Thank you very much. Brothers, sisters, respected elders, in view of the lateness of the hour I do not intend to make a long speech and I was wondering whether the introduction would be longer than my speech. (laughs)
But I am very pleased to be with you here tonight and let me start by congratulating the Executive Members of the IAC for putting together this wonderful function and the vision that this body has displayed not only in putting together the function but in making it so broad-based. It is really a deep pleasure of mine to see all the Parliamentary Parties speaking here in recognition of the contribution that the Indians have made to this country and I was so pleased to see that people from all the religious faiths in Guyana, because you have Indians who are Hindus and Muslims and Christians, they all participated in this programmes and that is very visionary and we must commend them for that.
I am unapologetically Guyanese and I am sure we all are. We owe our loyalty to this country and to the people of this country, but at the same time we must all be proud of our ancestry and pride in our ancestry does not mean that we cannot, or we are going to prejudice against other people or other faiths. As I said before our complete loyalty lies with Guyana alone we are Guyanese but we come from a rich history. We come from a rich culture and that culture has contributed significantly to our country and I am very proud of my Indian ancestry. Many of our fore parents, when they left India under very difficult circumstances. They came out here, they did not know what to expect and they have carved for themselves a place in the history of this country. They have made a contribution in every conceivable field agriculture, the sciences, politics, economics, every single field that you can think about; Indians have made a contribution to. And we have to recognize that contribution. We have to recognize the strength that dictated the movement of our fore parents because they had a pioneering spirit, a spirit to go out and explore the rest of the world and to work hard and to build a life. They with that spirit. They came with the conviction to struggle and fight hard and work hard to make a place for their families. All because they wanted a better life for their families. And today, sometimes it bothers me that we are losing those convictions. That sometimes, when there are little hardships we want to give in. We become disillusioned. We fall into despair and we have to remember the example of our fore-parents, the contributions they made, but most of all, the spirit, the strong hearts they had when they came to this country. We must never forget that.
And if you think that things are bad today, well you should just go back and read the history books of the conditions they faced. Many of them lived in slum areas, in logies, ten families in little rooms. If they left the plantation, they were flogged, beaten by whips because they could not leave without permission. They were subjected to all kinds of atrocities, but yet they persevered and today look at you, the proud decedents of those people who came here. So I am very very pleased that all the parties came up here today to recognize that contributions. Every race, every group that came to Guyana made a contribution and the Indians have certainly made a tremendous contribution to Guyana.
Many people have asked me whether there would be a holiday and what I have said is that I have directed the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Mr. Reepu Daman Persaud to put a motion before the National Assembly to form a committee of all the Parties, and to explore the possibility of an Arrival or Indentureship Day
Personally as it relates to the PPP, the PPP will vote in favor of that Committee in Parliament and I hope that all the other Parties that came up here tonight to speak about the contributions that Indians have made, that it would be reflected also in Parliament when this matter comes up. But definitely, the People’s Progressive Party will support the motion to have an Arrival or Indenturedship Day in Guyana.
Comrades, friends, brothers and sisters. We have a challenge before us it is not going to be easy the world is going through turmoil. Just turn your TVs and you are going to see what is happening around the world. People dying from hunger. As we speak 13M people in Africa are dying from starvation because they do not have enough food. We have innocent people being bombed and killed you know just ling in their homes and being killed and around the Caribbean we have economic problems and here in Guyana we have many problems we still have problems criminals harassing people in their homes and in the streets of this country.
But if we persevere, if we remain strong, if we do not despair, if we do not become disillusioned, if we do give up hope we are going to deal with it. But it requires commitment and it requires strength. And I can promise you that every single day my Government remains committed to it we may not be getting the results as quickly as I would hope, but I am going to remain personally committed to this matter until we make this country the place it should really be- a place safe sound and where people can have their fortunes and together like this celebrate their past and at the same time giving them strength for the future, because the future as I see it is wonderful for this country. So thank you very much for coming out tonight in such large numbers.
Thank You