Silent heroes need recognition

An interview with Social Welfare Deputy Minister Lionel Premasiri:

Nadira GUNATILLEKE

Here are the extracts from an exclusive interview conducted with the Social Welfare Deputy Minister Lionel Premasiri. Attorney-At-Law Lionel Premasiri came into active politics in 1991 from the Galle Municipal Council Election and then became a member of the Southern Provincial Council in 1993. He is a member of the UNP – Democratic Group.

Q: What will be the result of the upcoming Western Provincial Council Election?

A: The Government will definitely win all upcoming Provincial Council Elections just as it did in all previous Provincial Council Elections. There is no doubt about it at all. The Government does not need to ask for votes because the people are eagerly waiting to vote for the Government. “We were expecting only around 150,000 votes more than the Opposition but we won over 300,000 votes. This shows what people think of the Government. I worked in the Dodamgaslanda electorate during the Provincial Council Election”, he said.

Q: Why do you think that people will vote for the Government and what is the response of people in your electorate towards the Government’s humanitarian operation?

A: The people of Sri Lanka had been watching how the President rules the country and how he was going to eradicate terrorism while carrying out a massive development drive. They were eagerly waiting to vote for the Government to show their gratitude, approval of the Government’s development drive and the eradication of terrorism. Now there is a new nation which loves motherland and it was President Mahinda Rajapaksa who created that nation. That new nation has problems in connection with Cost of Living, doing businesses etc. but they never complain and that is not because of war mentality. That is because of their love towards the nation and the motherland. They have an assurance about the economical safety of their future and they know that economical problems will be over when terrorism is finally eradicated. “I want to thank President Mahinda Rajapaksa for being far sighted, and for understanding the importance of developing agricultural sector of the country. I am very happy that he has given priority to the local economy and doing his best to upgrade local production and our crafts. With the world economic crisis, Japan has been facing its second economic crisis at the moment. But here in Sri Lanka the Government has not sacked even a single worker from his/her job and is giving more and more jobs for youths. The Government did not stop even a single relief package enjoyed by the people and offered more relief packages.

Q: What is the role played by INGOs and NGOs?

A: The role played by INGOs and NGOs in the North is very disappointing. They have not done anything for the Tamil community in the North. Neither development projects nor social welfare projects are visible. What they have done is funding the LTTE to build bunkers, air strips and strengthen their military capabilities. Apart from that they have cultivated a very negative attitude in the minds of the Tamil community towards Sri Lankan Armed Forces and the Government. At the moment, only 14 NGOs have been allowed to work in the villages to be built because of the corruption and malpractices discovered in connection with their operations. But now they do not have a chance to poison the Tamil community against the Armed Forces and the Government. The NGOs can assist the Government’s development drive launched in the North and can supply infrastructure facilities for the people. These are the real requirements of the people.

Q: What is the latest situation of the new Act on NGOs?

A: “We have already finalized the new Act on NGOs and will be able to present it in the Parliament by the end of this month. The main objective of this Act is bringing all NGOs under one system. Accordingly they will be able to work with the Government and assist in the projects required by the country. At the moment they do whatever project they like and some such projects are useless for the country and people. We have to make use of the foreign funds which come through NGOs. At the same time we should not let them execute any offences in Sri Lanka. A significant amount of foreign funds come through NGOs and often NGOs are found guilty of various types of offences. The conduct of some NGOs cannot be accepted on any ground. What we should do is to streamline NGOs. We should introduce a new system which enables all the NGOs functioning in Sri Lanka to register themselves at one place under one institution. At the moment registration of NGOs is something very disorganized and takes place at several places under different institutions and their funds which comes in millions and billions are not accounted too.

Q: Would you like to talk about some of your favourite topics such as the death penalty, prisoners and their welfare?

A: I personally believe that the death penalty should be implemented in Sri Lanka at least for a short period of time. At the moment criminals know very well that they can execute any crime and get away with it. They have an assurance that nothing happens to their own lives even if they destroy the lives of others. Therefore they freely commit crimes. Apart from this they know there is a great chance of getting cut their prison sentences commuted and they can come out from prison within a very short period of time. The other side of the same story is more pathetic. The prisoners who had been given death penalty, stay in the prisons with great difficulties. They do not have adequate space to stay and do not have any other facilities, especially sanitary facilities. They live like this for over 20 and 30 years and the life is like hell for them. May be they are thinking that the death penalty is much better than living like that. They do not have even the basic facilities required for a human being to live. This is one of the areas which caught my attention and I initiated some welfare programs for them. Therefore we have to look into this matter seriously.

Q: As the Deputy Minister of Social Services and Social Welfare have you any special message?

A: There are several communities that live with us in this country apart from Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims and Burgher. They are the Veddha community, gypsy community, a small community of black people, Sea Veddha community. We have worked hard and given them an identity, due recognition and houses to live because they are parts of Sri Lankan community. Apart from that, there are above 30,000 patients awaiting heart surgeries and there is a large number of children among them. The Ministry got together with some private sector organisations and launched a special program to offer them free heart surgeries through private hospitals. Houses were handed over to a large number of blind couples living at Nayanalokagama built by late President R. Premadasa. Another program to be launched shortly to diagnose cancer in the initial stage, especially in women. This will also be done with the assistance of private sector. The children living in children’s’ homes have no future after they reach 18 and the Ministry will take steps look after them after they leave children’s’ homes. Apart from this there is a large number of heroes who carry out enormous amount of social services silently. No one knows about them. Media should discover them and give due publicity in order to encourage more people to do social services and social welfare activities. One blind person sold the wedding ring and gave Rs.12,000 to save a land of another blind couple and another person donated a part of his own land to build houses for war heroes. After getting to know it another person who owned a smaller land offered 10 perches to build a house for a war hero. This shows how many donors live in our society without much publicity and how kind and generous they are.

Q: Do you have any special message to deliver to the Sri Lankan society?

A: Yes. What the President and the Government told Sri Lankan society through ‘Deyata Kirula’ is that we are one country, one nation without any differences. We have to live in our country without petty party politics, ethnic conflicts or religious rifts. Worship your own religion, love your motherland which is full of natural beauty and resources. Sri Lanka can very easily become the fourth economic giant in Asia. Sri Lanka has started to produce heroes and heroins once again as it did in our proud history. They are the persons who should be recognised and rewarded. That is why my Ministry facilitated five heroins last year on the International Women’s Day and the same will be done this year too. There is a nine year old boy who saved five lives. There is no difference between him and the pilot who saved many lives by landing a plane in the Hudson river recently. We need such heroes and they are here in Sri Lanka once again. There are a lot of rich and educated Sri Lankan professionals living abroad. I kindly remind them of the request made by President Mahinda Rajapaksa to return to Sri Lanka, their motherland.