Press release 139/2000
(01 December 2000)

Mr. Chairman,
Members of the National Assembly,

Allow me, Mr Chairman, to extend a word of welcome to:

His Excellency, President Hugo Chavez of the Republic of Venezuela and delegation;
Prime Minister Hinds of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana and delegation;
Prime Minister Pourier of the Netherlands Antilles and delegation;
Vice Prime Minister Borst of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and delegation;
Minister Chen Zhili of the People's Republic of China and delegation;
The Chair of the Parliament of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Mrs. J van Nieouwenhoven;
from the Parliament of Aruba, Mr Croes;
from the Parliament of the Netherlands Antilles, Dr. D Lucia;
Members of the Diplomatic Corps;
Mr. Secretary-General of CARICOM;
Representatives of the United Nations, the OAS, ACS, UNDP, SELA, IDB, IMF and other international organisations;
All Granmans and their delegations;
Other guests;
People of Suriname.

On behalf of the Government and People of Suriname I hereby extend my sincere gratitude to you for coming to Suriname to celebrate with us the twenty-fifth Independence Day of our State.

Mr. Chairman, For all who sat or stood here twenty-five years ago it must be without a doubt, an emotional experience to start the celebration of the twenty-fifth Independence Day of our Republic of Suriname in this very place.

It is not only the fact that it is in the same place and the same space, but, more importantly, we start this celebration in our democratically elected Parliament, the National Assembly.

In the past twenty-five years this stronghold has been tried time and again. The Constitution on which it is founded has been suspended, replaced and amended and its formal meeting place burnt to the ground.

But, as became evident, the strength of the democracy in Suriname lies in the spirit of the People and that spirit proved sufficiently resilient to resist and overcome digression, attacks and even violation of the democracy.

Today we take a moment to look back on the path that we treaded, the trail that we, as a people, left behind in history.

Even more than looking back on the past we want to look towards the future of our country. Our future is determined by us and the world beyond us, the world of which we are a part. Therefore, if would be better to say: the world around us.

Suriname approaches the world with a spirit that is founded on international solidarity between peoples, a spirit in which peaceful co-existence is a natural effort in this small world, a spirit in which wealth, knowledge and technology are shared.

This is the basis for us to find our way in this world, to function in the United Nations, the Organisation of American States (OAS), CARICOM, in South-American relations and in the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, all of them with their own agencies and sub-organisations.

In this spirit of mutual solidarity between Peoples there is no place for war between countries nor for extortion, theft of natural resources or of human beings, destruction of the environment by irresponsible exploitation of natural resources, or industrial production which is unhealthy to man and nature.

In this spirit there is no room for hostility and hate between neighbouring countries nor for problems left behind by former colonial powers for young independent nations.

For these reasons Suriname on a bilateral as well as a multilateral level, devotes its efforts to contributing to world peace, a just world order, exchange of knowledge and technology, sincere support of wealthy powers to poor countries, safeguarding of the fundamental human rights of each individual, protection of the environment worldwide.

This is the context in which the Government of Suriname makes its appeal to the Government of our neighbour Guyana to lead the People and the various institutions in their respective countries to the path where the border between both countries does not divide the People from each other but unites them and binds them as brother nations, just like the inhabitants of the rain forest make use of the rivers that seem to divide their villages on the various river banks to reach each other.

Mr. Chairman, The people of Suriname are now at a turning point where they have to make choices that will be crucial to the people living in our country and to the position of Suriname in the world.

There are countries where the underworld rules over official institutes of the State and is more powerful than the legal authorities, countries where armed gangs fight each other and oppress the People, where illegality and chaos have the upper-hand.

There are also countries where law and justice determine the course of the Government and the People, the services of the Government, industry and Non-Governmental Organisations.

Young and old are now faced with the choice that should be easy for the upstanding Surinamer. It should be a choice that enables us to recover from the wounds that have been beaten into the flesh of the nation in the past twenty-five years. Otherwise, some of these wounds will be permanent. It should be a choice that provides us with the opportunity to resume the development of our country and to create conditions that, in a safe climate, will bring prosperity within the reach of every individual.

On this 25^th Independence Day of our Republic I appeal to all Surinamers to join together to realise that which, considering the potential of man and nature, is feasible. It is up to us to make our ideals become a reality.

The Government extends its congratulations to all members of parliament, all Surinamers where ever they may be, with twenty-five years Srefidensi.

Thank you.