Colombo fellow friends, colleagues and acquaintance in support of Rajapakse's see economic development the way forward; however i see it different; there is more to development of a society than just economic development.

In recent days after discussing a lot of politics on FB threads and with people face-to-face pertaining to the presidential elections i have noticed MR supporters in Colombo are of the view that economic development is the way forward; when most of them refer to development they only refer to infrastructure projects. This is mostly on the belief if an economic development is in place that the purchasing parity index will improve.

My approach is very different, I truly believe in order for a country to develop all pillars of the society must be developed together. You may ask me what these elements are, namely law and order, knowledge, society on value principles, free expression of speech, democracy in true spirit, and the economy.

I give credit to Mahinda Rajapakses as the head of state to have concluded the war; however I would not accept the Rajapakse’s taking the full credit for finishing the war. You must remember the days when CBK along with Lakshman Kadirgamar worked tirelessly to ban the LTTE in the west, which the Rajapakses could have never achieved under their style of foreign policy. The ban on the LTTE paralysed them from operating internationally and collecting funds. Ranil Wickremasinghe showed the world that LTTE is not an organization that can be negotiated and had the co-chairs to believe that the choice was military; Ranil also broke the barriers to gaining Intelligence, strategically devised a soft strategy to break the LTTE organization, thereby getting Karuna to the government side. Sarath Fonseka played an immense role to ensure that the ground was well laid and strategies placed for a final closure. Due credit must go to all these leaders not just the Rajapakse’s. They have unfairly hijacked the due credit that must have been recognized.

What I see in the Rajapakse’s is only economic development for their own family benefit of making billions in commission. I will give due credit that they were able to restore historic British and Dutch buildings, build roads which I see as the worthwhile projects however not at the cost that has been incurred. Secondly you would note that the electricity we still consume till to-date is what the UNP has built, the airports and ports we use are what the past governments did. The Hambantota port is a white elephant, Norocholai power plant is a complete disaster, the Mattala airport is another disaster, and CHOGM was a complete disaster too.

The law and order is nowhere to be seen, the judiciary is so politicised and has lost its status as the 3rd pillar of checks and balances, the police is not independent; and there is no independent bribery commission. We have drug lords loafing the streets freely under state protection; we have the race mongers and criminals such as the BBS roaming free and being protected by the state. The terrorist Karuna, Pillian and KP roaming free, after killing innocent civilians and 600 policemen who surrendered, has now been made the Vice President of the SLFP and a Cabinet minister.

Now can MR supporters tell me on the long run, do you tend to see that economic development at the lack of all the other aspects I mentioned above, will take Sri Lanka forward? I don’t believe in it at all.

I can tell you from my own experience of having been discriminated, intimidated, and had to ultimately fight for justice; the most important social need is freedom and justice. This can only be reached if all the pillars of a country are developed together. When you face it you would realise it, until then people will only talk of economic development.