IN PRAISE OF PRESIDENT MAHINDA RAJAPAKSA
Posted on January 12th, 2015
Well wisher,
When President Mahinda R lost the election I felt a sense of desolation, which I feel most of Sri Lanka felt. Even the celebration by the Opposition seemed to be half hearted.
I feel I was fortunate to witness history being made by President Mahinda R (MR). When we look at our history there are certain figures that stand out and MR is one of them. True leaders have a vision, and an ability to carry out their vision even in the face of impossible odds. They provide leadership to the ordinary people to make them do what seemed impossible
In 2005 when he inherited the country from RW and CBK’s years of misrule it was a shattered country lacking direction, demoralized and the people were living in a state of fear and uncertainty. The 30-year war had sapped the country’s energy and resilience. The Norwegians had brain washed the CBK/RW duo to believe that the LTTE could not be defeated militarily because her nephew and uncle had been unable to defeat the LTTE with the same General Sarath Fonseka and the army that MR inherited.
MR and Colonel Gotabaya Rajapaksa took this demoralized army and refurbished it to a point where when LTTE attacked Mavil Aru in August 2006 they were able to defeat them, which was the beginning of the LTTE downfall.
The way MR handled the civilians who had been taken hostage by the LTTE and the surrendered LTTE cadres themselves is commendable and has not been done anywhere in the world and in history as far as I know. He used the army to rescue the 300,000 innocent Tamil civilians at great cost to the army and then set about building homes and giving them their lives back. Almost all the LTTE cadre who had been brain washed by Prabahakaran were rehabilitated and admitted back to lead useful lives in society. It is a crying shame that in spite of all this work the UN and the Western powers accuses MR of war crimes. The opposition consisting of RW did nothing to help MR during this time and instead went round the world criticizing MR and his Government.
MR travelled to many countries in the world and signed bilateral agreements and obtained aid and helps to reconstruct the damaged infrastructure. He leaned on China heavily since the West had alienated MR by their pro-LTTE stance. Furthermore, China provided no strings aid unlike IMF or the World bank, which laid down conditions such as privatization of State Enterprises or devaluing the Rupee. The West supported LTTE and at the last minute tried to save Prabahakaran in the middle of the war and take him out by sea. The army found mini subs which had been built by LTTE obviously with technical help from Norwegians.
He undertook development of the roads, railways that had been neglected for years by the previous regime. Sri Lanka has not seen such accelerated development for the previous 30 years. In short time from 2010 to 2015 he was able to create such a change in Sri Lanka that it is short of a miracle. He had the dynamism and the vision to do what was necessary. During the heavy rains we had recently normally Colombo would go under water. The sewers would overflow and people have to wade through the muck. Then the mosquitos come and bring Dengue with it. This time thanks to all the work done by Col. Gotabaya Rajapaksa there were no issues. He had ensured all the drains were clear and they flowed to Beira Lake and the canals, which removed the water as rapidly as it arrived. Col. Rajapaksa also cleaned up the city of Colombo so that it became a shining clean city from the mess it was.
For future work MR had incredible visions for the villages such as laboratories for all major areas, computers, removal of line rooms in tea estates and replacing with proper housing, and science and technical education in schools to bring science to the masses. If only he had got the extra time he would have really made Sri Lanka shine. Unfortunately the envy and jealousy of the lesser mortals around him pulled him down and Sri Lanka is the loser. MR will hopefully have a well-deserved rest to recuperate and come back again.
I believe the Colombians played a major role in the ousting of MR. They have a separate culture from the ordinary citizens of Sri Lanka. They move in cocktail parties and rub shoulders with NGOs who are paid by their keepers abroad. They live a fantasy life, which tries to imitate the life of the Westerners as seen in movies and magazines since many of them have not lived out in the West. If only they knew the truth, which is that in USA, at least 40 Million live below the poverty line, many are homeless and I have personally seen people eating off garbage cans, which are not seen in Sri Lanka. USA has the highest incarceration rate in the world and the gun culture causes many innocents to die. For the last 8 years the Republicans have carried out a crusade against President Obama to prevent him from implementing any of his plans. Since a few people who show the news own the media the Corporations show what they want the people to see. In the last election the Republicans won even though they are gutting all programs which are there to help the people. There is no real Democracy in USA. The man appointed to head the Environmental Committee says that there is no global warming and that it is a hoax. Is this the type of country the Colombians truly want for Sri Lanka? However the ordinary Americans are very kind and are true Christians though very ignorant about the issues facing the World and USA.
