“We have been able to step boldly into the Year of Freedom” – President

“I will always remember how the working people of our country offered me every support in the endeavour to chart national development in the correct direction. On the one hand, we fearlessly stood up to a brand of terrorism that the entire world believed was invincible. As a result we have been able to step boldly into the Year of Freedom”, President Mahinda Rajapaksa stated while issuing a May Day message.

Here is the full text of his message:

 It is with great pleasure that I salute this day all the working people of Sri Lanka who stand together in solidarity on the occasion of the International Workers’ Day. 

I will always remember how the working people of our country offered me every support in the endeavour to chart national development in the correct direction. On the one hand, we fearlessly stood up to a brand of terrorism that the entire world believed was invincible. As a result we have been able to step boldly into the Year of Freedom.

Secondly, even in the face of a global financial crisis, we have succeeded in safeguarding our resources and ensure the prosperity of our people. Our working people have shown unprecedented fortitude through all this and I have no doubt have consequently earned the respect and admiration of the entire international working class.   

We are today on the threshold of a time where successes are transformed into victories and victories into unprecedented triumphs. This is a time when we have won for ourselves an opportunity to further strengthen the nation. The working people of this country have come together in a manner that makes all divisions including separatism untenable. The nation has embarked along a road that disregards party colour and is only concerned with the nation’s triumph. I am convinced that the strengthening of the working people is an inevitable outcome of this process.   

I consider it a matter of justifiable pride as a person who has always stood with the working people of the country that we have been able to provide all manner of relief to our people even in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Today, the state sector is strong and so too the state employee. Neither did we neglect the working people in the private sector. We have taken steps to encourage local production, especially in the agricultural sector and also helped create viable and assured markets. We have not withdrawn any of the welfare measures in place and this is simply because ours is a people’s government and one that recognizes and takes very seriously its responsibilities.