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WHO IS ASIA’S NEW LEADER, AFTER LEE KWAN YEW AND MAHATHIR MOHAMED?BY DR M D P DISSANAYAKEEven before the War is won, there are many pundits advising the GOSL and the President the way forward after winning the war. BBC is at the centre stage in this manipulative and destructive preachers. The other is none other than our local boy, son of Edmund Wickremasinghe, Rt Hon. Ranil Wickremasinghe. Some others are also advocating change in Constitution once again immediately after the War. RW tried to win the hearts and minds of our dedicated soldiers by introducing his own Budget from the opposition and proposing massive pay increases for the fighters. This was an ulterior motive by someone who did not offer his famous “Alerics Ice Cream” even to the soldiers when he was the Prime Minister. He is now showing increasing sympathy for Tamils who have become refugees as a consequence of fighting. The President has repeatedly provided adequate safety net to protect innocent Tamils and looking after their health, education and other needs. Knowing very well that RW’s leadership and the remaining residue of the UNP will go into oblivion, he is playing his political gymnastics repeatedly. After winning the War, the most important thing the GOSL should do is to ensure that the Tamil community is not allowed to dominate the North and the East once again. We must take good lesson from the past actions. Just look at the rest of the country, starting from Kandy, Chilaw, Colombo and upto Matara the areas are dominated by Tamils and Muslims. Main streets of Pettah are closed on Friday’s for traffic because of Muslims are praying on the streets near their mosque. There are no such inconveniences to public in the world’s most Muslim populated country Indonesia in its entire archipelago. As many Sinhalese must be relocated to north and east to protect the country’s future. All three communities must be allowed to mix and live together in any part of the island, embracing each others religious and cultural heritage. Tamils and Muslims must not be allowed to set up their own camps and disallow majority Sinhalese to live in North and East. In the past SL has gone too far to sweeten the minority interests. We have given everything they have asked, that is why they now wants the entire country. Had RW or Chandrika been still in power, by now Sri Lanka would have become a Tamil dominated State. Apart from the cost, this War has dragged our country in all major areas of development. Vietnam, even after fighting a deadly war with USA, has now raised their heads. Malaysia, Singapore have advanced immensely. Singapore is transferring its technology to China. Singapore was a poor country until 1959 when Lee Kwan Yew became Prime Minister. His toughness raised questions of civil rights. J B Jeyaratnam became a political enemy, JBR and many others were put in Changi Prison. Lee was heavily critisied by USA and the UK at that time. Now today, his single minded vision for the future of the country has paid dividends. During a public speech some years ago, the audience asked a question from Mr Lee. “Mr Prime Minister, you have changed everything in this country, but you have not changed the Constitution. Why”. The Prime Minister replied, “I know of one country in Asia ( did not mention Sri Lanka by name) that has changed its Constitution several times, since gaining Independece in 1948, but did not achieve success, Our Constitution may be very old, but if I wants to do something, I know which page to look for.” Few quotes of Lee Kwan Yew on many issues high-light the vision he has provided to the tiny nation of Singapore from 1959 – 1990: “If you are a troublemaker…it’s our job to politically
destroy you. Put it this way. As long as JB Jeyaretnam stands for what
he stands for - a thoroughly destructive force - we will knock him.
Everybody knows that in my bag I have a hatchet, and a very sharp one.
You take me on, I take my hatchet and we meet in the cul -de-sac.” You’re talking about Rwanda or Bangladesh, or Cambodia, or the
Philippines. They’ve got democracy, according to Freedom House.
But have you got a civilised life to lead? People want economic development
first and foremost. The leaders may talk something else. You take a
poll of any people. What is it they want? The right to write an editorial
as you like? They want homes, medicine, jobs, schools.” “We have over a hundred political detainees, men against whom
we are unable to prove anything in a court of law. Nearly 50 of them
are men who gave us a great deal of anxiety during the years of Confrontation
because they were Malay extremists. Your life and this dinner would
not be what it is if my colleagues and I had decided to play it according
to the rules of the game.” “We have to lock up people, without trial, whether they are communists,
whether they are language chauvinists, whether they are religious extremists.
If you don’t do that, the country would be in ruins.” “I am often accused of interfering in the private lives of citizens.
Yes, if I did not, had I not done that, we wouldn’t be here today.
And I say without the slightest remorse, that we wouldn’t be here,
we would not have made economic progress, if we had not intervened on
very personal matters - who your neighbour is, how you live, the noise
you make, how you spit, or what language you use. We decide what is
right. Never mind what the people think.” After the War, the Asia will see the emergence of a tough and diplomatic
leader with a long term vision, similar to Lee Kwan Yew & Dr Mahathir
Mohamed. That is none other than President Mahinda Rajapakse, who will
stamp his authority through out Asia as a formidable leader, to take
Asia to the next level of success. Current Army Commander Sarath Fonseka
should be appointed as Vice President as a long term strategy of successive
planning which will provide political stability, enhanced level future
leadership and continuation of Mahinda Chinthana
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