In these times of victory…

The whole senario of a long war coming to an end is indeed a cause for celebration, however thinking of the civilians and soldiers that were killed in the process of achieving this rather “premature” victory is daunting. Although I do not mean to disrupt the whole festive atmosphere and attitude, true peace can only be achieved when all Sri Lankans can live together without any discrimination on ethnic, racial or religious grounds.

It is hard to celebrate while fellow Sri Lankans are displaced from their homes, living in camps under very harsh conditions without adequate food, medicine and other basic essentials. While we celebrate we should also make this triumph of the soldiers worthwhile by extending a generous hand of help towards the displaced fellow Sri Lankans. To achieve peace one needs to change the perceptions and attitudes towards the “other”. What better way is there than extending a helping hand to those in need and proving not to anyone but ourselves that Sri Lankans are capable of taking care of their own. Through our actions we can change the perceptions and slowly contribute to the healing of all wounds and pave way to a lasting peace in the country. This effort needs to be supported by proper political solutions and actions of politicians. All the while effort must be taken to talk to the diaspora as well.

So we are at the brink of a decisive moment in time where everything depends on our actions and perceptions. As political beings humans can shape, change and transform the future.

Shunning the Swedes

The conspired decision of the Sri Lankan government through the foreign ministry to deny entry visa to the Swedish foreign minister at this crucial hour will tarnish the humanitarian image the government is trying so hard to portray. This image has been tested so many times over the last few weeks and months. For example, after denying the use of heavy weapons for so long the government recently announced it had given orders to the army to stop using heavy weapons from now on – which suggest that the army did use these weapons amidst the vehement denials. The initial count of people trapped in the “Safe zone” has been proven wrong by the numbers that crossed over. These are subtle things that point fingers at the negligent behaviour of a responsible sovereign state government. The latest issue of denying entry visa to the Swedish foreign minister only casts doubt at the government further. There is a lot at stake here which the government needs to reconsider. The government has so far been successful in rescuing those innocent people amidst the cries of the diaspora and to prove the capability and determination of the government to protect and safeguard its citizens. Why put all the efforts at risk?

Given the conflict management and resolution expertise vested in the Swedish foreign minister it is definitely worthwhile to lend an ear to his suggestions. There is no hard and fast rule that the government of Sri Lanka need to exercise these suggestions as these are merely “suggestions”. Even if the government did invite the Swedish foreign minister for a different function in May, considering the prominence of getting an opinion as well as showing representatives of the international community the efforts the government has put in place to accommodate the IDPs, it is a smart move to extend an invitation to the Swedes together with the British and French delegation.

After all if the government can give these delegates as well as a few international media personnel access to the IDP camps and the battle field(I know it is pushing it a bit what with the governments no outside media policy) it might actually support the governments image rather than tarnish it. If what we see and hear on National TV where the rescued people talk about the atrocities they suffered at the hands of the LTTE and the negligence of human life by the LTTE is in fact true then the government should indeed let some of these delegates and international media in and let them talk to these people. They should witness the rest of the country pulling together to support their fellow citizens. This might help not only to depict that the government is not trying to commit genocide etc that the diaspora are portraying but that it is actually doing it’s duty to it’s people as a responsible state government.

By extending a grant to visit the country to the Swedes or any other country does not necessarily mean the government is bowing down to the international community or that the government needs to implement whatever they are suggesting. It is merely to show that the government is open for suggestions. Note “suggestions”. In a globalised world a country cannot be an island.Instead of pointing fingers at other international media outlets and leaders for being supporters of the LTTE why not prove the point by granting some of these international leaders and media access to the country and showing them the truth.

After all it is a wise move to keep the international community at hand now that we are close to phase ii, development and rehabilitation which is a costly affair by itself.

Sri Lanka and LTTE Terrorism

Labour member of Parliament in London, Jeremy Corbyn was the moderator of the “Forum” show broadcast by Press TV of Iran. The show discussed the situation of Sri Lanka and the current war. The panel involved conservative member of Parliament and member of the House of Lords, Lord Naseby, nominee to the Sri Lanka Embassy London, Mr Douglas Wikramaratne, Labour member of the European Parliament for London, Mr Robert Evans and spokesman of the  British Tamil Forum, Suren Surendran. A live audience contributed with questions and it was a gut wrenching 47 minutes and 55 seconds. Several excerpts of this show appeared in several newspapers over the last couple of days as well.

Heading in the right direction

It is rather encouraging to see that the government of Sri Lanka has earned some more credit points to their report card. The Daily News carried this article, “Language key to harmony” (see below for full text article) by Piyathilake Wehelle, Maharagama Special correspondent on the opening of the new National Language Centre at NIE, Maharagama.

Language is the main source for peace and harmony of a society with multi-ethnic groups. If Sinhala people could understand and speak Tamil language and if Tamils could speak and understand Sinhala language there would have not been an ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka.

Education Minister Susil Premajayantha addressing trainees at the National Language Centre he opened at the NIE recently. Picture by Wehelle Piyatilleke, Maharagama Special Corr.

Education Minister Susil Premajayantha made these observations speaking at an opening ceremony of the National Language Centre for balanced learning at the National Institute of Education donated by the German Technical Corporation (GTZ) recently.

The Minister said that is why Mahinda Chintana laid emphasis on the learning of Sinhala, Tamil and English for all the ethnic groups in Sri Lanka. If this was done earlier there would have no terrorism in Sri Lanka.

The Minister said he is very concerned over this matter.

With this gift of a language laboratory our task will be made easier.

As the first step we wish to train Sinhala and Tamil language teachers, University lecturers and teachers in colleges of education. It is our utmost responsibility to build the friendship bridge of the north and the south as soon as possible.

Education for social cohesion is the motivation of this project.

The cost of the donation is Rs. 38 million. A professor from Poonai University, India had come as a resource person for training purposes.

NIE Director General Prof. Lal Perera, the programme coordinator (Representative of the GTZ) Dr. Ulf Metzger, ADG (NIE) Prof. Wilfred Perera, Gunaratne Banda (AGD-NIE) Technical Advisor S.P.N. Jayamaha, Teacher Education Director Dilani Amarasinghe and NIE IT Manager Nilandra Padmapriya were also present.

This is a step in the right direction. This is the rational thing to do to eradicate the unnecessary hatreds and suspicions one has of the other. It is only when one understands the other can one can feel compassionate about the other. Vouching our support towards this type of project is palatable. However this teaching of language skills need to be expanded towards the level of schools once the teachers are well trained through this language laboratory. In the yonder years children used to learn Sinhala or Tamil as an optional subject and not as a compulsary language as ones mother tongue. It is arguable that both these languages as well as English need to be taught in schools as compulsary sunjects which would eventually produce intellectual individuals who are capable of conversing in three languages. This launches these students into a vast number of careers that require not only the capability of talking in either the official languages but also a third link language of English. This skill of language not only will embolden the future generation to face the challenges of employment but also provide them the possibility to escape another war from happening.

Fact sheet: There is an “Efficiency Bar” exam which requires to be passed by all public sector employees including teachers which also gives them the opportunity to climb the salary scale. The Education Department teaches Tamil language free of charge at the Resource Centres  available around the education zones. However not sure how many make use of this service?

I think the government can use these existing resources and infrastructure to start a language training scheme for the teachers as well as students. Anyway I see this language laboratory as a very good sign for the future.