President's call for firmer foreign relations laudable:

Winning the West over false propaganda

by Ashley WEERASOORIYA

Our defamed reputation overseas by the LTTE in the past had started gathering momentum by extensive funding in Britain, USA, Canada and other European countries soon after the war was concluded.

Although enough had been written about the war and terrorism a brief account may be permitted. The government decision and planning process on the subject of getting rid of terrorism had been exemplary . Judgments reached had been time tested and proven to the liking of the masses. The leadership ability to form firm opinions over the fear of terrorism and act on them when compared with the performances of the previous regimes indicated where they had gone wrong. The government gave something that the masses wanted to hear and see for themselves. This is particularly a good period for the government because the UN, European Union and other countries were made aware that the SLG too was under immense pressure from the people's power due to mandates given by the people to the government.

There was no going back by the SLG either when the retreating LTTE took hostages with them. They took 240,000 innocent civilians. The UNHRC had taken special notice that among the civilians were the elderly, the infirm, and children still in their mother's arms. Those people who managed to escape the LTTE's sheer brutalities and their horror were depicted in their grievous eyes.

But it is fair to say that overseas SL had to go through numerous obstacles mainly due to issues that have not been addressed to match LTTE lobbying power as well as lack of energetic and forceful way to counter false propaganda and fundraising activities. Sadly our general reputation gradually lost its lustre, because the Tamil diaspora cleverly used their misinterpretations against SL without any opposition from local right groups, Associations and societies who probably did not have a united vociferous outcry supporting the SL cause and representation in those countries.

The distracters made giant strides in order to win the sympathy from the Europeans; therefore we have a long way to go to catch up with them. The Tamil diaspora not only tarnishing the SL image but their exercise mainly targeted tourist arrivals. Whilst they were the most ruthless and violent guerilla group ever surfaced in South Asia their political arm did a fairly good job of securing the confidence and sympathy of the Europeans. Despite SL's governmental level, action without the participation of the local SL communities or groups, the issues that were in dispute somehow lacked the authentic flavour to turn the tenderness towards our sufferance and to our advantage. Among the Europeans the British are people who have had special links and bonds with our country going back into our historical times, therefore it is important that we keep them informed.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa had been very busy on this subject and he not only being in touch with Britain constantly and kept them informed of every development prior to the conclusion of these important events, but also with the President of the United States of America which resulted in those important announcements made which we all are aware of.

Tourism from Europe had been one of the backbones of our economy and little Lanka had been one of the favourite places in their holiday agendas. Sri Lanka cannot afford to lose this lucrative foreign exchange earner. Now that the country had arrived at a relatively peaceful position, fresh endeavours should be in place to lure more and more tourists to the country. To do that firstly we need to engage and get the opinions of several people who are engaged in the tourist industry in Sri Lanka as well as those Sri Lankan organizations established overseas. Those Sri Lankans and their community leaders had been domiciled in those countries for long time and they still have immense interest and contributions they could make for this drive to be a success. Everyone knows the country had to face severe difficulties during the past period but now all this can make a difference from our attitude, our way of thinking and the way we do things. It is not enough to smile and say "Ayubowan" at the entrance of an aircraft and forget the tourist after that altogether. How many times do we say "thank you" "sorry", "you are welcome" or say "come again" those little things like a smile,go a long way to lure them again and again.

They don't come to Sri Lanka to see our buildings or our expensive cars. They come to see and enjoy natural beauty of Sri Lanka and relax and enjoy the sun and sand of Sri Lankan beaches during their holidays.

Most of the common people of European countries look at life in a special point of view, but they also can be stubborn and bossy. But they are equally humane as much as we do. They also like to show off their superiority in the field of science, engineering, aviation, ship building or making good cars or simply show off their freedom. Being free and freedom means a lot to them. They like to exercise an "open to all" policy which even applies to refugees. Often the Europeans like to exercise rights of taking what action one chooses. They like to be allowed to range freely in search of ideas or see new lifestyles of different countries. Yes, they like to poke their fingers into where the action is. They like to inspect our refugee camps, yet they can be useful and helpful. They can be nasty and destructive like in Afghanistan or Iraq but travel and work in most hostile places on earth to alleviate poverty and above all health problems of poor countries, so it all depends, they are also helpful to those who are unable to help or powerless. You may have come across instances where Europeans go past a beggar without any concern. But that is because no beggars are found in those countries. They don't practice or exist in those countries.

