Maithripala Sirisena

“ Ordinary people in the country would not speak freely. Members of the armed forces, the lower ranks of the police could also not speak freely on the telephone. None of them had the freedom to speak freely by telephone.
In the past 3 months this freedom has been restored and strengthened. This was similar with media freedom, too. I recall how prior to January 8 those who yielded political power spoke to the heads of media institutions, news directors and news editors. That included intimidation, threats and mental pressure. Today, the media is free of all this. ”

“ The developed countries of the world that are democratic and give an important place to freedom, have many different races, religions, languages and are multi-religious and multi-ethnic societies. It is therefore necessary for us to understand that while protecting the historic dignity and respect of the Sinhala Buddhist people, it is also necessary to ensure the brotherhood, friendship and coexistence among all communities and move towards a just society that will ensure the rights of the people. ”

“ The manner in which the freedom and democracy obtained by this transformation and revolution has been used by certain elements in the past three months, their political decisions and activities, brings to my mind the occasions in world history when in countries that carried out revolutions were later faced with counter-revolutions.
We are aware that very often it is a common occurrence in countries for counter-revolution to follow a revolution. ”

“ I will conclude with the call to all my people to join in brotherhood and friendship to achieve the goals for which the people gave their mandate on January 8 and, therefore go forward to establish the society we seek for today and tomorrow. ”

“ In order to build a democratic and civilized society, it is necessary to prevent the emergence of dictatorship and taking control of state power, state assets, the judiciary, parliament and all of this to one’s own control that comes from the Executive Presidential system. ”

“ Similarly, following the fall of Communist states in Eastern Europe, when a political transformation took place in those societies that had moved towards political extremism, there was a period of political turmoil and uncertainty till the people of these countries could enjoy their entitlement to freedom and democracy. When the great humanitarian leader Abraham Lincoln of the United States took action to abolish slavery and introduced legislations for this purpose, for some time after this some of the people in slavery stated that they preferred the condition of slavery. ”

“ Having understood the internal problems we face as a country we must take every action to prevent situations that led to the armed conflict that lasted three decades. For this the friendship among all people is essential. ”

“ Let us think anew and creatively. Let us produce unique strategies for the new era. We must understand clearly our responsibilities and accountabilities. Sometimes we don’t clearly understand these factors. ”

“ If we consider development, our country imports food worth Rs 400 billion from abroad annually. Therefore, are we self-sufficient? With the building of roads and other constructions under the development of physical resources, this question of self-sufficiency is not solved. The national economy must be strengthened. ”

“ Our country is one with a beautiful environment. The natural resources, climate and weather are blessings to this land. With such assets we do not need to import Rs 400 billion worth of food. We have the objective to strengthen the local agricultural economy. ”

“ Similarly, we are taking steps to strengthen the conditions of the public servants, workers and employees in the private sector. By addressing the needs of all these sections of the society we make our commitment to Good Governance as stated in our manifesto. ”