"Democracy will be victim if world fails to fight terrorism" says
President
(By: Walter Jayawardhana)
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President Mahinda Rajapaksa is in London to
address the Oxford Union on an invitation of the Oxford Union and
the Sri Lanka Society of Oxford University. The President met SLFP
members of the London branch on Monday. This welcome ceremony was
organised by the London SLFP Branch Chairman Sisira Perera. Here a
child welcomes the President. Picture by Sudath Silva. |
Calling it the plain truth President Mahinda Rajapaksa
said if Sri Lanka failed in her war against the LTTE the world will fail
in its fight against terrorism and democracy will be victim addressing
the Oxford University Student Union.
"The LTTE is the most brutal terror outfit the world
has ever seen and defeating them requires global support. What Sri Lanka
is doing is fighting the terror outfit single handed to ensure that
democracy and respect for human life prevail in the world," the
President said.
Calling the LTTE the main obstacle to development in
Sri lanka the President said, it is time the world raising its united
voice express its utter revulsion of the barbaric practice of suicide
bombings and that form of political expression, if it could be described
as such is utterly unacceptable in the civilized world.
Speaking to a packed house of Britishers expatriate
Sri Lankans and Asian students the President pointed out at the Oxonians
like the late S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike whose wife was the first woman Prime
Minister of the world and the late Laxman Kadirgamar , a former
President of the Oxford Union who was brutally assassinated by the LTTE.
Sri Lankan Society President Dilan Fernando and his
members were joined by Pakistani, Palestine, Indian and Chinese
Socociety members in felicitating the President. Thai Society also sent
their delegation to the audience. Sarah Iqbal of the Oxford Indian
Society presented the President with a bouquet of flowers and Saiquat
Nandi praised him for his fight against terrorism.
Thahir Mansoor of the Oxford Pakistani Union praised
the President for his strengthening relationships with his country and
fighting to restore the membership of Pakistan in the Commonwealth.
Imran Zahid presented President Rajapaksa with a bouquet of flowers.
Lihul Wang of the oxford Chinese Society presented the President with
bouquet of flowers and praised the thousands of year old friendship
between Sri Lanka and China. At the end of the speech the audience gave
the President a standing ovation.
The following is the unedited full text of the President's speech:
"It is with much pleasure that I address you in these
hallowed surroundings tonight. I must thank the Oxford Union and Mr
Dilan Fernando for this opportunity. Many renowned speakers have
addressed you from here before me. I do not seek to match them in their
eloquence but I do wish to speak to you on a subject of much interest to
my country at the present time.
"That is the empowerment of rural economy a central
theme of my development strategy for Sri Lanka. Our development strategy
towards empowering the rural economy of our country where majority of
our people live has now become relevant to the global economy itself in
the context of emerging world food crisis and environmental challenges
to our own survival. We have an additional burden. We are threatened by
the challenge of terrorism and the need to protect the rights of our
fellow beings.
"Sri Lanka where I was born and bred is a country
where our culture is firmly rooted in rural tradition. The Sri Lankan
culture has been essentially conditioned by the great religion of
Buddhism but later influenced by Hinduism, Islam and Christianity. The
concepts of loving kindness, compassion and tolerance are at the heart
of our psychological make up. They nourish and sustain us through the
uncertainties of life. Our traditional greeting 'Ayubowan' means - May
you live long. "It is not surprising then that in a world where rulers
constructed massive castles and grand palaces to demonstrate their
power and wealth our kings constructed huge reservoirs Tanks, as we
call them to provide water to sustain food production and ensure
sustainable livelihood to the people. The great legacy left behind by
our ancient rulers and which is in use even today scattered across
three vast Provinces of my island home is the massive irrigation
network.
This unique hydraulic civilization which sustained
an essentially prosperous rural society was based on a philosophy
which has much to offer the modern world. Buddhism taught us that we
have no absolute ownership of the forests the rivers the oceans and
the atmosphere that sustain life; that every generation holds the
environment in trust so that abuse is prevented; and that our duty was
to hand down the environment to future generations without harm.
