The Hon. Sanjeewa Ranasingha

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, when the government arranged this week’s business, we proposed an adjournment debate on eliminating drugs and organized crime. As we prepared yesterday, we saw the society face a grave crime in the morning. We regret it. No citizen should be killed at the hands of a gunman or criminal. But where were we historically, and where are we headed today?

¶ 02 We now see parties that ruled for years—those who wielded state power—today wearing black, smiling behind white masks as the Opposition. We saw the smiling photos already released. To put an end to that history which darkened the country and created a dark social backdrop for political theatre, we have brought this debate.

¶ 03 Recently, with friends, I went to the beautiful Lanka-gama near Neluwa. There we saw someone at a table writing—an Indian professor who could not speak Sinhala, visiting Sri Lanka as his 49th country after travelling to 48. We asked how he sees our country. He said: Australia is beautiful, but wildfires turn thousands of acres to ash; Europe has lovely lands, but some places freeze to stone; Japan is advanced but faces earthquakes; the Maldives has no rivers, but Sri Lanka’s central highlands feed 103 rivers that moisten the whole land. He had many examples. He said he went to England and France, but here in Nuwara Eliya he also found England and France. We are a land with many climatic zones. Yet, after 70 years, where is this precious State today?

¶ 04 We brought this motion because of that. We regret yesterday’s killing of the Hon. Chairman. Such a thing should not happen in a moral, just society. We say: those who take up arms die by arms; drug traffickers end in prison or ignominious death. But it should not end that way. The politicians and parties who engineered that dark society for their politics are today acting as the Opposition. In the recent political history, within this dark state, we witnessed many brutal experiences.

¶ 05 Many have been imprisoned and killed by this socio-political-economic construct. For their survival, for political aims and power, some created death squads using wealth and power. We say to the entire Sri Lankan society: from now on, there is no room for such people, such dark societies, such underworlds. We created a historic social discourse in this country. From “Meegas Arae Kajja,” “Julampitiye Amare,” to Sampath Manamperi, those arrested from Indonesia, those arrested in Nepal—none of them are happy today. But the Opposition dresses in black, making a symbol, artificially creating protest to discredit this people’s government. Without true pain in their hearts or spirit, they try to parade that grief in black here. We say: we brought this debate at the adjournment to end and erase that dark society and dark culture. Let the whole society rally. There is no room for criminals and underworld members; do not become victims or end your life tragically. We appeal to the nation.

¶ 06 Thank you, Hon. Presiding Member.