Voting is not only a right but a great responsibility

Sri Lanka will choose her next president on 26th January 2010. As fate may have it, just like in 2006 Sri Lanka will be facing another monumental historic moment in her illustrious journey almost 3000 years long. People of Sri Lanka cannot afford to make a mistake for the simple reason that repercussions of such a mistake would shatter the entire country and plunge the unborn generations in to suffering as we have witnessed before our very own eyes for the past 30 years. It is in this sense that we should remind ourselves that 'Voting is not only a right but a great responsibility'. We should not think lightly about this and force ourselves to make a decision for all the wrong reasons. This is not an election in a town council or a vote to choose a President for a club. We are selecting an Executive President and placing the fate of mother Lanka on his hands for the next coming years. We are effectively making a decision on what sort of an environment the next generations of Sri Lankans are going to be brought up in. So whatever petty personal agendas, likings or disliking we have should come secondary and we must emphasize the security and longevity of mother Lanka. Such is the gravity of the decision we will be making on the 26th. Don’t think of 26th as another election on a Tuesday !!!! Choose wrongly and every day after that for the coming years can become your nightmare.

If someone doesn't understand the gravity of the situation let’s turn back the clock to 2006.

There is no argument to the fact that L.T.T.E was destroying the country. Whatever the humble beginnings they might have had or whatever the 'ideals' they were pertaining to represent by 2006 L.T.T.E was a terrorist organization operating in Sri Lanka with a global presence. It could blow up a bomb anywhere it wanted or take a life of anybody it wished. Didn't matter if the person was Tamil, Muslim or Sinhalese you go against them or raise your voice against them and death would come knocking to your door step. Sri Lanka was deprived the services of great tamil politicians like Lakshman Kadirgamar, Nilan Theruchellwum. The number of sinhalese leaders that were taken from the hands of mother Lanka were countless. It is doubtful whether Sri Lank will ever see the likes of Lalith Athulathmudali, Dencil Kobbekaduwa again. Just imagine if all these people had their full life to live and could serve Sri Lanka as they wished, Wouldn't we be living in a better society right now. So great was the blood thirst of L.T.T.E, India lost one of her crowned jewels in Rajiv Gandhi !!!. To make matters worse by 2006 the previous leadership had identified the legitimacy of this ruthless organization. It was given 2/3 control over the beautiful blue seas of mother Lanka and 1/3 of her land. Never in the entire history has Sri Lanka being so disgraced. We were a country that fought to protect itself. A country that fought for the ideals we believed in. A country where people from all backgrounds, religions and races lived in harmony. But by 2006 the leadership of the government was acting like people without a backbone. Controlling Sri Lanka to the tunes of the western world, signing peace agreements that kept the Army, Navy and Air Force to it barracks but allowed gunmen of L.T.T.E to kill intelligence officers at their discretion. The exposing of soldiers who exhibited gallantry and bravery unheard of before by penetrating enemy lines deep within jungles of Mullaitive and bringing terror to 'Prabakaran' (so much so that he had no option but to sign a peace agreement) by the then government was the ultimate betrayal. Making the ultimate sacrifice in the battlefield is one thing but being gunned down in broad day light in your home or while travelling to work is something drastically different. Some officers had to leave the country for which they so selflessly put their lives on the line. The magnitude of support L.T.T.E was getting from the international Diaspora was overwhelming. This was clear by the stock of arms recovered by the soldiers in the recently concluded war. Such was the situation in 2006 and if people made a mistake then, not only north and east but the entire country would have been under the terror chief. Most probably if in 2006 Ranil Wickramasinghe won we wouldn't have a country called Sri Lanka to hold an election in 2010.

In 2006 majority of people realized this and voted for Mahinda Rajapakse.

