[lg policy] Sri Lanka: Time to build national unity

[Harold Schiffman]

Time to build national unity - DEW
M.P. Muttiah

The 26 year-old war had come to an end and terrorism thwarted. The
time had come to bring about national unity and recommence the task of
nation-building said Constitutional Affairs and National Integration
Minister D.E.W. Gunasekera at a Discussion Forum held at the Mt.
Lavinia Hotel. "We have united the country. Now we must unite the
people," he added. The Minister further said that the Government was
committed to explore the possibility of finding a lasting political
solution to the national question. His Ministry had undertaken the
task of formulating a national integration policy as a matter of high
priority. Many efforts had been made in popularizing the concept of
national integration. He said that did not under-estimate its impact
on the society.

Minister Gunasekera pointed out that society was totally pre-occupied
with the war and all efforts had been submerged as forces of
chauvinism, terrorism and separatism emerged. "There is now national
consensus as far as the language policy is concerned. There is no
obstacle or impediment on the political front. This is a giant step
forward. Even though Tamil was made the official language in 1987
through the 13th Amendment, it remained in the Statue gracefully
enshrined but disgracefully un-implemented for 20 years. We are now
speeding up the implementation. We have succeeded where all previous
regimes since independence have failed," he said.

D.E.W. Gunasekera said that discussions were held to extend the policy
of bi-lingualization to the area of secondary education. Within the
few months after the war the Government started the recruitment of
Tamil officers to Police, security services as well as to the public
administration. Training and proficiency examinations have begun and
incentives had been offered for the study of second language. The
second language had been made compulsory to all recruits to the public
service from July 2007. All these steps objectively promoted national
integration, he added. He said that his Ministry was formulating a
National Integration Policy for the Govt. The Minister said that what
was taking place in the North and the East on the economic front
convincingly proved that a proper balance between political and
economic issues was the ideal approach.

Ven. Maduluwawe Sobhitha Thera, Western Province Governor Alavi
Mawlana, Export Development and International Trade Minister Prof.
G.L. Peiris, National Integration and Reconciliation Minister
Vinayagamoorthy Muralidaran, National Integration Deputy Minister S.
Jegadeeswaran, Ministry Secretary Malkanthi Wickremasinghe and several
others participated at the Discussion Forum.

http://www.dailynews.lk/2009/12/18/news30.asp
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