by Charles.S.Perera

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ On the 19 November 2005, Sri Lanka was blessed by a political leader of character, determination, sincere, and devoted to the service of his people and his country.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Thanks to that day, thanks to the people who voted for that man at that historic Presidential Elections we are today a free people, without fear, without shrinking from the shame of being helpless for thirty years.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ We need not bow low in gratitude to the rich and the powerful nations, who we feared to antagonise even in the face of the worst enemy threatening our independence, preparing to break away our territories to set up an Eelam State for the Tamils, lest the rich and the powerful would deny us the means for our existence, withdraw aid for food , refuse sale of wheat flour, or even refuse GSP+ which helped us to provide employment to our poor youth from villages.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ But the man the people elected on the 19 November,2005 who became our President took away from us our fears and shame, and being small and insignificant, and gave us pride, strength, and hope to rise above our defects to face a brighter future.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ If on that day he was not elected as our President, and if another man- without character or determination, insincere and egoist, weak and unintelligent, not devoted to the people or the country, but devoted to himself and his ambition, at the call of the rich and powerful Nations, were elected, what would it have been ?

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ If that were to have happened, we would have still been today a poor nation dependent on the rich and the powerful west, happy with the aid they ladled , and the GSP+ they handed out, yet in fear of exploding bombs, massacre of young and old , men, women and children, with a powerful group of terrorists in the North and the East.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ But today, having appointed that Great Leader Mahinda Rajapakse as our President, we are not only a free nation , but also it has given freedom for the UNP and JVP to criticise the President and his government, lead manifestations against the President and call him all bad names, curse him and ask for more money to eat more, as if that is all that we have to do.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The President also gave freedom for the websites, such as the TamilNet, Ground View, Sri Lanka Guardian, for the News papers like Sunday Leader, Daily Mirror, Lakbima, for the Foreign News Agencies like the BBC, Reuters, AFN , for the other activists the Human Rights watch, Amnesty International , UN Chief Banki Moon, and his HRC Navi Pillai and even Mangala Samaraweera, Ravi Jayasuriya, and a whole string of others to criticise the government, throw bricks and bats, never bouquets and flowers, accuse the president for all ills under the sun , without a word of appreciation for bringing Sri Lanka to a free, really Independent Nation, acclaimed as being the fast developing nation within a short period of five years.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ To that President Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse we send our flowers and bouquets, good wishes and prayers, thanking him for being our President, for appointing his brother Gotabhaya as the Defence Secretary.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ We want him as our President for a long time to come, to enable him to make our country a Nation of a united communities.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ While thanking him for raising Sri Lanka to a Nation of a Middle level income, we wish him the blessings of the triple Gem to be healthy, happy and to have the courage to develop our Nation further to make it an example for other developing Nations to rise above the status of development taking Sri Lanka as a model, and leave being just a small satellite orbiting round the rich arrogant west ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…”the International Community.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ We pray that everyone with an iota of patriotism within him or her for our dear motherland, rally round the President Mahinda Rajapakse physically or mentally to shield him against the evil forces far and near, to enable him to make a success of his projects for the development of Sri Lanka.