{"id":49965,"date":"2015-12-05T21:41:13","date_gmt":"2015-12-06T03:41:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=49965"},"modified":"2015-12-05T14:03:35","modified_gmt":"2015-12-05T21:03:35","slug":"sri-lanka-paradise-lost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2015\/12\/05\/sri-lanka-paradise-lost\/","title":{"rendered":"Sri Lanka \u2013Paradise Lost."},"content":{"rendered":"

By Charles.S.Perera<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

As I walked out of the Airport\u00a0 on that wet morning \u00a0in 2014, the\u00a0 heavy November showers did not dampen my enthusiasm to be in my beloved Sri Lanka. The crowds of our dear women who had\u00a0 spent difficult times in Arab homes in the Middle East were seen with tears in their eyes meeting those who had thronged to meet them with love and affection.\u00a0 Their ordeals over in inhospitable Arab homes they seemed overwhelmed with happiness meeting their dear ones embracing and chatting away with each other. Western countries from one of which\u00a0 I was arriving could not match that happiness, laughter and uninhibited chatter amoung my people which enlivened that wet morning outside the\u00a0 Bandaranayake Airport in Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n

Travelling from Colombo to Kandy I saw well laid\u00a0 beds of flower , clean neat paved ways , with well dressed\u00a0 men ,women, and children, \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0a highway stretching clean and neat like a ribbon amoung the pleasing lush greenery. Sri Lanka I thought is a veritable paradise, more beautiful and attractive than Paris the most beautiful city of the world with its old world grandeur.\u00a0 There was heavy traffic, \u00a0cars vans and luxury buses plying on the highway.<\/p>\n

There were no road blocks or soldiers to be seen, but there were crowds of people every where.\u00a0 They were free, happy, peaceful, without fear, having put the past thirty years of suffering out of their minds. That was what I saw all along the way to my village far away from the happy , active crowds, quiet and peaceful where I was to stay for a whole year.<\/p>\n

I was happy to be at home and in Sri Lanka.\u00a0 Later I was able to see how Sri Lanka has been\u00a0 transformed into a wander land after a disastrous terrorism had been stopped by the heroic soldiers of a well organised Armed Force, led by the wise and \u00a0determined political leadership of the President Mahinda Rajapakse.<\/p>\n

In the village\u00a0 the\u00a0 people were happy, except few amoung government servants, shop owners, or private sector employees.\u00a0 They were complaining of high cost of living and difficulties they have to\u00a0 surmount with their income.\u00a0 But I found that the standard of living of many of these people had improved, with all modern household amenities, mobile telephones, running water, and improved sanitary conditions.<\/p>\n

The problem with them was that they seem to be living beyond their means.\u00a0 The children\u00a0 have to be sent to tuition classes, or sent to schools in town in school vans, or taking loans to improve houses, buy cars or vans. One is never satisfied with what one has and wants to have more.\u00a0 That is human nature. But others living ordinary lives as villagers were happy and speaks gratefully of the President Mahinda Rajapakse who had made their lives better , and above all\u00a0 for the peace he brought to the country which has kept\u00a0 them\u00a0 away from the horror of living under the shadow of terrorism.<\/p>\n

Gotabhaya Rajapakse the Defence Minister who coordinated the armed Forces to defeat and eliminate terrorism had within a short time after the elimination of terrorism had taken over the Secretariat of the Ministry of Urban Development for the beautification of\u00a0 cities. He is a genius who made a success of everything he \u00a0under took to do for the protection of the country , to beatify the country shattered by\u00a0 thirty years terrorism, and his vision of making a peace time army a builder of the nation.<\/p>\n

I saw the evergreen land of my birth \u00a0with a culture nurtured for \u00a0over 2500 years by the blessing of the Buddha , Dhamma and Sangha, rising up once again in its breath taking beauty as an independent Sovereign state having shed its servility to the West that smeared \u00a0Sri Lanka trying to efface its Sinhala Buddhist culture introducing doubtful gods and cultures of blood and cruelty, where even the animals were not safe to live in peace.<\/p>\n

