Two languages: For a better tomorrow

March 22nd, 2008

“Do you want two languages and one nation or one language and two nations? Parity, Mr. Speaker, we believe is the road to the freedom of our nation and the unity of its components. Otherwise two torn little bleeding states may arise from one little state.”

-Dr Colvin R. de Silva speaking after the Sinhala Only Act was passed in 1956, making Sinhala the national language of Sri Lanka

By Remy Herbert

Introduction

The right to use one’s own language within their own country is not only an internationally recognized human right; it is also an important issue that has led to protracted conflict in several countries.

Language is a tool for communication and to acquire knowledge, but even more significantly it is the source of the ethnic identity and self pride of an individual or community.

In Sri Lanka, language rights became an issue of public dialogue in the early 1930s. The dominant factor of the early dialogue on language policy was to make Sinhala and Tamil languages as the official language by recognizing the status of equality of both languages to replace English which was made the official language by the British colonial rulers. But, the denial of equal status to the Tamil language in the language policy of post independent Sri Lanka by making Sinhala the sole official language has created a situation in which the language issue is an important, sensitive and decisive factor in the ethnic politics of Sri Lanka.

Official Languages Policy

In 1956, the Parliament decided to enact the Official Language Act, which stated that “the Sinhala language shall be the one official language of Ceylon.”

In 1958, Parliament passed legislation to permit ‘the use’ of the Tamil language. This was known as the Tamil Language (Special Provisions) Act, No 28 of 1958.

Under the 1972 Constitution, Sinhala was declared to be the official language. The use of Tamil was permitted; however it was not the language of administration, nor was it an official language of the country.

According to the 1972 Constitution, the language of the courts would be Sinhala, throughout all parts of the country. All records, including pleadings, proceedings, judgements orders and records would be in Sinhala.

According to the 1978 Constitution; while Sinhala remained the Official Language, Sinhala and Tamil were National Languages.

According to the 1978 Constitution, officials were entitled to access state services and conduct official business in either of the National Languages. There was also provision for the publication of official documents, notice boards, orders etc in both languages.

By amending Article 18 of the Constitution, Tamil was also made an official language in 1987. The English language was made the ‘link’ language.

The 16th Amendment provided that in an area where Sinhala is used as the language of administration, a person other than an official acting in his/her official capacity, is entitled to receive communication and transact business with any official in either Tamil or English.

Implementation

“Several instances of failure on the part of government institutions to comply with the constitutional provisions relating to the official languages have been brought to my notice. These are serious omissions as they cause immense inconvenience and hardship to members of the public who are not conversant with Sinhala. Besides, it also amounts to a violation of the law. I dread to think of the plight of citizens who receive letters in a language which they do not understand. This is tantamount to denial of that citizen a fundamental right.” Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunge Circular on the Implementation of the Official Languages Policy, 30th June 1997

Over the decades, Presidents and Ministries have intervened from time to time by giving instructions to the state officials for the proper implementation of the OLP. But, nineteen years after the adoption of the bi-lingual OLP, the status of its implementation remains far from satisfactory.

This issue was clearly identified and elaborately discussed during the period of the United National Front government under the Triple R process (Commissioner General of Relief, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction) as a theme for national building. But, unfortunately, this process was not taken forward after the change of the government.

In 2006, a language audit to assess the current status of the implementation of the OLP outside the Northern and Eastern Provinces was undertaken by the Foundation for Coexistence. The Language Audit was conducted in seven State institutions situated in sveral districts and two schools in Colombo.

The outcome of the Language Audit clearly indicated the serious lack of implementation of the OLP in all the institutions audited, despite the passing of several decades since the policy came into place. Proper implementation of the OLP is not merely an indicator to assess the government’s commitment for multi-ethnic plural and inclusive governance which is inevitable if we are to convince the Tamils for a peaceful coexistence with an undivided polity.”The official language policy will be implemented vigorously. The dictionaries and encyclopedias which are necessary for the development of the Sinhala and Tamil languages will be built up.”

Mahinda Chintana

Despite the various statements of politicians, more than 77% of surveyed Tamil speaking general public in 2006 expressed dissatisfaction with the lack of usage of Tamil language skills among the staff of the public sector Of the 958 departments and institutions referred to in the budget estimates for 2004 only 114 had requested an allocation to implement the OLP. In 2005 it was 200 and in 2006 it went up to 226. This indicates that almost two thirds of state institutions have still not planned to implement the OLP.

The right to transact business with the state in ones own language is a fundamental right

International Examples

In many other countries, the issue of language parity has been of great importance in defining national and ethnic identities. Such countries include India, Belgium and Canada. In India, though there are more than 1000 languages, each language is recognized as an official language of the country.

In countries such as Australia and the United States, though English is the national language, the right to converse and to conduct official business in any language is respected and upheld. In police stations and courts and other government departments, interpreters are made available to cater to any language.

In these cases, upholding a commitment to language pluralism is not simply a practical, pragmatic concern, but a way of displaying respect for diverse identities.

The Sri Lankan Experience

Sri Lanka has been torn apart by conflict for decades, in part due to its inability to tolerate diversity and pluralism.

The lack of will to respect the language parity of Tamil speaking people in the country, despite this right being enshrined in the Constitution has been a critical factor in dividing the nation.

Role of the Government

The Government has an obligation to ensure the rights of all of its citizens, including the right to a fair trial, to protection from the law, the health and education. However, many citizens are still excluded from equal access to these rights because of the inability of successive administrations to ensure the proper implementation of the official languages policy.

Any citizen should have the right to conduct business and move about the country using his or her own language. To be able to do this, the government must take immediate steps to build the capacity of institutions to provide services in Sinhala and Tamil to an acceptable standard.

This will necessarily including providing competent interpreters and translators to institutions, providing documents and noticeboards that can be understood by all of the citizens, and by building on and implementing an education policy that enable Tamil speaking children equal access to education as their Sinhalese speaking counterparts and that will ensure the competency of Sri Lankans in two national languages for future generations.

The Role of the Citizens

Sri Lankan citizens have a right and an obligation to demand the implementation of the Official Languages Policy from their institutions and from their Government.

Experience suggests that it is only through concerted and consistent pressure that the Government will act on its various pledges. [dailymirror.lk]

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