"You have a huge responsibility on your shoulders as you are the ones who prepare the future generation for a new Sri Lanka. - The country has got rid of the threat of the gun, bomb and the suicide bomber. Hence, all citizens have a responsibility to assist in whatever way to build a prosperous, peaceful Sri Lanka which was rescued by the heroic soldiers with immeasurable sacrifices." The President must address this clarion call to the whole nation and in particular to the public servants, before the euphoria of the phenomenal victory over the LTTE, and the immense sacrifices made by the Armed Services are forgotten. The public servants should be requested to follow the outstanding dedication, discipline and sacrifice shown under extremely difficult and dangerous conditions by these brave men. This is one way they can honour these heroes, 5200 of whom have sacrificed their lives and another 27000 of whom have been injured, many of them incapacitated for life.

The Armed services have shown the world how victory could be achieved with correct leadership, discipline and devotion to duty, even against one of the most feared terrorist groups on the face of this earth. If the public service, which is considered  by many to be one of the most inefficient services in the country, can rise to the occasion and emulate at least the discipline and devotion to duty shown by our servicemen, our country can reach great heights, eliminating our degrading dependence on foreign aid etc.  The President must call for a moratorium on wild cat strikes like those conducted by the GMOA and the Teachers Union led by Joseph Stalin. The GMOA which represents one of the noblest professions in the country, has let their profession down very badly. They must set an example to the other Trade Unions and not threaten strike action at the drop of a hat. Most often they are at loggerheads with their own seniors at the Ministry and go public blainge the Ministry, if  Paracetamol  or Morphine  or any other drug is not available in one of the many hospitals in the country, instead of cooperating with the Ministry to rectify such shortages. The Teachers Union whose members, as the President has said, is entrusted with the task of guiding the future generation on the correct path, has been largely responsible for the deterioration in the standard of education in most of the State Schools.  The situation is so bad, that unless a child is  given private tuition by these same teachers, he or she will be left far behind the others in their studies. This situation is highly unethical and immoral to say the least. Many of the other Departments and Corporations are also inefficient by and large, This is not to say that there aren’t highly devoted and duty conscious Officers in the public service. There are, but they constitute a minority.  I have served in the public service from 1955 to 1999, joining the public service as an Engineer appointed by the Public service Commission)  on a salary of Rs 350 a month and ending my career as the Vice Chairman of this institution. During this period I was able to watch in horror how the high standards of discipline and duty that we had been used to, take a nose dive, particularly in the late 1970’s. I can very well remember a conference attended by a large number of Parliamentarians where we were told that we must now forget the AR and FR as JR was now the President. This statement by itself set the trend for future interference by politicians and  the consequent mismanagement. However during Mr Premadasa’s time as President he saw to it that the public servants working in the institutions coming under his control at least, gave more than one hundred percent output.

In the evening of my life, I would love to see the Public Service regain its lost prestige and that the Public Service of  forty years ago will be reborn. If a start is not made now,  after an epic victory by our brave armed forces, it will never happen.