14 Comments Add your own

• 1. joseph C.  |  March 22nd, 2008 at 11:26 pm

  Who cares? When authorities arrest a Tamil the first question asked is whether he or she knows Sinhala. This is how the official language policy is being implemented in Sri Lanka. I have read complains in news papers that numerous times government notices and instructions are sent in Sinhala to Tamil schools in the north and east and other government institutions. Sinhala students in major cities show interest in learning foreign languages but not Tamil, a language of their own country.

• 2. Shantha Gamlath  |  March 23rd, 2008 at 5:05 am

  Communication is one of the main requirement for sustained a peacefully human relation in a society. Most of conflicts (their are several catogaries) has erupted due to Lack of communications between inter personal or inter or intra social groups in a society. As a sensitive issue , it was a more sensible complexity issue in a multi ethnic society like Sri Lanka. Not only fundamental human need but also as a social responsibility of the pluralistic democratic government or state.In this case, as a democratic country, we could not over come such a policy for a long period. There are so many factors has impacted to major problem in the country so far.In this regards, language problem is a prominent case regarding find out sustainable solution for the countryproblem. Therefore, it is too important policy which should have take in to real place in future political rearrangement. If it is possible, there will be less risk for fevourable political settlement which will be accepted all the people in Sri Lanka.

• 3. push  |  March 23rd, 2008 at 8:07 am

  It’s toolate. Not only the creation of tamil state in ceylon but , in the long run many independant states in indian sub conti. is unavoidable. This is the reality.

• 4. Devinda Fernando  |  March 24th, 2008 at 10:49 am

  Are Tamils Incapable of Learing Sinhala? Last I checked most can speak Tamil, Sinhala, and English…. From a Practical Real world point of view Most countries have a Single Official Language, and that language is that of the Majority… A Common country must have a common Language. No one is telling people not to speak Tamil, it is recognized and reflected well on many government documents and media, etc… but there has to be a common tongue.

  When Diaspora Tamils settle in Western countries they have no problem learning English, or French, or Swiss, or German, or Norwegian, etc…. funny how the Sinhala language draws scorn and protest…. Is it too lowly for Tamils to learn?

  Also keep in mind that Sinhala is only spoken in Sri Lanka, Tamil is spoken in Tamil Nadu and Malaysia.

• 5. GANGA  |  March 25th, 2008 at 10:13 am

  Mr Devendra Fernando (#4) says that, there need to be a single common official language. Why? That may be agreed for some logic if there are many languages and not two. When it is two it is easier to use both at centre and majority language at the regions. Let us agree to use Tamil in majority Tamil speaking North East province and Use Sinhala for rest of the country. The ‘use’ , I refer here is for public administration.

  Let English be the link langauage inside and outside the country. Let us agree to leave the ‘learning’ business to private decisions. Hows that?

  Diaspora learning English, French, German want cut ice here. Because these countries are alien to us we are recent settlers here. So Tamils and Sinhalase too who ever settle in a alien country have to learn those languages.

  But listen Lanka is not alien to us. This country or island IS OUR COUNTRY so it is to Sinhalese people. Just because you are in large number you cannot decide what ever it is to you own advantage only. It is like somebody telling the citizens of the world to learn Chinese since it is the single majority language (correct me if I am wrong) in the world.

  And what is this talk of Sinhala is spoken only Sri Lanka, so it is a reason for Tamils to learn Sinhala. Is it not a very childish and foolish position?

• 6. j.muthu  |  March 25th, 2008 at 10:18 am

  devinda fernando
  you must be real nutter. before colonial time so call srilanka not one country. tamils got their owm nation. british united thier own benefit. learn some historical facts.

• 7. Ilamathy  |  March 25th, 2008 at 5:47 pm

  Devinda wrote “Are Tamils Incapable of Learing Sinhala?”– So, is the writer argues and accepts that the Sinhalese are incapable to learning Tamil language. Why he thinks that way? Is this a complex he has? In which way I am wondering?

