Sri Lanka being named among the Best Trip Destinations for 2012 by the National Geographic is the icing on a year of remarkable achievement in tourism. It underscored the success of the industry that exceeded its target of 700,000 visitors this year by more than 100,000.
Looking forwards to such success ahead brings to an end a year that had a record of many achievements that would mark 2011 as year of the true beginning of consolidation of the peace that was won in 2009. The country moved ahead not in huge leaps, but making steady progress in many areas of important activity. While economies in the developed West were in constant and deepening crisis Sri Lanka was able to keep up to its expectations of growth in excess of 7 percent, going up to 8.4 percent in the third quarter this year, and also saw a steadily declining rate of unemployed, when mounting unemployment among youth is the biggest worry both in Europe and the USA today.
The presence of a steady hand at the tiller was shown by the diverse aspects of post-conflict progress when the number of Internally Displaced Persons at the final stages of the battle to defeat the LTTE, dropped to less than 6,000, in just over two years after the conflict, establishing a remarkable record in such resettlement, not matched by any other country that has been through such a prolonged and bloody conflict.
Of even greater significance is the success achieved in the rehabilitation of LTTE cadres who had surrendered to the Security Forces. The year that ends today saw the rehabilitation and reunion with their families of more than 11,000 of the 11,700 who had surrendered. They went back to society having learnt new livelihood skills to help them in new social integration, having abandoned the doctrine of terror they were brought up on through the brainwashing and ruthless control the LTTE had over them. In a clear demonstration of his own commitment to rehabilitation, resettlement and reconciliation, more than 1,800 of these persons were reunited with the families at Temple Trees in the presence of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, to whom both the rehabilitees and their parents expressed deep gratitude for the new life that was being offered under conditions of peace.
Bringing an end to the speculation about a pro-government or subservient report promoted by forces that are ranged against the path of reconciliation in Sri Lanka, the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) submitted its very comprehensive report on the final years of the conflict; from the days of the Ceasefire Agreement, the usefulness of which is now questioned even by its Norwegian promoters, till the end of the conflict, and showing the path to genuine reconciliation and the prevention such conflicts breaking out in the future. In presenting the full report to Parliament the government took much wind off the sails of many who forecast with glee that it would never see the light of day. The report is already the subject of good debate, as well as uniformed or deliberately misleading criticism, which is not unexpected in the context of the forces that are still trying to promote the separatist policies of the LTTE.
Proceeding on the conviction that roads and bridges are the arteries to progress, 2011 saw an accelerated development of the country's road network, from highways to smaller roads, giving easy and good access to many areas and communities that hitherto faced immense hardship due to lack of roads. This year saw a surge in road network expansion and improvement that was crowned with the opening of the first expressway in the country linking Colombo and Galle, cutting down travel time between these two major cities in the West and South of the country by more than half.
The achievements already reached in road construction have placed President Rajapaksa in a new niche in history and the biggest road builder the country has had. He shares this honour with King Mahasen who is acknowledged as the greatest tank builder in the history of Sri Lanka.
With all this success, as the year draws to a close there is the further encouraging news that the government has taken steps to widen and reconstruct 46 bridges on the national road network. When the President called on the Mahanayake Theras of the Malwatte and Asgiriya Chapters earlier this week, he informed them that construction work on the Colombo-Kandy Expressway would begin next year.
The paths to progress have continued through the year with Sri Lanka's presence and President Rajapaksa's participation in the 66th Annual Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, the biennial meeting of the Commonwealth Heads of Government in Australia, the SAARC Summit at the Maldives and the Bali Economic Forum in Indonesia, in the course of the current year. In all of these the President expressed Sri Lanka's position on key international issues as they affect the developing world, explained the true position on reconciliation efforts in the post-conflict period, and strengthened links with many world leaders at bi-lateral meetings that covered areas of development, investment and economic cooperation.
In Geneva, the Sri Lanka continued to make a strong and effective case against attempts to call for an international probe into allegations of war crimes and violations of International Humanitarian Law. This success was despite the concerted action against Sri Lanka by the pro-LTTE Tamil groups in the West, the heavy propaganda of media institutions such as Channel 4, and continuing efforts of Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Crisis Group to keep Sri Lanka in focus among the Western nations to serve the interests of the 'Tamil "Diaspora'. However, there were successes in the legal action taken against LTTE organizers in the Netherlands and France, continuing action against the LTTE in the USA and India's refusal to give in to regional pressure to lift the ban on the LTTE.
Throughout the year the country was treated to an abundance of irrelevant politics with the main Opposition party, the UINP, being more concerned about internal part rifts and a grueling contest for leadership, diverted its attention from the role of a democratic opposition - that of being a good critic of the government in office and its polices, with alternate policies being offered to the people. In the concluding stage of the year, as President Rajapaksa renewed the good tradition of the Finance Minister winding up the budget debate after the Committee Stage, he urged the UNP to pay more attention to this task for which they had been elected, now that there were some signs that its leadership struggle had been pushed back.
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) continued in its obstinacy in trotting out the demands of the LTTE, for which it functioned as proxy for so long, seemingly unable to break away from that position even after the defeat of the LTTE. The JVP continued in its downward spiral with differences between the leadership and rank and file leading to a major split in the party.
The pervading spirit of peace saw the people participate in large numbers and with enthusiasm in the celebrations of religious festivals such as Vesak and Poson, Thai Pongal, Deepavali, Ramazan and Christmas. The Kandy Perehera and other festivals such as those at Kataragama were celebrated with all traditional colour and pageantry, and pilgrim traffic that typify real domestic tourism increased in proportions similar for foreign arrivals, enjoying the blessings of peace. As the year drew to a close the country saw the opening of the first Centre for the Performing Arts, the Nelum Pokuna Mahinda Rajapaksa Theatre, which was a gift to the people of Sri Lanka from China, emphasizing the new opportunities for cultural renaissance in the country.
No comments:
Post a Comment