Mind your language

We are rather amused by a report from the UK that a Sri Lankan-born man who came to Britain 17 years ago is refusing to serve customers in his post office unless they speak English. Our readers who had read the report on yesterday’s page one would have felt the same way.

Deva Sumanasiri, 40, whose shop is in a racially mixed inner-city area, believes he has to stand up for the English language because otherwise the social fabric of the country will disintegrate.

Asians, Eastern Europeans and others coming to his post office in Nottingham, Central England, to claim state benefits or post letters must speak English or they will not be served, he has said.

This, we believe, is the first time that someone has enforced such a ‘rule’ in England, which is now truly multi-lingual and multi-cultural.

True, English is the main language in the UK and it is extremely difficult to live there if you do not have a working knowledge of that language.

Migrants to the UK, or for that matter, to any other English speaking country, have to learn and live with English. In other words, ‘when in Rome, do as the Romans do’.

Yet it does not mean that those who speak other languages for whatever reason should be ignored or penalized in any way. Speaking one’s own language in part of the world is a fundamental right.

There is no hard and fast rule that one must always speak English when in the UK, USA, Canada or Australia. In fact, some cities in the US offer examinations, advice etc in more than 30 languages.

Moreover, no language is pure in that sense of the word. English has thousands of words borrowed from other languages, including the languages of migrants.

The irony is that Sumanasiri hails from a country which is also multi-lingual and multi- cultural. In this case, an expatriate has tried to be more British than the British themselves. He cannot have forgotten his roots in just 17 years.

Migrants must assimilate, but they cannot forget who they are or indeed their culture and language. These languages and cultures enrich and enliven the countries that they choose as their second home.

It shows the cultural and linguistic diversity of these countries, which is the very basis of their democratic traditions. Indeed, except for pockets of indigenous populations, some countries such as the US and Australia were completely founded by migrants.

In this light, Sumanasiri’s advice to migrants that “If you don’t want to be British, go home,” seems harsh. Language, after all, is just one of the things that measure how British or Sri Lankan you are. There are many other factors that make you feel you belong to a particular country.

Language should not be a bar to becoming a useful citizen of one’s adopted country. Migrants must literally feel at home in their adopted nations without being treated as second class citizens on any account.

Town planning for North

With the Security Forces poised to capture the very last LTTE dominated areas soon, the focus will shift to rehabilitation and reconstruction of these areas as well as the resettlement of residents. The North suffered heavily in the conflict even more than the East and the scars of war are everywhere in the province.

The areas previously controlled by the Tigers had seen no development at all for around two decades and even many existing infrastructure facilities have either been destroyed or neglected. These areas have to be rebuilt virtually from scratch, a Herculean task by any measure.

On the other hand, this presents an ideal opportunity for the authorities to plan all stages of development well in advance without paving the way for haphazard steps. Town

planning should be an integral component of the overall development process in the North. We have seen and experienced the ill effects of unplanned development - for example, Colombo gets flooded even after half an hour of heavy rain. Unauthorized structures complicate this picture further. Environmental problems are common.

Planned cities and villages could address all these issues systematically. All infrastructure facilities should be rebuilt under such a plan, with ample room for environmental, waste disposal and recycling measures.

More ‘Green’ buildings should be built - as an example, a solar roof can help save electricity and money. In any case, the restoration of mains power, water supplies and telecom links will take some time.

The newly rebuilt cities should also be people-friendly and even a total outsider should be able to feel familiar in a few minutes. No room should be left for unauthorised structures.

Our planners should study successful planned cities in other countries to see how they can be improved and adapted for our requirements. In the North, they have a clean slate to begin with and a fine opportunity to avoid the pitfalls of ad-hoc development.