President Rajapaksa ushered in a positive future - Charitha Herath

President Mahinda Rajapaksa coming into power in 2005 was a turning point in Sri Lanka's political history, making way for a positive future, said Secretary to the Ministry of Mass Media and Information Charitha Herath.

"It was after this that major changes in the national and international arena started taking place. We see a social contract being established in society and professionals making a collective effort to achieve goals for the development of the country," Herath said.

"The change in perspective of international relations of the Government gave priority to the country's needs, Herath said, adding that international relations drifted from the old 'outsider's point of view' to an 'insider's point of view' that gave prominence to the needs of the country. This changed the age old theory of looking at the problems of the country from a foreigner's angle and offering solutions from that point.

"This was a dramatic change. Sri Lanka's political history records three turning points from my point of view. Independence in 1948, the selection of the 1956 Government which ambraced a Sri Lankan identity over a westernised culture and in 2005 the present Government coming into power under President Mahinda Rajapaksa's leadership," he said.

"There was a need to re-design the role of the State and that is what happened in 2005," he said. The community-based development activities helped build confidence among the citizens about the Government. After 1956, it is this Government that initiated a large number of development programs to boost the economy from grassroots levels. Programs such as Divi Neguma were helpful to strengthen the economy of a community," he said.

As Herath said, it is not only community-based development that the Government was interested in. "Through strategic interventions, many large-scale industries that linked the country to the world were made prosperous.

Take the aviation industry. When Sri Lanka started in the aviation industry, no other country in South East Asia had a flourishing aviation industry. Yet, lack of proper strategic inventions by then governments blocked the possible success the industry would have achieved. Today, with the vision of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka has regained control of the national carrier, SriLankan Airlines," he said.

Today, infrastructure development has made it possible to visualise Sri Lanka as a commercial, aviation and knowledge hub of Asia, he said. "It was in 2005 that President Rajapaksa had the opportunity to put his vision for the country's development into action.

It is fortunate to be living in this era to witness the Mahinda Chinthana taking the country to a higher level," he said.