President’s objective is providing relief to the people: MP Dilum Amunugama

A beneficial period emerged to our Motherland and to the people due to the brave leadership and foresight of the President. This favourable period resulted after the end of a civil war.

During the period of terrorism when a person left his home he was in doubt as to whether he could return to his residence as he was in mortal fear for his life. Then, the terrorists murdered innocent people in the towns, villages, work places, buses, trains, offices, at public functions, schools, children in thousands. The whole country was one funeral house, which was transformed into a pool of blood. People then lived in fear and sorrow. The ordinary people have not forgotten that sad episode.

People have absolute confidence in the President for his role in the eradication of terrorism in the country. They are also eternally grateful to the President for his role in the creation of an atmosphere of peace and harmony in the country. In Sri Lanka, it is President Mahinda Rajapaksa who defeated terrorism. It is an undisputed fact.

When the President as leader of the country was directing operations at the war front defeating the terrorists, some traitors stated that instead of defeating the terrorists at Elephant Pass, the Army has advanced only to Pamankada. When the Army defeated the terrorists at Kilinochchi, it was sarcastically stated that the Army had captured Medawachchiya. Such derogatory utterances were made by politicians belonging to the UNP. When the action of the brave heroes of the Army were ridiculed and insulted in this manner, will the people vote for the UNP is the pertinent question. In this background, the UNP will never be acceptable to the people. This is the absolute truth of the present scenario. The UNP will never come to power under the present leadership of the UNP. It is on a downhill journey. The reason for that is its failure to understand the people’s expectations, and due to its adherence to a policy which is unacceptable to the country.

The President’s aim is to have a strong foundation for democracy and administer the country accordingly. He has not denied the people’s freedom. He had allowed the press to function as an independent entity. He has allowed the holding of meetings; to hold demonstrations; to agitate on public issues; to speak freely; to write freely; to criticise the Government; and to publish newspapers. He has allowed adequate opportunities for all these to function freely. When the President has also given the opportunity for debates, criticisms, arguments, the Opposition is attempting to deceive the public by slandering the Government. However, the people will not be deceived by such meaningless talk.

The defeat of the Chief Opposition at every election, and the victory of the Government with majorities at every such election – these are all indications that the people’s confidence is continuously with the Government. That there are various acts of sabotage both internationally and internally is an evident fact. There are development activities taking place in this country today, and that is visible to anyone. That type of activities never took place in the past. Highways have been constructed. A new harbour and a new air port have come up. Urban development programs are methodically done at a high tempo. The country is self-sufficient in rice. Simultaneously, the incomes of the people engaged in agriculture and in the cultivation of minor export crops have increased.

The poor people are now being transformed into a ‘middle class’. Poverty is being reduced. The increase in the tempo of Economic Development has provided new opportunities for employment. The incomes of the rural communities have increased and consequently, their social standing too has changed to an unprecedented level. All these factors indicate that the country is proceeding to progress. One can state that under the correct leadership of the President, there has been a great leap forward in the educational and health sectors. The welfare facilities provided to the people have been increased, far from being reduced. We have been able to manage our economy with success in spite of any depression in the world. We must be conscious of one fact although the USA and European countries closed down some of their banks and threw out people from their jobs, we did not do so. We can say with certainty that we provided new jobs to the unemployed. Further, we did not close down any establishment, nor did we dismiss any workers. Our President’s policy is to increase employment opportunities and to strengthen the State sector.