After the test has been conducted
and the results are out it would be foolhardy to react negatively,
endlessly and shamelessly, by the losers and attempt to stoop to uncouth
levels and engage in firing salvos out of disappointment and self-pity.
The easiest thing on earth for a mortal is to jabber because everyone
is gifted generously with an organ called the ‘mouth’. But what some of
us equally forget is the fact that there is another appendage in our
human system called the ‘ brain’, prearranged in equal measure to help
balance any act before one purges with verbal diarrhoea when inflicted
by mental constipation.
Executive President
Today President Mahinda Rajapaksa has entered a new era with his
second term in office as the Executive President with new ideas and
innovative formats on the drawing board to make Sri Lanka the shining
pearl in the Indian Ocean once again.
As a preliminary kick start 54,600 development projects will be
completed between November 15- 25 (2010) through the Economic
Development Ministry. Such far-thinking and extensive endeavours are
certain to benefit the people directly in the same manner his first term
promise came to realization. With meticulously planned out development
programs for the future his new administration aims to sustain and grow
on its present economic growth of over eight per cent making the per
capita income to exceed US$4000 in the future.
As a leader and visionary, President Rajapaksa has introduced for the
first time in Sri Lankan politics a ‘Youth Parliament’ comprising
adolescents between the ages of 18-39 with a total of 325
representations which will be inaugurated on December 12, 2010, for
which nominations ended on November 10, 2010. The venue for the ‘Youth
Parliament’ being Maharagama National Youth Centre’ its aim would be to
train and prepare the next generation of political leaders by creating a
network of ‘young people’ to bring about a positive and sustainable
change in future governance of the country by identifying and addressing
the needs of their own communities.
Patriotic leaders
President Mahinda Rajapaksa is certain to become victorious at the
end of his second term enabling him to go down in the annals of Sri
Lankan history as one of the most adored contemporary leaders who was
born indubitably out of Divine Bliss to save this sanctified land with
blessings to stand firm and take precise decisions to fight tooth and
nail with one pointed aim to dissipate terrorism and put Sri Lanka’s
fragmented social, political and religious jig saw into place once and
for all, centuries after our ancient patriotic leaders.
When jealousy, frustration and hopelessness are coiled around within
political opponents in the form of a green-eyed monster, their natural
instinct becomes to attack injuriously from all corners of the political
arena. Forty years of political, trade union and human rights experience
behind this leader is no small measure to undermine his capabilities for
another forty years where he will be focusing and working on a long-term
plan to make Sri Lanka the cynosure of Asia and the hub of Asian Trade
Centre.
[email protected] |