As a year ends and we welcome a New Year, we express the hope that the country will traverse a path that embodies the aspirations of its citizens. Our history informs us that we are a people who have made it clear at every point that our aspirations for pluralist politics can never be trifled with. In all these decades since 1947 and again since 1971, that determination in us to hold ruling classes to account on the question of democracy has been paramount. We have never wavered in our beliefs. As we welcome the year 2020, it is our hope that our collective yearning for liberal democracy and secular politics will be the underpinning of what we need to do in the days ahead. The general elections we had looked forward to in 2018 have come and gone. A year has gone by since then. And what we as a nation can do from here on, is to reassure ourselves that all the necessary elements of democracy --- rule of law, space for the political opposition, intellectual freedom, transparency and accountability --- will be in full play, indeed will acquire more substance as we move into the future. Since December 1990 we as a people have successfully held on to democracy despite all the buffeting it has been through, not least caused by the political classes. We know that we cannot remain complacent and therefore must constantly be on guard against any attempt to undermine the national cause. Today we need to rebuild the secular political construct which so powerfully guided us to national liberation close to five decades ago. We have observed that construct getting frayed over the years and even now our religious minorities continue to pay a heavy price for their beliefs. We have made economic progress, as the indicators show. And yet there are the poor and the dispossessed who need to be brought into the mainstream of socio-economic prosperity. As we step into a New Year, we must not forget that we still have a hard battle to wage against religious fanaticism --- because the dark elements out to upset social order and undercut morals and values are yet lurking in the bushes. The government has been going hard after them. This position must be maintained without let-up. In education, the focus must be on quality rather than scores. The emphasis from now on, therefore, must be on the creation of a knowledge-based society which adds to the process of digitization we have inaugurated for ourselves. Our priorities must be defined and strategies shaped to implement them.

As a year ends and we welcome a New Year, we express the hope that the country will traverse a path that embodies the aspirations of its citizens.
Our history informs us that we are a people who have made it clear at every point that our aspirations for pluralist politics can never be trifled with. In all these decades since 1947 and again since 1971, that determination in us to hold ruling classes to account on the question of democracy has been paramount. We have never wavered in our beliefs.
As we welcome the year 2020, it is our hope that our collective yearning for liberal democracy and secular politics will be the underpinning of what we need to do in the days ahead. The general elections we had looked forward to in 2018 have come and gone. A year has gone by since then. And what we as a nation can do from here on, is to reassure ourselves that all the necessary elements of democracy --- rule of law, space for the political opposition, intellectual freedom, transparency and accountability --- will be in full play, indeed will acquire more substance as we move into the future. Since December 1990 we as a people have successfully held on to democracy despite all the buffeting it has been through, not least caused by the political classes. We know that we cannot remain complacent and therefore must constantly be on guard against any attempt to undermine the national cause. Today we need to rebuild the secular political construct which so powerfully guided us to national liberation close to five decades ago. We have observed that construct getting frayed over the years and even now our religious minorities continue to pay a heavy price for their beliefs. We have made economic progress, as the indicators show. And yet there are the poor and the dispossessed who need to be brought into the mainstream of socio-economic prosperity.
As we step into a New Year, we must not forget that we still have a hard battle to wage against religious fanaticism --- because the dark elements out to upset social order and undercut morals and values are yet lurking in the bushes. The government has been going hard after them. This position must be maintained without let-up. In education, the focus must be on quality rather than scores. The emphasis from now on, therefore, must be on the creation of a knowledge-based society which adds to the process of digitization we have inaugurated for ourselves.
Our priorities must be defined and strategies shaped to implement them.