• 8. ilaya seran senguttuvan  |  March 26th, 2008 at 9:36 am

  Devinda// It is not Tamils are unwilling to learn Sinhala. They did before and probably will in due time. What they objected to in the
  1956 period was - to use their terms “we refuse Sinhala being thrusted thru our unwilling throats’ Remember those were communally-charged times of the much contested term
  Sinhala Only. Today, in the Plantation areas many Tamil children read, speak and write Sinhala beautifully. I think the Tamils in the North East would do so too - under the right political climate. So it was in India in the 50s when there was a move to force Tamils to learn Hindi - they refused not because they hated Hindi but because the manner in which they were forced. Today man parents in Tamilnadu encourage their children to learn hindi..By the way, I have a higher opinion of your learning not to believe you think Tamil is spoken only in Tamilnadu and Malaysia. Friend, in addition to Sri Lanka Tamil is officially a recognised language in Singapore, widely spoken in South Africa, Burma, Indonesia, Fiji, Mauritius, Seychelles, Reunion Islands and now in the widely spread diaspora. Recently over 7 Tamils were elected to Councils in France in their local elections. Many countries in the West and in Australia
  celebrate and encourage cultural and language diversity. State funds are allocated for the purpose. This is only as information and with no other motive. If there are sizeable concentrations of Sinhalese anywhere they will qualify as well.

• 9. Devinda Fernando  |  March 26th, 2008 at 12:33 pm

  *** So, is the writer argues and accepts that the Sinhalese are incapable to learning Tamil language.***

  Ilamathy, you obviously are not familiar with Logical arguments. One statement does not validate the other. I made it very clear that the logistical practicality of a Nation’s Majority all learning the Minority language would be unfeasible. It is you who thinks parochial, tit-for-tat mindset - as if everything between Tamils and Sinhalese have to be empirically equal for there to be equality.

  ***you must be real nutter. before colonial time so call srilanka not one country. tamils got their owm nation***

  J. Muthu,

  I, nor you cannot change the fact that Sri Lanka (Ceylon, Illankai, Taprobane, etc, etc,) was conquered and changed permanently by invading armies. What was before is not the case now. You think we can just turn back the clock and reassign Tamils to the North, and Sinhalese to the South? Who is the Nutter?

  Muslims, Sinhalese and Tamils Live everywhere on the Island. The demographics have changed, populations have changed, the country has changed. That is the reality of modern day Sri Lanka, please try to live in the present and not in the past.

  ***Let English be the link langauage inside and outside the country. Let us agree to leave the ‘learning’ business to private decisions. Hows that? ***

  Ganga,

  Sinhalese in one area of the country then Tamil in another is the most ludicrous Idea I have heard… A country needs a common language, as it needs a central government to be able to communicate effectively to its citizens in a common tongue. Once again I stress this is not a Sinhalese vs. Tamil issue but a matter of practicality. It is you who want to make this a Race/Ethnicity issue.

  Once again you feel that because you are recent settlers in other western countries that these countries are exempt from the double standard you place on Sri Lanka. Funny, if you hold a German passport or Swiss Passport, thus making you and Equal Citizen of that country, then you don’t feel it necessary to lobby those governments to recognize its Minority Citizen’s languages? Why not ask Germany to make all its White citizens learn Tamil as well as German? Could it be the practicality of the task involved? Or is it just your Tamil sense of superiority over the Sinhalese that makes you feel Sinhala isn’t a language worth learning?

• 10. Hariharan  |  March 27th, 2008 at 8:45 am

  Devinda, I am shocked’ you sound like an educated and intelligent person. But, what you are trying to say?

  You want to impress that Sri Lanka is the country for Sinhalese?

  But don’t forget Sri Lanka is the country for Tamils and Muslims as well.

  I love Sri Lanka, and I AM A TAMIL and I AM A HINDU.

  I want and wish Sri Lanka be one country, but you seem to think otherwise.

  If you say Sinhalese are the majority in Sri Lanka, no challenge or argument, it is agreed 100% and your numerical superiority is accepted. It is your country’you have it’let Sinhalese be the language of Sri Lanka, let Buddhism be the religion of Sri Lanka.

  Gracefully accept the creation of Tamil Eeelam for Muslims and Tamils.

  Let them have Tamil for their own country. Let them have Islam, Christianity and Hinduism as their state religions.

  Problem solved’why this destruction?

  Look at India ‘it is the country of Hindus but see’ a minority Sikh is the Prime Minister of the country. Again look at India.

  A Tamil, a Muslim (Dr. Addul Kalam) had been a president. South and the North, and all Indians irrespective of their race, religion
  and language share everything equally.

  When Pakistan went separate from Indiathey (India) learned a good lesson’ and today it is a powerful country.

  Look at Singapore’

  I guess you are in Canada or America, if so you don’t need to look at India or Singapore. Look around…you will have a lot to learn.

  A close relative of mine (a Sinhalese) in Canada used to say, ‘I feel more Sri Lankan in Canada than in Sri Lanka.’ Let us get out of the box and look around.

