Far-sighted political leadership restored peace in Sri Lanka by Uditha Kumarasinghe During his seven years in office, President Mahinda Rajapaksa etched his name in Sri Lankan history as the national leader who gave political leadership to defeat the most ruthless terrorist organisation in the world and unite the country while embarking on an ambitious program to ensure democracy throughout the country, bringing a new political vision that seeks both development and reconciliation to build a new Sri Lankan. President Mahinda Rajapaksa with hie political sagacity led the Armed Forces to victory over the LTTE Pic: Rukmal Gamage President Rajapaksa was first sworn in as the fifth Executive President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka on November 19, 2005, after being elected with an overwhelming majority that endorsed his Mahinda Chinthana manifesto in a free and fair election. His manifesto which was largely people-oriented pledged the defeat of terrorism, democracy and a settlement to the long-standing terrorist problem. It also offered democratic approaches to economic and social issues, the continuance of social welfare policies such as free education and free health, an end to privatisation of the State sector, infrastructure development and strengthening of the rural sector of the economy. President Rajapaksa was elected for a second term of office at the Presidential Election on January 26, 2010, with the vast majority of the country’s people recognising him as the national leader who liberated the country from the clutches of three decades of LTTE terrorism to lead the country towards the path of peace and rapid economic development. He set up a record in Sri Lankan political history becoming the first Executive President to lead his party to a landslide victory in Parliamentary Elections held two months later. The far-sighted vision and leadership given by the President to the UPFA Government has helped it secure a two-third majority in Parliament. The success story of the Security Forces in recapturing Mavil Aru led to the launch of a major humanitarian operation to free the entire Northern Province from the grip of the LTTE. With professionalism in the Security Forces, encouraged by the President’s political leadership, terrorism was eradicated from Sri Lankan soil on May 19, 2009. In recognition of his “Outstanding contribution towards fostering world peace”, President Rajapaksa was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the People’s Friendship University of the Russian Federation at its 50th anniversary celebrations in February 2010. Divided country Mass Media and Information Minister Keheliya Rambukwella, in an interview with the Sunday Observer, analysed how this far-sighted political leadership given by the President paved the way to rebuild the nation and restore peace in the country over the past few years. Minister Keheliya Rambukwella The Minister said: Sri Lanka was virtually a divided country when the President took up reigns. We were dealing with the most ruthless and powerful terrorist organisation in the world and powerful countries in the West wanted the President not to even attempt a war with the LTTE and just to go for negotiations and give what they want.” Having listened to all that, the President took a determined stand on behalf of the people. He made up his mind with the valiant soldiers and firmly believed that we could turn it the other way around which he successfully did. As far as the country and the Head of State are concerned, that was a remarkable achievement during his seven years as the President.” The Minister said, “As we are well aware, when international pressure was mounting since the day the military operations were launched against terrorism, President Rajapaksa never bowed to pressure. We had a dynamic leadership who believed in himself and the citizens of the country. That was very important. He never doubted them. That gave the President a lot of encouragement and made him enthusiastic in achieving this final target of bringing peace to the country. There was such pressure from all quarters, but the President always strongly believed in the human power of the island. Whatever external pressure was mounted, he did not really take them as international pressure.” Minister Rambukwella said the significant aspect of President Rajapaksa’s reign was that he never ignored or totally set aside other important economic factors. “Power was an important issue. In the Asian region, every country has power cuts, but we are fortunate enough not to. Of course, this is at a price. We started Norochcholai, Upper Kotmale, Kerawalapitiya and various other projects in the power sector. Steps were taken to develop the ports as well. The macro-economic plans were in place. Economy not neglected “While the focus was on defeating terrorism, the President never neglected the economic sector. I suppose those are remarkable achievements. In three or four years, President Rajapaksa achieved the ultimate goal of bringing peace to the country and developing the country simultaneously. Our per capita income has grown and all indicators are very positive. That is very important. We might have to struggle to a certain extent for another four or five years because we had staged a costly battle against terrorism over the past three decades. However, clear leadership was given by the President in target areas and we have achieved success in those areas.” The Minister said the Government has now introduced the Divi Neguma program to deal with the poorest of the poor. “Of course, this segment is less than nine percent today, although it was around 15 to 20 percent earlier. Still, the Government has not forgotten them. “Other sectors such as business and tourism are successfully moving ahead. We need 15,000 hotel rooms and it is becoming a reality now. As a destination, I don’t think any travel agent across the globe would ever forget Sri Lanka. We have now put up the infrastructure that is required to make Sri Lanka one of the top tourist destinations in the world. We have also achieved self sufficiency in rice production and are exporting rice. Actually that was a dream right from the regime of D.S. Senanayake. Since then, we have been talking about making agriculture and plantations viable industries which we have now achieved. Major areas of the economy are being handled positively. Those are some of the significant achievements under the leadership of the President over the past seven years. “If we look at the seven years of the President, he is a very strong leader who believes in his own conviction. He also firmly believes the public of this country. That has given him the strength to take the country forward. I believe the country will reap the benefits of President Rajapaksa being the ruler of Sri Lanka.”