Sangadasa Akurugoda

According to media reports, while addressing a ceremony at the Sri Lanka Army’s 72^nd Anniversary event at the Gajaba Regiment Headquarters in Anuradhapura President Gotabaya Rajapaksa assured that action would be taken to amend the Constitution and introduce a new Electoral System to the people as promised and urged the all Sri Lankans to extend their support to take the country forward under the ‘One Country, One Law’ slogan without fraud and corruption.

Further, it is noted that in the said media reports, the President has accepted the fact that people elected him as the country’s President with high hopes. From the day he was elected, in the last two years he had to face a situation never seen before in the world’s recent history and he had been fighting for the last two years to control the Covid-19 epidemic. Although he couldn’t fulfill all the expectations, he and his government have done lot of work for the people in this situation.  He also added that his government will not offer any excuses but will forge ahead with its development and welfare drive, he added.

The above statement of the President is very timely, at this stage, since criticisms against some of the measures taken by the government, whether right or wrong, are mounting high in media, especially in the social media, exposing the mistrust and frustrating that arises in the people.

The comments made by a minister of his own government regarding the President and the government and reported in his official Facebook is a clear reflection of the views of those who elected the current President and his government. Minister Wimal Weerawansa stated in his Facebook that people’s confidence in the current regime has been eroded not only by not doing what they hoped for, but doing what they did not expect”. As the minister pointed out, when the same thing continues to happen, trust needs to be established quickly to overcome the mistrust and frustration among the people. Minister Weerawansa also sighted the importance of the President’s involvement in active politics and to attend party leadership meetings for collective decision making to avoid problematic issues.

When we consider how our politicians in the opposition are behaving since independence and even today (under a pandemic situation) to achieve their own personal aspirations, disregarding what the country needs, achieving the support of ‘all Sri Lankans’ to take the country forward may not be a reality. Our opposition politicians and their followers today see only the negatives of whatever the government does and they do criticisms which are not constructive but destructive.  This does not mean that the right leadership cannot take the country forward, if he or she really wants to do so.

The ruling SLPP government consists of politicians with different interests similar to what we had before under President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Although President Mahinda Rajapaksa has done a wonderful thing by keeping all these elements together, probably with the intention of achieving political stability as a short term measure, he had to face the consequences later at the end of his term!

Thus it is time for the President to identify the reasons which led to the erosion of the confidence of the people as outlined by the Minister Weerawansa and to take necessary steps, sooner rather than later, to isolate those who are responsible for ‘doing what the people didn’t expect’.

We were under foreign powers for centuries due to the acts of saboteurs and traitors. We have witnessed, during our life time, how powerful are enemies within, when destabilizing regimes. The public must be aware of these enemies, as a priority, and should rally against such elements in order to protect our nation

Sangadasa Akurugoda