Marga Avakashaya

There have been voices raised among the international community in Sri Lanka concerning the alleged banning of the Tamil version of the National Anthem of Sri Lanka.  Whilst one camp hold the view that there should be only one version of a National Anthem  as in the case of India where there are  29 languages spoken by over million people ( in the case of each language) , the other camp suggests that we should move forward with the times and make an effort in every which way we can to bring sustainable peace and reconciliation within all ethnic groups. Classic examples are the  Canadian National Anthem where there are two versions – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_Canada and South African anthem where its verses are formed by several languages – http://blogcritics.org/music/article/q-how-many-languages-in-south/

At the end of the day we as a nation must learn to peacefully coexist appreciating our ethnic diversity. And what better way it would it be if we first start with our symbols – flags, anthems, etc and modify them to accommodate all ethnic groups. What we considered as  cast in stone and cannot be changed, threw us into a bloody civil war that lasted 30years. If the leaders of the past did it right how come all of us and the generations to come have paid such a heavy price?

If one segment of our children cannot understand the words of the National Anthem it defeats the very purpose of  unity when we stand together under the national flag to sing the anthem.

My view is that we get rid of our egos  and take a fresh look at all our national symbols including the anthem and bring in Sinhala as well as Tamil and sing under one banner as ONE. Let’s learn a lesson from Nelson Mandela of South Africa who  had a passion for his country and unified it through hard and tireless work

Nothing will come easily for any of us, but if we are willing to give in a little bit for the other, whatever we do will succeed

Sri Lanka has a unique story to tell. After 30 years of civil unrest and internal strife, a bloody ethnic war that claimed almost 100,000 lives suddenly  ended in 2009. We overcame our issues in our own manner. While the rest of the world insisted that peaceful negotiations must take place with the separatist rebels for the hostilities to end , the Sri Lankan government was unbending and resolute in their stand. The war was fought with the separatists intensely during the mid 2009 and like a dream that became a reality, flames were doused and the war ended .  Terrorism was defeated and life in the war torn areas as well as in the rest of the country has come back to normal. Our children who never knew of a time of peace are now traveling to the north and the eastern parts of the country which was once controlled by  one of the most dangerous and ruthless terrorist organizations in the world. But in all this shedding of blood, destruction of property and disruption of normal life, the concept of nationality became different to different people depending on their political stance. Well at least that is what most of us thought.  Most of us believed that the ethnic war would have polarized the Majority Sinhalese as well as the minority Tamils in their views about their own national identity.

The Institute carried out an opinion survey to ascertain views of the public about national identity which brought out some interesting points. Those who are from the south who are considered as hard lined Sinhalese displayed qualities of tolerance and it was the same in the case of the Tamils in the North.   80% of the respondents in the north (Tamils) agreed that  their  understanding of the  term national identity is equal to citizenship as a Sri Lankan. So there goes that Sinhala chauvinist view straight out of the window- a false perception that most Tamils don’t view themselves as Sri Lankan.

We also asked the respondents the question – When  you consider by the term ‘National Identity’ what comes first to your mind? In Colombo 60 % stated that the first thing that comes to their mind when they think of National Identity , is their identity as Sri Lankan whilst another 37 % also stated that it also means their ethnic identity. In the case of Jaffna Tamils it is 82.5% stated the word associated is “Sri Lankan” identity. Only 15% associated it with ethic identity. In the Ampare district the association of national identity with Sri Lankan identity is once again 82.5% but the importance of ethnicity drops to 5 % where as importance or association with religious identity is recorded among 7.5% of the respondents.

As a general observation of the National identity concept which comes first to  mind, the highest percentages record from Jaffna & Ampara for the feeling of identity as a Sri Lankan. As minority groups they have a feeling together with their social structures to understand the validity of having an identity as a ‘Sri Lankan’ rather than on ethnic or religious basis. Mathara and Colombo being  Sinhala areas with Sinhala Buddhist conception record a low profile compared to other districts to be identified  as a ‘Sri Lankan. A high percentage in those two districts is to be identified on Sinhala basis as their ethnic identity. i.e.37.5% ..in  Colombo and12.5 at Matara. Further, a very high percentage of 25% records from Matara for the Sinhala Buddhist identity.

Another question we asked the respondents is the importance of their identity as a Sri Lankan to enjoy the full benefits of a citizen. In the portrayal of this question all five districts indicate that they all agree to the importance of national identity as a Sri Lankan, irrespective of ethnic or other social differences. The percentages are Colombo 100.0, Jaffna 97.5% Ampara 95.0% Nuwara Eliya 100% and Mathara 100% consenting to the importance of national identity as a Sri Lankan.

So the war has not drawn people way from each other. Neither has it brought about a sense of  belonging to a particular ethnic group and a lack of trust.  Actually when one goes to the Northern part of the country one can see people wanting to get back to their normal life again. Farming has started and the country is seemingly waking up to new opportunities.

Looking back at all the violence that has taken place in the Universities here in Sri Lanka during the last 25 years one wonders whether we as a society, collectively value free education ? What is the real cost of education? Can we afford to give it free to all? To every child from grade 1- 12? Will any government have the guts to pull the plug? or at least limit it to a certain extent?

During the last decade alone saw millions of children all over the world who were traumatized by war. A 30 year  civil war  in Sri Lanka ended in May 2009 and we are now celebrating one year of peace. Yes it is hard to believe that one year has gone but nothing much has changed for the children who faced the full brunt of the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka.

We adults must ask serious questions with regard to the world we have left behind for them.

For starters shall we make room for the voice of children?

Shall we listen to their questions and find out what they have to say about their world?

When a child says ” excuse me …” shall we stand to attention and ask them what they want for whether we like it or not we will have to hand over the world to them

Today in Sri Lanka we have imported and “canned” MBA programmes which are conducted by  educational institutes and the programmes who target  professionals  on the lines of career development and enhancement. However these training programmes and high cost courses may have  little relevance to our own environment. There is no doubt that the courses are packed with theoretical knowledge but the content may or may not benefit an individual who is operating under distinctly different working environment.  In the case of our Institute we have gathered a wealth of knowledge and experience in the area of development.

At Marga we have done over 1500 studies during the last three decades which cover subjects such as development, children, women, youth, population, migration, education, heath, housing policy, human rights, ethnic studies, agriculture, poverty, employment, regional corporation etc.  We see an opportunity to come up with various short duration courses on development studies and public policy making use of our knowledge and our current network of social scientists, which would benefit not only the public administrators and potential policy makers but also those in the diplomatic sector, INGO’s, NGO’s as well as the private sector.

Learning and training is a continuing process. We believe it is a cycle. What we have learned we must impart and when we impart it to the correct people and through systematic analysis the key learning could be implemented for development.

We cannot ignore the fact that the situation is grave and living conditions of the IDP’s are pathetic. Civil society groups are imploring the government to relocate over 250,000 people almost immediately. However the state of affairs in these camps are quite complex and there doesn’t seem to be a simple solution. But is there? According to the law of probabilities the authorities say that there could be a fair percentage of LTTE cadres and supporters within these camps. Even if the percentage is 10 we are looking at over 25,000 direct LTTE carders and collaborators. According to informed sources there are weapons that are buried in the jungles of Vanni. The level of frustration among the IDP’s is rising every day they are within the camp. Should they be allowed to leave immediately? How soon is soon? Are we all sitting on a time bomb here?