The Hon. Nalin Hewage - Deputy Minister of Vocational Education

¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Chairperson of Committees, as the principal project of the present Government, we brought the Clean Sri Lanka programme to realize the people’s aspirations and rebuild this fallen country, shaping a better tomorrow.

¶ 02 I wish to address two main components: outcomes for the physical environment and for spiritual cultivation. Society develops through contradictions; ultimately, the core contradiction lies with the environment—we derive everything from it. Therefore, without the environment we cannot exist.

¶ 03 Gandhi said the world’s resources can meet everyone’s needs, but not one man’s greed. Due to greed and short-termism, our ecosystems have been devastated. Nature is marvellous: sun, moon, rivers, canals, trees, animals—an elegant balance once existed. Our elders drank clean field water; biodiversity thrived. Due to a predatory social order, we destroyed it. Now we need beautification and protection—hence this programme. In the past we harvested with restraint, leaving for animals. Today we attack nature; nature retaliates—landslides, garbage mountains collapsing, sudden disasters. Our dealings with nature must be gentle and compassionate. Awakening the human spirit toward this is an element of the programme. We need spiritual purification even more than physical beautification.

¶ 04 Spiritually, we are also broken. As a famous verse laments: we hear Dhamma constantly, yet our character remains wild. Even animals protect their young first; some people push others aside. We must change.

¶ 05 I severely criticize the UNP and SLPP leaderships for economic destruction. Yet those losses can be calculated and one day recovered. But the grave crimes against society—normalizing corruption, sexual violence, narcotics—are harder to heal. Previously, wrongdoers were ostracized; recently, they were garlanded and elevated. Parliament filled with racketeers rather than the wise. To transform human character, we need spiritual purification—governance must suppress the beast in our hearts and awaken the human.

¶ 06 Licensing bars and expanding gambling worsened matters. Drug trafficking, brothels and rackets destroyed the nation. We must awaken the human being within—art and culture can help. Merely producing clever people is not enough if mothers suffer and children are abandoned. This programme holds the sublime aim of forming humane persons.

¶ 07 A former Professor of the University of Colombo said to achieve 7–9 per cent growth we need at least 30 per cent investment of GDP. Our savings are low. What do we have? Social capital. Our great works—Sigiriya’s hydraulics, the 178-mile-long Yodha Ela with an inch-per-mile gradient, 32,000 tanks—were built with social capital, not foreign loans. After the tsunami we rebuilt in months due to social capital. Last year 17,760 dansals were registered—if that energy were channelled to build houses for the poor, we could build thousands. We must harness this for social progress.

¶ 08 We started the programme from Galle. Last year two million tourists came; we aim for three million. To earn dollars, the country must look beautiful. We cleaned 75 km of coastline from Aluthgama to Goyyapala; about 7,000 volunteered; in five hours nearly 5,000 people cleaned the visible coast and planted. Next month, at the Ministry of Vocational Education’s 500 institutions, we will launch similar work. Not just beautification, but purification. If we combine both, we can build a better country and tomorrow. Let us all join. Thank you.