Sunday Times 2
Speaker Jayasuriya: Commonwealth well placed to promote multiculturalism worldwide
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Speaker Karu Jayasuriya, now a honorary life member RCSSL, in conversation with RCSSL members during the event.
Speaker Karu Jayasuriya has expressed confidence that Sri Lanka is well placed to promote and sustain multiculturalism worldwide.
Addressing an event the Royal Commonwealth Society Sri Lanka (RCSSL) held last week at Capri Club, Colombo to mark the 70th anniversary of the Modern Commonwealth, the Speaker, who graced the occasion as Chief Guest, said promoting multiculturalism has become even more important at a time when religious and racial divisions have led to violence in several parts of the world.
“We must mobilise the capacity and the commitment of each country, community, and individual for promoting our values of equality, freedom and human dignity at all levels and ensure that each person’s rights are protected and traditions of each community are respected throughout our Commonwealth and beyond. We need to re-emphasise the need for unity in diversity,” he stressed.
“In this regard, in this technological era, we must promote our Commonwealth connection to mobilise youth in the right direction, providing them opportunities for their upward mobility as well as freedom to innovate and to thrive socially, based on their rights and social obligations. For this purpose providing a quality education to suit these 21st century requirements is an urgent task,” he added.
“To promote the 21st century as a peaceful century, we need to promote reconciliation among communities in countries affected by conflicts or face conflicts. In this regard, Sri Lanka can take pride in its own programmes initiated successfully since 2015, for promoting these objectives. We, together with like- minded friends in the world, must prevent all forms and manifestations of extremism wherever it occurs, globally. We must remain connected and indeed well-connected to achieve these and all the agreed Commonwealth objectives,” the Speaker said.
Referring to the RCSSL’s this year’s event theme, “A connected Commonwealth”, Mr. Jayasuriya said, “I am honoured, as a friend of the Commonwealth, to join all of you, this evening to commemorate the Commonwealth day 2019, on this landmark 70th anniversary of the modern Commonwealth.
“We celebrate today the success and the potential of the Commonwealth nations, to individually and collectively work towards a better world. And for this purpose, we support connecting with each other to achieve the ideals and objectives of the Commonwealth. In our globalising world, networking is the most important aspect of promoting the well-being of our people in all its manifestations. Therefore, it’s most appropriate that the theme of the celebration of a Commonwealth day 2019 is titled ‘A connected Commonwealth.’”
Speaker Jayasuriya and Prof. Mohan Munasinghe were bestowed with honourary life membership of the RCSSL after they accepted the invitation extended by RCSSL President Major General Thilak Paranagama. The RCSSL’s former President Fred Medis, and its Vice President Christ Nonis, a former Sri Lankan High Commissioner to the UK, also spoke at the event.
A fellowship dinner dubbed “the best hopper buffet dinner” was held at Capri Club as part of the Commonwealth Day’s 70th anniversary celebrations. Commonwealth Day was observed on March 11 this year.
Speaker Jayasuriya said, “This year, we celebrate the 70th anniversary of the adoption of the London Declaration by Commonwealth Prime Ministers. They agreed that all member countries would be ‘freely and equally’ associated in the organisation, thus giving birth to the modern Commonwealth. Sri Lanka, shares the honour as one of the eight founding members of this important group.”
The aim of all RC societies around the world is to celebrate the unity, diversity and links of the modern Commonwealth and to foster greater understanding of the Commonwealth‘s achievements and role.
The Commonwealth is a voluntary association of 53 independent and equal sovereign states. It is home to 2.4 billion people and includes both advanced economies and developing countries. The shared values and principles are inscribed in the Commonwealth charter.