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Magic Promises

A.A.M.NIZAM MATARA.

The UNP which has now deteriorated to the stage of Union of Notorious Plunderers, has a history of lying and giving false promises to the people during elections.

In the 1965 election, Dudley Senanayake promised to give two measures of free rice, develop agriculture and usher in another Parakramabahu Era. After coming to power the free rice ration was withdrawn and people were forced to eat bread instead of rice. Valuable State lands were distributed to political henchmen under the guise of a bogus agricultural revolution. This deception earned him the nickname Pachabahu, and the period had gone down in the history as Pitibahu Yugaya (Era). In 1977, J.R.Jayawardene promised eight kilograms of cereals per head per week, provide jobs to all through a job bank scheme, usher in a Dharmishta (Just) society and make Sri Lanka better than Singapore. When elected to power steps were taken to establish the most ruthless society in Asia, even surpassing the atrocities committed by the Pol Pot regime in Cambodia. Strikers were beaten by State Thugs, and 80,000 were dismissed for demanding a paltry amount of Rs. 300/= per month, forcing some of them to commit suicide. Journalists were killed, artistes were assaulted and Judges were stoned. When the 17 years of the reign of terror of the dark regime was defeated in 1994, more than 60,000 youths who were promised jobs were missing being killed by Batalanda Ghosts and Death Squad Doctors. Matara District alone lost over 5,600 youth.

Now the Master Loser Mr. Ranil, after being rejected by the people in eleven elections despite his promises to provide gold bracelets, denim trousers, chewing gums, vans and motorcycles has started to spell out many more magic promises which make one to wonder whether he is in his good senses.

He has promised to create many industrial estates saying that foreign industrialists are impatiently waiting to come and establish their industries with him. He may be thinking that foreign industrialists have no other place to go and they will not look into investment/return, investment/feasibility criteria and they are charity organisations to come and spend their money here.

In the South he has said that Bentota to Hambantota will be made a tourist belt and he will bring tourists to visit these areas. And in Nuwara-Eliya district he has said that Hatton, Dickoya, Maskeliya and Nuwara Eliya towns will be made attractive centres for tourists. His infantile thinking and ignorance may be telling him that tourists are a flight of crows that will flock wherever he wants if a piece of hopper is thrown to them.

Then he has said that the President being a woman does not know about women's problems, which he knows better and he would solve all women's problems. This is the most hilarious statement and people may wonder whether he has attained a sex change recently as none can believe that a man knows women's problems and difficulties better than a woman herself.

There are many other funny statements being made by Mr. Wickremasinghe in keeping with UNP's traditional method of deceptions in the elections. If there were some more days of campaign time we could have expected him to visit Welimada and promise them to build an airport to export vegetables daily. Go to Hambantota and promise them to bring rain clouds from Himalaya whenever there comes a drought, go to Kurunegala and promise to bring in Robots to pluck coconuts. Go to Polonnaruwa and promise to introduce a new variety of Paddy Trees that can be harvested for many seasons without irrigation and ploughing. Go to Ratnapura and promise to drain Menikganga to help gem mining, go to Pasyala and promise to establish a factory to produce Cashew Juice, go to fishing areas and promise to give them computers to catch fish without venturing to the sea, and so on.

The most abhorrent thing is a person craving to rule this country happening to think that Sri Lankans are a bunch of buffoons and idiots who can be fooled with petty and silly promises.

What we Sri Lankans expect from him are not these fairy tales, but a clear cut statement that Northern and Eastern provinces will not be handed over to Prabakaran, ban on LTTE will never be lifted, and the war will be intensified until the terrorists are completely exterminated.

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