Glad tidings for the new year

The onset of the traditional New Year brings with it a real sense of hope and opportunity. That age old wish for ‘Peace, Prosperity and Abundance’ in the year ahead, finally seems a reality, as the military knocks on the doors of the final frontier – the ‘Safe Zone’.
Apart from the tradition of thanksgiving for a plentiful harvest, the Sinhala and Tamil New Year is about fellowship; it’s about reaching beyond boundaries to touch the hearts and lives of everyone. That’s what the government and we as Sri Lankans must ensure at this time.
For those languishing in IDP camps, the time to celebrate is far from fitting. But they must be given adequate hope that a better future lies ahead of them, and that confidence will only result from our every action during this time of fellowship and even beyond. We’re looking at a process of morale empowerment that must be based on human values and economic strength.
The newly-liberated population must experience freedom; they must have confidence of right to life sans discrimination. It is indeed a time that we should sit down to think, and ask ourselves if we as a nation have taken the right steps to ensure that. Have we as a nation understood the importance of maturity and restraint? We cannot afford to fall short at this point. Many thousands in the South, especially those underprivileged, too deserve to see a meaningful improvement in their lives: better livelihood, jobs for their youth, education for their children and healthcare for the aged and sick.
The government machinery thus has a full-time job on its hands when it returns from the New Year break, and matters of the economy would have to take precedence to provide solutions to the nation at large. The hardships of the economy and their impact on business are beginning to take their toll on the people. Despite the global recession and its pressures, and that of inflation on the local economic sphere, the government would derive confidence from the prospects of enhanced investments in a post-conflict milieu. The world at large would be ready to offer its support to a nation that is emerging out of civil conflict. Again it is up to us to create an enabling environment to make the best out of this opportunity. What steps are we effectively taking in that regard?
How to make the best out of opportunity, entails prudence, commitment, compromise and teamwork. This is the time for leadership, and for our leaders to unite to play for Team Sri Lanka. Political maturity will be a key component in driving the change that Sri Lanka needs to see. Politics of compromise, sacrifice and sincerity – these are elements that are lacking within our culture. We must ensure that another chance, probably the best chance in over thirty years, would not go a begging because we simply refuse to grow up!

And so we approach the dawn of a New Year, and what promises to be a new era in Sri Lanka’s history. It is a new beginning for this island nation on the global stage, it is hope for life and opportunity for its entire people – Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslim and everyone alike. What we want for Sri Lanka is to live up to its full potential – so that we Sri Lankans can take our place in the world as a nation of promise and brilliance. What must we do to get there?
The final frontier – the safe zone – sits before us, and there sits the elusive goal wherein the answers lie. Whilst we wait for the strategy to unfold on how this stretch is to be taken, there arises a myriad of questions and possibilities of what might be the fate of the Tiger leader. The answer could prove elusive as he is. The LTTE has taken refuge behind the people it claims to protect and represent. If they really meant that, then the civilians would be remain in safety and the LTTE at the front. Instead, the LTTE is taking refuge amongst them, hiding their guns and ammunitions. The world we hope will take note, and we hope they would act. And so we wait for the final thrust – the news of liberation, and deliverance thereon.