Towards a happy future

President Mahinda Rajapaksa wished a happy future to the country and the people at the conclusion of his address at the Annual Convention of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party held Sunday in Colombo.

A happy future is indeed what every one of us aspires. Our aspirations and reality, however, do not match at times. Mere wishful thinking does not produce results. They could be realized only if we work to make our wishes a reality.

Therefore, there is an unsaid part to the President’s wish. It is an appeal to all of us to work hard to make the wish a reality in the not too distant future.

The President also mentioned a few truisms at the Convention. We cannot isolate his wish from those truisms, from his thinking. He told the audience how his earlier wishes or earlier promises have been fulfilled. For example, he recalled how he had promised to end LTTE terrorism and win peace in a unitary Sri Lanka. Though there were many skeptics who did not believe him then, his promise has been fulfilled today.

That makes Mahinda Rajapaksa different from others. The people recognize him as a leader who fulfills his pledges. With him there is no conflict between word and deed.

Having successfully met the challenge of defeating LTTE terrorism within a short span of less than four years, he has set for himself and the country a new challenge. It is the challenge of development. It is symbolized by the slogan “A New Sri Lanka” or towards a new developed Sri Lanka. The challenge of development is even more daunting than the challenge that was overcome successfully.

If the development activities that are currently taking place throughout the country, particularly the development of infrastructure and other aspects in the North and East, newly liberated from the clutches of terrorism are an indication we can safely say that when taking upon this new challenge the President meant business. It is no election gimmick or the word of a confidence trickster.

Look at the unfolding scenario: Five ports being constructed simultaneously, the construction of the Hambantota Airport, the Norochcholai coal power plant and the Upper Kotmale power project, the Moragahakanda Reservoir, the Colombo-Matara expressway, extension of rail network to Kataragama and so on.

All these give us the confidence that the new challenge could be and would be overcome. The immensity of the task ahead stands in bold relief only if we set it against the background of the global economic and financial crisis the world is faced with at present. Viewed in that context the new challenge has no equal in recent history.

Still we say we could express our optimism about the outcome of the task. The Leader has delivered not only in the war front. In the economic front he has avoided a food crisis through timely intervention when 50 million has been added the world over to the number of poverty ridden people on Earth during last year. With a trusted leader nothing is impossible.

A long journey

Two interesting news items appeared in our yesterday’s issue.

One was the discovery by the US space agency NASA of water in the moon. The LCROSS lunar mission has found a significant amount of water (some two gallon buckets) in a permanently shadowed lunar crater. It was hailed by scientists as a giant leap forward in space exploration.

The other news item referred to the potential of geothermal energy in Sri Lanka. Though a geothermal belt running from Hambantota to Trincomalee has been discovered, we are yet to work out a geothermal resource map that would lead to further research and commercial exploitation of this cost effective alternative source of energy.

While developed nations are exploring the moon and planets of the solar system, we are yet to explore our own territory beneath the surface.

A long journey lies ahead for us.