SLFP MPs outline 11 suggestions for new laws to strengthen national security and bolster unity among communities

The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) has put forward proposals that laws be formulated and implemented to ensure national security and strengthen links between different communities and races.

The proposal which was put forward in a letter by a group of SLFP Parliamentarians to the Parliament's Sectoral Oversight Committee on National Security contained 11 suggestions.

The letter highlighted the insufficiency of current laws to contain the current extremism being faced in the country and the factors that led to it as a major lacuna. The onus was on MPs to rectify and formulate new laws that would prevent such attacks from taking place and those that would promote a Sri Lankan identity across all ethnic and religious groups, the letter said.

Among the proposals included, was the inclusion of an article to the constitution to set-up a common ministry for religious affairs instead of a ministry each for different faiths.

In addition, the SLFP MPs also proposed that common educational institutions should be established to cater to the educational needs of students belonging to all communities. On the same note, the letter has sought that all educational institutions should thereby function under the complete supervision of the Education Ministry.

Regarding higher educational institutions, the SLFP suggested that the syllabus and methodologies of such institutions must function under the directives of the Higher Education Ministry.

At the same time, all vocational training and tertiary training courses must be brought under the Ministry of Vocational Training, the SLFP's letter added.

Among the other proposals included that laws be formulated:

• To consider acts of violence and communal hatred as a criminal offence
• To conduct a special examination on foreign lecturers who arrive in the country to deliver lectures on national, religious and cultural matters, for research studies and to conduct workshops.
• In consultation with religious leaders and intellectuals regarding dresses and other conducts (such as full-face helmets and burqas) which are “detrimental to national security and peaceful existence".
• Preventing the registration of political parties based on race, religion, castes and regions.
• On the establishment of common rules for religious places and prayer centres.
• To monitor and control the objectives of which foreign funding granted by different countries, organisations, and individuals are utilised.
• To control the dissemination of information containing harmful influence through the internet and social media platforms.
• To teach Sri Lanka students studying overseas on the cultural and social patterns of this country.
• On national and religious co-existence as well as national security as far as Immigration and Emigration laws are concerned.