Comments on: Why I was disappointed by the Sri Lankan President’s speech heralding the end to war

By: Kum

Kum — Tue, 26 May 2009 09:05:03 +0000

In a way it is understandable why people want to celebrate. For decades the most “exiting” news people heard in south were numbers of people who got killed in a suicide bomb. Each time when you thought of going to Colombo, you had the fear whether you’d come back. And now when there is different news, the hope that this killing probably would end can certainly be an occasion to celebrate.
But the fact is that we are celebrating deaths of thousands of people at the same time, Greif’s, worries and fears of thousands of people living. And that they don’t live in a far away land we don’t know, but next door. It’s a natural response of a human being to feel what others feel. It doesn’t take anything to just imagine. What I’m surprised most is to see how blind and numb we are to this. And I wonder why. I wonder whether its fear, or whether this is how we always have been or is it this “mad” euphoria intoxicating everybody around.
It’s understandable the need to feel optimistic, at last to feel that we are going forward. And It’s great if it did. But when you just look back at the history, you can’t help seeing the same patterns repeating itself. When Srilanka received freedom from Britten, I imagine there must have been the same nationalistic euphoria. And we know where it ended up. The nature of intoxication is such, when you are under a state of intoxication you feel euphoric, you have distorted sensations and you cannot see things for they are. And it looks like even after 26 yrs with all the damage it’s done, we still don’t want to wake up.

By: niranjan

niranjan — Tue, 26 May 2009 07:03:39 +0000

Heshan I agree with your views on the English language. English is an absolute must. Trilingualism is important with a stress on good English. As it stands now Government schools as well as our universities do not teach good English to its students. The students cannot cope and therefore opt to study in Sinhala. Furthermore, even some of the private and international schools do not teach good English to its students. Finding good teachers is the biggest problem. SWRD started it but subsequently no politician bothered to correct the problem. Even today “sinhala only” is very much alive and kicking. But if there is a huge demand for English I am sure the Government will be compelled to take action. Unfortunately there is no big demand for it. At least I do not see it.

By: Heshan

Heshan — Sat, 23 May 2009 14:58:00 +0000

The ceasefire agreement was signed on 22nd February 2002. It was not abolished till 16th January 2008. Anymore moot points that you wish to discuss?

By: Heshan

Heshan — Sat, 23 May 2009 14:51:00 +0000

By that logic, you are implying that only Tamil doctors and engineers can help Sinhalese in the rural areas. As usual, an absurd line of reasoning. Having a bilingual education system is one thing; funding it is another. As of right now, everyone knows the vast difference in quality between government schools and private schools. The O/L results from Government schools have been dismal for several consecutive years. The failure rate is over 50% for maths, science, and english. Hiring extra teachers to teach another subject (language) would take even more money away from these financially neglected schools. There is no such thing as a “bilingual” curriculum; English will also have to be taught no matter what; therefore it will be a trilingual curriculum. This is very expensive.

Secondly, software is an important component of science education these days (at least in Western countries). Even In India, the Government has funded an initiative called NPTEL to allow all Indians to have free televised (and now Internet) access to basic engineering education. These lectures are all conducted in English. If one wants to use software to enhance science education, the language of choice is English. Since the English used in science is different from that used in everyday English, those who are not fluent in English will have a difficult time using the software.

There is a language barrier between those living in Colombo and the rural masses. However, this is due to the chauvinist mindset of such people as S.W.R.D Bandaranaike, who were more interested in Sinhala-Only language policies than improving the quality of education in rural areas. Such policies as standardization, which allowed rural students to enter the universities with poor exam results, also contributed to the perpetuation of such barriers. Unfortunately, people like “Pragmatist” want to ignore the mistakes of SWRD and his ilk. Such people want to make those mistakes all over again! And when the society goes to pieces, they will put the blame on the Tamils and the Westerners.

By: Jehan

Jehan — Sat, 23 May 2009 04:55:08 +0000

Ranil had a six-year ceasefire? Heshan, what ARE you on about? If you’d been around with your eyes open you’d have know that the ceasefire lasted in effect only from 2002 to 2004 under Ranil.

By: Pragmatist

Pragmatist — Sat, 23 May 2009 03:31:19 +0000

The reason Tamils need to learn Sinhala is because way back in 1970s, before you were born to your refugee parents in Canada, many Tamils worked in the public sector as doctors and engineers in rural areas where sinhala is the only spoken language. What good will their english do in such areas? I suppose you must want all rural farmers to be taught english so that they can speak to the Tamil doctors who do not wish to learn sinhala. Having a bilingual educational system is the BEST for a poor country like Sri Lanka, until such time if the people of the country wish to move over to English. “Only medium of instruction should be English”!! Do you know the caliber of English teachers available in Sri Lanka now? You are taking poppycock and not reality at all.
You, sir, are obviously a person who grew up in Colombo to a wealthy family with a silver spoon in your mouth (and escaped to Canada or USA thanks to the refugee visas) but seem to know very very little about rural Sri Lanka and the people of Sri Lanka. If your parents are scared to let you visit Sri Lanka at least read up about the country on the web. If you must boost your ego writing on behalf of a terrorist outfit , why not write supporting Al Queda in Afghanistan or any other country about which you must be equally ignorant.