MR really believed that the Tamils of the North and East would vote for him since he had spent nearly 90% of development monies on them. MR had rebuilt the infrastructure, which had been destroyed by LTTE in the North and East. Yet the Tamils voted for Maithri en bloc as per the TNA instructions. Tamils have never shown gratitude to the Sinhalese for all that was done and have only asked for more and more. High time the Sinhala leaders learn this truth. The ones who are celebrating the most are the Tamil Nadu politicians such as Vaiko (Tamil Dalit leader). Ask yourself why he should be bothered about MR’s downfall. Is it not because MR effectively blocked the Tamil Nadu plans to create a Tamil homeland for the Tamil Dalits which would have been a launching platform for separation of Tamil Nadu from India. Now they see the way clear with the combination of RW and CBK who were always sympathetic to the Tamil separatists.
I see MR as someone who respects all religions, and loves the people and the country. I have never ever seen any other politician who travels abroad and then takes time to kneel down and worship the motherland as he has done. MR was a victim of the intrigue plotted by RW as outlined by HLD. I sincerely hope that MR and the Rajapaksa brothers will come back to Sri Lanka politics and rebuilt the country one day when our stupid Sinhalese need their help again.
I will close with a quote from Mark Antony’s speech at the funeral of Julius Caesar.
You all did love him once, not without cause:
What cause withholds you then, to mourn for him? O judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts, And men have lost their reason.
January 11th, 2015 at 7:45 pm
I am also a well wisher, but happen to be a Tamil. I completely agree with what the above well wisher has said about MR and his achievements during his 10 years of rule. No other leaders had done that before him, and no one will be able to do it after him. The Sri Lankan Tamils have been ungrateful towards MR, be so much of fools as to listen to the TNA selfish lots. The Tamils got their freedom of speech, become able to lead a normal life, children go to school without fear, able to travel to work and other places and to attend to their daily activities all because of the end of war. It it were not for MR, the TNA leaders themselves would have been remained in the iron clutches of LTTE. They would not have even dared to announce whom they would be supporting in the presidential election. Even before they open their mouths to speak out about any politics in the North/ East, they would have to get the signal from Prabaharan, had the LTTE been crushed in May 2009. And above all they would limit their place of residence and activities in Colombo itself, having their family members safely setlled either in India or in the Western county. All the same, I sincerely hope that MR would be back sooner or later and guide the country in the right direction.
January 11th, 2015 at 8:09 pm
>>>MR really believed that the Tamils of the North and East would vote for him since he had spent nearly 90% of development monies on them. MR had rebuilt the infrastructure, which had been destroyed by LTTE in the North and East. Yet the Tamils voted for Maithri en bloc as per the TNA instructions.<<<
It is time for the Buddhist MAJORITY voter to do the same thing – vote en bloc for the SLFP in April and vote out ANY MP who crosses over to Maithripala or who has 'confidence' in Ranil as Prime Minister.
January 11th, 2015 at 8:23 pm
At last I see a genuine Sri Lankan who loves the Motherland and appreciate the work done by the great war hero Mahinda Rajapksa. Thank you very much well wisher for expressing your thoughts freely and openly. I sincerely love to hear such comments from some one who express his views fearlessly because that’s the truth nothing but the truth which our ungrateful people in Sri Lanka couldn’t understand.
We never saw any division or a fight between any race or religion except one or two incidents through out those 4 years in our soil. All citizens alike enjoyed the freedom we got after the war. People from north & South visited each areas without any incident. People opened businesses around Sri Lanka without any fear of another. We saw children from North,East,West and South playing together,Studying together,Debating together, Exchanging views together in a very friendly way. All was possible due to Mahinda’s yahapalanaya not because of anybody’s Yahapalanaya. I cannot understand why our Sinhalese never understand the gravity if another blood bath started same like before. It can happen if they go to take revenge and harass people in different races and religions. We cannot allow to split the nation we cherished so dearly. Vaiko has said that his most happiest day was when Mahinda lost. So who’s celebrating MY3 ‘s victory more than Sinhalese.It’s LTTE Diaspora,America and the west not anyone else. That shows their expectation from this Yahapalana Govt. Be wise Sinhalese and think hard what will be our position in the future if you allow these things to happen in Sri Lanka. You have another chance to bring back our hero if you need a peaceful homeland and a better future for your children and grand children so take a wise decision next time dear people.
