<div dir="ltr"><div style="" id="stcpDiv"><div class=""><h2>A tale of two languages</h2>
<h3>By <a href="http://himalmag.com/author/raisawickrematunge/" title="Raisa Wickrematunge">Raisa Wickrematunge</a></h3>
<h4>30 May 2016</h4>
<h5><p>Sri Lanka’s efforts to implement a sound language policy.</p>
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<p>If one were to visit the office of the Official Languages Commission
(OLC) in Colombo, one would see officials busily filling out
correspondence to be sent to several government departments. Set up in
1991, the functions of the Commission, mandated by Section 18 of the
Official Languages Commission Act, are to monitor “regulations,
directives or administrative practices” which violate existing language
regulations. The Commission also conducts educational programmes on
language development and language use, and one of its main tasks is
ensuring that Sinhala and Tamil are given equal prominence in public
administration.</p>
<p>Sri Lanka’s current constitution lists Sinhala and Tamil as official
languages, with English being given the status of a ‘link language’. The
wording of the constitution, however, is problematic. Chapter 4,
Sections 18 (1) and (2) of the Constitution proclaims:</p>
<p style="padding-left:60px">The Official Language of Sri Lanka shall be Sinhala.<br>
Tamil shall also be an official language.</p>
<p>This suggests that Tamil was added as an afterthought, or a later
addition – which, in fact, it was. After achieving independence in 1948
both Sinhala and Tamil were official languages until a ‘Sinhala Only’
Act came about in 1956, taking away the official language status of
Tamil. The Act was partly reversed in August 1958, with the Tamil
Language (Special Provisions) Act allowing for education, admission for
public service, administrative functions and state correspondence to be
conducted in Tamil in the North and East provinces. The 1978
constitution made Sinhala and Tamil national languages but maintained
Sinhala as an official language, with the current iteration being added
in 1987 through the Thirteenth Amendment. The amendment was partly
fueled by international pressure, particularly from India. The signing
of the Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Accord reinstated Tamil as the official
language, among other concessions on devolution of power to the
provinces. India also agreed to end its support for the Tamil
separatists.</p>
<p>Language, as one of the flashpoints of ethnic conflicts, has long
been cited by many studies as one of the main factors that led to Sri
Lanka’s civil war. During colonial times, Sinhala nationalists felt
Tamils received a disproportionate share of civil administration posts.
When the country finally gained Independence in 1948, the Sinhalese
hoped to be awarded a greater share of such opportunities, in keeping
with their standing as the majority community. When this did not
transpire, resentment against the Tamils grew. Although the situation
had been precipitated by colonialists, the Sinhalese felt frustrated
that their Tamil counterparts were able to access services that they
could not (since the Sinhalese were not as conversant in English). For
instance, banking transactions not conducted in English were considered
illegal until 1953. Even Parliamentary debates were conducted in
English; permission had to be secured to use either Sinhala or Tamil.</p>
<blockquote><p>In many instances, language equality is still treated as an afterthought.</p></blockquote>
<p>Politicians capitalised on this and began proposing resolutions in
Parliament to declare Sinhala the official language. It was the election
of SWRD Bandaranaike in 1956, however, that was the turning point. In
1951, he led the Sinhala Maha Sabha faction, which he had organised to
promote Sinhalese culture and interests, out of the United National
Party (UNP) to form the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP).</p>
<p>Although his party originally promoted the use of both Sinhala and
Tamil, Bandaranaike gravitated towards Sinhala later to mobilise
Sinhalese discontentment for political mileage. He began lobbying for
Sinhala to be given status as the sole official language. The strategy
worked – in part. He was elected Prime Minister in a landslide victory.
