By Charles.S.Perera

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ UNP is carrying on a world wide misinformation campaign against the Government of Sri Lanka abroad and locally in a much publicised Grama Charika . The UNP leader uses his official position as the Leader of the Opposition to meet the political leaders of the Western countries, to discredit and paint the picture of Sri Lanka as an undemocratic country with a President who withholds the freedom of the people.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ In Sri Lanka other UNP politicians lead by the Karu Jayasooriya, Sajith Premadasa, and Mangala Samaraweera are carrying on a similar misinformation campaign diminishing the important dynamic development projects of the government, high lighting the rising prices of commodities. And unsubstantiated accusations of corruption, and diverting public money for the comfort and wealth of a family neglecting the welfare of the people and the country.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ While people in the villages are confounded by the UNP misinformation, the SLFP and the UPFA MPs and Ministers are blissfully happy in their comfort of being members of a popular Government expecting people to withstand the compelling misinformation they are being battered with, to keep supporting the government. If SLFP and the UPFA do nothing about it leaving the field free for the UNP and the JVP to carry on their mischievous antigovernment campaign the people are bound sooner or later to react against the government.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ All activities of the government both positive and negative aspects of them are brought to the people living in Colombo and suburban areas through the written , audio and other media. But the people in the villages are not aware of them and they could easily be duped by anti government campaigns unless the government keeps them informed of why and what of the different actions taken by the government.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ If not there is enough material for the UNP to feed the news hungry villagers to be disillusion with the government. For instance the Government has to explain to the ordinary people why it had been necessary to have a cabinet of 60 Ministers, and why Rauf Hakeem who had signed a MoU with Prabhakaran had been Appointed as the Minister of Justice, and why people who had openly supported the cause of the terrorists appointed to the Advisory Committee of the Cultural Affairs Ministry.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The Government wanted a two third majority to make amendments to the Constitution and not to make a Cabinet of 62 Ministers and an equal number or more Deputy Ministers.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ It was the Sinhala Buddhist Soldiers who liberated North and East from the ruthless terrorism. If there were to be another resurgence of terrorism it is again these Sinhala Buddhist Youth from the villages of Sri Lanka who will be fighting to liberate the areas and keep Sri Lanka a Unitary Sovereign State. Therefore it is these villages from where the soldiers had come that should be the first to be informed of the activities of the government.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The Government has a greater duty to improve villages in the South of Sri Lanka where the Sinhala Buddhist Heroes were born and will be born in the future. There should be Sinhala Buddhist Soldiers in the North and East and they should be provided with land and houses to live with their families among the Tamils and the Muslims as it is happening in the South. The Government should inform these people what the government proposes to do for them, to improve their conditions of living.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ People also ask why the Catholic Church is allowed to have an important place in the North and East ?

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ There should be more temples and Buddhist priests in the North and East. Madhu is well known for its Catholic Church. There should also be a Sinhala Buddhist settlement in the area, with their Temple. It was the Sinhala Buddhist soldiers who repaired the Church that was damaged by the terrorists. If in the future a necessity of protection of the Church arises, it is again the Sinhala Buddhist Soldiers who will be called.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The Prime Minister has the important Ministry of Buddha Sasana and Religious Affairs, therefore he should immediately start reforming the system of Education of the Buddhist Monks and re-establish Pirivena system of Education as the Buddhist Monks are getting away from piety , and from the expected norm of behaviour of Buddhist monks.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The people in the villages are concerned about their religion, and want its development and not its decadence. There is a project afoot to print the Tripitaka in Sinhala and English for free distribution. It is a wastage of money , what is necessary is to have an Order of learned Buddhist Monks who knows the Tri Pitaka and able to explain it to the people.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Sacred Areas like Anuradhapura, Mihintale, Kandy, Badulla, Mayangane etc. should be declared sacred areas of Buddhist worship, and building of Catholic Churches, Mosques and Hindu Kovils should be disallowed.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ If the Reformation of the Buddha Sasana in Sri Lanka is not taken up soon the Principle religions in Sri Lanka will turn out to be the Catholism with a Cardinal now appointed to just 7 percent of the population.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The Popes offer of a Cardinal to Sri Lanka would have been a way of thanking the Sri Lanka Catholic Church for its stand by the terrorists, and an inducement for it to continue in its effort to provide a Tamil homeland, in the North and East.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The Catholic Church depends on the third world countries for its ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-existenceƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚. Its popularity had fallen from 40 percent in 2006 to 27 percent in 2010. In Germany only one person in six says he believes in God. Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith has to increase the number of believers in Sri Lanka, that is the cardinal task given to him.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The Sri Lankan villagers also question why the Asgiri Malawatte Mahanayake theros are not looking after the affairs of the Sangha , instead of concerning themselves with the affairs of the Governments and the appointment of Ministers.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ If the Government will not look into these affairs with which the ordinary people in the villages are preoccupied, the UNP and JVP will both have enough ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-ammunitionƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ to set up villagers against the Government.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The Villagers may also ask what benefits they get from the government, which has increased the salaries of the government servants by 5 percent , with University Professors getting even higher increases of salaries. They question whether the Budget is meant for the rich, with prices of motor vehicles reduced, and Tax concession given to enterprises. The villagers would like to have an explanation.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Therefore the SLFP and UPFA should meet the people at village level, like the UNP is doing with its anti government campaign with their Grama Charika, and explain to them what benefits the villagers could expect from the Government..

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The Government has only the Daily News as the press media to defend it and carry out pro-government propaganda. Even in the Internet there is only the Lankaweb as a non governmental website that supports the President and his government while there are hundreds of anti government websites, with Sri Lanka Guardian Website comparing the President to ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-HitlerƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Another point that interests the villagers is that all good Schools are in Colombo , and Kandy. The schools in the villages have not been provided with all facilities, and there are no qualified teacher and the teachers are poorly paid.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Even the children from poor families trained under the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-infamousƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ Tharuna Aruna are not provided with appropriate employment. Most of these Tharuna Aruna graduates are working as Clerks in School. They are disillusioned, and these are people who will be attracted to the UNP and JVP misinformation campaign.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The UNP MP Wijayadasa Rajapakse is critical of the appointment of Senior Ministers. Ravi Karunanayake had visited the prisoners Sarath Fonseka and Udul Premaratne, and spoke of his concern with their condition of living in prisons to discredit government, as if the government is responsible for the judicial action that had been taken against them.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Ravi Karunanayake who speaks against the government had not been an example of honesty during his Ministerial Office in the UNF Government. This man who criticises not only the Government but also the Armed Forces ridiculing the military operations against terrorism ,should be investigated for his corrupt transactions as a Minister of the UNF Government of Ranil Wickramasinghe. These facts should be explained to the villagers who are after all the deciding voters of any election.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Karu Jayasuriya a leader of the UNP Grama Charika Misinformation Campaign also speaks of the corruption of public enterprises. He was also in Ranil WickramasingheƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s, UNF government which did nothing correctly, and suddenly these UNP MPs think they have the panacea for all ills which they did not have when they were in power.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ It is time that the SLFP and the UPFA wake up to start their own Grama Charika, without allowing the UNP to go to villages to give misinformation to the people to put the peasants too against the government.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ It is a duty of the Government to go to the people and inform them of the actions the government is taking, and why things are not as expected and how the government is proposing to give relief to the ordinary people, and reduce their financial and social burdens.