Full Speech of President Maithripala Sirisena at the 68th Independence Day Celebrations

04/02/2016

Today we all join together to celebrate the 68th anniversary of Independence Day with pomp and glory. Since we got independence from the British Colonial rulers, we have been marking this momentous day of Independence every year and this is the 68th occasion.

When we consider the day like this in 1948 and today, in 2016, in our country as well as the in other countries in the world, there had been vast transformations in economic, political, social and cultural fields.

If we analyze or interpret the independence we gained, I believe that there is a vast difference in what our people expected in 1948 and what the people expect today, 68 years later.

I describe a child born in 1948 as a Child of Culture. Today, a child born in 2016 in the beginning of the 21st Century, we see as a Child of Technology. I believe that we should, collectively make efforts to build the nation by joining the Child of Culture born in the post 1948 era or early 1950s and today’s Child of Technology.

When we talk of the great freedom fighters who struggle valiantly to win freedom from the Colonial rule, we can see very clearly that among the national heroes, there were Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim leaders who fought together, shoulder to shoulder in unity and brotherhood to win independence for the Motherland.

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