Opinion

MAITHRIPALA SIRISENA IS GOUGH WHITLAM

11 Jun 2015 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

He is capable of changing Sri Lanka, like Gough Whitlam in Australia

Edward Gough Whitlam’s Labour Government in Australia was elected in 1972 with a tiny majority. As in the case of other Westminster Model Parliaments, in Australia too a government is formed by the party enjoying the confidence of the Lower House of Parliament, the House of Representatives. Whitlam, having led his party to victory for the first time in 23 years, ran the country as the 21st Prime Minster during the period from 1972 to 1975. It is believed that Gough Whitlam goes into history, because this era is considered as “The text book case of reform” period in Australia.

Hundreds gathered last year to pay their last respects to the former Prime Minister, and I quote a few orations at the memorial service of the late Prime Minister.

Indigenous leader Noel Pearson said “Only those who have known discrimination truly knows its evil. Only those who have never experienced prejudice can discount the importance of the Racial Discrimination Act. This old man was one of those rare people who never suffered discrimination, but understood the importance of protection from its malice”. He added that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander’s (Queensland Discriminatory Laws) Act and Racial Discrimination Act were among Whitlam’s most life-changing reforms for the indigenous population. He had added “We salute this old man for his great love and dedication to his country and to the Australian people. When he breathed, he truly was Australia’s white elder statesman and friend without peer of the original Australians”.

He went on further “Apart from Medibank and the Trade Practices Act, cutting tariff protections and no-fault divorce and Family Law Act, the Australia Council, the Federal Court, the order of Australia, Federal Legal Aid, the Racial Discrimination Act, the abolition of military conscription, the Law Reform Commission, Student financial assistance, the Heritage Commission, non-discriminatory immigration rules, Aboriginal land rights, paid maternity leave for public servants, lowering the minimum voting age to 18 years and fair electoral boundaries and Senate representation for the territories. Apart from all of this, what did this Roman ever do for us?”

I give below how different Australians from many different backgrounds have paid glowing tributes to the late Prime Minister:

Tony Abbott: “He was Prime Minister only for three years – three tumultuous years – but those years changed our nation and, one way or another, set the tone for so much that has followed.”

“Whether you were for him or against him, it was his vision that drove our politics then and which still echoes through our public life for decades on”
“Whitlam represented more than new politics. He represented a new way of thinking, about government, about the region, about our place in the world and about change itself”

“He may not have been our greatest Prime Minister, but he was certainly one of the greatest personalities that our country has ever produced. And no Prime Minister has been more mythologized”.

Bill Shorten: “Gough Whitlam was a man for the ages – and a giant for his time. No one who lived through the Whitlam era will forget it – and perhaps nobody born after it can ever really imagine it”.

“Gough’s ambition went beyond his desire to serve our nation; he wanted to transform it – completely, permanently – and he did”.
“Today I submit that like no other Prime Minister before or since, GW redefined our country – and in doing so, he changed the lives of a generation – and generations to come.”

Julia Gillard: “Gough will always live in our nation, which he transformed through his long public life. He is alive in our universities and the many lives he changed by giving free access to university education, my life included that count. Alive in medical and the Unique Australian health system we now take for granted. Alive in our suburbs and in our family law. Alive in our relationship with China and our multi -cultural society”.

Paul Keating: “GW changed the way Australia thought about itself and gave the country a new destiny. A more inclusive and compassionate society at home – a more engaged and relevant country abroad. He snapped Australia out of the Menzian torpor – the orthodoxy that had rocked the country asleep, giving it new vitality and focus. But more than that, bringing Australia to terms with its geography and place in the region.”

John Howard: “Fundamental to his policy attitudes was GW’s belief that an activist and interventionist national government was always the appropriate response to Australia’s challenges”

Bob Hawke: “Australia is a better country because of GW’s life and work. He made the party relevant and read it with great imagination”

Galarrwuy Yunupingu: “Gough Whitlam was a unique and sincere man, and he is remembered fondly by the Yolngu clans of North-East Arnhem Land. In his time as Prime Minister, Gough was a great friend to Indigenous Australians. He always acted in a direct and a determined way to resolve issues.”

GW in three years introduced sweeping changes that transformed Australia and no doubt will inspire a generation of progressive politicians. GW withdrew the remaining Australian troops from Vietnam. Blocked moves to allow oil drilling on the Great Barrier Reef; introduced environmental protection legislation; and removed ‘God Save the Queen’ as the National Anthem. He became a defining political figure and his government was, however, dismissed by the Governor General Sir John Kerr on November 11, 1975.

The former Kevin Rudd-government Minister Lindsay Tanner wrote: “Whitlam and his government changed the way we think about ourselves. The curse of sleepy mediocrity and colonial dependency, so mercilessly flayed in 1964 by Donald Horne in the lucky country, was cast aside.”

It is pertinent to mention that the Whitlam-government’s economic record had been somewhat controversial. It came to power at the time of the first ever oil shock and failed to contain wages inflation. In 1975, it was embroiled in what became known as the “loans affair”, when the Minister for Minerals and Energy, Rex Connor sought to borrow money for resource projects, outside the Treasury process, from Arab financiers using a middleman called Tirath Khemlani. No money was borrowed but the scandal deeply damaged the government. The Governor-General, thereafter, discontinued the Gough-government even before the completion of their term.

After leaving politics, he worked as Australia’s Ambassador to the UNESCO. Lady Margaret, the beloved wife predeceased GW who was by then using a wheel chair, moved into an aged-care facility in 2010 and lived there until his death in 2014 at the age of 98 years.

Lesson for Sri Lanka: It must be mentioned that the existence of a cold war seems to be evident having ended the war with the LTTE. Now that the people have elected an honest, straight-forward, good, matured and humble leader; it is the duty of the country-men to strengthen the President’s hands and protect him because the country needs political stability. He is capable of changing Sri Lanka, like Gough Whitlam in Australia, although a few disgruntled Parliamentarians in the Opposition do not seem to be keen to restore good governance and rule of law as a priority matter. The country needs a leader who will look after not only the citizens. The President has assured that he is responsible for the flora and fauna as well, and therefore, his hands must be strengthened to take the country forward. There are enough instances where good leaders have been removed in many different ways. We must also understand corruption is endemic. Mahathma Ghandi had said that “the world has enough for everyone’s need, but not for every one’s greed”. Let us all commit ourselves wisely to protect the country for generations to come.

Opinion

MAITHRIPALA SIRISENA IS GOUGH WHITLAM

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