Presidential Address, 4th February 1998
I am humbled by the great honour that destiny has bestowed upon me, to stand here, before my people, as the Head of independent Sri Lanka, on this momentous day when the Nation commemorates 50 years of freedom from colonial rule. It is with a deep sense of duty and commitment to the Nation and in full awareness of the gigantic responsibilities we have undertaken, that I step forward into the next 50 years,
together with the members of my Cabinet and the government, spurred on by the confidence placed in us by our people.
I would like to first invite you to join me to pay homage to the great leaders of our independence struggle. We are beholden to them all, from Keppitipola Dissawe to Puran Appu, the heroic Buddhist clergy led by Hikkaduwe Sri Sumangala, Wariyapola Sri Sumangala, Migettuwatte Gunananda, the Tibetan poet monk S. Mahinda, from F.R. Senanayake, D.S. Senanayake, D.B. Jayatilleke, John Kotalawala Snr., Anagarika Dharmapala, Ponnambalam Arunachalam, P. Ramanathan. S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, T.B. Jayah, the left leaders such as S.A. Wickremasinghe, N.M.Perera, Colvin R. de Silva, Philip Gunewardena and Bernard Soysa, working class leaders like A.E. Gunesinghe, N. Sanmugathasan, Kandasamy, leaders of plantation workers like Natesar Aiyar, women leaders like Mary Rutnam, Daisy Dias Bandaranaike, Doreen Wickremasinghe, Selina Perera, Parameswary Kandiah, Noble Rajasingham, Viviene Gunewardena, Kusuma Gunewardena, Florence Senanayake, working class women leaders such as Agnes de Silva, Ponsinahamy, and foreign leaders like Marie Musaeus Higgins, Clara Motwani, Col. Olcott – and all the other unsung heroes of our freedom struggles against foreign domination.