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The "sannasa" bearing the official announcement of the political party was brought to the assembly room by a young girl and a boy dressed in national dress accompanied by the intonation of ‘magul bera’. The ‘sannasa’ proclaimed the new political party Sihala Urumaya as dedicated to the national cause and to protect the generations beginning with Ravana who had been inhabiting this island while taking the country to the future. The large gathering present included eminent persons from all walks of life and ages. The auditorium was packed and a section of the crowd was seated outside following the proceedings of the simple ceremony through a video projection, while some were standing inside. President of Sihala Urumaya leading lawyer S. L. Gunasekera in a moving speech said that the moment was not a happy one for him as a large number of sons of the soil who had laid down their lives for the country in a war fought on a political agenda, were going their last journey. He said that they would have never wanted to form a political party of this nature if the main political parties and the leaders had worked for the country at large and took genuine steps to eradicate the terrorist menace. "The two main parties have betrayed the Sinhalese and all other communities in the country. They are still trying to give a part of this country to Prabhakaran after all that has happened," he said. He charged President Kumaratunga and Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe to leave their positions and appoint capable people to those places and enjoy more foreign trips and boat rides to their pleasure. Addressing the minorities he said they would be much more secure with them than any other political party since they were for equality and for developing the country according to a national policy. "We do what we say and say what we mean," he said. Quoting from the famous Gettysburg address of Abraham Lincoln he said that they were committed to the cause of they who had laid their lives so that the "nation might live." To a captivated crowd he said that they were for democracy and establishing a democratic state where all communities would live in harmony. "We believe that this country is the motherland of all communities. We are against carving an exclusive imaginary homeland only for one ethnic group in a part of this country," he said. Tilak Karunaratne, Secretary General of Sihala Urumaya said that he would resign from Parliament on May 9 — the next sitting day — and work full-time for the victory of the new party which has a national vision lacking in the main parties. He charged the foreign funded NGOs and the government ministers for the military tragedies as they have been responsible in bringing down the morale of the army. He urged the government to immediately stop sending food and medicine to LTTE held areas as they are not been given to the innocent civilians but used by the LTTE. "We must be the only country in the world which feeds its own enemy," he said. Champika Ranawaka, National Organiser of Sihala Urumaya said that the government had betrayed soldiers who had laid down their lives to capture Jaffna and Wanni in the Jayasikuru operation. "If the racism of Prabhakaran continues this country would be taken over by him very quickly and the two main parties just don’t care," he said. The Central Committee of Sihala Urumaya consists of President: S. L. Gunasekera. General Secretary: Thilak Karunaratne. National Organiser: Patali Champika Ranawake. Treasurer: Dr. Neville Kanakaratne. Deputy Presidents: Prof. C. M. Madduma Bandara, Prof. A. D. V. de S. Indraratna, Maj. Gen. Thilak Paranagama. Lt. Col. Anil Amarasekera. Deputy Secretaries: Dr. Piyasena Dissanayake, Mrs. Anuradha Yahampath. Deputy Treasurer: Anil Jayawardena. Committee Members: Chula de Silva - PC, Gamini Perera, Dr. Mrs. Ranjani Ratnapala, Kamal Deshapriya, Malinga H. Guneratne, Sujith Akkarawaththa. The official proclamation of Sihala Urumaya reads as follows: Let
us build the Sihala Urumaya On the one hand the Tamil expansionist movement has reached the highest point of its campaign for the conquest of the whole of Sri Lanka. After the failure of the strong endeavours made by the Ponnambalam brothers to take over the governance of the whole country. G. G. Ponnambalam devised the strategy of demanding an unequal share of state power for the small Tamil minority. Subsequently S. J. V. Chelvanayakam launched his campaign for an exclusive separate Tamil State. After distorting the history of this country, the Tamil racists set out to militarily gain their aim by the power of the bullet. Thanks to the short-sighted unpatriotic policies of our previous rulers such as the UNP and SLFP at this moment we are faced with the challenge of the most awesome politico-military gains of the Tamil racist terrorism. At this critical moment in our history the PA-UNP and the leftists are kneeling in servile abjection before the terrorists and their foreign Godfathers to betray our beloved motherland and its sacred soil to the terrorists. This grave situation has given rise to the birth of Sihala Urumaya. Our aim is to restore to the Sinhala people their lost right to live in any part of the country and to carry on a livelihood, be free from fear and terrorism. One of our most estimable aims is to bring back to the Sinhalese justice, equal treatment and their rightful place in this country’s polity and society. We are dedicated to the supreme purpose of wiping out terrorism from this country and establishing a society, in which all citizens have equal rights, equal freedom irrespective of their community, religion and status in society. We take the solemn vow this day to protect the territorial integrity, unitary status and sovereignty of this country and its democratic institutions. Over the past five decades under the rulership of the two main political parties, the economy and environment of this country have been destroyed. Our aim is to construct a modernized national economy giving due consideration to principles which were the foundation of our ancient heritage. We undertake to protect the environment, its rich and varied bio-diversity, our natural resources and utilize those resources wisely in a sustainable manner. We see around us an alarming deterioration of the values we have inherited from thousands of years of civilization. It is our duty to restore to our people particularly the young an appreciation and practice of those value systems. What we seek is both a revival and a renaissance in our society. Despite the process of globalization, many nations Such as India are seeking their cultural roots. We too must join that momentum if our country is to survive progress and flourish in this present atmosphere of globalization. We call upon the Sinhalese who have lost their way in a dark tunnel of divisive politics, to unite and join us in this sacred cause. This is the liberation struggle of the Sinhalese. Join us; trust us to build a Sinhala Nation with the true sons of Sri Lanka.
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