Sterling qualities make a good leader

by Premasara EPASINGHE

The most awaited presidential election in the annals of Sri Lankan history will be held on Tuesday January 26. A total number of registered voters 14,088,500 will decide the fate of this country.

There are 21 persons in the fray to be the President of Sri Lanka.

Nineteen of them, most probably are contesting merely to get some personal mileage for themselves, through the print and electronic media.

What are the key issues that will decide on who is going to be the next President?

President Mahinda Rajapaksa: Charismatic leader

This presidential election is directly centred around two personalities.

* One who served this country with distinction for more than four decades as an MP, Minister, Leader of the Opposition, Prime Minister and as President and who liberated this country from the bloodiest of terrorists.

* The other personality was a Commander of the Armed Forces who is a novice in the game of politics with about 50 days of experience. He is the indirect voice of two or three political parties. Further, now he stands with the Tamil National Alliance TNA - a group, closely linked with the LTTE and a past mouth-piece of Velupillai Prabhakaran and his Associates.

The incumbent President in his first Mahinda Chinthanaya election Manifesto has fulfilled 94 per cent of his election pledges given in 2005. The most important pledge or the promise he gave to the public was to eradicate terrorism from this country. He kept his promise. For this, all Sri Lankans are grateful to him. Now , he has presented a new Election Manifesto, a worthy continuation of the highly successful Mahinda Chinthanaya seeking and extension for a second term to accomplish social and economic development of this country and make it stand with the best of the successful countries and to join the ranks of middle income countries on the verge of joining the group of developed countries.

In the General's Election Manifesto the most important pledges or promises centre around:

a. action to eradicate corruption.

b. restore democracy, law and order, which he claims to have been lost.

c. abolish the Executive Presidency (however, we note that to abolish Executive Presidency it is necessary to have a two-third majority in the Parliament)

Democracy

To the contrary, the people of this country know that there is democracy under the present President and by defeating the terrorists he restored democracy in the North and the East. One can also ask, how can there be an election to select a President if there is an autocratic Government in this land. President Rajapaksa who liberated this country as the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces and gave orders to the General to achieve that goal has pledged to eradicate any corruption, and develop this country to be a place for all Sri Lankan to live in harmony and achieve their personal goals to lead productive lives in peace and prosperity.

On the other hand, the good General who is contesting the incumbent President is trying to arrogate for himself the credit for defeating terrorism. He must know that if this President was like others before him, the country could still have terrorists running a large part of the country and the General would still be in his barracks suffering the indignity of sharing military power in the country with another commander who led the terrorists.

The good General should not forget the whole team who helped him defeat terrorists. The team was led by the incumbent President, the Secretary of Defence and all the defence forces, apart from the common soldiers who gave their lives and limb to defeat terrorism. Thus he cannot forget the roles played by the Defence Forces, the general public and last not but not the least the Commander in Chief Mahinda Rajapaksa and Gotabhaya Rajapaksa the Defence Secretary?

Unknown reasons

People at large feel that the General for some unknown reasons is seeking to take revenge from the President for his mistaken perception that he did not get the full credit for defeating terrorism. He seems to feel slighted and one who was not allowed to behave as the General who won the war.

He seems to have forgotten all the assistance and personal help and courtesies rendered to him by the President and the Defence Secretary.

The President in his capacity has to keep the interest of the country at heart and not cater to the whims and fancies of a General who seem to behave like a "prima donna". He also seem to be miffed by the refusal of the President and the Secretary of Defence to extend the Army another hundred thousand soldiers as there was not a clear need for such an addition after winning the war.

Another aspect of the General's personal anger could be seen when people who watched TV were shocked to see recently that he lost his temper and used abusive language about a person who was close to him in divulging some facts about his son-in-law's business transactions. The General questioned this persons saying: "Is this the gratitude I get from a man whom I helped". In anger he raised his voice, used abusive words like "Kalavedda", "Moo" ,"Paraya" and called this character "Thottababa". Is this language fit for a prospective leader of a nation? People have begun to wonder.

Talking about gratitude, the General seems to have forgotten that if not for President Rajapaksa and the Defence Secretary he would have retired as Major General a few years back. The President and the Defence Secretary gave him not only one extension but four extensions knowing that he was the man for that particular job. And, nothing more or less than that.

A few days back the General gave a bitter warning to the learned economists of this country over television. In his opinion economists are not needed for a country. This is a clear warning for his lack of appreciation for the importance of the job he is seeking and is in stark contrast to the incumbent President who has a group of highly competent economists, advising him on crucial economic issues. So this attitude of the General is not only a warning to economists but also to all expertise needed to run a Government.

During our university days we really enjoyed the hilarious acts performed by Sir John Kotelawala in his election campaign. The utterances of this General is definitely going to outdo Sir John Kotelawala's utterances.

Please remember, "When you speak be cool, don't lose your temper. Be brief and sit down" as Franklin Rosvelt remarks, Please take note of this advice, dear General.

True leader

In contrast, President Rajapaksa is a true leader and one who is fitting the job he has occupied with great success in the last four years.

A greatness of a man is judged by the powerful and pervasive influence he exercises for the good of his generation and by the certainty of his influence on the generations yet unborn. Such people are National Leaders.

To achieve this feat they must be blessed with leadership qualities.

I consider, President Mahinda Rajapaksa as an epitome of a good leader. He occupies, unquestionably, a very important place as a great leader in the modern history of Sri Lanka for ending the scourge or terrorism in the country, freeing our Northern and Eastern brethren from the yoke of a maniacal terrorist-Prabhakaran and restoring democracy to all parts of the country. President Rajapaksa's contribution will be even more appreciated by those unborn generations who would have benefited from the heroic act, beyond what our present generation can see or understand in the short time that has passed since the ending of the war against terrorism.

