Mr President don’t try to hoodwink the people

Mr President, what is the necessity for you to table a budget with increased defence spending when there is no need for defence spending at all:-

by Kurukshethran

(November 14, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) When the international community, especially India are very concerned about bringing a peaceful solution to the present ethnic crisis in Sri Lanka, there is no necessity for you to table a budget with increased defence spending. Surely your action is not in the interest of Sri Lanka and not least the Sinhalese people.

Mr President don’t try to hoodwink the people and fool yourself by stating that you want to go ahead with the war first and then think about the peace process. Clearly you are attempting to put the cart before the horse.

It is an established norm that war is a last inevitable resort when all the other possible means have failed.

We believe that you have agreed to implement the 13th amendment in full as early as possible, if that is so, there is no necessity for you to think about war spending and the talk about your lame duck APRC. There is nothing needed to be done towards implementing the 13th amendment except the de-merged North and East provinces to be merged. If you are genuine about resolving the present problem, an increased defence budget is not the answer, but you should have immediately attempted to canvass the support of all the political parties to support you in parliament.

Perhaps the Sinhala leaders of the main political parties may have an inherent fear that if they resolved the present ethnic crisis, they will be branded as traitors by the other political parties and lose the prospect of winning the next general election. If that is so, in the best interest of the country and the Sinhala people, it is time for the government to take a referendum to see if the people want peace or war. If the answer is “war” then you are justified in your tabling your budget with an increased defence spending. I am sure the present day Sinhala masses are educated enough to come out of the clutches of the influence of old legends and myths and to respect the need for the co-existence with their Tamil brothers and recognise their right to self determination and homeland.

Mr President let me remind you that Sri Lanka as an independent sovereign nation in the Indian Ocean is an accident, the existence of Sri Lanka as a military state of today is another accident. Slipping of total power into the hands of the Sinhalese alone is another accident and a blunder made by the colonial power in haste. Freedom came to Sri Lanka, without firing a shot, shedding a drop of blood and the loss of a single life.

Whatever sovereignty Sri Lanka has belongs to every Sri Lankan. So, don’t delay, forget abut the war and bring a peaceful solution at your earliest. A peaceful solution is mostly needed for the Sinhalese people, more than the Tamils.

Because of the arrogance and political manipulation of the Sinhalese, the country has become the sick man of Asia and one of the poorest in the whole world. There is an immediate need for the whole of Sri Lanka to get together and rectify the situation and bring the country back. If that is not done, the Sinhalese will lose Sri Lanka. The successive Sinhalese governments have successfully destroyed the Tamils of Sri Lanka and the Tamils of Sri Lanka have nothing to lose any more.

But Mr President, the present day ethnic problem is a cancer that Sri Lanka is suffering from. The Sinhalese have to solve this ethnic problem for their benefit, peace and advancement. This will not go away on its own, until the last Tamil lives in Sri Lanka. So Mr President stop the war and go ahead with the peace process. - Sri Lanka Guardian