Last week all mainstream and social media was full of various programmes and articles on the second anniversary of the appointment of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa as the eighth Sri Lankan President. Various politicians, journalists, professionals and many others spoke about the last two years. But what matters is what the ordinary Sri Lankan people think and say about the last two years.
It is very important to listen to the people because they are the people who vote and elect the President and the Government. Others are just contributors, supporters, well-wishers etc. One day the ordinary people will walk to the polling stations and vote. On that day they will give their judgement. Therefore people’s voice matters more than anything else.
But all should very strictly remember that people’s voice is not a ‘fabricated voice’ circulated all over the country through WhatsApp and all the other social media because, behind every post, there is someone highly paid. Those paid ‘employees’ of the political parties which are now trying their best to capture power again release millions of various ‘posts’ to social media in order to make people believe that it is the people’s voice which is not and something fabricated by them. They use high technology and experts to do this.
The real voice of the people can be heard only when you are travelling in a bus, in a three wheeler, when you are waiting in a public place, when you are talking to the man who bring fish to your house, when you are talking with the man who picks coconuts in your garden, when you buy essentials from the shop you bought them during the past few decades, when you are talking to a friend who had not been brainwashed by a political party but those real ordinary people are very lazy to voice their voice in social media because they are living under pressure to a certain extent by now.
COVID-19 pandemic
The Government gave an allowance of Rs.5,000 to underprivileged families during the COVID lockdowns.
This pressure has been created by the global COVID-19 pandemic and well organised local elements which work day and night to bring back the previous regime using the negative impacts of this deadly pandemic. The well planned strategy of the elements has been put into action by some top businessmen, various groups and individuals. Then the innocent poor people only experience the results and they never see the well-organised mechanism behind the outcome. This is how ordinary people see the high prices of some goods and services.
The most unfortunate situation is there are a handful of powerful politicians and other individuals who wear the masks of patriots, stand with the Government and implement the well planned strategy given to them by the elements which operate to bring back the previous regime. One factor is very clear. It is not the politicians from small / minor political parties who made huge sacrifices and worked hard from January 9, 2015 to bring this Government into power. This act is performed by certain politicians in the main political parties in the Government. They are not Opposition politicians. But they carry out the agenda of the Opposition while wearing patriotic masks inside the Government. They are the politicians who point fingers at all the others all the time.
These individuals are doing a very simple but a grave thing. That is speaking to the media during various press conferences and when they are being questioned by journalists about specific issues. There is one common factor in all their speeches. They say things that do not please people at all and things that make people very angry towards the current Government. They can simply talk about their subject or just answer the questions posed by the journalists. But what they do is antagonize people instead of explaining things clearly and simply.
The best example for the accurate way of handling issues, things and especially media is displayed by Media Minister Dullas Alahapperuma. He knows how not to antagonize people and how not to add fuel to the fire.
Anyone who has an iota of brain can very clearly identify the politicians who antagonize people. They are very few in number. They hold powerful positions. They speak to the media often. They often demand benefits from the Government for themselves and for the MPs. They speak about using thuggery to crush trade union actions. They openly talk and act against health officials’ instructions given on controlling COVID-19. Sometimes they please a handful of their henchmen and not the majority of people.
There are more interesting common characteristics in them. The majority of them had not entered Parliament through people’s votes. Many of them are old and have done no significant service for the people in the past few decades. Sometimes young politicians from their own political party and area hate them. They should not hinder the progress of this Government and antagonize people. But they do it openly and all can see it very clearly over the television at night.
Do not believe everything you come across on social media.
What people think about the past two years is what matters. The ordinary people of Sri Lanka who are not using social media think that the best President Sri Lanka ever had since independence in 1948 is current President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. They think that the best time of their lives spent here in Sri Lanka since independence in 1948 is from November 17, 2019 to August 20, 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic hit the world in December 2019 and it arrived here in Sri Lanka in mid-March 2020. But six (6) months of the pandemic were included by people in the best time they spent ever after 1948. This is a great opinion by the ordinary Sri Lankan people. The two dates are very significant because it was President Gotabaya Rajapaksa who won the credit for battling a lonely war against COVID-19 without a Parliament to support him.
The ordinary Sri Lankan people who work hard in their paddy fields, other agricultural lands, factories etc. think that they are alive today to see the faces of their children and grandchildren because of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. He gave us the essential COVID-19 vaccine free of charge. He gave it to us on time. Otherwise we would be dead by now. This is what they say.
A person who was waiting in the line to purchase a gas cylinder at Panadura said “I am waiting in this queue today because I am alive today. I suffered from COVID-19 but by that time I was vaccinated with both jabs. I have asthma. But I am alive today because of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. I am a labourer. I have three kids and my wife at home. Today they have me. I can get the gas cylinder in a few minutes or hours. What matters to them is my life and not this gas cylinder.”
Marine Drive
What is your number? I asked from the woman who sat next to me opposite the doctor’s room at a leading private hospital in Colombo last Wednesday evening. Mine is eight, she said. Ah! Mine is nine I said. She started to talk. “I came by a three wheeler. In the past, by the time I sat here, my back pain and arthritis became worse due to the long distance travelling by a three wheeler. The Galle Road has several poor sections with bumps and potholes. The doctor said not to travel by three wheeler but I have to travel by a three wheeler because I don’t have money to hire a better vehicle. But today I do not feel any discomfort because we travelled through the newly carpeted Marine Drive. I travel from Ratmalana. Pajeros can travel on any road but not three wheelers. It is very pathetic to see how some selfish people blame this Government for carpeting roads while travelling along this comfortable road,” she said.
Similar stories can be heard if anyone speaks with ordinary people who are not sitting inside their vehicle or inside an air conditioned room/ hotel/ shopping mall with their smartphone worth over Rs.100,000 in their hands. But the voice of the real ordinary people of Sri Lanka is heard rarely over social media. It is because they are not using social media. Some are old, some are not rich, some are not that ‘high tech’ people, some are not worried about their status and having a social media account.
The ‘Diyavu Diyavu 3 percent gang’ which changes their outfit from time to time as farmers, teachers, employees of a certain institution etc. will not be able to brainwash the ordinary people of Sri Lanka because they believe what they experienced by themselves and not what is put into their minds using social media.
We are very happy because we are alive today while millions of people in other countries in the world were killed by COVID-19, they say. They said the same on May 18th in 2009. They said it in November 2019. They will say it once again in 2024.
– Daily News Sri Lanka
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