The Hon. M.S. Uthumalebbe

¶ 01 Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem. Hon. Presiding Member, I am pleased to speak on Clean Sri Lanka, conceived by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake under the theme “Beautiful Nation! Smiling People!” All religions, especially Islam—“Cleanliness is half of faith”—urge cleanliness. We are ready to cooperate fully and ask the Government to carry out good measures sincerely.

¶ 02 However, what we have seen since morning is troubling: instead of constructive ideas, the Government and Opposition have clashed. Let bygones be bygones; now we must cooperate to do good for the people. Clean Sri Lanka must first be in our minds.

¶ 03 I wish to raise one point: you appointed 18 members to the Presidential implementation team, but none from the Tamil-speaking communities who contributed to the country’s freedom and peace. If you truly embrace Clean Sri Lanka in spirit, appoint at least one Tamil and one Muslim to this Presidential unit to give life to the programme.

¶ 04 Minorities—about 1.2 million Muslim voters—supported this new Government. Two Muslim party leaders entered Parliament at the last General Election: Hon. Rauff Hakeem (SLMC) and Hon. Rishad Bathiudeen (AAMC). During the forced cremations of Muslim COVID victims, only they spoke for us here while many others remained silent with the then rulers. At that time, President Anura Kumara, the Leader of the Opposition and many in the Opposition spoke for us, building a public climate to resist that injustice. Those who supported the then President in that cruelty were defeated at the last election; today five SLMC MPs sit here—our party is “cleaned.” First, we cleaned our party and our mindset.

¶ 05 Recently, in Supreme Court appointments, the Muslim community faced discrimination. Justice M.T.M. Lafar, then a Judge of the Court of Appeal, was overlooked. I do not know him personally; he is reputed to be just and patriotic. When such appointments are made, you must apply Clean Sri Lanka principles. We cannot speak of “Clean Sri Lanka” outwardly while harbouring bias inwardly.

¶ 06 Muslims have never supported terrorism or extremism in this country; we state this very clearly. Yet there is still no Muslim Cabinet Minister. Please appoint one, not for position’s sake, but so that issues of our community have a voice in Cabinet. A brother said Muslims are not qualified for high posts—why not? Hon. (Dr.) Rizwie Sally is Deputy Speaker; there are Deputy Ministers. Please, on behalf of the Muslim people, appoint a Cabinet Minister.

¶ 07 On COVID cremations, the President and Prime Minister often spoke supporting our position; the Opposition Leader too voiced resistance. Our party leader Rauff Hakeem asked for the list of Muslims whose bodies were cremated during COVID. You accept that wrong was done, but you have not provided the list to Parliament. Submit those details here and strengthen Clean Sri Lanka.

¶ 08 One last matter: the Saudi Government funded around 500 houses in Ampara District—Muslim countries do not give loans on interest. The Saudi High Commissioner raised with the President, and with the Foreign Minister, to expedite their handover. The people of Akkaraipattu affected by the tsunami have lacked houses for 20 years. Please allocate these houses proportionately to the local population and resolve their housing problem. Thank you.