The very fact that he had the nerve to stay focused on eliminating terrorism until the very end and never deviated from this goal is exemplary. It should also be noted that there was a clear strategy in every aspect which enabled the security forces to pursue their mission. The military operations didn't start immediately. There was a recruitment drive to increase the man-power of the three forces. The necessary fire-power improvements were done. Mahinda Rajapakse did go into peace talks in the genuine hope that L.T.T.E would comply. But unlike his predecessors he was smart enough to develop the contingency plans if the talks broke up and L.T.T.E announced itself at war in the same breath it announced itself at the peace table. So when the Mavilaru situation broke through the forces had the man-power and ammunition not only to neutralize it but to evacuate the entire eastern section. Only under the regime of Mahinda Rajapakse did the entire population supported whole heartedly the ongoing war and the war heroes. Drives like 'Api Wenuwen Api' captured the hearts and souls of Sri Lankans as they began to appreciate the sacrifices made by the modern day heroes. The innovative media coverage inspired people and they began to help as much as they could. Previous governments didn't tap in to the power of the common man in winning the war. But drives like 'Arakshaka Esa' and constant media drives put the whole nation on alert. Many bomb threats were averted due to public diligence. A nation which was in synergy only when the Sri Lankan Cricket team played was now in synergy against the most ruthless terror organization. For the first time the younger generation was inspired to dedicate themselves to saving their motherland. Unlike during previous operations this time when one made the supreme sacrifice there were several behind him to take forward the national flag. The ones who made the supreme sacrifice did so knowing they didn't fight to accomplish some stupid political agenda or to swing some votes to the government. They knew their sacrifices were not in vein. They knew their kith and kin would be taken care of. Just take back your mind to the days of 2008 November, December and early part of 2009. Weren't you anxious to know what happened at the battle field every day?. How many times did you visit the http://www.defence.lk/ or look at the battle progress map. Do you remember how people were so eagerly discussing the status of the battle field and organizing among themselves to collect necessities to the forces or to donate blood? How closely they monitored the progress of the 58, 53, 59 divisions fighting in three fronts. How after 1818 they had national heroes on a battlefield. The fact of the matter is the government had out thought in every department every party that acted to prevent them from defeating the L.T.T.E. They out thought the terrorists by way of ingenious battle field tactics. They outthought negative media agents and agents like tamilnet through their own media publications. This time around the war was not treated as something that could not be won which was the case with previous governments. More importantly this government identified that in order to win the war in the battlefield there were many other aspects that needed to be addressed and everybody needed to work according to the master strategy. It was like a vehicle moving forward, you only see the wheels rotating but a whole lot of small and big things in the engine needs to work together to make it rotate. The ending of the war was truly a remarkable achievement. Sri Lanka had achieved its true independence and announced itself at the world stage. Sri Lanka was no more the ‘bomb country’ as some people identified it!!!.

There were attempts to stop the war.

