The Hon. Sunil Biyanwila

¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, in confirming the motion to suspend the sitting moved by Hon. Manjula Suraveera Arachchi, I thank him for bringing this motion at this time. Throughout this disaster our people have been exchanging many views. To indicate the scale: it was as if a mass of water, fifteenfold the usual, fell into the lower section of Kala Wewa. In such circumstances, the officials of the Department of Irrigation performed a vital task to protect the tank system, and we must thank them.

¶ 02 We all know Sri Lanka is an agricultural country; protecting our tanks is essential. Managing this task well at a time like this is of great importance.

¶ 03 We have changed the country’s political culture in recent times. In this fortunate moment, we ushered in a new culture: political authority, public officials, and the people came together as one team to overcome this situation. I represent the Matale District. When aid was being delivered to affected people, the Matale District Secretary set aside personal concerns to fulfil his duty to the country. Many Divisional Secretaries did the same, going beyond self-protection, even loading and transporting goods, and in very difficult cases assisting with the recovery of the deceased. We had not seen such things in our history.

¶ 04 As a government we not only changed the political culture but also used this time to build a new culture the country needs—uniting political authority, the state machinery, and the people to restore normalcy in a short time. Though we could not achieve a full 100 percent, we managed to avoid further loss to people’s lives. Also, in situations like this prices usually rise rapidly, but we controlled the situation and maintained stable prices—an achievement we value.

¶ 05 We know many lives and much property were lost. But we were able to deliver maximum justice to the families of the deceased and those who lost property. Previously, even after issuing disaster notices, only Rs. 1.6 million had been allocated to relocate people from high-risk areas, which was insufficient and people did not move. We recognized this, allocated significantly more funds, and decided that our people must not be exposed again to such danger.

¶ 06 Internationally, the message our government sent was strong. We could do this because during the tsunami, though we were not in government, we acted voluntarily—building roads, assisting people, drawing on that experience. Now, as a government, we were able to deliver relief swiftly.

¶ 07 Many farmlands were damaged. The Army, our party organizations, and volunteers have been mobilized to clear fields so that, in this Maha season, more acreage can be cultivated, harvested, and brought under production. We expect to prepare over 90 percent of fields quickly. Despite the situation, we restored electricity and water in a short time and created conditions to reopen schools on the 16th. Even where reopening seemed impossible, we intervened and did the necessary work so that most schools could resume.

¶ 08 Looking comparatively at history, in past crises there were many malpractices when distributing goods and aid. This time there are no credible accusations of malpractice or corruption because party, government, public officials, the people, and political authority acted transparently as one. We also introduced another practice: granting Divisional Secretaries authority to spend Rs. 50 million and Grama Niladharis Rs. 50,000, building trust among people, officials, and political authority through genuine commitment. The world’s trust increased; many countries including India came forward to help, and people across the world supported Sri Lanka because they trusted this government would manage properly.

¶ 09 Nationally, every community was brought into this effort. Many in the Opposition, especially at grassroots, joined without political division to support our clear, corruption-free operational plan. We hope Sri Lanka will be recorded as a country that returned to normal swiftly after such a situation. Thank you; I conclude.