The Hon. Ramalingam Chandrasekar

¶ 01 Hon. Member, we will look into that, alright? Please do not shout. Do not take cues from others. Under today’s Committee, we discuss allocations under the Hon. President and all institutions under the Hon. Prime Minister, past, present and future actions.

¶ 02 To the Hon. Member who spoke before me: please do not “show water” to the Muslim people. We know well the issues faced by Muslims, and we are taking steps to solve them—on the ground and politically. We are appointing our Muslim friends across all relevant structures and institutions; there will be no discrimination. Regarding the Archaeology Committee, read it properly. We have appointed two Muslims to that advisory committee and will appoint sectoral members to other related bodies; future details will be gazetted.

¶ 03 On retired Judge Ilanchezian, several claims were made today—there is no truth to such allegations. Our Government, which acts with integrity, will not allow discrimination, inequality, or injustice with respect to the judiciary or those who work within it. We, including our President, approach the matter with care.

¶ 04 In recent Presidential and General Elections, the people of Sri Lanka gave us a mandate. We are bound to fulfill it. We promised a change in political culture. For decades, the country was governed by those representing feudal landowners and upper castes, placing them above the law, Parliament, and politics. Today, that situation has changed. With political power now with ordinary people, those who thrived on bribery, corruption, fraud, and abuse of power are disturbed.

¶ 05 Over 76 years, rulers created ethnic tensions and stoked nationalism, then religious chauvinism, to sustain themselves—1956, 1963, and throughout 1977–1983—dividing people along ethnic lines. The burning of the Jaffna Library and 97,000 books by UNP thugs destroyed trust in the vote among Tamil youth. At that time, development council elections in Jaffna were being held and Tamil youths were coming forward as candidates; in order to suppress their victory, those thugs committed election malpractices and burned the library, pushing youth to armed struggle as if no other path existed.

¶ 06 That era has ended with September 2024. People from the North, East, and South gave us a unified mandate. We must now build genuine unity in reality and practice. Accordingly, even in our campaign we promised a new political culture under which the President and all others would act as ordinary citizens. We have delivered. For the first time in 76 years, the past year has seen no ethnic or religious tension. The Independence Day ceremony and speech were for all Sri Lankans—not only one ethnicity, language, or religion as in the past.

¶ 07 During the 30-year war, the North suffered immensely. Today in the Northern Province there are still over 89,000 widows, over 29,000 children who have lost parents, and more than 8,000 elderly in distress. About 40% live without proper housing, many in huts; 60% have become formal or informal debtors. Poverty is extensive; the province lags economically and educationally by decades, with narcotics having afflicted it. Yet it is steadily recovering. Accordingly, the Hon. President has allocated increased funds to Jaffna to advance recovery and national unity.

¶ 08 We are a small, beautiful island with four religions and three major communities. Without building unity, we cannot progress like other countries—whether economically or in combating corruption. All our measures are for the people: to rescue them from decades of racist engineering, to lay the foundation for a national identity where we can say “We are Sri Lankans.” Therefore, this December we will celebrate “Sri Lankans’ Day,” as a day of national unity across ethnicities and religions, celebrating our arts, culture, and literature together.

¶ 09 Thank you.