I am no dictator, says President
I am no dictator, says President
TUESDAY, 20 AUGUST 2013
President Mahinda Rajapaksa said today that many people who called him a dictator were unmindful of the fact that they were using such slogans while being on a democratic platform which allowed them the freedom to express such opinions about the President of the country.
Addressing an election rally in Gampola, the President said he could not understand how they could term him a dictator.
“I don’t understand how they could accuse me of being a dictator while casting such allegations in public on a platform within the country itself. If one takes a paper or a website they slander me using obscene language which are not even found in the Sinhala language. But they have been given that freedom to do so,” the President said.
The President further said that every citizen of this country enjoyed the freedom of expression.
“ Every citizen of this country has the right to do as he pleases, our aim is to preserve such democratic values and that is why we conduct elections. We give the responsibility to the people to choose who should govern them. However, these few people use this democracy and freedom to slander,” he said.
The President also said a few Non-Governmental Organisations and bankrupt political leaders seem to betray the country internationally in order to further their agendas.
“We have had to fight again to protect our country because of these people. Just as we were rebuilding our country these people portray us to the world as being destructive people. Their main agenda is to portray our country in bad light,” he said.
The President during his speech said that every province in the country is reaping the benefits of development.
“ There are no racial and religious barriers because each and every province and village is reaping the benefits of the development that we are carrying out. But a few people cannot bear this fact and therefore are engaged in discrediting and slandering us internationally. However, never can this government be made to kneel through such slander,” he said. (Suranga Rajanayake)
TUESDAY, 20 AUGUST 2013
President Mahinda Rajapaksa said today that many people who called him a dictator were unmindful of the fact that they were using such slogans while being on a democratic platform which allowed them the freedom to express such opinions about the President of the country.Addressing an election rally in Gampola, the President said he could not understand how they could term him a dictator.
“I don’t understand how they could accuse me of being a dictator while casting such allegations in public on a platform within the country itself. If one takes a paper or a website they slander me using obscene language which are not even found in the Sinhala language. But they have been given that freedom to do so,” the President said.
The President further said that every citizen of this country enjoyed the freedom of expression.
“ Every citizen of this country has the right to do as he pleases, our aim is to preserve such democratic values and that is why we conduct elections. We give the responsibility to the people to choose who should govern them. However, these few people use this democracy and freedom to slander,” he said.
The President also said a few Non-Governmental Organisations and bankrupt political leaders seem to betray the country internationally in order to further their agendas.
“We have had to fight again to protect our country because of these people. Just as we were rebuilding our country these people portray us to the world as being destructive people. Their main agenda is to portray our country in bad light,” he said.
The President during his speech said that every province in the country is reaping the benefits of development.
“ There are no racial and religious barriers because each and every province and village is reaping the benefits of the development that we are carrying out. But a few people cannot bear this fact and therefore are engaged in discrediting and slandering us internationally. However, never can this government be made to kneel through such slander,” he said. (Suranga Rajanayake)
Belarus President: I am not a dictator
Thursday, August 29, 2013( The following transcript of the interview was originally published by the Russia Today on last March. Just few days before his " official" visit to Belarus, Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa also said that he (Rajapaksa) is not a dictator)
( August 29, 2013, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) In an interview in St Petersburg on Friday, the Belorussian President, Alexander Lukashenko, rebutted accusation of ruling his country like a dictator.
The president said: "I can prove right here, right now, that there is no dictatorship in Belarus. Shall I? It's very simple, in just a few words. This is the argument I use to convince my Western partners. In order to be a dictator, like Stalin, one has to have the resources. Resources are paramount, you need to understand that. Do I have any nuclear weapons? Exactly, I do not. Do I have as much oil as Hugo Chavez did in Venezuela? No. Do I have as much natural gas as Russia? None at all. And so on and so forth. Do I have so many people as China does? 1.5 billion people? No. In order to be a dictator and dictate one's will one has to have the resources: economic, social, military, population, and so on. But we have none. And I am being objective about it. I am telling you that we have no claims of global importance and do not see ourselves solving major global problems. We do not have the resources to do so. What we want to do is find our place in the sun and live as an average civilized European state. That's all I want."
Lukashenko has ruled Belarus since 1994 following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the country's independence in 1991. The president has been called 'the last European dictator' by former and current US and European leaders, and in 2012 the EU extended sanctions against his country saying that the Lukashenko government had failed to improve its human rights record.
Lukashenko travelled to Russia on Friday to meet with President Vladimir Putin for talks about a number of cross-border trade and cultural initiatives. Belarus is heavily dependent on Moscow, with large Russian investment in the country. Prior to his visit it was reported that President Lukashenko's meeting with Putin was part of negotiations over a $2bn loan to inject new life into the Belorussian economy.
