Mr. Nimal Serasinghe of Dehiwala has written a letter in a Sunday newspaper recently criticizing the Sihala Urumaya symbol. Ignorance is bliss they say and certainly, so in Mr. Serasinghe’s case.

The Sihala Urumaya selected this symbol because it is appropriate for the Sihala Urumaya (heritage) with which weapon the Sinhala race fought the anti-Sinhalese forces from the time of the great King Dutugemunu. The other factor which Mr. Serasinghe is ignorant of is, that the drawing of this symbol was done by the Elections Department and was obviously approved by a bureaucrat and gazetted as a party symbol. The Sihala Urumaya therefore was faced with a Hobsons Choice, because this symbol now approved by the Elections Commissioner’s Department cannot be changed till the year 2002.

The Sihala Urumaya is a political party which was formed because of the injustices to and the oppression of the Sinhala people in their own motherland. Every member of the party is committed to the cause and they are proud to announce publicly that they are fighting for the lost right of the Sinhala people and are not in anyway racists or communalists.

I think Mr. Serasinghe is trying to prevent the Sinhala people from supporting the Sihala Urumaya.

Urumaya leaders have repeatedly stated that we are not a racist party and that it is our aim after restoring the rights of the Sinhala people to live in amity in an unitary state respecting the equal rights and culture of our minority communities, some of whom have been and still are our closest friends.

However we re-iterate that we shall eliminate the Tamil Tigers who are only a bunch of brain washed criminals killing their own leaders their own people and others. We thank Mr. Serasinghe further as it has given the party symbol free publicity.
Nissanka M. Ediriwira
Sihala Urumaya