CLASSIFIED | POLITICS | TERRORISM | OPINION | VIEWS

WELL DONE MR PRESIDENT

BY M D P DISSANAYAKE

The new President has thus far demonstrated his skills as an astute leader in many aspects. He has replaced the previous monetary proposals and presented medium to long-term programme in his new Budget, thus providing relief for poor, farmers, village based industrial development etc. The economic forecasts have been made on the assumption "no return to the War". Bill Clinton's Team and the world community at large had helped SL immensely and we cannot live in isolation.

The killings by LTTE of more than 60 military men (I call them " LANKA TAMIL TERRORISTS ESTABLISHMENT"), since the appointment of new President has not done any good for LTTE internationally. SL has shown restraint against provocation by not breaching CFA. But at the same time, Military has been given full powers to hunt those who committed terrorists acts. It is clear Army is doing an excellent job in this regard, including unspecified searches in suspected areas, including Colombo.

Art of "Negotiation" is a powerful skill. For the past several years, LTTE has not come to negotiating table. Now they are willing to attend talks, if held in Oslo. It is true the President first said the talks should be held in Sri Lanka. LTTE refused. Then the President was flexible to propose "any other Asian Country" (knowing very well LTTE will refuse again).LTTE did exactly what was expected of them, but proposed OSLO as an acceptable venue. The objective was to grab the opportunity and get LTTE to join the talks, which the new President will achieve in less than 100 days in power.

Initial steps to crush Indoneisan Aceh province terrorists movement (Geraken Aceh Merdeka - GAM or Free Aceh Movement), was initiated by the former President Megawati Sukarnoputri. About 4 years ago, she mobilized high powered military into Ache Province, declared military rule and ruthlessly pruned out vast majority of Terrorists, until such time their powers were diminished. GAM was then ready to negotiate and President Megawati was prepared in turn to give autonomy ( autonomi daerah), including several guarantees by the central government, inter alia, which includes:
1. Change of name of Aceh Province to NAD ( Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam ) also now known as Banda Aceh;
2. Guarantees on human rights, law reform
3. Disarmament and reintegration.
The New President Susilo Bambang Yudoyono has vigorously continued the former Presidents policies and finally the GAM returned all their weapons to the central government, following which the last batch of military troops were removed from Banda Aceh.

The reality in Sri Lanka, neither Mr Ranil W nor Mrs CBK did enough planning and hard work during their tenure in office to eliminate terrorism and achieve formidable peace on a continuing basis. They neither had a plan to deal to with the LTTE nor gave sufficient powers to Miltary to deal with terrorists. Some actions were taken, when provoked, just to gain media publicity. Few days after the tragedies ( whether Central Bank bombing, Debiwela Railway bombing, Anurdhapura killings of those who observed Sil) all were forgotten until the next attack took place.

Vast majority Tamils are well aware that they are well-off in Sri Lanka, rather than living in any other neighbouring country. Vast majority Tamils hate LTTE for causing lives difficult for them. The quality and standard of living enjoyed by many Tamils in Sri Lanka is a living testimony for the compassion and tolerance of Sri Lankan sinhalaese, rather than their brilliance and intellectual capacities.

The work so far being done by the New President is a clear indication that he is not making decisions on the run. His very thoughtful and consultative approach should be continued, whilst dealing with eliminating Terrorism as an on-going military agenda continuously. Making as fewer public speeches as possible, is also great quality of the New President.

BACK TO LATEST NEWS

DISCLAIMER