  Assertions such as Tamils have Tamil Nadu’Tamils live all over the world’ Tamils are most powerful everywhere, we Sinhalese have only this country’if Tamils are equal to us in Sri Lanka we will become second class’ not going to hold water.

  Accept the reality accommodate the differences’see the beauty of unity in diversity.

  It is not yet too late but time is of essence today. Don’t cry over spilt milk.

• 11. Venakai  |  March 29th, 2008 at 9:29 am

  Devinda should change his name to “Tamil Basher” he is against anything Tamil!! It is a waste of time explaining to him. He has a habit of repeating whatever he says as right even if he is proved wrong.

  He should realise that even sinhalese who can get out of the country are getting out and settling outside Sri Lanka. Future generations of Sinhalese children may not speak in Sinhala. Sinhalese who can afford, are educating their children in International schools in the English medium, in the hope of sending their children abroad for higher education or employment abraod. For entertainment they are turning to Hindi music and films. You cannot do buisness anywhere in sinhalese other than Sri Lanka. Even SWRD’s (who opened the can of worms and contributed to the destruction of Ceylon)decendents who are settled in foreign soil are unlikely to keep sinhala language alive!!

  I am sure Devinda himself is confortably settled abroad and conveniently prescribe “sinhala language for all” for the critically ill patient ie. Sri Lanka!!

• 12. Marathhamizhan  |  March 30th, 2008 at 11:49 am

  Here is another article about Sinhala “Veerayas”
  Now Prof Peiris says Sri Lanka’s HR violations are spread out by somebody purposely. Veteran Journalist Tarzie Vittachi is one of them.

  After all let us remember that it was some 38 years ago that a Sinhala journalist, Tarzie Vittachi wrote in Emergency 1958:

  “On May 22nd (1958), five hundred thugs and hooligans invaded the Polonnaruwa station, and smashed up the windows of the Batticaloa train in their frantic search for Convention-bound Tamils.”

  The Observer reported this incident in more detail on May 24th: ‘On Thursday night, passengers were intimidated into getting off at Welikande as news had reached them that a gang of men were on the way to prevent them from making the trip as they felt that passengers must be prevented from getting to Vavuniya for the Federal Party Convention. A gang of men, alleged to have numbered nearly 500, got on the train at this station, smashed-windows, went from carriage to carriage looking for passengers, damaging railway equipment as they did so.’

  On the night of the 23rd at 9.15 pm the Batticaloa Colombo train was derailed at the ‘215th mile post on the Batticaloa -Eravur line… Hoodlums, on the watch for Vavuniya bound passengers, attacked the wrecked train.

  At 6.00 pm on May 24 a crowd -nearly a thousand strong - again invaded the premises of the Polonnaruwa railway station… Labourers from the Land Development Department, the Irrigation Department and from the Government farms who made up the Sinhala Hamudawa (armed thugs) were constantly on the rampage, raping, looting and beating up Tamil labourers and public officers. The rumour that a Tamil army was marching to destroy Polonaruwa gave the roughnecks a heroic stature. More veerayas (heroes) joined in to share the glory of saving the ancient Sinhalese capital from the Tamil hordes as their ancestors had done a thousand years before them.

  The vast majority of the Hamudawa were imported Government labourers and the rest were recently arrived squatters who had no roots yet in the area.

  There was some evidence of method in all this madness -it was crudely but effectively planned. The rioters had arranged signals-one peal of a temple bell to signify police, two to signify army and so on. They also had a simple system of hand signals to give their associates in the distance such information as which way a police patrol went.

  The element of planning was even more evident in the agent provocateur system which was widely used. Many thugs-some of them well-known criminals-had shaved their heads and assumed the yellow robes of a bhikku. ..These phony priests went about whipping up race-hatred, spreading false stories and taking part in the lucrative side of this game-robbery and looting.

  … Before very long the goondas turned their spite against the Tamil officials in the Government offices. .. The thugs displayed a temerity which was quite unprecedented. They had complete assurance that the police would never dare to open fire. The Apey Aanduwa (of Mr.S.W.R.D. Bandararanike) (The government is ours) bug had got deep into their veins.

  The goondas had developed a slick technique of throwing dynamite. They carried it in the breast packet of their shirts, with the fuse hanging out. As the ‘enemy’ approached they struck a match, lit the fuse, pulled out the stick of dynamite and flung it at point-blank range.

