The Hon. Dilith Jayaweera

¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Speaker, thank you for the time.

¶ 02 As an opening remark: Minister Vasanta Samarasinghe said here that I too was invited to come and help set up local authorities. I have several questions for him. I also heard today that Minister Sunil Handunnetti raised an issue about “snakes.” I was accused regarding “antigen” procurement. The “fake-comment balakaya” in Pelawatte keeps attacking me on that, though Minister Nalinda Jayatissa clarified it in Parliament, and Minister Vasanta Samarasinghe keeps speaking about it. To protect your party’s integrity, we who are not involved in such tasks end up being accused of joining with thieves and snake-charmers. That would be unfair to the NPP.

¶ 03 As a political movement engaged in principled politics, we analyzed the local authority election results tied to our popular mandate and clearly conveyed our positions. We do not use the people’s mandate to bully traditional parties.

¶ 04 Let me say: we are in a terrible situation as a country. Look what we are debating. You have a clear majority of 159 seats. That mandate was given with a purpose—a revolutionary decision by the people. I urge you to understand that message.

¶ 05 Yet here, Minister Vasanta Samarasinghe says our People’s Power party members were also spoken to. We were taken to Pelawatte and sounded out. For what? To do the old rotten deals—vote buying to form councils? Did you come to power for that? You promised to change old political traditions and build a better society. If you too are doing the same old corrupt deals—offering benefits and money to win council votes—is that reading the people’s will? The people wanted you to fix the electoral system, correct its defects that create money-based competition, prevent crossovers, and create something new. But it seems neither the 159 MPs nor your parties are ready to take the country on a new path; rather, to redo the old in a different way. I regret that.

¶ 06 If you are indeed speaking to our people, that is the tragedy. How can you? I say this with sorrow but with love: to save the country from this economic abyss, abandon your beggar mentality. If the President travels to three countries on Rs. 1.1 million, stays at friends’ homes, if Ministers put their salaries into a fund, have no vehicles, and give up official residences to stay with someone in Colombo—this is the most unfortunate messaging to a nation. We cannot run a country like that. We must compete with developed nations. Look at India—see how far they have risen. Can we compete with such a mentality?

¶ 07 Therefore I invite the Government to understand what the people said and join us in a correct conversation—economically, culturally, socially, and ethically.

¶ 08 We too want to see the country move forward—not to scramble for power by joining anyone. We want economic growth and progress. How do we do that?

¶ 09 What was that drama before the Ranaviru commemoration? Now, Hon. Rathwaththe spoke. Would Maj. Gen. (Retd.) Aruna Jayasekera like being called merely a “soldier”? Those who bled for this country—how can you casually call them “soldier” and strip their honor? The President has disturbed social coexistence—without understanding the aspirations of both North and South, nor the purpose of the mandate they gave him. Our duty is to remind him.

¶ 10 Again we say: please step away from this bizarre theatre and engage with reality. You know the challenge of governing without a two-thirds mandate across the people’s three pillars. What can give people hope? Every day we hear statements the total opposite of earlier ones; thus people’s hopes break daily.

¶ 11 We heard here about an apparel factory. The “NEXT” apparel company is UK-based and has a couple of factories here. I hope they do not close the rest. They are closing the Katunayake Free Trade Zone factory. Why is such a large factory closing? What message should we read? Entrepreneurs feel they cannot maintain hope here, cannot invest further. How will people keep hope if investors lose it?

¶ 12 What expectation do people wake up with? No dreams—only whether they have enough salt for dinner. If a Government with a massive majority leads to this, how helpless are people? If apparel workers wake wondering whether they will lose their jobs tomorrow, how do our people face the next day with hope?

¶ 13 Hon. Deputy Speaker, I have exhausted my time. I repeat: if you do not engage in a sincere dialogue, recognize real problems, and begin this debate with the people, the end will not be just yours, but of our motherland and its future. I fall silent.