January 11th, 2015 at 9:30 pm
“MR really believed that the Tamils of the North and East would vote for him since he had spent nearly 90% of development monies on them. MR had rebuilt the infrastructure, which had been destroyed by LTTE in the North and East. Yet the Tamils voted for Maithri en bloc as per the TNA instructions.”
– Not true. Tamil votes increased slightly for MR. You should understand that roads and bridges cannot feed the hunger. They hear every day the “stealing” mantra from the opposition and the government cannot defend but kept saying NGOs and foreign conspirers are saying this. They must have been transparent instead but the could not as their secondary aim was to steal, primary been stealing votes.
January 11th, 2015 at 9:49 pm
Vimutti,
How are you.
Long time no see.
Remember we had a bet?
(Nanda keep out of this.)
January 11th, 2015 at 9:55 pm
I was really sad to see MR leaving temple trees after uniting our motherland in 2009. Some people join politics not to serve people because they have hidden agendas. I think MR loved our motherland dearly but some failed to see this and tried to take revenge by chasing him out of his office.
During 83 riots so many Sinhalese helped Tamils (including my mother) who was a widow at the time, but how many Tamils shown gratitude towards Sinhalese, only a handful. Tamils in North know from their heart that they are enjoying a peaceful life after 2009 because of MR and our war hero’s but majority of them have no appreciation whatsoever which is really sad.
I hope and sincerely wish that MR will stay in politics to help and develop our beautiful motherland.
January 11th, 2015 at 11:59 pm
>>>Lorenzo Says:
January 11th, 2015 at 9:49 pm<<<
I don't bet, so I do not know of any bet your are talking about.
I still think this election could have easily been won by MR, but he has to stop playing games with these fools and take the campaign to them with force, village by village. MS has PLENTY of weaknesses as a potential president that MR did not exploit to his advantage, and his overall attitude of not taking the challenge seriously worked to his disadvantage.
If MS were running for any national office in America, every hospital worker who heard him promise not to abuse his power as minister to get his son out of the aggravated assault charges with the police would be talking in a TV ad directly to the voter with video of Maithripala's son walking scott free out of the police station with a smirk on his face as he gets into Maithripala's $150,000USD vehicle. Every Sri Lankan family whose loved ones died (over 1000) of bad saline because of Maithripala's ill-conceived dengue eradication program run by the corrupt single bidder Thailand contractor Maithripala selected when he was health minister would be telling the voter about the horrors of Maithripala's corruption and incompetence as health minister. And we would be playing TV ads in a loop that show EVERY health metric (dengue fever, cancer, heart disease, liver disease, lung and respiratory disease, HIV, smoking, alcoholism and drug abuse) in Sri Lanka worsened under Maithripala's leadership yet he gets a health leadership award from the United States.
We would also be running ads from the Ranil/Chandrika era showing the secret deals with the US CIA on torture and rendition, and make it clear in the voters' mind that both these powers behind Maithripala pushed for the divisive and anti-Buddhist 13th Amendment to the Sri Lankan Constitution that gives away ONE THIRD of the country to anti-Buddhist bigots.
After 30 days of THESE kinds of television ads (not the lame backward looking ad MR came up with), no Buddhist in their right mind would consider dividing their vote to help a corrupt and incompetent fool like Maithripala, and Ranil, Chandrika, and the minorities run Sri Lanka.
But, thankfully, we get another shot in April or maybe sooner if Maithripala dissolves Parliament.
January 12th, 2015 at 12:16 am
Vmutti,
MR lost because of people like you who kept praising him, not pointing out mistakes. Whatever he did , you justified.
So, how can he learn ?
January 12th, 2015 at 12:24 am
>>>Nanda Says:
January 12th, 2015 at 12:16 am<<<
I am not foolish enough to believe that the election is about 'personalities' – it is about WHO is going to control Sri Lanka and for what purpose? It is also about if we let these unseen forces control Sri Lanka, what is the probable effect on the lives of most Sri Lankans? If Sri Lankans become poorer and more divided as a result of the new government, then all of the 'good governance' in the world is a ridiculous waste of time.
So maybe YOU think this election is about Rajapaksa, but I was never under this delusion – it is always about what government is going to IMPROVE the welfare of 'most' Sri Lankans.
