Quo Vadis Mr. President?

by K Godage

(January 14, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The government should realize that we may be sitting on a powder-keg. One need not be a pessimist to say that dark clouds are gathering, with the soaring cost of living, the rising price of oil, thousands being unemployed, the JVP controlling the Unions and formenting trouble, many marginalized people unable to feed their families, thousands of deserters who know how to use weapons (and some of them in fact having weapons and engaging in murders and robberies) and the thousands of Tamil youth, who have also had weapons training and thousands more Tamil youth being expelled from Europe, who have only hate for this country returning here, and political enemies nay traitors, who are lobbying the international community, to harm us. The latter think only of themselves and their rejected political party and their rejected leader who has been many times in Europe bad mouthing the government and working against the interests of our country. They are exploiting the situation for their selfish ends. The final factor is of course the hostile Diaspora in league particularly with ‘vote seeking’ British MPs and other hostile elements in western countries, who are determined to harm us with the help of traitors in our midst. We are indeed sitting on a powder-keg, the ever increasing crime level alone and the unrest in many parts of our country should serve as an indicator of what is awaiting us unless the government changes course. We have to do it and must do it – but how is the question.

In the first instance we need to tackle our enemies overseas, meaning the Tamil Diaspora and their supporters in western governments. We need to address the reasons for their agitation —- their position is that the Tamil citizens do not enjoy equal rights in their own country, they sympathize with them and claim that the Tamils are a discriminated minority. This perception can and should be honestly and sincerely addressed. The 13th Amendment has not been implemented in the North and East. Yes the war years did not permit its implementation but now we can and must implement 13A with certain necessary amendments – for instance taking away police powers and land. If this is not possible for political reasons, we should pass new legislation to empower the local authorities in a meaningful manner. We should also ensure that the local government bodies are well funded to enable them to deliver. Yes we must empower the people to manage their own affairs. We must also give them back their dignity, With one stroke you will take the wind out of the sails of the Diaspora, the Tamil people of our country, particularly the majority who live amongst us would ask the so called Diaspora Tamils to mind their own business and leave them in peace. Do it now Mr. President, do it now.

Yes give the Tamil people back their dignity. What is wrong for instance in allowing the Tamil people to sing the National Anthem in Tamil, to the very same tune of course. They would understand the words and would sing with feeling for this land is as much theirs as it is ours. It is only the racists, the successors of those who sabotaged the Banda-Chelva Pact and the Dudley-Chelva Pact (thousands have died and the country has been set back fifty years as a result) who are said to be opposing this –it is downright stupid and they have got their priorities wrong. Our President who saved this country from being divided is also thought of well by many Tamils, the Vellalas in particular, who for centuries looked down on the lower castes who came into their own with Prabhakaran and lorded it over the higher castes after 1975. Mr. President, you reached the hearts of all Tamils when you addressed the UN and spoke a few words in Tamil. You have also thereafter spoken in Tamil on three state occasions and also had your esteemed Secretary (we are indeed fortunate to have a man of his calibre around to serve our country) to speak in Tamil when you took your oaths for a second time. The President is the President of all our people and the whole country, he is the executive head of state. Yes, all our people are grateful for it was his leadership that saved this country from being divided. He should not therefore seek to appease these hardliners who do not understand the world we are living in, which is today a ‘global village’ because of the communication revolution. The President is firmly entrenched in office and he must act in the long term interest of the country. Please do not give the impression that you are a captive of these hardliners, unite our country and make it a nation in every sense of the word .