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| Sunday, 24 July 2005 |
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P-TOMS - Only a linguistic approach We have seen nation having a decision making President in the country. Her bold decision on Post-Tsunami Operational Management Structure(P-TOMS)is the first step, but a giant step on the road to peace in the country. Had the late Mr. S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike taken this bold step in 1958 today the country would have surpassed the development of Japan. Tsunami has affected two linguistic people of this country i.e Sinhala and Tamil speaking communities. There is no religious entity for communities to request for their representation in P-TOMS Council. In Sri Lanka Muslims speak either Tamil or Sinhala as their mother tongue. In Batticaloa and Trincomalee, a considerable numbers of Portuguese Burghers who are Catholics live, but they speak Tamil and Portuguese languages. If Muslims ask for separate representation then the Portuguese Burghers of Batticaloa and Trincomalee should also be given representation in the P-TOMS council. When you analyse the P-TOMS Council, it has focused on a linguistic stand. Further it is only a reconstruction process mechanism envisaged to rebuild the Tsunami affected areas of Sri Lanka. P-TOMS has the support of more than 85 percent of the population in Sri Lanka(UPFA, UNP & TNA). The President has taken a right decision to appease the majority, and primarily has taken the nation into her heart. It is not selling, betraying or dividing the country, but a patriotic leadership decision with a vision for the next generation to reap the benefit. A boneless tongue could be twisted to create chaos in the country. Who are the opposing sections in the Community? They are the minority parties who were elected purely due to the proportional representation provided in the election law. If not for this, none of the minority parties would be in Parliament today, and there would not be such an outburst by few people born after the introduction of the 'Sinhala only' policy in the country, who do not know any other language than one of the two national languages. This lot cannot understand much of the history of this country and the united Sri Lanka we had prior to the implementation of the 'Sinhala only' policy. Most of the parliamentarians were then educated in colleges in Jaffna without any differences or bias in their minds. The citizens of this country should understand the correct decision of President Chandrika Bandaranaike who was bold enough to take a stand for the betterment of the people of Sri Lanka as a whole, in order to uplift this country in all spheres of life. The President had done this without any expectations, sacrificing her political future for the well-being of the future generations. By any chance if this presidency was in the hands of any short-sighted and disgruntled politician, we would have faced the dooms-day on 15th of June 2005. Let the nation thank the Charismatic President. Today, due to the advancement of technology and communication specially the internet and e-mail, all citizens in Sri Lanka tend to learn English, without which the approach to world communication and acquiring knowledge through the internet would be lost. Computer eagerness is making the divided Sinhala and Tamil speaking linguistic citizens to understand each other. In towns and cities, parents are sending their children to Computer classes, since they know without computer knowledge there is no future for the children. In other ten years time, in my view, the problem of this country would be solved automatically, since you will find more people speaking or learning English and would give step motherly treatment to Sinhala and Tamil languages. Hence P-TOMS agreement has acknowledged the MOU on the ceasefire agreement and has paved the way to facilitate the peace process to be commenced early. - K. Sivalingam |
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