Sarath Wijesinghe President’s Counsel and former Ambassador for UAE and Israel Solicitor in England and Wales and President Ambassador’s forum in UK/SL

Task force to set up

President AKD has initiated a clean Sri Lanka program by setting up a task force consisting of 16 members head by the Secretary of the President possible for very valid reasons obviously in view of the tourism boom that requires a cleaner environment to attract more tourists when in the recent past Sri Lanka surpassed the 20,0000^th   tourist and aiming for more soon. One of the main needs and a requirement of a tourist and tourism is cleanliness and clean environment when fortunately, Sri Lanka is possessing with a beautiful environment the community sometimes unable to maintain, despite rules regulations and continuous requests, which is a simple process and mechanism to maintain. President AKD’s programmed to clean the parliament after the general election has been extremely successful having wiped out the membership of the Parliament with unprecedented majority with enormous powers to execute the pledges to the citizen including a clean Sri Lanka of Corruption and Bribery one of the main tasks in the agenda which is an arduous herculean task in the already corrupt society full of bribery, corruption and nepotism up to the neck, when the legal reforms have still to be formulated and the machinery to be implemented with experienced and knowledgeable staff and institutions, as the cancer of bribery is institutionalized in the entire body of the state merchantry. Citizen wished best wished and good luck to the task force for best results in cleaning Sri Lanka for 2025 and thereafter on tourism and all other areas and towards future prosperity.

Learn from Singapore overtaken us already

Singapore a dry Barran land made a leading business education and a navel hub by a visionary leader Lea Kuwan Yew the first Prime Minister and e father of Singapore who raised the nation for what it is today as a strict disciplinarian and a strict and honest ruler who  punished the most immediate ministers on charges of corruption  with no hesitation on charged of bribery and corruption, who made it a clean and leading city in all respects out of bribery corruption and cleanness of the nation, with implementation of strict rules and corresponding punishments. It is an offence in Singapore to dirt the environment which is a duty of the state and the citizen to look into as a pride and a need of the national identity to be a clean nation with a clean environment extended to the globe to be clean by United Nation Conventions and international regulations on cleanliness of the globe including oceans and rivers  world over when in Sri Lanka some unscrupulous citizens pollute rivers and banks by excavations, removal of soil and many other ways of destruction of the river bed and the environment to earn in illegal and immoral ways  leading into wanton destructionist the environments we preserve and cherish for the future generation we have been protecting for generations since of the era of ‘’Balangoda Man’’ over 150,000 years with evidence of archeological excavations and research. We look forward for the current the governance to follow suit in cleaning the cite and the polite which has been dirty by corruption and mismanagement.

Need to be clean for promotion of tourism and better positioned in the family of Nations

Though Sri Lanka is no the cleanest country it is a conciliatory factor for us to be above India on sanitation and cleanliness and it is to be noted that majority (out of 20,000) of recent tourists are mainly from India is a matter to be noted considering India too competes with Sri Lanka on tourism trade which is so competitive. Touristed look for clean and beautiful environments. We are full of beauty but not so in cleanness due to our own fault and the step taken by President AKD is complimentary as it is good on his part to initiate it considering many factors and reasons, and it is the duty of the citizen to take part and maintain the momentum to make the country and the environment beauty and clean. Finland Norway and Denmark are in the top rank with Singapore as a clean city but not Sri Lanka anywhere near but on the beauty of the environment she leads few top rank countries. Anyway, cleaning the country and it is as difficult to maintain the clean nature with the help of the citizen who looks forward for a prosperous new year to emerge with a clean nation.

Geographical location and cultural and places religious and cultural heritage sites in abundance with number of UNESCO Recognized Sites

Sri Lanka is blessed with the leading ‘’Tharavada Buddhist’’ country with ample access to Dhamma knowledge and practice not available to the majority of the world citizens. Buddhism is a religion with fastest growth in Europe which is known to the world, which is a credit to the country and an asset to the citizen to purify inside the mind by practice and meditation which is accessible physically or via internet easily. Sri Lanka is surrounded with ocean right round being an island yet unfortunately unable to obtain the maximum benefits form the major oil spill and many other disasters is a pity when the country is supposed to consist of educated citizens. ‘’ Sigiriys ‘’is one of the main tourist attractions patronized and seen by thousands of tourists appear not maintained properly and there was disturbing news than the toot’s and facilitates provided to the tourists are of lawyer quality a disturbing situation, is one of the many black spots in our tourist promotional agenda to be considered as a matter of urgency.

Physical cleanness   of the country- duty of the citizen to maintain and keep the momentum

It is nice and professional to keep house and the workplace including the office to keep clean to be on a present environment a necessity in every respect. It is the duty of the citizen and the working class to make the country a clean and tidy for everybody’s benefit and the development of the nation. It needs to be left to the state factor or governance and the citizen must take full responsibility to maintain the states core and the same condition at all times. President AKD should be credited for initiating and leading the timely project in cleaning the country when other South Asian countries are not clean and congested when Sri Lanka is leading as one of the clean and beautiful nations.

Way forward for a clean and a disciplined Nation with peace and prosperity to all

It is not an arduous task to achieve the intended results if the  task is planned properly and if and when the intentions are honest with the cooperation of the citizen awaiting ot cooperate. Therefore, it is the duty of the citizen to get together as one in achieving the goals expected by the task force headed by the \president with all good intentions. (author Sarath Wijesinghe could be reached on sarathdw28@gmail.com)