By: Heshan

Heshan — Sat, 23 May 2009 00:52:43 +0000

NGO’s and INGO’s do not do much work in the South, to the best of my knowledge. Therefore, they have little reason to complain about suicide bombings. As for the NGO’s and INGO’s in the North and East, these people report what they see. If they are in the No-Fire Zone and there is heavy shelling by the Army, they will report it. Similiarly, if the LTTE shoots at people who try to leave, they will report it. I do not see the “bias” that NGO’s and INGO’s have. All I can say is that many Sinhala Buddhist extremists still have a colonial hangover and assume that any Westerner who sets foot on the island is interested in its exploitation.

There is no point in Tamils learning Sinhala. Sinhala has no value as a language of commerce or science. It is a gigantic waste of resources to have a bilingual curriculum, at least for a poor country like Sri Lanka. The Europeans can manage it as their social services system is extremely good, due to very high taxes. Most Europeans speak 3 or 4 languages. The Singapore Model is the best model for Sri Lanka… the only medium of instruction in the schools should be English. Also, Sri Lanka needs to privatize the universities and make it accessible to more students. India and China are producing millions of technical professionals a year; there is no point in having a few elite schools for 1% of the populace, while letting the rest (the ones who cannot afford overseas education) slave away doing office jobs.

Furthermore, after 60 years of discrimination, and 30 years of civil war, Tamils should not have to learn to live with the majority by imitating them. On the contrary, the majority community needs to give maximum devolution to the minorities. Federalism is the best solution. The only obstacle to federalism is the chauvinist mentality of the South.

By: Pragmatist

Pragmatist — Sat, 23 May 2009 00:13:52 +0000

The proof of NGOs and INGOs innocence will be soon proven when evidence is unearthed from previously occupied areas. I am not saying that NGOs and INGOs
should be spies but I have not seen them say a word when hundreds of civilians are killed by Tiger attacks in the south, far away from the battle. It becomes pretty obvious to anyone but fools what game they are playing. I am willing to bet that Heshan is either working for an NGO/INGO or is a highly paid local peon for them.
Look Mr Heshan, I am an engineering graduate from Sri Lanka with several post graduate degrees. Don’t try to write rubbish in response to my post. You have not answered how Tamil refugees in Italy, Germany, France, Sweden, UK, USA etc learn those native languages with no complaint but make such a big deal about learnin basic Sinhala required for government civil service. What is so horrible about learning the language of the majority of the country. I did not say that Tamils should study at the university in sinhala — that is your poor comprehension of English. University education for science, engineering and medicine should continue in English with some accommodation of sinhala and tamil medium students during the transition period for new student — this is the current practice in SL. You are obviously hurting because your INGO employers will be soon out of a job in Sri Lanka. Go do something more useful for humanity like farming or fishing.

By: Heshan

Heshan — Fri, 22 May 2009 17:22:36 +0000

Sri Lanka had many chances to kick these “pro-Tiger” NGO’s and INGO’s, as you say, out of the country for good. So why did it not avail itself of the opportunity? The chauvinist mindset is that because these NGO’s and INGO’s formed good relations with the Tigers, they must somehow be “sympathetic” to the latter. What about the reverse logic? If these NGO’s and INGO’s, were “against” the Tigers, would they be somehow considered patriotic? Perhaps individuals like “Pragmatist” feel the NGO’s and INGO’s with access to LTTE controlled areas would serve a better purpose, were they also to serve as spies for the Sri Lanka Army?

Of course, this is sheer nonsense. The NGO’s and INGO’s are there for humanitarian reasons. They have no hidden agenda. If they form good relations with the Tigers, that is purely on a professional level… I have yet to hear of any NGO’s and INGO’s marrying LTTE members in large numbers. Neither have I seen the bodies of NGO’s and INGO’s lying next to LTTE cadres on the battlefield.

Here we go with the Sinhala language nonsense. Does Pragmatist want to explain the value of teaching Sinhala to future scientists, engineers, and IT professionals? If Pragmatist honestly feels that Sri Lankan children educated in Sinhala can tackle the complexities of high technology and commerce, I dare say, he lacks any education beyond secondary school; else, he would easily see the absurdity of his viewpoint.

By: Pragmatist

Pragmatist — Fri, 22 May 2009 15:18:10 +0000

Heshan seems to pontificate from his cozy abode in Canada or USA not realizing that the rules of the humanitarian game are very different for small nations as opposed to those that seem to make the rules — like the US, UK etc. He goes on to say that the MR did not admit the civilian suffering caused by the war implying army had a role to play on that too. We all know one such utterance by MR will get splashed all over the web and all the proTiger INGOs will use that as the fodder to create more problems for Sri Lanka — probes, investigations, sanctions etc etc. We do not need all that hypocrisy when the country is trying to start a fresh. People like Heshan probably profit from a sustained conflict in SL like the disaster industry made up of proTiger NGOs and INGOs. I am a Tamil-Sinhala person and see many idiots like Heshan writing nonsense all over the web.
This entire conflict was a very costly mistake by Tamil leadership in Jaffna, egged on by their Tamil Nadu supporters. I would like to ask just one question from Heshan OR any other diapora Tiger sympathiser who may or may not have lived in Sri Lanka (most I think have not) any significant length of time.
WHEN TAMIL REFUGEES EMIGRATE TO ITALY, FRANCE, UK, USA, CANADA ETC. THEY ALL LEARN TO SPEAK THE LOCAL LANGUAGE AND ADAPT. HOW COME THEY FIND LEARNING TO SPEAK IN SINHALA A DISCRIMINATION IN THE COUNTRY OF THEIR BIRTH, PARTICULARLY AS MANY OF THEM WISH TO ALSO LIVE AND WORK IN SINHALA AREAS? This question does not apply to those diapora born outside of SL as many of them are just brainwashed by their proTiger parents.