CLASSIFIED | POLITICS | TERRORISM | OPINION | VIEWS





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A Sense of Patriotism & An Emerging New Culture in Sri Lanka

By Darmitha-Kotte

Listening to the morning "Subharathi" programme on the National Service of the SLBC this morning, makes one feel proud that at long last the Sinhala listeners are able to listen to programmes with a nationalistic flavour to them. While most of the English programmes thrive on aping foreign aspirations even in the English accents we hear from those who conduct such programmes which is a far cry from the excellent renditions we heard from the likes of Jimmy Barouche and Vijaya Corea, the Sinhala programme mentioned above makes the listener feel a sense of belonging as well as pride about our country.

Before 2005 during the leaderships of Chandrika Kumaratunga and Ranil Wickramasinghe their agenda which was blatantly flaunted, was to ridicule nationalistic sentiments and patriotism and to be cynical towards the Sinhala Buddhist culture at every possible turn. We have gone through the period when Ranil Wickramasinghe instructed the Director-Generals (concurrently) of SLBC & Rupavahini Corporations to wipe out all sentiments of patriotism and nationalism from this country! That is how patriotic our UNP leader is. Not too surprised ofcourse, Chandrika Kumaratunga left no stones unturned when it came to laughing/ criticizing Sri Lankans who had strong patriotic feelings towards our Sri Lankan heritage " Sinhala chauvinists/ extremists" was a word we heard on a daily basis during her time. While our soldiers were supposed to be fighting LTTE terrorists in the North & East, she was shameless enough to organise what was called "Sudu Nelum Movement" and put her "tail wagging puppy dog" Mangala Samaraweera at the head of this movement to go around the country and promote "peace" completely demoralizing our soldiers who were out there sacrificing their comforts! It was also with her blessings that he organised a group to go all the way to Kataragama and conduct a shameless "pol gahana"(coconut smashing) event to curse our Maha Sangha. It was during her time that she instructed the shameless "Dr.Mervyn de Silva" (who considered it a highly heroic deed good enough to even brag about his achievements) to physically beat up Bhikku parliamentarians of the JHU within the August House of the Sri Lankan Parliament. Chandrika Kumaratunga's other shameless misdeeds and dishonesty at the cost of our country came out only after she disgracefully was forced to step down.

When it was decided that Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse was coming forward to contest the Presidential Elections of November 2005 we saw Mr. Lalith Kothelawela who gave a press conference to a Middle Eastern Media group that the LTTE was fighting a justified war to gain a homeland, considered it fit to place page long advertisements in all Sinhala, English and even Tamil newspapers in the name of SOLO-U which included his photograph and that of Archbishop Rt.Reverend Oswald Gomis with a message "Christians Awake!" in which they instilled fear in the minds of the readers by warning them not to vote for Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse! Today, Mr. Kotelawela and the Catholic Church are seen smiling and shaking hands with that very person they wished to prevent from winning the Presidency!

Having said that, many attitudes and things have changed in this country after November 2005 when Mr. Rajapakse took over the mantle of Executive President from Chandrika Kumaratunga and subsequently the leadership of the SLFP.

Change in Environment 2005-2008:

Within the Colombo 7 elitist politicians President Mahinda Rajapakse was known as " a Godaya" who couldn't speak English properly-this was their yardstick to judge the capabilities of a person. They all crossed their fingers in the hope that he would crumble before long and that they could regain their political supremacy which unfortunately seems to have fallen by the wayside.

Today we have an Executive President who is proud to wear the National Dress that his father also wore, he is proud to speak in Sinhala and keep the listeners spellbound with his eloquent speeches in which he extols the virtues of patriotism and the Sinhala Buddhist culture & heritage that is part and parcel of this island called Sri Lanka. He is proud of the achievements he has gained during a mere 3 years which others could not achieve in 17years(1977-1994 under UNP), 11 years(1994-2005 under CBK as President with a 2 year stint of Ranil Wickramasinghe as Prime Minister). Our country has begun to regain the self-esteem which we had lost completely save for the valiant fight that the late Mr. Lakshman Kadirgamar as Foreign Minister put, to place Sri Lanka back on the international map and erase that black mark the UNP left us for posterity.

Since 2005 Sri Lanka has been able to convince most of the western governments, our neighbouring countries India & Pakistan that the current GOSL is determined to eradicate terrorism from this country and that the exercise is by no means targeting the ordinary Tamil civilian but the LTTE terrorists. He has also stated in simple clear language, that "terrorism" whether it is in USA.UK, Europe, Australia, Iraq, Pakistan, India or Sri Lanka- are all one and the same inhuman, brutal terrorism wreaking untold misery on the entire country. Within these 3 years, even the all pompous USA & UK have now begun to tone down their accusations and support President Rajapakse in his efforts to free this country and bring back peace and harmony to all citizens.

Since 2005 President Rajapakse has managed to hand over the war front operations entirely to the Commanders of The Combined Armed Forces without interference to carry out their duties to free this country of Prabhakaran's brutality towards his own Tamil community which he professes to represent as "Sole Representative" and even this myth is crumbling fast due to the fact that Tamils living in the North are realizing how much they have suffered due to the LTTE atrocities and how many of their families have been held to ransom. Other than the unrepentant and blind TNA who still continue to be the mouthpiece of the LTTE within the Sri Lankan parliament, most other Tamils living in this country are extremely happy that before long, terrorism will be wiped out from Sri Lanka! The morale of our valiant soldiers is at an all time high and they are moving forward into LTTE areas with caution, discipline and strategic precision. The once proclaimed " un-winnable war against the LTTE" proclaimed by the UNP and then Chiefs of the Armed Forces, Chandrika Kumaratunga have now taken a 360degree turn with the able command of Sarath Fonseka leading the Armed Forces. The last heroic achievement is entry into Pooneryn and the withdrawal of the LTTE from their stronghold.

Since 2005 the current GOSL under President Rajapakse has been able to carry on programmes running parallel with the ongoing terrorist war, agricultural and economic to boost the local economy even though it may sometimes seem to be with a few hiccups on the infra-structural areas. Those living in big cities are talking about the "untold suffering of the masses" for their own political agendas while the villagers feel that they have a better future under this government taking into consideration all the decisions taken to give the local economic stakeholders a better deal to protect the local economy.

Since 2005 the INGOs, NGOs, Foreign Funding Agencies, Western Governements that have for so long been dictating how we must run our internal affairs and country, are beginning to feel uncomfortable in the presence of President Mahinda Rajapakse because he dares to challenge them and tell them where to draw the line unlike formerly when Ranil Wickramasinghe would rush his Ministers all the way to American, British and European leaders to obtain medication even for a "cough!" The Catholic Church and Christian Alliances are beginning to understand that all their unpatriotic and traitorous conspiracies against the GOSL and majority citizens of Sri Lanka are beginning to fail and their hopes of dividing this country to appease LTTE will have no future.

Since 2005 we are now hearing of various measures being taken by the GOSL to instil decent moral standards in the minds of the young in this country. Many programmes which give a sense of identity and pride by identifying oneself as a Sri Lankan are being conducted to gradually make our citizens proud and patriotic. Buddhism and Buddhist programmes on SLBC have been increased to instil proper religious practises in the minds of the majority of this country.

Today being the Birthday of President Rajapakse, there is no doubt that he must be a happy man while going down memory lane and looking back at four years of achievements. Let us hope that we will all witness the day when we can celebrate unity, peace and harmony among all communities with the achievements of our Armed Forces as they move forward to perform their duty and eliminate terrorism from Sri Lanka!



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