A speech worthy of a President

July 14 will be etched as a red letter day in the annals of the country’s political history. A humble President giving a ‘no holds barred’ speech put ‘little’ Sri Lanka firmly in the forefront of democratic nations!

Not only the right thinking Sri Lankans but the whole world will give President Maithripala Sirisena a standing ovation for his courage and forthrightness in calling a spade a spade and laying his cards on the table, so to speak!

During the days prior to this, all right thinking citizens of this country were in a complete spin wondering if President Sirisena had succumbed to the pressures exerted on him, either by the pro-Rajapaksa hangers-on or the UNP leadership which had dropped a bit of cow excreta in the milk of ‘good governance’ with the Bond Issue scandal. However, it is still not too late to for the UNP leadership to take some damage control measures by requesting the Central Bank Governor to step down for the sake of all good governance supporters.

With Tuesday’s speech, the President has allayed all the fears of those who had supported him at the Presidential elections. No doubt, there will be a lot of mudslinging at the President, but he has already proved that he possesses the intelligence and tenacity to withstand challenges. With this speech, he has obviously regained his support bank and the respect of the global intelligentsia, he so richly deserves.

The President has led from the front, taking a firm stand against corruption, violence, drug abuse and abuse of political power and now it’s up to all those right thinking politicians and voters to sink their differences and support him to the hilt by voting in a clean ‘unity’ government regardless of party differences, to ensure he gets a supportive Parliament so that he can set an example to the whole world on how to democratically rebuild a nation devastated by a ruthless regime. Desmond Z. De Silva

Moratuwa