The Hon. Sujeewa Dissanayake

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, I second the Adjournment Motion presented by Hon. Chandima Hettiaratchi, MP for Kalutara District.

¶ 02 I also wish to briefly add my views. As stated by Hon. Chandima Hettiaratchi, institutions such as the National Youth Services Council, its branches and the National Youth Corps were established with several core objectives: empowering youth, developing leadership skills, providing vocational training, and implementing various social service programmes. Looking back, we must ask whether 100 percent of the proposals intended to empower youth have been successful. We do not say they all failed—some succeeded. But compared with where global youth stand today, our youth have significantly lagged behind. We are deeply concerned about where our youth stand.

¶ 03 Youth are the segment that sees the world early and can change it. Did we harness their energy, strength and creativity for national development? At this moment, a good governance structure has been created to harness youth contributions to national development.

¶ 04 In our recent history, Duncan White in 1948 and Susanthika Jayasinghe in 2000 showed the power of youth by winning at the Olympics. We also won the 1996 Cricket World Cup and other tournaments. Beyond that, we must ask what global mark our youth have made. Sadly, our youth have become a labour force sold to other countries—doing tiling, masonry and agricultural work.

¶ 05 Why can we not keep our youth here, channel their creativity into national production, and build a cohort that will win for our country and leave a mark in the world? If Sri Lankans can serve as scientists at NASA, and if we can produce pilots to fly aircraft faster than the speed of sound, why can we not harness that youth energy for our own country?

¶ 06 We saw what administrators of these institutions did in the past. Through COP reports too, we learned how funds meant for youth were misused by past governments for their favourites and political henchmen. In this Budget and in our policy platform “A Prosperous Country – A Beautiful Life,” the Janathika Jana Balavegaya has provided special opportunities for youth. Our mission is to create a fulfilled youth—happy and creative in every way. That is our duty, Hon. Presiding Member.

¶ 07 Therefore, this Adjournment Motion by Hon. Chandima Hettiaratchi is timely. Especially, by ending bribery, corruption, fraud and theft, it is the duty of this august Parliament to create a good country for our youth. We appeal to all Hon. Members to provide the necessary intervention and leadership to make our youth a cohort capable of conquering the world. With that respectful appeal, I conclude, reaffirming that this Motion is timely.

¶ 08 Thank you.