"Even today over 77 percent of our people still live
in rural areas because of a wide range of attractions in our rural
home base. I myself hail from the deep South from an agrarian village
with a beautiful natural environment. I am extremely proud of that
fact. The attraction in our villages is not only the economic
resources and greenery but also the traditional culture arts religion
and bio-diversity which are incentives to keep our people away from
migrating into urban townships. The horrors of poverty and suffering
that have engulfed many booming Asian cities have not affected Sri
Lanka. "Strengthened by the caring attitude inherited from our ancient
rulers . we were able to adapt to modern democracy with great ease. It
was in 1931 while still under the British that Sri Lanka was granted
universal franchise. You will recall that Britain achieved this status
only in 1926. Since then we have continued to develop and strengthen
democratic institutions in Sri Lanka. Political pluralism . has always
been fundamental to our democracy. We have parties of different
political views represented in our parliament. This diversity uniquely
enriches Sri Lanka's political canvass.
"The government although elected by a Sinhala
Buddhist majority represents a coalition of Sinhala, Tamil, and Muslim
communities and all the religious groups in the country. You will be
hard pressed to find a similarly representative government in any of
the other democracies of the world. I am proud of our vibrant
parliamentary system the strong judicial establishment and the
independent press. "Not a day passes without an attack on me, I must
say totally without foundation from some parts of the media. We have
not hesitated to adopt global standards collaborate with international
organisations such as the UN, ILO, and the Commonwealth and
participate in efforts to consolidate institutions designed to protect
the rights of our fellow humans.
"Sri Lanka has contributed with vigour and
creativity to the development of the principals incorporated in
international conventions through their work in international
organizations and through the international Court of Justice. We have
always played our part in global efforts to establish higher standards
and to make our earth a better place for all because we fundamentally
feel that this is the correct thing to do. This is a reflection of our
cultural traditions. Sri Lanka's conformity to global environmental
standards has been commended time and time again.
"Women in Sri Lanka enjoy equal opportunities with
men. Over 60 percent of our medical practitioners are women. Over 80
percent of our teachers are women. The nursing profession is dominated
by women. The legal profession too is increasingly dominated by women!
Women have also entered sections of the work force previously
monopolised by men such as, academia, engineering, computing, quantity
surveying and architecture. I recall with great delight that Sri Lanka
produced world's first elected woman Prime Minister in 1960. Her
husband, Mr SWRD Bandaranaike's photograph hangs over there.
"For decades we have invested in education and health.
My country enjoys one of the highest literacy standards in the world
while still being categorized as a middle income developing country. 97
percent of our children are enrolled at school. Our infant mortality
rate and maternal mortality rate at child birth is on par with that of
many developed countries. The country provides free healthcare to all.
Education is free and universal from childhood to university. During the
primary and secondary school life of every child the government provides
free text books and uniforms. One of my long-lasting joys is the sight
of thousands of children in crispy white uniforms heading for school
each morning. This is probably a sight that one can not witness in many
other places of the world.
"Children are precious to us. I believe they are our
future. We have ensured a massive investment in our children. My
government firmly believes that no child must be deprived of his or
her childhood. We have created a separate ministry to look after the
welfare of our children. We do not employ any children in our labour
force and no one below the age of eighteen is recruited to our armed
forces . unlike the LTTE which engages thousands in its baby brigades.
These children are robbed of their childhood and brutality is
ingrained into their character making them life long misfits for
society.
"Sri Lanka has achieved a very high standard in the
United Nations Human Development Index and we have already to a large
extent achieved the Millennium Development Goals. It was only last
month that a UN Report commended Sri Lanka for being well on its way
to eliminating malaria. We have a very low rate of HIV AIDS infection.
I point these things out to you only because of the intense campaign
that is being conducted internationally to describe my country as one
that does not care about our fellow human beings and human needs.
Facts demonstrate that this is far from the truth.
"There are no signs of obvious starvation in any
part of the country. In fact for over 25 years since the beginning of
the LTTE's violent challenge to our very existence to our sovereignty
the government has been sending food, medicine and educational
material to the two districts dominated by the LTTE. Every single
teacher, nurse, doctor, hospital and government official in the so
called LTTE controlled areas is appointed and paid by the government
in Colombo. Very few countries grappling with terrorism have been so
accommodating. This itself illustrates the caring nature of our
society
"These noteworthy achievements have been possible
because of a holistic view of human development to which we have
always been firmly committed. We believe that development becomes
meaningful to the vast mass of the people only when its fruits are
capable of being enjoyed by all segments of the people. That is why we
have constantly tried not only to achieve growth and expansion of our
national wealth but to ensure that the resources generated by our
efforts are distributed among the people especially, in the rural
hinterland on an equitable basis.
