We are always willing to listen and recorrect and be responsive for public sentiment.
The Prime Minister made these remarks while answering a question raised by the member of Parliament S. Shritharan on 22 August at the Parliament.
The prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya emphasized that the new government in Sri Lanka is committed to ensuring the protection of all people without exception or division and stated that all are equal citizens of this country who are worthy of the same level of respect, acceptance, dignity and humanity.
The Prime Minister further stated:
As a government we try to always promote and consistently promote ideas that bring about unity, respect, empathy, accountability and respect for human rights.
We can see how easily institutions can be dismantled or weakened if that culture of respect for human rights is not something that is normalised or accepted within a society. We can start with the statements, the narrative that we have framed as a government. We have consciously tried to avoid narratives that discourse the seeds of division, hatred or violence.
All representatives of our government starting from president have consistently maintained this narrative. We have stood by our pledge not to resort to rasism, to provoking violence, hatred as a means of survival or maintaining power.This is an important shift that we need to acknowledge.
We are always willing to listen and to give space for public consultation to be heard and we are willing to recorrect and be responsive to public sentiment.
Prime Minister’s Media Division