<div dir="ltr"><br clear="all"><h1><p>Tamil must be more widely used for true national integration: Eran</p></h1> <span class="">November 22, 2014, 4:17 pm</span>
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<img alt="article_image" style="float: left;" src="http://www.island.lk/modules/modPublication/article_title_images/1146742011earan.jpg"><br>
<p>During the colonial period the Sinhala speaking people were
disadvantaged by the obstacles to communicate in their mother tongue.
After independence and the adoption of the ‘Sinhala Only’ policy we
disadvantaged the Tamil speaking people. This country has remained
divided primarily due to the non recognition of the Tamil language.
This situation was corrected when this assembly adopted Sinhala and
Tamil as the official language of the country. Constitutionally it was a
progressive move to put right that which was wrong.</p> <br> <p>Despite the official language policy there is little visible signs of improvement in the implementation of the policy.</p> <br> <dir> <p>There
are buses of the S.L.T.B. which do not still carry its destination in
all three languages. There are police stations which have no Tamil
language capability. As of January 2014 there were only 2,326 Tamil
speaking police officers, which is a low percentage of the police force.
The Government announced in 2014 that it was recruiting 150 Tamil
speaking police officers. It is a small step in the right direction.
Out of 408 police stations only 157 have a Tamil speaking capability.
Even in the dominant Tamil speaking areas, for example in Chundikulam
in Vavuniya, Sampur in Trincomalee and Bogawantalawa in Nuwara Eliya
districts there was no Tamil speaking capability in the police
station.</p> <br> </dir> <p>We conduct important government business
only in the Sinhala language. Even at the Thimbirigasyaya Divisional
Secretariat, where I attend meetings, they are exclusively conducted in
Sinhala. The city of Colombo has a considerable Tamil population and
their Constitutional rights are being violated. However, when the
Government wants to collect taxes or payments they will communicate in
Sinhala, Tamil and English. The telephone bill or the electricity bill
will be sent in all three languages. It proves that the Government has
no political will to implement a tri-lingual policy, while it will do
everything possible to communicate in their language when it wants to
collect revenue.</p> <br> <p>There are 19 recommendations in the LLRC
report on the implementation of the National Languages policy, social
integration and reconciliation. There is no progress on 16% of the
recommendations, poor progress on 53% and partial progress on 31%.</p> <br> <p>The
Constitution provides for singing the National Anthem in both Sinhala
& Tamil languages. However at government functions and National
events this is not been followed. I want to know from the Minister of
National Languages and Social Integration, whether he supports the
Government policy of non-implementation of the Constitution? If not,
what will he do to implement, the singing of the National Anthem in
both Sinhala & Tamil. A verse in the National Anthem says "Eka
mawakage daru kela bavina" - we are the children of one mother. If we
truly believe that we are the children of one mother we must provide
the opportunity for the Tamil speaking people to sing our National
Anthem with pride and emotion in their mother tongue.</p> <br> <p>Today,
a sperm is obtained from Europe, the egg from Africa, and a womb is
rented from Asia – A test tube baby is born. This is the advancement in
science. Please tell me whether this baby is European, African, Asian,
Sinhala or Tamil? Our language is given to us from the environment into
which we are born. So let’s recognize the humanity & dignity in
every person, and respect their language and cultural rights.</p> <br> <p>The
past years has made the Muslim community in this country feel that
they are second class citizens. We have created a cleavage that did not
exist over the last one hundred years. We saw its manifestation in
Beruwela and Aluthgama in the recent past. The Government’s inability
to provide economically and materially was exploited to create this
mayhem. Within hours of the incident I was there to witness the
destruction of Muslim owned businesses, houses and mosques. The UNP
completely denounces the treatment of minorities in this particular
way. The perpetrators have still not been apprehended. The perpetrators
are being protected by high officials in Government. A culture of
impunity is being fostered. YouTube videos will show that the security
establishment watched as the destruction took place. I know that the
SLFP does not approve of this behaviour. The behaviour we saw in
Beruwela and Aluthgama was not the true face of the Sinhala people. It
was not the true face of Buddhism. We are a tolerant and compassionate
people. The UNP was built as the foundation of a united identity. In
1946 the name of our party was proposed by a Tamil Leader and Seconded
by a Muslim Leader. Our Leaders and founding Prime Minister D S
Senanayake showed us the way of a united Sri Lanka. We travel still on
that road. We must protect the rights of minorities.</p><p><a href="http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=114674">http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=114674</a><br></p><p><br></p><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br><br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
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