Thanks to my people who elected a man appropriate to our culture and philosophy, a man \u00a0with \u00a0love and compassion a Sinhala Buddhist Mahinda Rajapakse who made Sri Lanka a proud country.<\/p>\n

Sri Lanka is at last independent in the real sense of the word, able to \u00a0take its own decisions to make it a paradise in Asia without discrimination against other communities, demanding the other Communities who were saved from terrorism to ask not for separation but unity\u00a0 to make\u00a0 a Nation of Sri Lankans.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s the West that cripples developing countries as it is well known. West \u00a0wanted to change Rajapakse Regime in Sri Lanka and bring Sri Lanka back into its fold as a protective State of the West. They were intent on this regime change as Rajapakse regime in\u00a0\u00a0 Sri Lanka had become a challenge to their white superiority, sore in their eyes, which refused to let them sway their power in the southern seas.<\/p>\n

The Chinese Government was \u00a0aiding Sri Lanka in its development process. The West will not provide government to government aid to developing countries, it only allows its private sector investments like the well known American United Fruit Companies which change developing countries onto Banana Republics\u201d.\u00a0 These investors made countries poorer, giving only a pittance of their earning to the countries, taking \u00a0away a \u00a0larger proportion of its earning to America.<\/strong><\/p>\n

President Mahinda Rajapakse had stopped that, and the result is the development of Sri Lanka not line with any other country, but as Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n

I took the train to Colombo and enjoyed the lush greenery the newly constructed houses of the people, beautiful school buildings, the\u00a0 paddy fields under cultivation.<\/p>\n

The old Colombo of which once an American tourist said that it stinks, has become today one of the most clean cities of the world. The old colonial buildings have been renewed .\u00a0 They are clean and set in spending surroundings giving it an old world splendour which was never their before. The Independent Memorial Hall \u00a0in the Torrington square is beautiful in a setting of unmatched beauty. The under ground hall has been turned into a Museum containing the statues of those men of all walks of life\u00a0 who contributed to make Sri Lanka what it is today.<\/p>\n

The nearby drab colonial building which was once occupied by the Home Ministry\u00a0 has been refurbished and made into a beautiful arcade with its \u00a0renewed white walls.\u00a0 The garden surrounding it has been tastefully arranged making it a joy to walk about and stop now and then to take a photo as a souvenir. \u00a0\u00a0Married couples\u00a0 come in numbers to be photographed against that\u00a0 gracious building or in its surrounding gardens.<\/p>\n

A little further away is Nelumpokuna Mahinda Rajapakse Theatre, spreading over\u00a0 a land space of 14000 square meters with a seating capacity of 1288. It has a 690 square meter moving stage, as well as an open air theatre.\u00a0 The construction of it had been financed by China a great friend of Sri Lanka, who actively participated in turning the vision of Gotabhaya Rajapakse into reality.<\/p>\n

Walking further away from the beautiful Torrington Square, we come to a glistening white colonial building\u00a0 which \u00a0houses the Sri Lanka National Museum \u00a0with lot of old \u00a0historical artefacts.\u00a0 Taking a three wheeler \u00a0to Colombo, you can visit another landmark development project the Pettah Floating Market Complex. This beautiful Floating Market is the work of the\u00a0 Engineering Units of\u00a0 the Army and Navy of Sri Lanka. It is a shopping\u00a0 centre with restaurant and refreshment stalls.\u00a0 In the night it turns into a beautiful fairyland illuminated with a solar lighting system.<\/p>\n

Not far away is the \u00a0Fort Railway station the entrance to which has been cleaned to make it a \u00a0large open \u00a0space provided for people\u2019s manifestations.\u00a0 The Bus standard has been well organised providing commuters easy access to buses plying to different destinations.<\/p>\n

That is not all, there are more surprises in beatified City of Colombo in Sri Lanka. There is the Colombo lotus tower\u00a0 which is going to be the tallest building in South Asia with a height of 350 meters. It is again being constructed by our friends the Chinese.<\/p>\n