January 12th, 2015 at 2:05 am
Well said, Well wisher, your words ECHO Mine!
January 12th, 2015 at 2:07 am
Maithri-Palanaya Today = Koti-Palanaya Tomorrow!
Aiyoooo Sirisenaaaa …. What have you done to our Motherland!
January 12th, 2015 at 6:14 am
All Indians (when I say it includes all arrivals from India since the British took over the Dutch possessions) in the island nation. We are like people in a well and don’t see beyond the walls of the well. Hi folks the Emperor congratulated the Coolie halfway the counting. Emperor was so sure of the results. Then of course the Gangdhi loving Obama whose country and his party the Democrats depends on Indian IT workers for survival. Then the head of UK again a country and leaders that depends on Indians. Jai Hind
January 12th, 2015 at 1:31 pm
MR lost due to a whole lot of lies with no basis being circulated in emails and spoken on platforms by the opposition. MR did not bother to counter them – that was a mistake. He did the same with CH4 videos, and allegations from UNHRC. He ignored them since he knew it was not true. It is not enough to do that.
Regarding corruption what I remember from news papers is that there were corruption charges against CBK’s uncle and recently police found 1.2 million in Swiss Francs and $ in MY3’s sons house, Sarath Fonseka’s son in law had $500,000 in new notes in a deposit account, Shirani Bandaranaike had $millions in her 19 bank accounts. Previous regime of CBK/RW sold off many state enterprises to private sector including the CWE. MR reinstated many of them and got them running again. Then there the Batalanda commission which was covered up by MR for RW. If MY3 is going to investigate corruption, he should start with the above items and complete those investigations. That would be great honesty and he would
Earn the respect of ordinary Lankans and the world.
It was no easy task for MR to be war President. Usual rules of society did not apply. It is a great wonder that facing the odds he had to, he has managed to minimize damage to a reasonable level within the Parliament and the country. MY3 is indeed fortunate to have had a predecessor who cleaned up 90% of the mess left behind by CBK/RW. There was little law and order and there was wide spread corruption. It would be creditable and honorable if he lets MR and family retire in peace and dignity. In fact, such a move would earn respect for MY3 & even RW and CBK. Otherwise, the Sinhala people will fight with each other and self-destruct much to the delight of enemies of Sinhalese.
Good video on corruption from Wimal Weerawansa 4 minutes long.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmcdXtwvk6w – හොරාකන ආණ්ඩුවකට හොඳම ඉල්ලම් දෙක
January 12th, 2015 at 2:36 pm
P.S. There is typo above. Please note read 10 bank accounts instead of 19.
January 12th, 2015 at 6:32 pm
>>>Cerberus Says:
January 12th, 2015 at 1:31 pm
“Sinhala people will fight with each other and self-destruct much to the delight of enemies of Sinhalese.”<<<
The fight is NOT between Sinhala people, it is a fight over WHO is going to control Sri Lanka. Is Sri Lanka going to be an independent country as favored by MR or a dependent colony of the US-EU as favored by RW/CBK/Maithripala? And THAT is a fight worth having.
The rhetoric by Maithripala/RW/CBK/JHU that MR was making Sri Lanka a colony of China is totally without factual basis. You would be hard pressed to name even ONE Chinese colony in the world, whereas the world map is littered with American and European colonies and dependent countries that can't even vote on anything of significance at the UN or even internally without approval from the Americans and the Europeans. China gives MUCH more money to places like Venezuela, Iran, Brazil, and Nigeria than it does to Sri Lanka, and none of these places are even remotely 'Chinese colonies' in any respect. In fact, unlike the US-EU, China has a "no internal meddling" policy as part of its economic development assistance to over 161 countries world-wide.
The Americans, in particular, through their IMF loan program FORCE countries to privatize state resources, devalue their currency, and balance their budgets in a manner that often requires neglect of sufficient resource allocation to education, healthcare, security, and infrastructure (ask Argentina). Yet, this is the path favored by Ranil and the UNP, which only helps a handful of wealthy Sri Lankans and foreigners, not the vast majority of the Sri Lankan people.
So on the surface there appears to be a fight between MR and RW/CBK/Maithripala, but underneath it all is the same fight in 1948 for an independent Sri Lanka that is free from the dictates of white people in distant lands who simply want to rule you and subjugate you for their own purposes.