The Hon. Arjuna Sujeewa Senasinghe, Attorney-at-Law

¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, on 2025.11.12 in Parliament, under Standing Order 92(u)2, a Point of Order was raised by a certain lady Member and hostile remarks were made against me regarding a matter to which she had no connection.

¶ 02 At no time did I target or name any lady Member and make such a statement. I spoke about the protection of Members and urged that the dignity of lady Members be safeguarded.

¶ 03 A lady Member, unconnected to the matter, was allowed more than five minutes to speak in the middle of the Budget Debate, whereas some members do not even get five minutes. At that time, the Chief Government Whip and the Leader of the House were present, as well as the lady Member who claimed that such an allegation had been made. None of them stated that I had done any such thing — because I had not.

¶ 04 Furthermore, in that speech, names of Members from the Second and Third Parties were mentioned, placing them in difficulty. It is the lady Member who should apologize to them, not I.

¶ 05 After controversies regarding a woman who was to travel abroad for a Member’s foreign visit, His Excellency the President stopped the travel. We thank the President for setting that example to the Government side. The President would also have acted out of concern for her safety; we do not know what coercion she may have faced. She has been subjected to public vilification and social media attacks because of that event.

¶ 06 Those speaking on women’s rights should have stood up for her. We did not see that. The lady Member in question even called me “anti-women”. Such statements should be expunged from the Hansard. Thank you for allowing me to make this clarification.