  “On May 24 and 25, murder stalked the streets in broad daylight. Fleeing Tamils, and Sinhalese who were suspected of having given them sanctuary had their brains strewn about. A deaf mute scavenging labourer was assaulted to death in the Hingurakgoda area -just to see what had made him tick. The goondas burnt two men alive, one at Hingurakgoda, and the other at Minneriya.

  “On the night of May 25, one of the most heinous crimes in the history of Ceylon was carried out. Almost simultaneously, on the Government farms at Polonnaruwa and Hingurakgoda, the thugs struck remorselessly. The Tamil labourers In the Polonnaruwa sugar-cane plantation fled when they saw the enemy approaching and hid in the sugar-cane bushes. The goondas wasted no time. They set the sugar cane alight and flushed out the Tamils. As they came out screaming, men, women and children were cut down with home-made swards, grass cutting knives and katties, or pulped under heavy clubs.”

  “At the Government farm at Hingurakgoda, too, the Tamils were slaughtered that night. One woman in sheer terror embraced her two children and jumped into a well. The rioters were enjoying themselves thoroughly. They ripped open the belly of a woman eight months pregnant, and left her, to bleed to death. First estimates of the mass murders on that night were frightening: 150-200 was a quick guess on the basis of forty families on an average four each.”

  The hoodlums were now motorized. They roamed the district in trucks, smashing up kiosks and houses, killing any Tamils who got in their way. The Anti-Tamil violence soon spread almost throughout the country.

  “If there had been any chance whatever at this stage of keeping Sinhalese tempers under control it vanished completely following the Prime Minister’s (Mr.S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, and father of President Chandrika Kumaratunga) broadcast call to the nation of May 26…

  By a strangely inexplicable perversion of logic, Mr Bandaranaike tried to explain away a situation by substituting the effect for the cause. The relevant portion of the speech was:

  “An unfortunate situation has arisen resulting in communal tension. Certain incidents in, the. Batticaloa District where some people lost their lives, including Mr D.A. Seneviratne, a former Mayor of Nuwara Eliya, have resulted in various acts of violence and lawlessness in other areas-for example Polonnaruwa, Dambulla, Galawela, Kuliyapitiya and even Colombo.”

  The killing of Seneviratne on May 25 was thus officially declared to be the cause of the uprising, although the communal riots had begun on May 22 with the attack on the Polonnaruwa Station and the wrecking of the Batticaloa -Colombo trail and several other minor incidents. No explanation was offered by the Prime Minister for singling out (the Sinhala sounding) Seneviratne’s name for particular mention from the scores of people who had lost their lives during those critical days.

  …Colombo was on fire. The goondas burnt fifteen shops in the Pettah and a row of kiosks in Mariakaday. Looting on a massive scale took place in Pettah, Maradana, Wellawatte Ratmalana, Kurunegala, Panadura, Kalutara, Badulla, Galle, Matara and Weligama.

  The cry everywhere in the Sinhalese districts was ‘avenge the murder of Seneviratne’. Even the many Sinhalese who had been appalled by the goonda attacks on Tamils and Tamil owned kiosks, now began to feel that the Tamils had put themselves beyond the pale. Across the country, this new mood of deep-seated racism surged. The Prime Minister’s (Mr.Bandaranaike’s) peace call to the nation had turned into a war cry.

  … On the morning of May 27,.. in the (Panadura) bazaar there was sudden pandemonium. The goondas intensified their depredations. They ransacked Tamil-owned shops and beat up shopkeepers and passersby. A gang of goondas rushed into the Hindu temple, and attempted to set fire to it. In their frenzy they were clumsy and failed to get the fire going. But they had a more interesting idea. They pulled an officiating priest out of the Kovil and burnt him into a cinder.

  As panic spread, doors were closed in Sinhalese as well as Tamil homes. The Tamils closed their doors to escape murder, rape and pillage. The Sinhalese closed their doors to prevent Tamils running into their houses for shelter…

  Among the hundreds of acts of arson, rape, pillage, murder and plain barbarity some incidents may be recorded as examples of the kind of thuggery at work.

  In the Colombo area the number of atrocities swiftly piled up. The atmosphere was thick with hate and fear. The thugs ran amok burning houses and shops, beating-up pedestrians, holding-up vehicles and terrorizing the entire city and the suburbs.

  Another Tamil officer, working in the same Government department was unfortunate. The thugs stormed into his house and assaulted, his wife and grown-up daughter in the presence of his little child. His mind cracked under the shock. In the French liner Laos which took the family away to safety in Jaffna he insisted on reciting large chunks of the Bhagavad Gita to the captain of the ship. All his formal education - he is a Cambridge scholar - had proved useless to him in the face of disaster. His broken mind reached out for the only solace a man has when his own ingenuity and ability have proved futile.