Incidentally these areas where these beautiful constructions have been done or are continuing to be done\u00a0 were the most crowded and unclean parts of Colombo, the past of which would soon be a memory when urbanisation of Colombo undertaken by Gotabhaya Rajapakse is completed.<\/p>\n

In Pettah, you also find the Colombo Gold Centre, unbelievable to believe that it had been set up in an old fish Market building. The transformation had been undertaken by the Sri Lanka Army.<\/p>\n

A little further away from Colombo is the Bellanwila Temple. A short distance\u00a0 away from the temple \u00a0is the Bellanwila Walking Track another idea of the visionary Secretary of Urban Development \u00a0Gotabhaya Rajapakse. It is around the Veressa River which was a marshy stretch of water now made a paradise for migrant bird watchers, joggers, and those who would like to take a cycle\u00a0 ride around the track.<\/p>\n

There is a food court and seats and tables set for those who wish to take a refreshment\u00a0 from the nearby food stalls and sit quietly to watch the \u00a0evening turn in to a fairy night with automatically lighting up solar lamps.\u00a0 There is complete security provided with the discrete presence of the\u00a0 security guards.<\/p>\n

After savouring\u00a0 Colombo\u2019s transformation into that great beauty, \u00a0leaving other areas which had been touched by the visionary magician Gotabhaya Rajapakse for another day , I decided to take the Southern Highway to Galle. The beautifully laid highway runs 126 kilo meters from Kottawa to Matara .\u00a0 I took it up to Galle in a comfortable bus. It was a visual feast.\u00a0 The\u00a0 European highways are certainly not as attractive as the Sothern highway I took. It had been financed by the Asian Development Bank and the Japan Bank of International Relations. All this\u00a0 makes any Sri Lankan coming from abroad proud of the\u00a0 new developed Colombo city and the highways which are a spectacular\u00a0 attraction.<\/p>\n

Galle had always been an attractive town. It is more crowded than when I saw it last. But there are better shopping centers.\u00a0 Unwatuna was very attractive a few years ago .\u00a0 It has now become a crowded beach- a popular hangout for\u00a0 western tourists.\u00a0 There is a large cricket pitch in the centre of the town and from there the road takes you into the \u00a0Galle Fort.\u00a0 It was built by the Portughese and improved on it by the Dutch. The old fort city has also been renovated by the visionary Secretary of Urban development Gotabhaya Rajapakse.<\/p>\n

The old Kachcheri\u00a0 resplendent in its renewed new facelift\u00a0 a revitalised old structure. It is now a beautiful arcade with restaurants and shops.\u00a0 The narrow streets of Galle fort have been cleaned and well arranged to make it a new city without loosing its past historical form.\u00a0 The Old Dutch Church stands out in its immaculate white walls, the light house, the National and the Maritime Museums make the Gall Fort city appealing to\u00a0 visitors.<\/p>\n

After enjoying \u00a0this immense beauty of Sri Lanka in which I immersed myself thanking all the time to those men like the President Mahinda Rajapakse, who with his determination brought peace, and\u00a0 security to Sri Lanka, Gotabhaya Rajapakse who transformed the old to astonishing new beauty, assisted by\u00a0 the peacetime activities of our heroic Armed Forces, I came back to my village in Kandy proud of being a part of this paradise which is Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n

In the village travelling in buses and trains speaking to people of divers interests from different stations of life, I came to know how the ordinary people enjoyed their lives in a country free of fear and bursting bombs, trusting and relying on the Armed Forces to maintain that security \u00a0for generations to come.\u00a0 The unity of Communities they knew is necessary \u00a0but not at a cost to the newly achieved peace and security.<\/p>\n