Hailing from a village background - Madamulana in Giruwapattuwa in the Hamabantota district, he knew the pulse of the rural folk, moved with them, stood with them, and understood them better than most leaders. Some would say that earlier leaders used the rural folk to come into power and forsook them by embracing ethnocentric politics that led to many problems that the country faced in the later years. No one can accuse President Rajapaksa on that score. He has not only distanced himself from such politics, he championed minority rights both in this country and abroad.No former President had taken the effort to learn our second national tongue-Tamil. That speaks volumes of his commitment to all citizens of this country.

He is a lawyer by profession, but he never forgot his roots. He is a man who could move with the ordinary men as well as the kings as Kipling had cast in the Poem "If". With his charismatic, pleasant, charming, personality he communicates with the peoples. It is simply 'magic'. A man with a golden heart he possesses golden qualities. That makes a great leader.

Leadership

Leadership is one of the most enduring human responsibilities. Leaders must take their ability to craft a vision, inspire action and empower others. We must have Leaders who are credible.

If you don't believe in the "Messenger" you won't believe in the "Message". The first milestone on the journey to leadership not only demands Leaders to be credible, but also, they be forward looking and they have a sense of direction and a vision for the future.

Visions are possibilities for desired futures. If you study leadership in depth you would see that the first and key principle of Leadership is that it is a relationship between a leader and a follower. Without a follower there is no one to lead. In short, as Bill Bradley, the Democratic Senator, Presidential contender and that great basketball player said, "Leadership is unlocking people's potential to become better".

In his political career spanning nearly four decades he gained much experience, first as a Member of Parliament, elected in 1970 from Beliatta, a mere youth of 26 years, bubbling with enthusiasm. He later became a Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, Prime Minister and President. His political career was not a bed of roses. He had to fight his way to become a leader. But it was never an unfair or dirty fight. He placed principle and party before personal aggrandisement.

He achieved these milestones as he possesses the ability to influence people. To be able to achieve these heights in a democratic open society like ours, a leader should possess honesty, and integrity. He must be genuine in his course of action. President Rajapaksa is blessed with all these qualities.

The great achievement of this Leader was the unification of Sri Lanka, after defeating "Bloody Terrorism" in the country. It was his dream and vision. He did not get into it haphazardly but took measured and definite steps to achieve this goal. He did not offer our Tamil brethren to a blood-thirsty dictator just to keep peace in the South. He knew that it was totally unacceptable to offer a part of our population to a maniacal undemocratic dictator for political convenience. Unfortunately many political leaders before him did precisely that.

President Rajapaksa is a brave and courageous leader. I presume no leader other than Rajapaksa had the guts and courage to jettison "Wickremesinghe - Prabhakaran pact or CFA, where the land in the North and the East was directly handed over to "Prabhakaran and Company" on a platter. The terrorist leader had taken the earlier Presidents for a ride. They had offered Prabhakaran unfettered "rule in the North and the East". many so-called experts on external affairs said that this division of the country was a "fiat accompoli".To the contrary, President Rajapaksa through enormous dedication and unflinching commitment as the Commander in Chief achieved his vision of freeing a part of our population from the maniacal dictator, with the help of all the defence forces.

President Rajapaksa stood firm and tall. He never bowed down to local and foreign reactionaries. Like a great statesman who saved the Commonwealth and Great Britain, Sir Winston Churchill, this Great Leader President Rajapaksa ordered his Commanders of his defence forces to fight.... fight and fight. Rajapaksa motivated the Forces like Churchill, and addressed them to fight in the land, sea and air. He knew that prior, preparation would prevent poor performance.

Therefore he motivated all his defence leaders strongly without a song and dance about it to be ready for the eventuality.

Through the advice of the dynamic Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, he provided all facilities and prepared the ground work and the infrastructure to eradicate terrorism. He was the supreme team leader.

Success was due to team work. The battle against terrorism was not fought by "One Individual". The entire defence force should be highly complimented for this achievement. We honour them.President Rajapaksa through his leadership desisted foreign parties in the pay of the LTTE to end the campaign to wipe out terrorism. Many such leaders sent their emissaries with various promises to go back to the status quo of a divided Sri Lanka. Even, at the last moment, the United Nations, Secretary General sent his personal emissary under the behest of the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to save Prabhakaran. All these attempts failed because of President Rajapaksa's fortitude and his ability to say "No" without rancour and with great diplomatic skill.

At the same time, he secured the support of many leading powers to help against terrorism as it had manifested in Sri Lanka for thirty years while in the US, UK and Europe it was a rather new phenomenon. Thus due to President Rajapaksa's leadership, the country got help from many sources who do not usually work together. To name a few, these included India, Pakistan, US, China and several others. It was in this sense a rare configuration of forces that provided the cover for our defence forces to secure a convincing victory over the LTTE.

I am certain that the grateful people of this country who appreciate the unification of Sri Lanka after 30 years will ever remember Mahinda Rajapaksa not only as the President of Sri Lanka but also as a great national hero. His name will be written in gold in the annals of Sri Lanka history.

Great quality

A great quality of a great leader is to fulfil the promises, take brave and bold decisions in the interest and the welfare of the people.

President Rajapaksa never bowed down to local and foreign reactionaries when some foreign countries applied to pardon and free Prabhakaran.However, he always maintains a neutral foreign policy and through his diplomacy he maintains a very cordial and friendly relationship with foreign countries.There are important superior qualities that makes a leader and a great human being.

It is up to the right-thinking people of this country to decide on the leader who will guide the destiny of our beloved motherland.