[lg policy] Sri Lanka: Undermining Official Languages Policy

Mon Mar 23 15:51:05 UTC 2015

Undermining Official Languages Policy

*By Lionel Guruge*
 <http://www.thesundayleader.lk/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/122.gif>The 2015
Presidential election concluded with an unprecedented majority of Tamil and
Muslim voters casting their vote against the former President Mahinda
Rajapaksa and choosing Maithripala Sirisena. One of the main themes around
that election was the establishment of national unity and religious harmony.

Maithripala Sirisena voiced that whilst there had been development in
infrastructure facilities in the North, nothing tangible has happened to
heal the wounded hearts of the people in that region, following the end of
the war which had lasted almost 30 years. He pledged to focus the attention
of his government to finding solutions to the problems faced by Tamils and
Muslims.

The Tamil National Alliance and other parties commended the replacement of
the military official who held the position of Governor in the Northern and
Eastern provinces with civil administrative officials.

However, it is apparent that certain sections of the government behave in a
manner detrimental to national amity.

*Barriers to reconciliation*

For example, pre 2015 there was a separate ministry known as the Ministry
of National Languages and Social Integration and Vasudeva Nanayakkara was
the Ministry in charge. With the new government assuming office, the
Ministry of National Languages and Social Integration has been dismantled
and the functions that came under that Ministry have been assigned to the
Ministry of Public Administration, Local Government, Provincial Councils
and Buddha Sasana of which the Minister is Karu Jayasuriya.

The Ministry of National Languages and Social Integration was established
under Gazette Notification 1681/.3 of 25.11.2010. The Department of
Official Languages, the Official Languages Commission and the National
Institute of Language Education Training (NILET) functioned under this
Ministry. Even though Vasudeva Nanayakkara did not receive sufficient funds
to carry out the mandate of the Ministry, it is acknowledged that he
managed to fulfill functions expected of the Ministry to a commendable
level. Of note are the determined attempts to implement Official Languages
Policy and the trilingual training programmes conducted within government
institutions.

It is widely agreed that the one of the main reasons that led to the
protracted war in the country was the issue of language inequality. The
Ministry however implemented a number of provisions that facilitated Tamil
speakers to communicate and be served in their mother tongue. What was
expected from the incumbent government was to facilitate the further
expansion of such activities.

A hotline, number 1956 was introduced by the Ministry for lodging
complaints about violation of the people’s language rights. Though there
were admittedly shortcomings in taking down the complaints and initiating
action on them, this was a timely move.

*Official Language Commission *

The Colombo-centric nature of the Official Languages Commission in which
people had to travel to Colombo to seek justice on matters of Language
Policy, prompted the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Report (LLRC) to
recommend the establishment of district offices. The government should have
put in place a mechanism to implement the LLRC recommendations. However,
the Commissioners to the Official Languages Commission have not been
appointed to date resulting in a dysfunctional situation. Even though the
functions of the Ministry of National Languages and Social Integration fall
within the ambit of the Central government, a number of institutions coming
under it belong to the provincial councils. Therefore it is advisable to
devolve the subjects and functions of the Ministry of National Languages
and Social Integration to the provincial councils. There should be public
dialogue on this.

More than 2000 language societies have been formed under the Ministry of
National Languages. Significant progress was made by these language
societies with civil society organisations towards the promotion of the
language rights of the people.

They also worked to protect the language rights of the people with the
language societies that functioned in the Northern and Eastern provinces as
well as to implement a bilingual policy in an environment of understanding
through teaching Sinhala and Tamil languages, discussions with state
institutions and creating awareness. Whereas this mechanism should in fact
be strengthened, the present government has failed to take steps towards
the maintenance of these languages societies and the language classes are
no longer functional; bringing the subjects of public administration, local
government, provincial councils and Buddha Sasana under one Ministry has
crippled the functioning of the Ministry of National Languages and Social
Integration. This is inappropriate for a government which shows good
governance to be a main objective.

The Minister of National languages and Social Integration had a policy of
inviting civil society activists and independent intelligentsia to the
Ministry every other month to a discussion on the progress of the
implementation of the Official Languages Policy, issues and new proposals.
This review was a very important step forward as it saw the direct
involvement of the Minister. Unfortunately that has all come to a
standstill now.

*Chanting peace and co existence *

Social integration can be achieved through a programme committed to its
objective. That objective cannot be achieved by merely chanting phrases
“peace” and “co existence” day in and day out. It calls for a practical
programme.

The Ministry of National Languages and Social Integration should have been
allowed to implement a cohesive programme which brings together provisions
relating to languages, notices, recommendations of the LLRC and the
judgments of cases involving language rights in a conducive environment.
That would have been the path to reconciliation.

It is vital that the new President and the government, having kindled fresh
hopes in the minds of Muslim and Tamil people, not to mention the Sinhala
community, to be more sensitive to the proper implementation of the
language policy as a preliminary step towards national unity and
reconciliation. War has no winner and its first victim is humanity.
Triumphalism is an obstacle to genuine reconciliation; this is what leads
to the Tamil in the North viewing the Sinhala in the south with suspicion,
and vice versa. What is most important is to heal the wounded hearts of war
affected people and bring back the togetherness of the people in the north
and the south, which was shattered due to the harrowing experiences of the
conflict. Seeds of change need to be planted within hearts.

*Culture and arts *

Therefore, it is a first responsibility of the government to put in place a
mechanism committed to solving issues surrounding languages and
establishing national reconciliation. This can be done through the media of
culture and literature which has a magical power of revitalizing the lives
of Sinhala and Tamil people.

The drama traditions such as “Kooththu” which the Tamil people in the North
heralded as their own have been submerged by South Indian Commercial art
which has today become the main mode of aesthetic enjoyment of the people
therein. The responsibility of the Ministry of Culture should be to
identify the cultural and artistic heritage of the people in the North and
promote it. Culture and Arts can play a large role in establishing national
unity. The twin aspects of ensuring the language rights of the people and a
cultural revival should take place together. The government should given
priority to establishing a ministry with an independent mandate towards
cultural and social revival that can take responsibility relating to
official language and social integration.

These subjects should be devolved to the provincial councils as well. That
will certainly act as a bridge bringing the north and the south closer.

http://www.thesundayleader.lk/2015/03/22/undermining-official-languages-policy/

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