It is not so in the United States, New Zealand and in Australia, Europeans would want to compensate for things that happened or were committed by their forefathers some 200 to 250 years ago, they would even go to the extent of saying "sorry" even though the present generation is not obliged to do so. Then again people will be puzzled to know why some European countries were trying to prevent the elimination of the terrorism from Sri Lanka.

To answer that is difficult. Not all European countries did that. Even though those politicians who did, were in turn hard-pressed by their own conscience ,by their own governments or their own right groups or organizations, so you get the good and bad everywhere but rest assured they would soon forgive and forget. It is all history now.

This is not taking sides, a pure personal view which will be useful for those who are interested to know.

We need to win the confidence of which we may have overlooked in some areas due to the tense situation that prevailed at the time. We may have unknowingly hurt their egoism and self-centred ideas unintentionally due to certain pressures; on the other hand the governments of Sri Lanka too were hard-pressed due to mandates undertaken from the people. People are the self-centred subjects who can make or break a state or a country.

Having freedom and being able to move without being subjected to, is considered a fundamental right. It cannot be challenged by their own government, so how do you put an end to anti demonstrations?

Most western countries therefore, are reluctant to accommodate new provisions to extinguish such laws that have become fundamental rights of individuals in those countries.

But there are better alternatives available to tackle these problems without legal remedies as claimed. For instance there is no judicial jurisdiction to stop someone from participating in a rally or demonstration. Trying to tell these to western countries may not strain or yield anything because the legal system is based on justice, fairness and equality.

Therefore even if those governments put restrictions on anti demonstrations there are other avenues available to them. We need to find and probe what they are.

There are legislation and laws in those countries to initiate charges against offenders who publish material by writing, telecast or broadcast in a manner which identifies, such attempts could cause ethnic unrest, they could be put behind bars.

Equally there have been instances where certain overseas politicians who went overboard and acted beyond their limitations undermining the sovereignty of Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, those very people criticized their own leader and challenged even the leadership of their own Prime Minister. For Sri Lanka's advantage foreign matters will be dealt with by Lord Mendelson, who is a pragmatic and straightforward individual and Sri Lanka would be more pleased with his appointment as the new British Foreign Minister.

It would be most appropriate to mention and applaud the efforts and comments made by Heath Shuler of the United States Senate who visited Sri Lanka recently.

It would further strengthen the closer ties which the Sri Lankan President had been busy lately to establish with the new U.S. President Barak Obama's administration.

On the whole it would be for Sri Lanka's advantage to harness the support of the overseas Sri Lankan Societies, `Associations and rights groups as envisaged in the Sunday Observer May 17th under the caption "Tigers take west for a ride".

In order to achieve this objective Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa's popularity among Sri Lankans abroad would have a greater effect. His profile undoubtedly gains more support from these communities which would be appreciated; no doubt such a move eventually will get better results and influence all round.

Our detractors overseas did such a job that pressures were built within the walls of those European institutions where the words `free' and `freedom' were born or evolved from time immemorial. The process of developing "freedom" into a special form and origination of things by development from earliest times were centred around these European institutions, therefore taking a leadership in that area by the British in particular had been entrusted or taken by themselves whom the world believe, is the leader, its the birth place of freedom.

The Sri Lankan conflict and its aftermath is a lesson to other countries, a minority uprising against an overwhelming majority. Whilst the Minorities are entitled to rights as citizens, it is up to the constitutional experts to find out how far the power sharing would interfere with the sovereignty of the country.

Rights are something one is entitled to, not for people who are not supportive, more unconventional, policies exercised than others in their own group.Terrorism has no truth or justice on their side; therefore there is no indispensable excuse that a group of people can turn to terrorism to win rights and equality.

If all minorities turn to this trend and continue to emulate these principles would become one hell of a battleground and mankind may find a gradual extinction.

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