NOT A TIME FOR ANYMORE TONGUE- TWISTING, LYING, AND POLITICKING

By Shyamon Jayasinghe, Australia

Is the worst about to happen? Tamil terrorists have succeeded in securing air-power. This is the Sri Lankan equivalent to a non-nuclear nation obtaining nuclear power. Cannot the nation unite even at this stage? All signs are that it wouldn’t. Political leaders will continue to try to exploit the situation to their advantage. They will continue with their tongue-twisting and lying and pretend that nothing really has happened.

At an immediate press-conference, Ministers Fernandopullai and Priyadarshana-Yapa gloated on a pretence and self-delusion that the LTTE did not really inflict much damage. Super star government intellect Dayan Jayatilleka who was himself once a pro-Eelam writer, now (flushed with the Ambassadorial job at the UN after writing for the government) writes to the Asian Tribune stating that nothing much has happened.

As if there is anything more to happen! JVP leaders have urged the government to “do away with the peace process” and tear the Tigers into pieces. They are pretending not to know that the peace process has long since been dead and that what the Defence Forces have in fact been trying thus far is to “tear the tigers into pieces”.

This is all dishonest, opportunistic rhetoric that is plainly outdated. This is not the time for tongue-twisters, self- serving liars, and political chameleons. It is time for two things only: honest self-appraisal and honest statesmanship.

Any ordinary fool will know that the LTTE has arrived at a stage where they can obviate the critical disadvantage they hitherto had with the government of Sri Lanka (GOSL)-namely the lack of airpower. The savvy Colombo three-wheel driver as well as the man in the street will sense that something very serious has in fact occurred.

An IANS report from New Delhi states. that “It’s the first time a rebel outfit in the world has carried out an aerial attack without external support”. RAW reports that the LTTE has been building this up well-over nine years without any Colombo intelligence knowing it. I am glad that our Defence Secretary has taken serious note of what has happened. Because, the first thing is to undertake an honest appraisal and to understand the enemy.

The second is for President Rajapakse to redefine himself into a true statesman like Churchill in war- time. We have failed to see this quality in him thus far. He has got involved in petty manipulative politics and unprincipled revenge over opponents. He enters into an MOU with the main opposition and in the same breath violates it by smeggling in corrupt defectors from the UNP.

Getting the main opposition into his confidence is vital if President Rajapakse is to dress himself up as a statesman and forge unity in the South to address the North. While keeping corrupt Ministers in his fold and even promoting them he goes on to arrest former Minister Sripathi Sooriyaratchi for the misuse of a government vehicle.

He knows fully well that almost every Minister is guilty of such misuse. These are just two examples out of many that demonstrate serious fault lines in the character of the country’s leader. But people can change especially if they must change.

This is the time, Mr President. The country cannot wait any longer. Let us all unite under the President. For that to take place, the President must give a different image.