Minister of Labour and Foreign Employment Manusha Nanayakkara emphasized that the time has come to ditch all forms of extremism and chauvinism and think of Sri Lanka as one nation, one people in order to achieve development and national unity.
“If one hopes for the development and national unity of the country, it should start from oneself, instead of accusing each other” he added.
The Minister stated this while participating in the ceremony to name the ancient Kachchiwatta Mosque at Magalla, Galle as a place of archaeological value today (19).
Marking the inauguration of taking the necessary steps to start the archaeological exploration activities by naming the historical Mosque as an ancient heritage, the Minister also opened a plaque describing the history of the Mosque.
The Minister also requested the Department of Archeology to complete the related archaeological explorations at the earliest
The minister who further commented said:
“If you want national unity, it has to start with yourself. If you want a developed country, it too has to start with yourself. If you are the initiator of these noble goals, there will never be a need to accuse someone else. The time has come for the people of Sri Lanka to stand together in unity and become the citizens of a truly Sri Lankan nation”.
“Knowing about others is the basis for a country with collective harmony. People who can see the other as a brother or sister living in the same country will help to boost the dignity and pride of that country and ensure national security. We say that such a country is a strong country”.
“In recent times people were divided politically, socially as well as religiously and culturally. Different people brought different traditions into religions and tried to create further divisions. Some tried to make that change within so-called new cultural trends. In the meantime, we have also seen people go to the streets, vote, struggle and try to make that change”.
“But all we did was try and seek change through word of mouth. Every change requires action. Just think about it, if you want to change your body, you have to change your posture”.
“We started that concept under the patronage of the President emphasizing that the change should start on an individual basis that is from oneself. We need to change ourselves first for a system change”.
“When we accepted the responsibility to revive the country from the economic crisis, we started that work on an individual basis. We thought it should start with oneself to change the stale political culture that existed until then. I started with myself. And everyone who took responsibility at that time started the initiatives themselves. The President too did that. That is why as a country we have been able to breathe freely today. By November this year, you are breathing more freely than November of last year. Think about it”.
“What I believe, my philosophy is humanity”.
“One of the biggest reasons why our country has remained a poor country for 75 years since independence is because of either an ethnic riot or because a group took up arms. People should struggle as human beings, not as animals or barbarians. Currently, with the Israeli-Palestinian crisis, some people tried to turn the Israeli-Palestinian issue into a communal riot for political gain. I wondered how the action should start from myself so that the previous mistake of history is not repeated. Today we are participating in this event as a result of that. I am thankful to Amhar Maulavi who guided me in this endeavour”.
“Not only that, we started a programme to create mutual understanding between communities and people from varied cultural backgrounds. You must have seen it in the past few days”.
“My opinion is that Kachchiwatta Mosque is not only a religious place. Kachchiwatta Mosque portrays to the world about the harmony and unity and coexistence that existed between us since the past”.
“So, I request the officials of the Department of Archeology to take the necessary steps to tell the world about this ancient legacy of ours as soon as possible. There is a lot of information collected by us, my media department. They are working to provide all of them to the Department of Archaeology”.
“Every human has a past, present and future. Finding those roots is the basis for a strong coexistence”
“On this historic occasion, I would like to make a request to all those who have participated and to all those who are directly connected to this moment. I started with myself. You start with yourself. If you want national unity, it starts with you. If you want a developed country, it starts with you. If that happens, there will never be a need to accuse someone else”.
“There is no point in making accusations. The time has come for us to come together as a Sri Lankan nation and as human beings”.