  At Wellawatte junction, near the plantain kiosk, a pregnant woman and her husband were set upon. They clubbed him and left him an the pavement, then they kicked, the woman repeatedly as she hurried along at a grotesque sprint, carrying her swollen belly.

  While the Prime Minister was telling the citizens’ delegation that it was an ‘exaggeration to call the situation an emergency’ in every village from Kalawewa to Nalanda, people’s houses were in flames.

  When an eye witness reached Dambulla it was still intact. In a few minutes a factory-new Ceylon Transport Board “Special’ arrived, loaded with ‘passengers’. They disembarked and swiftly set about their business: in ten minutes, six houses were blazing. And hell spread through the bazaar.

  The rioters continued their battle in the streets. Fresh fires broke out in Wellawatte, Maradana and Pettah. Looting continued apace. “Gangs of hoodlums in the Ratmalana area appeared to be working according to a predetermined pattern. Thugs disguised as policemen went round Tamil houses warning the residents that the police could no longer guarantee their safety and advising them to take refuge in the police station. Nearly 10,000 people left their homes in terror.

  Then the ‘policemen’ returned, some now in mufti, others still in uniform, to ransack the empty houses. When they had left the scene, hard on their heels came the ‘firing squads’. They came in vehicles in twos and threes. A bottle of petrol was flung into the house. A stick of dynamite was dispatched after it and another house was burning. Others less efficiently equipped, zealously collected whatever furniture was, left behind and used it as firewood to get the flames going.

  What are we left with (in 1958)? A nation in ruins, some grim lessons which we cannot afford to forget and a momentous question: Have the Sinhalese and Tamils reached the parting of ways?” (-Tarzie Vittachi: Emergency 1958 - The Story of the Ceylon Race Riots, Andre Deutsch, London 1958 )

• 13. Murugan  |  March 30th, 2008 at 2:05 pm

  Devinda embodies the mindset of 50% of the Sinhalese people who voted for Rajapaksa in 2004.
  It is impossible to bring him to reason.
  But Devinda, I will suggest that English be made the common language for us to communicate with one another. That is what they did in India, and it is flourishing. And another point is that eventually Tamils would have learned Sinhala anyways and became tri-lingual. It is just that we do not want to be Forced to learn Sinhala. But for our own sake we would have learned it anyways in do time. The example of India and the anti-Hindi sentiment in the 1950s is the best example. And look at countries like Singapore that use English as the de facto official language, while recognizing mandarin and Tamil and Malay as other official languages. Look how well Singapore has done. If we had decided to use English as a common language we could be benefitting from the call centers and outsourcing bus. English is an international language. And then We could all speak english and communicate with one another, while Tamils can teach their children Tamil and Sinhalese can teach their children Sinhalese. And if you are so concerned about preserving Sinhala, then in my opinion the Tamils would eventually learn Sinhala anyways. Because most Tamils growing up in the poor Northeast dream of making it in Colombo. If you want Sri Lanka to be a Sinhala Buddhist state. then that is okay. You can vote for that. But Sri lanka is Ceylon minus the Northeast. You can’t make the Northeast a Sinhala Buddhist state. The Northeast or what the Tigers call Tamil Eelam is a Tamil speaking land with Christians, Hindus, and Muslims. Since the island is so diverse a secular state with english as the de facto official language is the best compromise if you want Ceylon to remain as a unitary state. It is only when people such as yourself hold the belief that the entire island must be Sinhala Buddhist, that the people of the NE demand a federal power sharing structure in order to preserve their identity.

• 14. Ganga  |  March 30th, 2008 at 5:23 pm

  Mr. Devinda Fernando,

  ” Tamil sense of superiority over the Sinhalese that makes you feel Sinhala isn’t a language worth learning?” You having said this above at # 9, expose your sense of inferior complex.

  Now, I understand that you as a Sinhalese have some feeling of inferiority. You feel small against Tamil and Tamils. This is the reason for all your ill fated comments.

  I have neither superior nor inferior complexities. I am prepared to live as citizens of one country. But if you push me too much with your illusions like making Lanka a Sinhala Buddhist republic, I will have no way but separate. This separation will be taking my northeast to me and leaving you with your south.

  You and your kind of communalists should understand this correctly. It is the high time. Better not late.

  Ms. Ganga

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