News

News

I will work towards maintaining law and order:Mahinda
UPFA Presidential Candidate Mahinda Rajapakse yesterday declared that he would work towards maintaining law and order and vowed not to allow anybody to go beyond democracy and not allow the law of the jungle to prevail.

Addressing two separate ceremonies in Warakapola Mr. Rajapakse said that he would not venture into a mud-slinging campaign like the UNP and blamed the UNP for its policies of selling local industries, the culture and heritage to foreigners during its regime.

“The one and only wish of the people in the 1980s was to live peacefully in their homes. We were successful not only in fulfilling their wishes but also in building a strong economic foundation after Chandrika Kumaratunga was elected President in 1994.” Mr. Rajapakse said.

“We need not borrow sundry philosophies from every country. Instead we should try to build an economy in this country based on Buddhist philosophy that has been here for 2500 years,” the Premier said.

I pledge I will not let anybody go beyond democracy and not allow the law of the jungle to prevail, he said. The SLFP Presidential candidate also promised a society free of fear for the Tamil and Sinhala people in the North and East populace, while taking every necessary step to boost the living conditions of the rural masses.

“I know some people look down upon me because of my rural background. My political carrier started in labour movements. Only then did I enter practical politics,” he said.

On Friday hours after the landmark Supreme Court ruling, Mr Rajapakse kicked off his campaign from the Uyanwatte Stadium in Matara, inviting all progressive and socialist parties to join hands with him in defeating the UNP.
Mr. Rajapakse said it was significant that the campaign was beginning in Matara from where his father had launched many successful campaigns and he was confident the Presidential election campaign also would be similarly successful.

He also recollected his father’s initiative in joining S.W.R.D.Bandaranaike to break away from the UNP and form the Sri Lanka Freedom Party.
Referring to the role he played in fighting for human rights and freedom during the dark era of 1988-89, Mr. Rajapakse pledged his Presidency would be largely on those lines.

He said restoring peace and finding a solution to the unemployment problem, especially of graduates would be among his priority targets. Flying back to Colombo later in the evening and speaking at the Top 10 Award ceremony at the Hilton, Mr. Rajapakse said: “The recent history of our country has been one of turmoil, of missed opportunities, of uncertain initiatives, and of policies whose fruits we have hardly enjoyed in the course of my political career which spans 35 years. It has become more and more clear to me that our country is yearning for a more positive, a more practical approach to the challenges of our times.

“What our country needs is a new approach –a new beginning. All sections of our society are sick and tired of theories and verbose statements, sick of seeing the visionary statements of our leaders, which have been largely confined to words, words. And like you, the captains of business, I too want action first, action second and action all the way.

“Take the corporate sector as an example. Every successive government has gone on repeating that over-used mantra that the private sector is the engine of growth and quietly abdicating much of the government’s own responsibility for enabling economic growth in our country. Growth should be a joint effort of the government and the private sector. In this partnership, the role of the government should be to create an enabling environment for economic growth.

“But what is the ground reality? Government policies that are friendly towards the private sector are often found to be in place. But public sector institutions on the one side, and the country’s public service on the other, have not been reformed or restructured to facilitate the implementation of the private sector friendly policies of the government.

You know this better than me. Instead of enjoying the facility of an enabling environment, the private sector is still hemmed in, to a large extent, by an environment that is restrictive and frustrating.”

Top

Back to News