Once he was elected into power, he duly fulfilled his promise through
the Official Language Act of 1956, popularly dubbed the ‘Sinhala Only’
Act.</p>
<p>The consequences were devastating. “The Tamils will never forget and
never forgive the majority community for depriving them of rights which
had been apparently been secured to them,” retired MP Cyril ES Perera
wrote in 1956, shortly after the act had been passed.</p>
<p>Since the election of the new government on 8 January 2015, there
have been some symbolic steps forward in terms of language rights: for
instance, at the Independence Day celebrations in 2016, the national
anthem was sung in both Sinhala and Tamil. In 2010, former president
Mahinda Rajapaksa decided to scrap the Tamil translation of the national
anthem at official and state functions. Following this, an unofficial
ban prevailed even in Tamil-speaking areas, fuelled by military
intimidation and fearful public officials.</p>
<p>Today, as Sri Lanka recovers from the devastation of civil war, the
work of bodies like the Official Languages Commission becomes even more
vital in restoring the rights of the minorities. Yet, in many instances,
language equality is still treated as an afterthought.</p>
<p>In the report of the Commission of Inquiry on Lessons Learned and
Reconciliation (LLRC) of 2011, it was noted many people still could not
transact business in their own languages. The think tank Centre for
Policy Alternatives, in their research on language rights, reported of
an incident where a Tamil-speaking pregnant woman seeking treatment at a
Government hospital in Puttalam, was instructed in Sinhala, and was
allegedly assaulted by nursing staff because she did not understand the
instructions and contravened them several times. This is in violation of
the Constitution as it entitles people “to receive communications from,
and to communicate and transact business with… in either Tamil or
English” even in areas where Sinhala is the language of the
administration.</p>
<p>In 2010, prior to the introduction of bilingual police officers
following directives from the LLRC, a 13-year-old girl arrived at a
police station in the Batticaloa district in eastern Sri Lanka to report
an incident of rape, accompanied by her mother. There was only one
police officer with a basic knowledge in Tamil who was tasked with
recording her statement. The mother was in tears, while the daughter was
silent and fearful; misreading the situation, the policeman recorded
what he thought was an instance of assault against the mother. By the
time the error was discovered, it was too late. The girl was not
examined by a Judicial Medical Officer in time, significantly weakening
her case.</p>
<p>The website <a href="http://citizenslanka.org/" target="_blank">citizenslanka.org</a>
records numerous ways in which Sri Lankans’ language rights are
violated. Many Tamil citizens have complained that their statements are
taken down in Sinhalese, even in places such as Vavuniya, Trincomalee,
Mannar and Ampara, where Tamil-speakers form the majority, and asked to
sign statements they cannot comprehend. Court proceedings here are also
usually conducted in Sinhala. Administrative tasks such as applying for
pensions, obtaining licenses, or registering a birth mostly happen in
Sinhala.</p>
<p>Sri Lanka’s political situation being fraught with turmoil for two
decades, the Official Languages Commission had been somewhat inactive
initially. Former Chairman of the Commission, Raja Collure, admitted in
2006: “Successive governments have failed to implement the
constitutional provision in regard to the use of Tamil as the second
official language”. Despite the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment in
1987, it was only in 2005 that Collure compiled a comprehensive report,
which showed a lamentable lack of Tamil speakers in public
administration – just 8.3 percent. In May 2016, a circular from the
Ministry of Public Administration notified that written and oral tests
will be conducted for public officials twice a year in the ‘other’
official language (the one they are not proficient in) twice a year.
This is one of the steps being taken to ensure public officials are
conversant in both languages – including through courses provided by the
Official Languages Department.</p>
<p>In his office, present Chairman Dayananth Edirisinghe holds up a file
with several letters, many on government bodies which have failed to
abide by the terms of the Act by not using Tamil in their official work.
“The Commission does not have punitive powers – we only record
violations [of language rights],” Edirisinghe clarified. A few of the
complaints are from individuals, but there are also letters from civil
society organisations. One of them has pictures of police signboards in
Colombo – when a one-way system in was introduced in March 2016, the
police put up signboards only in Sinhala and English.</p>
<blockquote><p>Given that language has been an intrinsic sticking point
for the Sinhala-Tamil identity politics, it needs more than goodwill to
secure rights of both sides.</p></blockquote>
<p>However, civil-society organisations say that at times, the
Commission can be toothless. As Professor Lionel Guruge wrote in the <em>Sunday Leader</em>,
“[the Commission’s] jurisdiction is limited to requesting and
communicating with other institutions to abide by the OLP [official
language policy], but does not reach enforcement levels. The authority
vested in the OLC [official language commission] is arguably diminutive,
although very few stakeholders dare to admit it.”</p>
<p>One of the major setbacks was when in 2011, the Chairman of Official
Languages Commission asked the Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation to abide
by the languages policy, he was pressured to resign by prominent
figures, who believed he had no authority to dictate changes to other
institutions, Guruge claimed in the article. Moreover, the routine
affair of thousands of complaints going ‘unrecorded’ has meant that
grievances about mislabeled pharmaceutical products, official forms,
road signs go unheeded.</p>
<p>Edirisinghe has only been in the Chairman’s seat for five months. A
graduate of Vidyodaya University, the Foreign Languages Research Center
of Seoul National University and the Dongguk University in Seoul,
Edirisinghe is also the Chairman of the Sri Lanka Korean Association.