Whatever said the government didn't enjoy a clear majority in the parliament. Like under Chandrika Cumaratunga regime few people crossing over to the opposition could have ended the war then and there. But Mahinda Rajapakse was instrumental in ensuring governments stability during the four years. Ministers did leave the government but many came in their numbers to support the government which was in a genuine mission to end the war. Although many wouldn't know the banking sector could have broken down forcing the country into economic peril. If the Ceylan Bank issue was not handled investor confidence would have deteriorated resulting in people with drawing money from banks. In fact before Ceylan Bank was taken under government some agents were slowly spreading rumors telling Ceylan Account holders to with draw money as soon as they can. If this was allowed to happen panic could have spread across the entire population forcing people to with draw money resulting in the entire banking sector crashing and placing the entire economy in peril. Although it is not entirely clear whether this was a planned act to topple the government if mishandled the situation would have resulted in the humanitarian operation being halted. Then there was the attempt of creating friction between the executive and jurisdiction powers. The same was used in Pakistan to remove president Musharuff from power and induct the chief of justice as the new president. But the government was alert to these developments and tackled them masterfully. Toward the latter part of the war there were significant foreign interventions as well. India had to be well communicated over as to the plan of the government. How they were attempting to rescue 200.000 odd people hold hostage by the terrorists. UN was trying to interfere. U.S.A had one of their satelites hovering over the hostage camps. There were talks of a rescue operation from a foreign country to rescue Prabakaran. Norway agents were trying to save Prabakaran till the very last minute. But all of these obstacles were overcome by the government by outthinking their opponents and tackling the associated foreign parties in a very professional and diplomatic way. If the Nandikadal operation to save hostages got delayed by couple of days the humanitarian operation would have ended in a totally different way with the intervention of foreign powers. So the four years of Mahinda Rajapakse gave Sri Lanka it's true independence. But it was not in any way a ride in the park. The government was instrumental in handling all of the issues and possible attempts made by external forces to stop the war. Come 2010 the Presidential Election and those same forces are now trying to defeat the current government and deprive mother Lanka her recently gained peace and tranquility once again. We have no doubt that Sarath Fonseka contributed immensely towards defeating the terrorists in the battle field. He is no doubt a fine Army Commander as well. But by the things he is saying now and how he is behaving it's a marvel Mahinda Rajapakse was able to work with him for the past four years. And by no means did he win the war alone. For the simple reason by then L.T.T.E had grown and expanded over the years to such a huge organization which could not be defeated in the battle field alone. That is the sole reason why shadows of L.T.T.E like TNA are still working tirelessly in other fronts to achieve their sole aim of a separate country. Sarath Fonseka alone could no way take the full credit for the military defeat of L.T.T.E since Navy and Air Force played a major role as well. This is the very reason that 2010 elections has become a crucial juncture in Sri Lanka history. This time around elements that seek to divide this country has taken SF as bait to swing votes. As in 2006 people should think hard and be logical in making a decision as who should they vote for.

Some people are in the view that they only see Rajapakse's in TV every day and it's the Rajapakse family that is driving the country.

They are of course referring to Ghotabhaya and Basil. Then the question they should ask themselves is, 'Is Ghotabhaya unfit or unqualified to hold the position of defense secretary?' or 'Has he not done his duties correctly?’. They should then realize that he was not made the secretary of defense because he was the brother of Mahinda Rajapakse. He has battle field experience and the military knowledge to hold such a position. He has served Sri Lanka very well and deserves the same (if not more) accolades as Sarath Fonseka for wiping out terrorism. Furthermore in a situation where the country is facing a bloody war positions like secretary of defense should be given to a person who is faithful to the president. This is the case everywhere in the world. In U.S.A when a new president is elected all important positions are given to close associates of the president. This was the case with president Obama also. When he became the president he handpicked the people to hold important positions. All of them had worked with Obama previously. The point to note here is that in appointing people to such positions they should be qualified and accomplished enough to hold those positions on top being close associates. Being a close associate should not be the overriding criteria it should just be a complementary one. We should look at the Rajapakse's in this context also. Obviously Ghotabhaya is more than qualified to hold the post. Basil is a very good organizer and is doing bulk of the work in developing east and the north. He showed his ability by managing relationships with India during the latter part of the humanitarian operation. Bottom line being they are capable people in handling the responsibilities assigned to them and the only criteria used by Mahinda Rajapakse to give them posts has not been the fact that they are his brothers.

The true fact is people who level such allegations are blind to the real issue at hand.

They don’t realize the gravity of the situation facing the country and they don't realize the fact many external forces were trying to disrupt the government when the war was going on and are trying the same in the elections by making SF their bait. The very fact TNA is on that side stands as ample evidence to this. They are deciding against voting for Mahinda Rajapakse for all the wrong reasons. Some of the reasons being, they see too much of Rajapakse's on TV, they are hoping for some 'change' which they are unsure of, they think the government is the most corrupted in the world without seeing any hardcore evidence or because they can benefit via privatization under a different government. All such things are wrong reasons to vote against Mahinda. If someone is voting against Mahinda for such petty reasons not realizing by doing so that they might lose the very country they are living in then they are not using their voting rights in a responsible way.

Your vote is precious. You should use it in a very responsible way for the betterment of the country.

Remember that your vote is not only your right but most importantly a great responsibility.