People’s Victory

by Samangie WETTIMUNY

Rarely do we rejoice over one common reason. When one is happy, the other has his own reasons to be unhappy. Though you are on the brink of tears, your neighbour or relative may have enough reasons to be pleased about. But how wonderful it is to find out what we share is more significant than what we do not. It was such an occasion that we witnessed in the wee hours of last Wednesday morning.

The enthusiastic, standing ovation of the people still echoes in my ears. The sight would have definitely driven your minds back to May 18, 2009 when we all witnessed the death of world’s most ruthless terrorist and the end of the LTTE terrorism which devastated the country during the past thirty years. Those sad, miserable years are etched in all Sri Lankan minds and they never want terrorism to raise its ugly head again.

That is obviously why they wanted to re-elect their life saviour, Mahinda Rajapaksa as the sixth Executive President of Sri Lanka at the Presidential Election 2010.

It is not only the people who voted for him that won, but also everyone. As President Rajapaksa rightly said shortly after being declared the winner, that he is the President of everyone in the country irrespective of whether one voted for him or not!

Always hailed as a leader whose life has been shaped by his family upbringing, education, and strong Buddhist cultural background, he is popularly known as the voice of the common man. It is mainly the rural folk who contributed largely to his landmark victory.

“It is President Mahinda Rajapaksa who ushered in the ‘Change’ we all needed by completely eradicating terrorism.

Can we ever forget the days when we all lived in utter fear with endless explosions, untimely deaths, on top of all that a bifurcated land?” a retired principal who is jubilant over President’s victory shared his ideas with me. “We have already achieved the Change we all desired, a unified country.

Now it is time to develop Sri Lanka.” He went on adding that he was anyway certain that people would not get carried away by the ‘silly’ slogans such as “Wishwasaneeya Wenasak!”.

“He was down-to-earth, well cultured, and humane. He has almost all the qualities of a far-sighted politician,” tells another man enjoying himself a piece of kiribath. “He is the most remarkable personality of our times. He became the President of Sri Lanka at a time when the country badly needed a brave, strong and upright leadership.” He went on while inviting me to share a piece of Kiribath.

“It was indeed pleasant to see a gathering of Veteran Bhikkhus chanting Jaya Pirith to invoke blessings on the President before the elections day.

He is loved by all religious denominations.”

As observed by many, the President’s election victory was a reflection of people’s gratitude.

Those in border villages have not forgotten the dark days when they had to spend sleepless nights in the jungle overwhelmed with fear; they have also not forgotten the innumerable LTTE atrocities which claimed the lives of thousands of innocent civilians of Sri Lanka.

They very well know how difficult it was to lead a life trapped between a horrible past and uncertain future. “In that context can any patriot turn a blind eye to their life saviour?”, a young mother inquired.

“I am a Buddhist. The Buddha has always emphasized the value of paying gratitude to those who had helped us.

So I was the first to go to the polling station to cast my vote”, she went on until her baby who was asleep on her shoulder needed her attention!

“Our vote too is for Mahinda ‘sir’ ”, an upcountry Muslim teacher told me a few days before the elections. “I was really moved by one of his recent speeches where he specifically said that there are no minorities in Sri Lanka hereafter. There will be only two groups - those who love their motherland and those who do not and those two groups will form the majority and the minority respectively!”

She had even put her thoughts into a poem and wished to see the President one day to express her heartfelt gratitude to him!

“People who have experienced the horrors of war would only know how bitter and cruel their experience was We had to face that bitter truth every day, every hour, every minute and every second...” a Tamil estate manager who had lived through the war in Jaffna came out with his genuine ideas.

“I know even ‘Colombo folks’ had to live in fear due to constant bomb explosions in public places. But to those who lived in the North and the East it was a day-to-day experience.”

As he further noted he had no words to express his gratitude to the President for what he did to alleviate the sufferings of the people. “It is a pity that some have forgotten it within just six months!”.