President Anura Kumara Dissanayake stated, “We definitely cannot become the richest country in the world,” while addressing the 77th Independence Day celebrations held under his patronage at the Independence Square premises today.
He also said the following:
“Today is a day when we should pay tribute to all the brave people who made sacrifices for this day. Also, after 1948, other brave people walked for our freedom, carrying the baton they gave us for the full achievement of independence. We have come a long way to this moment of celebrating the 77th Independence, carrying that baton. We have reached this day through the blood, tears, and sweat of thousands of brave people who sacrificed their lives for our freedom, both the heroes and heroines we know and those we do not know. We deserve our doctorate in history.
We have a journey to take together to create the freedom we need, to live in this country with pride as modern citizens, ensuring our economic, social, and cultural freedom. We need to cleanse this society of the prejudices that have taken root in every field—not only those based on ethnic, religious, and caste differences that have divided us for so long, but also the divisions among political representatives, heads of institutions and employees, government employees and the general public, teachers and students.
We must remember that in the campaign to fully achieve economic, social, and cultural freedom for the country, we are all fighters on the same battlefield. We all have a freedom struggle that we must continue to wage together for this motherland. You have a role in this campaign as farmers and fishermen who produce food for our nation. You have a role as teachers who impart knowledge and nourish future generations. You have a role as healthcare workers who protect the health of our people. As the police and security forces, you have the responsibility to ensure the safety of our citizens. Each of you has a unique role to play. In order to achieve economic freedom, not as a weak nation in the global economic system, nor as a country crushed at every turn, we must all dedicate ourselves to this motherland. In our struggle for economic freedom, we are not prepared to consider our social and cultural freedom as secondary.
The country we are handing over to you is not just the one handed down by history, but a developed and culturally rich nation that respects the dignity of citizenship and offers the life you aspire to live. I stand before you today, firmly declaring that Sri Lanka must be a country where every citizen has the right to experience the scientific, technological, and intellectual achievements that human civilization has reached so far. We have no right to miss this great opportunity that history has bequeathed to us. The future will be proof that we did not let it pass us by.
Let us share this dream of freedom together. Let us make that dream a reality together. You and I, all of us, are on this journey as one. We can all remember that this journey has the potential to make our motherland, Sri Lanka, an indelible example of freedom and democracy in the modern political world.
We certainly cannot become the richest country in the world. But if we try, we can become a nation of equality and freedom, a country that embodies the richest national spirit in the world.”