His appointment comes at a crucial moment, as the government is working
on the submissions made to the Public Representations Committee (PRC) on
constitutional reform. Here, at last, is a chance to undo the damage
caused by the Sinhala Only Act. (Following the Presidential election on 8
January 2015, which saw Opposition candidate Sirisena elected into
office, one of the many promises made was to form a constitutional
assembly, with the objective of re-shaping Sri Lanka’s constitution.)</p>
<p>In Edirisinghe’s view, there is no need for any major changes in
order to facilitate a balance – there is already an adequate legislative
framework in place, giving Sinhala and Tamil equal prominence. The main
change to the Constitution that the Commission has called for is that
Section 18 (1) and (2) be amalgamated, so that Tamil is given an equal
footing to Sinhala as an official language and not treated as an
afterthought.</p>
<p>Given that language has been an intrinsic sticking point for the
Sinhala-Tamil identity politics, it needs more than goodwill to secure
rights of both sides. The way successive political dispensations have
used it to trigger violence amongst the population also calls for a
strong official stance to prevent voter mobilisation on ethnic and
linguistic lines. Following Bandaranaike’s example, the SLFP continued
to play on nationalist sentiments in order to win votes. Former
President Rajapaksa was no exception. During his regime, Bodu Bala Sena
(BBS), a Sinhalese Buddhist nationalist organisation, began to agitate
for the protection of Sinhala Buddhist rights. At a 2013 rally in
Maharagama, which drew 16,000 people, BBS general secretary Galagoda
Aththe Gnanasara stated, “This is a government created by Sinhala
Buddhists and it must remain Sinhala Buddhist. This is a Sinhala
country, Sinhala government. Democratic and pluralistic values are
killing the Sinhala race.”</p>
<p>Following this statement, a series of attacks began on mosques,
Muslim-run abattoirs, churches – led mostly by other Sinhala Buddhist
groups like the Ravana Balaya and the Sinhala Ravaya. While former
President Rajapaksa officially denounced the groups’ actions, the
attacks continued unabated. Rajapaksa’s brother, then Defence Secretary
Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, was even Chief Guest at a BBS event – providing a
seal of implicit approval. The BBS also publicly said they would back
Rajapaksa at the Presidential election – which disenchanted minority
voters.</p>
<p>Since then, the BBS and organisations like them have backed out. Yet a
small anonymous group has begun pasting “Sinha Le” (Sinhala blood)
stickers on three-wheelers and buses. Just as in 1956, a spirit of
insecurity and frustration still persists among some Sinhalese – who
feel that the new Government is “pro-minority” and isn’t doing enough to
help maintain or pacify the majority, as a trishaw driver whose vehicle
bore one of these stickers explained. The rhetoric and feelings of
frustration stirred up by groups like the BBS are yet to be addressed.</p>
<p>It’s clear that there’s still a long way to go before Sri Lanka gets
to a place of tolerance and understanding. Yet, there was also a sense
of hope as citizens gathered to make submissions to the PRC – at least
their grievances are being heard. Will the new Constitution mend the
deep scars left behind after the conflict? Only time will tell.</p>
<p><em>~ Raisa Wickrematunge is co-editor of </em>Groundviews<em>, a citizens journalism website in Sri Lanka.</em></p></div></li><li class=""><a href="http://himalmag.com/a-tale-of-two-languages/">http://himalmag.com/a-tale-of-two-languages/</a><br></li></ul></div></div> - See more at: <a href="http://himalmag.com/a-tale-of-two-languages/#sthash.FjFQbVKs.dpuf">http://himalmag.com/a-tale-of-two-languages/#sthash.FjFQbVKs.dpuf</a></div><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="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/" target="_blank">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
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