The Hon. Muneer Mulaffer

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, today’s Adjournment is on Rohingya refugees. This House debated similar matters on 12.06.2015 and 21.09.2017. In 2008, 55 Rohingya arrived and left in 2012; in 2013, 170 arrived and departed in November 2015; in April 2017, 30 arrived and left in September 2017. The current matter arises from a group that entered on 19 December last year.

¶ 02 Opposition speakers seemed intent on portraying this Government as inhumane to sustain their politics. Let me remind the House: the NPP/JVP has always stood against persecution, regardless of race, religion, caste, or language—both inside and outside Parliament. In 2017, when mobs targeted Rohingya in Colombo, those now speaking did not resign their ministerial posts; if they had such conscience, they ought to have done so then. Let us not politicize this. The Rohingya have long been persecuted. We pray that no people ever have to abandon their homeland to become refugees. Sri Lankans themselves have faced such circumstances in our own past.

¶ 03 When unauthorized arrivals occur, Government must ascertain health status, nationality, and purpose. That has been done, with necessary assistance provided. Comparisons to Vijaya or prophetic narratives are not apt to today’s geopolitical context.

¶ 04 Media on 29 December reported 103 Myanmar refugees and 12 crew rescued, noting the Rohingya as one of the most persecuted minorities. We have been reminded about acting ethically and humanely. On ethics: recall the forced cremation policy—taken for vengeance—backed at the time by certain parties who now lecture us. We reject such hypocrisy.

¶ 05 Whatever the quarter of arrival, there is a lawful process. Some, lacking a political foothold, try to inflame nationalism and label us as racist. Yet, in 76 years of elections, only the NPP has won a national mandate rejecting racism and calling for unity.

¶ 06 We recognize crises globally and acknowledge that some refugees elsewhere enjoy protections denied to Rohingya. Our past governments have taken humane decisions on such arrivals; so will we now, respecting international obligations and the humanitarian dimension. We will gather facts and act correctly, without seeing this through an ethnic or religious prism, but as a people issue.

¶ 07 Thank you.