Rajapaksa’s Patriotism Vs. Citizens’ Patriotism

By Hema Senanayake -December 1, 2014

Hema Senanayake

The Citizens’ Power (Purawasi Balaya) is an organization of artistes, academics and civil society activists. They will be holding a public rally on December 02nd at Hyde Park in Colombo. Among speakers there will be Maduluwawe Sobitha Thero, Common Opposition Candidate Maithripala Sirisena, Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, former President Chandrika Kumaratunga, JVP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake, TNA National List Parliamentarian M.A. Sumanthiran, Democratic Party Leader and former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka, Mano Ganeshan of the Democratic Peoples’ Front and a host of other academics and activists. I felt writing something brief about a good citizen. 

A good citizen is a patriot. As Theodore Roosevelt defined that patriotism means to stand by the country; it does not mean to stand by the president; it is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country; it is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country; in either event, it is unpatriotic not to tell the truth, whether about the president or anyone else.

By this definition, in this moment of history one might feel that it is unpatriotic not to oppose the President as he fails in his duty to stand by the country and its democratic values and laws by enacting 18th amendment to the constitution.

As one of former U.S. presidents intimated you are a good citizen if you do your job well. If you love your children you are a good citizen. If you feel that you want to raise your children good, you are a good citizen. If you love your parents and take care of them when needed, then you are a good citizen. If you feel happy when our cricketers do well in the World Cup and other matches you are a good citizen. If you feel proud when our scientists do well here and abroad you are a good citizen. If you are concerned with environment, you are a good citizen. If you feel bad when injustices are done to others, you are a good citizen. Put all these traits together then you become a wonderfully good citizen. Still you have one more thing to do in order to be a good citizen. That is to participate actively and wisely in the electoral process. It is your civic duty. In other words you should willingly and enthusiastically exercise your citizen’s power, the power of franchise.Read More