Sri Lanka is a Buddhist country, the King Devanampiyatissa offered Sri Lanka to Buddha Dhamma and Sangha.\u00a0 There were then no Tamils, Muslims or Christians.\u00a0 Harking back to that time of sacred sanctity the word of the Buddha was heard every full moon poya day emanating from the Temple Trees the residence of the President of Sri Lanka.\u00a0 The television was made beautiful with the radiance of\u00a0 a smiling President Mahinda Rajapakse appearing at opening ceremonies of a road, a bridge, hospital, or \u00a0a school.\u00a0 Sri Lanka was development oriented.<\/p>\n

The TV debates had always dissatisfied UNP politicians looking at all development projects negatively, \u00a0\u00a0without even critical appreciation of any. They\u00a0 condemned infrastructure developments saying that\u00a0 people cannot eat roads. Mangala Samaraweera, Ravi Karunanayke, Lakshman Kiriella,\u00a0 laughed at the Armed Forces, refusing to see the risks they take,\u00a0 and achievements they made in their war against the terrorists.<\/p>\n

President Mahinda Rajapakse having had eliminated terrorism was determined to develop Sri Lanka and hoped he would be able to win the hearts of the Tamil people by developing the North.\u00a0 Lot of money was spent for that purpose\u00a0 hoping that reconciliation will be more feasible with an enriched North.<\/p>\n

All that was though impossible five years ago became possible with the President Mahinda Rajapakse who had the same determination he had to eliminate terrorism, to also develop Sri Lanka. The trains started running from Colombo to Jaffna once again. A well carpeted A9 road was laid like a\u00a0 ribbon all the way from Kandy to Jaffna.<\/p>\n

The paddy field were green every where once again and the \u00a0farmers had rich harvests.\u00a0 Sri Lanka was able to export several agricultural products.<\/p>\n

Sri Lanka was self sufficient in the production of rice.<\/p>\n

New school \u00a0building were opened every where. Information Technology was being brought to village schools. The Colombo Port was being enlarged, a second air port at Mattala was declared open. There was no traffic yet but Air Line companies were paying to keep Mattala Air port working to make it an emergency landing air port.\u00a0 No where in the world has \u00a0great projects become immediately marketable, it takes time to get the attention of \u00a0consumers.<\/p>\n

The development under Mahinda Chintanaya was in stages.\u00a0 First was the elimination of terrorism and bringing peace and security to the country.\u00a0 Second was the development of infrastructure, and development of other sectors including agriculture.\u00a0 Third was to be the \u00a0improvements to people\u2019s standard of living, and bring down prices to reduce the cost of living.<\/p>\n

The President Mahinda Rajapakse wanted to make \u00a0a far reaching change in the country, giving the benefits of it to its people, and may have thought it would necessitate more than two years to implement the whole of Mhainda Chintanaya.\u00a0 Therefore, he took the risk of calling for an early election before the end of his term of office.<\/p>\n

That was a wrong calculation. There was enough he had done for Sri Lanka after elimination of terrorism to have confidence of the people to vote him for another term. But he failed to take into account the Tamils and Muslims who were against a united nationalism and was preparing to vote against him.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately the 8 January, 2015, ended his carrier as the President. Sri Lanka lost in him a great National leader who was determined to bring the country forward\u00a0 to develop it to be equal to a developed nation status.<\/p>\n

It earned him the anger of the West which tolerates only the countries that develop within the norms set by them.<\/p>\n

The West played a leading role in defeating Mahinda Rajapakse at the Presidential elections by gathering the Tamil and Muslim votes against him. His defeat at the January, 2015 elections also marked the lost for the people of Sri Lanka the paradise it became after Mahinda Rajapakse was elected President in 2005.<\/p>\n

What happened to Sri Lanka- the Paradise after its loss on the 8th<\/sup> January,2015. will be left to be related in another article.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Charles.S.Perera As I walked out of the Airport\u00a0 on that wet morning \u00a0in 2014, the\u00a0 heavy November showers did not dampen my enthusiasm to be in my beloved Sri Lanka. The crowds of our dear women who had\u00a0 spent difficult times in Arab homes in the Middle East were seen with tears in their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-charles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49965\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}