Credit MUST go the Prime Minister, Ranil
Wickremesinghe for inviting both the President of Sri Lanka, Maithripala
Sirisena and former President Chandrika Kumaratunga from the historically
adversarial party of the SLFP, for the 70th Anniversary of the UNP,
NOT ONLY to grace the occasion but also for the President to address the UNP
faithful from around the Country.
This is indeed a historic occasion for
Sri Lanka, which will no doubt find significant space in all history books as a
very significant instance of different POLITICAL ideologies working towards the
common good. The UNP faithful at the event were most magnanimous in their appreciation for this gesture and in their ability to applaud their erstwhile opponents on their own platform! WHAT AN EXAMPLE FOR ALL!
I know personally that many within the
UNP and the SLFP have unquestionably opposed such a show of unity. Beginning
with the historic alliance of the PM and President which resulted in the
unexpected defeat of a then seemingly powerful despot, we have seen unprecedented
if acrimonious unity of the two major political parties in Sri Lanka, working
towards the common goal of Good Governance.
We know that Good Governance has been
under considerable pressure, partly because some of the culprits of bad
governance are still very much part of the Good Governance team, and many
within the UNP old guard HAVE NOT been able to change their spots, and involved
in the same misdeeds attributed to the previous government.
The President and Prime Minister are
only painfully aware of the miscreants within their respective parties, but in
the interests of UNITY, lack of alternatives, and the need for their support in
parliament for a change in the Constitution are willing to tolerate their
activities for the time being.
No doubt and given time, and well before
2020, once the new constitution has received the people’s assent at a referendum,
their misdeeds along with that of the previous administration will be exposed
and prosecuted equally with NO preferences in the eyes of the law, and they
will receive their just desserts.
It is a level of patience that is needed
now, something even I sometimes have little left and is painfully shown in my
blog entries. However this Govt. will last its course, and I trust that in
time, all the excesses of the past will come to light, and the people will
gradually realize the extent of the plunder of our assets by the previous
regime, will one by one, pull the rogues in the present Govt. also into that
net, resulting in prosecutions and convictions under a completely independent
judiciary, that the Govt. has determined it will not interfere in.
So first, I will appeal to the long
suffering UNPers who daily remind me that they are still suffering due to the
actions taken against them in the form of Political Vengeance which they have
yet to see any redress to think national, and forget the fact that they will receive
recognition, as that is only a tit for tat kind of deal, where those who
benefitted from the previous regime will be politically punished in return.
It is difficult to sell this concept
when those in power from the previous regime still engage in the same political
favoritism that was common in their last life under the Rajapakse regime. As
for the SLFP they have NOTHING to complain about as the UNP HAS NOT engaged in
political victimization, and they have NOT appreciated that AT ALL, which to me
is extremely regrettable, as that shows a lack of Nationhood, and that they
have NOT grown out of their petty party affiliation and looking at the National
or Big Picture.
As for both the members of the joint
opposition, who really do not belong to any party, and are merely opposed to
everything the Govt. stands for, in essence those who prefer a return to a
despotic rule, I have no retort, except to say to get a life!
For these people who belong to the Nether
- Lands, to even have the gall to criticize both Sirisena and Kumaratunga for
attending the UNP 70th anniversary celebrations is worse than sour
grapes, probably a reflection of INSANE JEALOUSY that they see their existence further
in question!
I really cannot see how some right
minded individual can criticize people who work for the Country, or put the
Country before SELF and PARTY. Obviously they are wrong minded individuals and
may they stay that way if they wish to disappear from contention, and if they
wish to be the true opposition, then let them contest in a free and fair
election, and obtain the relevant public support for their platform of vengeance
at the next General Election.
Finally, it is incumbent on the Prime
Minister, that his team perform not only to the people’s expectations which are
difficult to fulfill, but in the best interests of the Country as a whole, which
by the next Election will translate to the people’s intentions, once they are
better educated to be civic minded, putting the Country’s interests before
their own.
I will criticize constructively in how
to do this. Read my blog and find out.
1 comment:
It is the UNP rank and file vote that brought Sirisena into power most unexpectedly for the benefit of the Country. ending the seemingly lifetime expectancy of Rajapakse despotism. It is solely the UNP troopers who suffered much over 20 years and under the tyrant that we owe a debt of gratitude. They are the true Nationalists, the magnanimous, who can hold their heads high! but nothing else, as they have been dealt with by short shrift in the interest of National Unity, if giving the rogues of the SLFP in the Govt. an unusual prize of continuous favoritism of their followers at the expense of the UNP following.
It is time the PM made some redress to put things right. Surely he can.
Post a Comment