New Year Message of the Office for National Unity and Reconciliation
Sinhala Hindu New Year celebration relating to many cultures in South and Southeast Asia is a festival celebrated by all Sri Lankans along with Buddhist and Hindu communities. This festival is closely related to Thai New Year, Bengali New Year, Cambodian New Year, Lao New Year, Thingyan in Myanmar and Oriya New Year in India, and brings local cultural characteristics to the international.
The Office for National Unity and Reconciliation has already launched the We Sri Lankans program which will be implemented concurrent to the Clean Sri Lanka government policy from this year. A program is being implemented to turn the identities unique to each culture into a national identity through the civil mechanism built through the district and regional level Co-existence Societies. Moreover, from the district and regional level, through practices such as drama, photography and media, various cultural identities and the harmonious and peaceful concepts associated with them are being promoted and national unity is being established through the building of discourses of healing. And for the national responsibility of building a prosperous society that appreciates mutual cultural respect and diversity, it will commit itself to fulfill its responsibility of continuously fulfilling its mission through various sectors such as education, development, research and conflict perversion. As the Office for National Unity and Reconciliation, we strongly believe that the best gift we can give to Sri Lankans is a healthy and peaceful society.
New Year’s Eve will pave the way for all ethnic groups to come together as a Sri Lankan nation to heal the broken hearts that have been divided and to bring lasting peace through that. At a time when the government is currently implementing a program to create a rich country and a beautiful future, we wish that the common people’s dream of a rich country may no longer be a dream, and may have a happy new year with peace, happiness, and prosperity.
