Decade ending 2010 - a reflection:

Beginning of a new era

Prof Bernard W Dissanayake

As the year 2010 wears out it marks the completion of the first decade of the 21st Century. This decade is proved a momentous one for Sri Lanka for number of reasons. First and foremost, it marked the ending of the terrorist civil war that raged for 30 long years and bringing peace finally to the country, under the effective political leadership of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

He was elected the fifth executive President of Sri Lanka in November 2005 and was able to defeat the LTTE terrorists in just three years, declaring war on terror, which others have failed fighting for decades. President Mahinda Rajapaksa brought peace to the country thereby. His re-election as the President for the second term this year is indeed epoch-making in the political history of Sri Lanka.

Creating history

Going before people two years prior to the due date, Mahinda Rajapaksa was re-elected as President in January 2010 with a massive majority, creating history in Presidential elections. He defeated the Opposition backed rival contestant, Sarath Fonseka, the retired Army Commander who had served under the President himself.

Sarath Fonseka’s decision to contest the President and hopefully defeat him in style was concocted and backed by a powerful political lobby both within and out side Sri Lanka, which opposed President Mahinda Rajapaksa to continue as President of Sri Lanka. This lobby in fact tried to stop President winning the war on terror. It had agents strongly positioned in media services, NGOs and in political parties, hell-bent on changing public opinion and views and politics of people and their parties influencing in their favour and promoting separatism in Sri Lankan politics.

The days a head of last Presidential election January 2010 this lobby put into operation a massive propaganda blitz against Mahinda Rajapaksa and his administration, alleging massive corruption and human rights violations.

Public issues

The Opposition candidate Sarath Fonseka directed attacks against the very government and the army, he served, alleging serious war crimes.

This is a most unethical thing for any Army officer to engage in. Also a weekend newspaper linked to a rejected political leader was carrying out propaganda against the government, publishing gossip columns on security related matters and foreign relations pertaining to Sri Lanka.

This newspaper, well known for taking position to support its own clan of politicians and taking strong anti-national stand on public issues is now supporting the political rejects of Sri Lanka in recent years. The general public well aware of the forces at work on national issues now recognized the true leadership for the country after the end of terrorist war.

Stable government

The trend of voting for the President Mahinda Rajapaksa in the re-election in January 2010 continued well into the Parliamentary election of April 2010, when contrary to all expectations, the government received almost two-third majority in the House.

The government’s strength in Parliament no doubt acted as a magnet to attract few more crossovers from the Opposition giving the government more than two-third majority. Thus Sri Lanka gained a very strong and a stable government for necessary change management, most required in the present state of the country.

Ending a prolonged terrorist war in the North and bring peace to the country after the 30 years is no joke. With peace, the development prospects for the country are excellent and the country need a strong political leadership backed by a strong government to address many national issues that had lingered for many decades, unresolved, some even dating back from 1940s. The adaptation of 18th Amendment further strengthened people’s political choice in selecting future leaders they wish to have, for Sri Lanka not constrained by Constitutional provisions.

In all these developments, coming into being in a sequence of events since November 2005 augurs well for our nation. Looking back over the years since independence one can be justified in arguing that we, as a country has come of age, learning as we matured politically, from the world around us and from events within the country itself, how to weather storms, both political and economic and not merely surviving but coming out as a great winner. Hence perhaps we earned the wonder of South Asia: let us pride ourselves for a moment.

New era

What we have gone through as a people in the last 30 odd years, suffering in fear and uncertainty, most probably under weak political leaders, in the past, has been a fact of life, though a very sad one indeed. The decade that ends in 2010 is most significant, both in direction and context and would certainly be recorded in the history of our county as a beginning of a new era.

The election of Mahinda Rajapaksa as the Head of State and the executive President, was no doubt the main difference that brought this change to our country. It is indeed a change, that most people dreamt but only very few thought it would ever come within half a decade.

The fact that this massive change came with Mahinda Rajapaksa and his strong leadership quality and commitment for achievement, was something that happened for the good luck of the country and its people living today yearning for peace and development during their life time.

The children of today would be the most fortunate to live greatly enriched life that Mother Sri Lanka would see in the great transformation that would unfold in the decades that lie a head of us.