The Hon. Bimal Rathnayake - Minister of Transport, Highways and Urban Development and the Leader of the House of Parliament
Bimal Rathnayake said President Anura Kumara Dissanayake was elected by all communities and that the Cabinet collectively represents and safeguards the rights of Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims, Burghers and Malays. He argued that future leadership should emerge regardless of ethnicity or gender, and told Hon. Imran that many of his aspirations may be realised in this or the next Parliament. Referring to the expenditure heads for the President’s Office, the Leader of the House’s Office and Parliament, he said the Government has a mandate to reduce privileges, forego perks and remove unnecessary facilities.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, at this stage of debating Special Expenditure Heads including the President’s Office, let me first state: Comrade Anura has been elected President by Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims, Burghers, and Malays together — to represent and serve all. Therefore, in our Cabinet there are 22 ministers looking after Muslims, 22 for Tamils, and 22 for Sinhalese — not just one Muslim; there are many, and the President himself is there. I believe that is sufficient to safeguard cultural, political, and developmental rights of all our people. In the future, regardless of being Tamil, Muslim, Sinhala, female or male, among the 159 here, outstanding leaders will certainly emerge. Hon. Imran, you are young — by the end of this Parliament or in the next, many of what you envisage will surely be realised.
¶ 02 Regarding the Office of the Leader of the House and Parliament, we too have matters to discuss under today’s debate. First, we have a public mandate: to make sacrifices, forego perks, reduce privileges, and remove unnecessary facilities. It is under that mandate we came to Parliament.
Provenance
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- Hansard, Saturday, 15 November 2025 ·No. 22870 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. Bimal Rathnayake - Minister of Transport, Highways and Urban Development and the Leader of the House of Parliament. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 15 November 2025. No. 22870. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/29085