"Our development model as presented in my election
manifesto Mahinda Chintana signifies the empowerment of the rural
economy. The centre piece of this new strategy will be the development
of modern infrastructure throughout the country to provide a basis for
development of agriculture Industry Construction Tourism SMEs and
transport services that will bring about new opportunities to our
people in the rural economy. Our strategy has enhanced the public
investments over 6 percent of GDP to support 'Randora' - meaning
golden Gate - our infrastructure development initiative to develop new
ports power generation and distribution network irrigation and water
supply schemes expressway and road network and integrated townships to
link rural economy to the global economy and create new space for
growth. We have integrated strategies to promote insurance shipping
aviation trade logistic industries and petroleum explorations and
above all skills and knowledge to position Sri Lanka as an emerging
economic hub in south Asia.
"Empowering people at grassroots level is equally
important in this whole development process. 'Gama Naguma' meaning
revival of the village is an initiative to empower communities
adopting bottom up programmes originating from people reflecting their
needs. A series of rural development initiatives have been implemented
permitting the community to prioritize their needs and objectives.
These initiatives are monitored by community leaders to ensure that a
larger volume of resources are productively used for the betterment of
the rural community.
"The main thrust of this programme is to retain people
in rural environments rather than encouraging them to move into urban
areas which has been the pattern in many developing economies. Why
should people move into urban areas and live in slums or sub standard
housing when they can live in very healthy environments in villages .
and enjoy clean air water and pure and good food. It is my belief that
rural people are much healthier than those who live in urban cities.
"Our approach to development takes into
consideration the dangers of destroying the green environment. Every
project that is implemented under Gama Naguma recognizes the value of
green belts and the preservation of the forest cover. The
environmental protection programmes that are implemented throughout
the island make a serious attempt to ensure that rivers are kept clean
water ways are not dirtied and trees are not destroyed. The bed rock
of our development is maintaining and preserving the environment.
"Consolidating our achievements in human resource
development we are now working towards a knowledge economy based on
productivity, skills, knowledge and technology. Therefore . education
and health is being undertaken at grassroots level through
multi-faceted government programmes. In particular I am very keen to
ensure ....... that our children are able to become global citizens
....... through the use of information technology . in a very novel
programme called 'Nenasala' a network of 500 rural tele-centers
....... that have already been established. I have set a target
....... to increase this up to 1,000 by next year. Three years ago Sri
Lanka's IT literacy . stood at a little over 5 percent. Today I feel
accomplished that we have been able to enhance this to percent which
means that more and more people will be able to enter the lucrative IT
job market. All this is being done to enhance the employability of
rural youth.
"The essence of our rural empowerment programme is
to ensure . that rural infrastructure development takes place at a
rapid rate. So far neglected rural roads are being paved today with
concrete to make them last monsoon rains that are common in our part
of the world. Rural electricity programmes community water supply
schemes minor irrigation projects housing and market facilities are
included in our rural infrastructure development drive. In essence .
our strategy is to level the playing field between the 'urban,
organized minority' and the 'rural, unorganized majority' in the
national development process. I am encouraged that our development
strategy - Mahinda Chinthana - Vision towards a New Sri Lanka .
sustained a near 7 percent economic growth during the last three years
and reached US dollars 1,600 per capita income in 2007. Except in one
district people below the poverty line have declined drastically in
2007. " Unfortunately we are being challenged by "the most brutal
terrorist group in the world" as the LTTE has been described by the
FBI. Suicide killings using even women and children have become their
hallmark. It is this terror group that invented the deadly suicide
vest for the suicide killer. Having pioneered the suicide vest they
have freely given this technology to other terror groups in the world.
This has now become a global menace.
