The truth behind the tributes

Exactly a year ago, the first southern politician to be elected to the highest office in the land took his oaths to uphold the Constitution, to ensure the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country, and the rule of law.

In his election manifesto, named after himself, he also undertook many other daunting tasks.

One year later, as hosannas pour in for Mahinda Rajapaksa, as they would for an incumbent President on his birthday which coincided yesterday, the down-to-earth politician must surely be spending a moment in quiet reflection.

Uppermost in his mind would be whether Sri Lanka is better off now than when he took over the reins. On the economic front, the President's second budget revealed no clear vision of the path ahead.

If the J.R. Jayewardene government's focus was on an open economy; the Mahaweli diversion programme, the Free Trade Zone or President R. Premadasa's on the upliftment of the garment industry; there is a total absence of such objectives today, other than a fleeting glance towards infrastructure development. The economy seems to aimlessly meandering along, as it did during the Chandrika Kumaratunga presidency, when it once had a zero per cent growth rate.

And sadly, there is an almost diametrically opposite effect on bribery and corruption in the country which reign unbridled from the highest levels of Government to the humblest, with no sinew strained to check these rampant evils that are the twin curses of all economically developing countries.

It was disturbing that the President did not consider this occasion important enough to refer to in his Budget speech, and made but passing mention of the billions swindled in the recent VAT scam and the report of the outgoing Auditor General.

That such matters are ignored in his Budget speech prepared by the Brahmins in the Treasury is not surprising considering the Treasury itself bears the responsibility for these massive frauds.

If the President has not succeeded in getting the economy to "take-off" and bring some succour to the people by way of reduced prices, more jobs and the like, the bigger headache has been his inability to subdue the separatist cry either by force or by talk.

To expect him to have succeeded either way within a year would be asking for miracles. But by the President's own admittance, 3,300 Sri Lankans have died by violent means since he assumed office.

In the process, the country's standing in the comity of nations as a nation that abides by internationally accepted norms of conduct has taken a nosedive. Not that all those preaching civilised behaviour practise them. Being a small country, Sri Lanka is easy to kick around, especially since there's no one in Government competent to defend the country.

Take this week's statement by Canadian diplomat Allan Rock here as a UN official investigating the use of children in armed conflict. Visiting conflict zones in the North and East, he met distraught parents -- and foreign NGO personnel -- who told him that they believe the military is actively encouraging the recruitment of children as fighting cadres in armed groups against the LTTE.

In Colombo, he tells the President that there are allegations that the Army is involved. And despite an assurance that any credible evidence on this score would be investigated, Mr. Rock disregards any courtesy that a President of a sovereign state deserves, and goes public with a damning statement against the Government's Armed Forces, yet producing no evidence whatsoever to back his claim.

This is the archetypal Running Allan who comes in, spends a few days, and makes a profound statement before leaving the country, in bigger turmoil than when he arrived.

The President's Office, for once, came out very swiftly to say that it has zero-tolerance on child conscription. But Mahinda Rajapaksa cannot be Hugo Chavez, however much he would like to.

He has to embark on a hearts-and-minds exercise in the North and East where the long-suffering people must not be thrown to the ravenous Tigers.

Ambassador Rock was told very clearly by the people he met that they are not living under the will of the LTTE by choice, but rather trapped between two warring sides, with nowhere to go. Foreign NGOs operating in these areas are the self-anointed conscience of these people simply because Government machinery or local NGOs have abandoned them.

The international community seems to be increasingly ganging up against the President and while most of the charges are unfair, there is an onus on the President to remedy the shortcomings of his Administration as he braces himself for his second year in power and place.