The Hon. Jeevan Thondaman

¶ 01 [12.11 p.m.]

¶ 02 Hon. Deputy Speaker, Vanakkam!

¶ 03 Hon. Prime Minister, I would appreciate it if I could address you in Tamil. Thank you for being present. I must speak on an important and painful matter. I will not mention names. Recently, in a major Government hospital in Nuwara Eliya District, a young woman passed away. After her post-mortem, an allegation has been made that three minor staff broke into the mortuary that night. I will not offer my own opinion. But what happened? The Government must ascertain the truth. There is tension in the upcountry; protests are ongoing. The deceased’s family does not wish to speak, but this is not a private family issue; it is a grave social issue. Various parties are expressing opinions and accusations. The Government must determine the truth. A senior doctor of the same hospital has publicly stated to the media that “three persons went in and came out; the body is not as we left it.” With such a statement, doubts arise. I do not have authority to declare what happened or not. The Government must take responsibility, find the truth, and inform the public. These kinds of incidents have occurred elsewhere. We must act and put a stop to this. If this is true, then how many such incidents may have occurred earlier? Could it happen again? I humbly request that this be taken up under the Hon. Prime Minister’s direct supervision, and also by the governing party MPs representing that district. At the next sitting, we expect your position on this. The public awaits it.

¶ 04 Next, under the Women and Children’s Affairs Ministry, I must raise issues from the plantation areas — in Kandy’s Kalabokka and Panwil, and in Nuwara Eliya. In these regions, some people work on estates; others do not, yet all live in the upcountry. The children of estate workers may not become estate workers. But today, plantation companies only recognize those who work on the estates; only they and their children are acknowledged. In many estate areas, preschools have long been run by civil organizations so that children of non-estate workers can also learn. Now some estate managers are saying, “If you do not work on the estate, your children cannot be admitted to preschools.” Last week, the organization PREDO protested in Hatton because preschools run by civil society in estates are being forcibly taken over by management. Hon. Prime Minister, you were a Child Protection Officer; you know the importance of this. Please intervene.

¶ 05 Another matter: the upcountry population is about one million. Fewer than 100,000 work as registered estate workers. Most are in informal, non-estate employment, without recognition, ID, or assistance from plantation companies. The problem is systemic. These areas are under company control via agreements; people live under those terms, almost as “citizens of the company,” not of the country. We submitted a Cabinet Paper in the previous Government and obtained approval: to bring residential areas within plantations under Government control. Today, those areas are not under the Government; they are under the companies. People can live there only if they work on the estate. Please act on this.

¶ 06 One more issue: I have no objection to increasing estate workers’ wages; I voted for the Budget. But I have consistently requested: please issue the Gazette on the wage increase. Only then will it be fairly paid. Today, it is unclear whether the 78,000 registered workers are receiving it; casual workers and private-sector workers are not. Conditions have been imposed; the plucking norms increased. Please publish the Gazette and release the agreement you signed. Through Right to Information we tried to obtain it; it is classified. We have appealed. Please consider this.

¶ 07 Finally, Hon. Prime Minister, I noted the Hon. Foreign Minister’s statement yesterday on the Iranian crisis. It is not for any country, especially the United States, to decide who should be executed, imprisoned, or removed. Whatever views one may hold of Iran’s Government, Sri Lanka has benefited — Uma Oya, tea-for-oil barter, cultural exchanges, scholarships. Silence cannot be a long-term foreign policy; we will lose credibility.

¶ 08 Yesterday, within our waters, an Iranian vessel returning from India’s naval exercise was sunk. Yes, we rescued survivors, but this raises a question: was Sri Lanka aware of these operations in our waters, or were we part of this? We, as the Opposition, seek clarification.

¶ 09 Thank you.