"There have been hundreds of innocents civilians
returning home after work children going to school and young mothers
going to their weekly clinics being maimed or killed by
indiscriminately exploded bombs in crowded centres or being targeted
by brain washed suicide bombers. You need to see the havoc caused by
shattered limbs and burning human flesh to understand the sheer
brutality that motivates this group of terrorists. They killed Rajiv
Gandhi, the former Prime Minister of India and Ranasinghe Premadasa,
the former President of Sri Lanka. Most recently a senior Minister of
my government a Tamil speaking Catholic was brutally murdered by a
suicide killer along with a former Olympic athlete among many others
participating in a sporting event.
"They also killed our former Foreign Minister
Lakshman Kadirgamar . a scholar of distinction a legal luminary who
once occupied this seat as the President of the Oxford Union with
distinction.
"Ladies and gentlemen it has become incumbent upon
us to confront this group to the extent of our ability deploying all
the resources of the State to protect the people of Sri Lanka and
their democratic way of life. I must add that what I am doing is in no
way different to what other democracies have done before and continue
to do in the face of terrorism. However I must state that the LTTE is
the most brutal terror outfit the world has ever seen and defeating
them requires global support.
What Sri Lanka is doing in my opinion is fighting
this terror outfit single handed to ensure that democracy and respect
for human life prevail in the world. If we fail in our war against
the LTTE the world will fail in its fight against terrorism and
democracy will be the victim. This is the plain truth.
"Our development thrust unfortunately has had its
own obstacles the main being the brutal terrorist threat that makes us
a developing country to take a heavy toll. It is time that the world
raising its united voice expressed its utter revulsion of the barbaric
practice of suicide bombings. It must be made absolutely clear that
this form of political expression if it could be described as such is
utterly unacceptable in the civilized world.
"There is a considerable challenge to the security
forces of my country whose goal is simply to protect the innocents and
their simple way of life. We need to understand that our security
forces do not go out of their way to harass innocents or to
discriminate against a minority. "They take great personal risks
constantly. The fear psychosis created by the LTTE terror may cause
some lapses in judgement but by and large independent observers have
always commended the efficiency politeness and courtesy of the men in
uniform.
"We must remember that there are no methods or
solutions which are universally applicable to situations of this
nature. It is the principal duty of a government to assure the public
of security of life and limb. It is the terrorist group that decides
when to strike: They decide the time the place and the opportunity.
They are in no way constrained by the values and procedures which
rightly control the responses of democratic governments. These
realities must be taken into account as the basis of a fair and
objective assessment of Sri Lanka's situation.
"Although many have said that the LTTE is invincible
we have freed our Eastern Province of their terror. Within one year we
have restored democracy there after nearly two decades. Only last week
we conducted free and fair elections to the first ever Eastern
Provincial Council contested by several political parties.
"As our forces seek to defeat and disarm the LTTE we
are firm in our resolve to have a negotiated solution to the crisis in
Sri Lanka. I do not believe in a military solution. We have
attempted talks with the LTTE on several occasions - thrice since my
election as the President - but they have not reciprocated. They have
always left the talks with lame excuses. We are still ready to talk
once we are certain of their genuine intent for a political solution
and their readiness to give up arms.
As young leaders you will take on increasing
responsibilities in later life. Destiny will place you in
circumstances where you will be called upon to lead and defend your
countries. As someone who has been nurtured and strengthened by an
ethical and caring culture I want to leave with you with some
thoughts. "You and I are privileged to be what we are today but, there
are millions of our fellow beings who are not that fortunate and who
need our guidance leadership and caring. Leadership to these masses of
people will have to be given by you. Your leadership must be one that
reflects your cultural and religious values a sense of integrity
dedication to the cause of eliminating human suffering and a sense of
generosity.
"In conclusion, let me say that our chosen path to
development of my country especially the rural areas continues to be a
challenge for all of us particularly with threats that are both
internal and external. Ladies and gentlemen, the protection and
advancement of human rights continues to be a challenge for all of us
not only in Sri Lanka but globally.
I only seek to encourage you to think of Sri Lanka
as a country that has achieved considerable success in caring for its
people in the face of a most brutal challenge thrown at us by
terrorists. We will continue to comply with the
highest standards in keeping with values and traditions we hold to be
sacrosanct.
"May the Noble Triple Gem Bless you all !"
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