By Nasriya Naffin, TON Sri Lanka

There is no doubt that Mr Sajith Premadasa is great strategist. The threats he was receiving from New Delhi that Indian would discontinue assistance if Sajith Premadasa does not announce in favour of Ranil Wickremesinghe's Presidentship has been tactfully handled. He has taken right decision to withdraw from the presidential slot and demand due assistance from India. No doubt, New Delhi is indirectly responsible for the present crisis of Sri Lanka. Forcing Colombo for strict lock downs during COVID, closing of tourism industry, forcing Sri Lanka to import so called untrialed COVID vaccine worth millions of US dollars and communist threat. Now people and leadership of Sri Lanka must force India to help Sri Lanka.

Sajith Premadasa is the son of Ranasinghe Premadasa, who served as the prime minister of Sri Lanka from 1977 to 1989 and as the president of Sri Lanka from 1989 to 1993. During his political career he remained an empathetic leader who stood by the socially deprived and the poor. He worked on several projects to uplift the livelihood of the poor people in Sri Lanka. He was extremely popular among the people and was known as a genuine leader who worked hard to dispel social inequality, discrimination of the poor and injustice. Ranasinghe Premadasa’s political journey came to an end in 1993 after being assassinated by a suicide bomber of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

Being born into an eminent political family paved the way to Sajith Premadasa’s political journey. He entered into Sri Lankan politics after the death of his father, and joined his father’s political party, the United National Party which was led by Ranil Wickremesinghe. Ever since he has been a loyal representative of the people.

Sajith Premadasa has been of immense help to the island nation in the ongoing economic crisis. As the opposition leader he has taken efforts to resolve the crisis in many ways. Being an influential man with many international bonds he personally requested help from a few developed countries and international bodies to aid Sri Lanka overcome this challenging situation. He met some of the ambassadors in person and discussed solutions to the ongoing crisis and requested them to continue providing support.

Sajith requested support from India and China and held discussions with representatives of Sri Lanka to the United Nations International Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on the challenges faced by the children at present. He also requested foreign countries to lift adverse travel advisories imposed on Sri Lanka during a discussion with the European Union Delegation held recently to boost tourist arrivals and the European Union to extend the loan concessions that were given to Sri Lanka in order to rebuild the tourism industry.

Former Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe also requested Sajith Premadasa to help in raising funds for the procurement of essential drugs that were in short supply.

The bonds Sajith Premadasa has made with the international community and the respect he has gained will help Sri Lanka to bring many benefits and opportunities to the country. As an empathetic leader he will bring back unity among the people and enhance the image of the country, which is important right now to acquire more support internationally. Sajith will be able to bring in political stability to the country and the system change people are expecting, which is vital at the moment. Sri Lanka is awaiting a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and it is crucial to work on political stability as soon as possible to move forward with the IMF according to their terms and conditions.

In the past Sajith has worked on housing projects for the poor with a vision of eliminating poverty just like his father. He made efforts to address the issues of the poor and wanted structural changes in the economy to uplift the country out of the poverty line. Being an empathetic leader Sajith has refused super luxury vehicles at the expense of taxpayer's money throughout his parliamentary career.

Premadasa always stood by the people’s opinion during the peaceful protest demonstrated by Sri Lankans demanding the resignation of the ex-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa. He refused to accept the prime minister post offered by the ex-president as he also wanted Gotabaya Rajapaksa to step down and he stood by it.

Sajith Premadasa is an educated man who hails from a good cultural and family background. He studied at St.Thomas’ Preparatory School and Royal College in Colombo and Mill Hill school in London. completed his undergraduate degree from London school of economics and political science in the UK and postgraduate degree in Public Management at the University of Maryland in the USA.

Sajith has had the opportunity to learn under some of the best professors who specialize in the areas of economics and politics. He has had the opportunity to apprentice under US Senator Larry Pressler of South Dakota for almost two years where he got the experience of the policy formulation process in the US.

Currently Sri Lanka needs a leader who has a good head above his shoulders to bring economic stability, growth, and unity among all ethnicities. All of these factors will depend on the abilities of the leaders who are in power.

Being the son of a great leader who left a legacy, Sajith Premadasa has the same vision and qualifications to address the issues of Sri Lanka. Majority of Sri Lankans believe that Sajith Premadasa’s service to Sri Lanka will not be anything less compared to his father’s. This is the right time to give him the opportunity to build a better Sri Lanka.