A new era of prosperity for the country

by Miran PERERA

The Presidential Election victory of Mahinda Rajapaksa for a second consecutive term has proved that the people of this country believe that he is the only leader who could take them and our country forward towards prosperity and progress. The verdict of the people is clear. They have reposed the trust placed on then leader who has realised that his honesty and sincerity towards the people had made them to vote for him once again.

Mahinda Rajapaksa was the then youngest member of Parliament in 1970. He began his political journey displaying a character of patience and understanding being loyal to all his party leaders. He was never ambitious but always patriotic. It would be correct to say that he was elected President after 35 years in active parliamentary politics. In him stands a politician who believes that all authority is the wealth of the people. Prabhakaran who read Rajapaksa's predecessors quite correctly failed to read the character of Rajapaksa in the correct perspective. Mahinda Rajapaksa believed in being tougher to the tough. That has been the way of life of Mahinda Rajapaksa from his childhood. Not only Rajapaksa read Prabhakaran early and well but he also knew closely the political characteristics of his opponent Sarath Fonseka. That study manifested the fate of both of them.

The President with his experience knew as to what should be the criteria to defeat terrorism and the destructive opposing political forces led by the candidature of Sarath Fonseka.

President Rajapaksa then embarked on a most difficult endeavour to claim victory after victory at all recent elections. The country needed peace. Therefore under the leadership of President Mahinda Rajapaksa the blight terrorist violence that resulted in political assassinations murder and suicide explosions did end. The President and his government had geared the nation to meet that challenge.

Mighty victory

There were prophets of doom who predicted that terrorism was too well entrenched and to think of defeating them was a dream. When finally the terrorists were routed many taunted the government for capturing a barren wilderness. While giving due credit to our soldiers for winning a mighty victory we should not forget the vital role played by Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.

Sadly for the nation Sarath Fonseka without strengthening the hand of the President for the better future of this country instead turned against him and decided to oppose his boss at the Presidential Elections. Instead of gratitude for the President for his timely and safe decisions, protection and all encouragement material and otherwise in turning against Mahinda Rajapaksa. Fonseka acquired the wrath of the electorate judging the defeat he faced at the Presidential Elections. President Rajapaksa has removed the fear and lack of security from the minds of the people. This is a basic human right for the people. The removal of fear has been confirmed in the past many months. This has also brought in the investment for the country in our march towards a prosperous nation. It has brought a financial boom to the investors in the share market who for many years did vote with the right wing market forces represented by the UNP. But at the Presidential elections because of the prosperity brought to the nation many voted for Mahinda Rajapaksa a second time for a stable government.

Long before the Presidential Elections Mahinda Rajapaksa did commence the economic and social integration of our people which is the greatest challenge for a united Sri Lanka. It provided opportunities to all including engineers, scientists, medical practioners and many skilled hands. They need not seek jobs abroad. This has been demonstrated in the past years even with the culmination of war. People needed Rajapaksa to continue this development process beyond the first term of Presidency of Mahinda Rajapaksa so that the country will achieve an economic take off which will automatically get accelerated for a prosperous Sri Lanka.

David E. Apter once wrote that a political opposition is neither a luxury nor a danger. If it performs its functions well it can be of crucial service both to the government of the day and to the people of a new nation. President Rajapaksa, unlike many of his predecessors, had realised that an opposition is essential to the governing of a country and this realisation is not based on the philosophy behind the traditional bi-party systems in the world.

Theoretically an opposition can aid a government in power in the critical spheres of democratic activity namely pursuing beliefs in and accepting democratic values, helping to control the acts of the executive by control and advice and giving coherence and meaning to the representative system. During the first term of President Rajapaksa specially last year 2009 was noteworthy because of the unprecedented allotments of funds for economic development. Despite the global economic situation and massive expenditure on the war effort Sri Lanka was placed in a unique position of overcoming global recession at a faster rate. This is because the country's economic growth was driven by domestic factors not withstanding the effects of global economy.

Electoral system

The banking sector played a crucial role in the revival. Capital outlays coming to fruition this year would easily match up to the major development allotments of funds, achieved by the country since independence. With President Rajapaksa's re-election for a second term of office the economy is solid and ready to take of beginning a new era of prosperity. Sarath Fonseka who contested the Presidential election of 2010 found the people were opposed to his military discipline, for which he is used for 40 years. We will lose our independence if foreign interests exploited this land and its people, we have seen this in many country's particularly Africa and Latin America. It would have happened to Sri Lanka if Sarath Fonseka won the Presidential Election with all the powers given initially by the present constitution. With the re-election of President Rajapaksa for another term a matter that has to be looked into is the revision of the electoral system which apart from its characteristics of inherent instability which has interfered with good governance.

Political parties by origin are competitive agents and political competitiveness guide their behaviour and actions. In such an environment bold political decisions are needed to bring about a consensus. President Rajapaksa displays maturity as a leader who is determined to take the country along a new path of political reconciliation and this fact made the electorate to vote decisively making him President for another term.

With the re-election of President Rajapaksa the acrimonious political cleavages are certain to come to an end. The political cleavages are expressions of social and economic differences in a given society, and now in Sri Lanka such cleavages though based on economic and social differences could be minimised in order to achieve an acceptable consensus on major issues of the day.

Stuart Mill once said that the expression of dissenting opinion is necessary for national political action. If Sarath Fonseka had won the Presidential election he would have found an ungovernable country. This would have been an excuse for him to take the country over completely using the military to back him. Commencing with the UNP and JVP this would result in a military dictatorship as we have often found in Pakistan and Bangladesh where the military takeover is passed on poor governance and corruption.

New political consensus

The citizens of any country may need dissenters and opposition in order to act wisely, to explore alternatives and to understand the advantages and disadvantages of different alternatives. In such a context it is not easy to build an extensive consensus and this challenge has been overcome by President Rajapaksa who forgetting the nature and extent of political cleavage among political parties and more importantly the open cleavages between the two major parties agreed to construct a basis for the emergence of a new political consensus the emphasis of which perhaps for the time being is to bring about a political understanding to address the major issues of the day.

With President Rajapaksa being elected for another term in office another new era has begun for the people of this country. Undoubtedly, it would be an era of prosperity and progress, nn era where every Sri Lankan would be able to live without fear, an era of plenty, peace and harmony.