Ten year Presidential initiative for Trilingual Sri
Lanka:
Promoting English as life skill
Terrorism has been eliminated and Sri Lanka has
been united. I have brought peace to the country. We have to develop the
country now so that the people get all the benefits
Interview given by President Mahinda Rajapaksa to N Ram at Temple
Trees in Colombo
Part I of this article was published yesterday
Q: You have taken a special interest in language policy. You
have announced a Ten Year Presidential Initiative for a Trilingual Sri
Lanka and before that the initiative to promote English. This seems to
have been thought out over the long-term. How do you see this going?
A: Last year was the Year of English and Information
Technology. With that the people started spoken English, they started
learning English. So I thought the best
President Mahinda Rajapaksa |
thing was that all Sinhalese
must learn Tamil now, the Tamils must learn Sinhala and they must all
learn English and acquire knowledge, international knowledge. We thought
the best thing was to launch this three-language initiative. We have set
the target of 2020 and I think we can achieve it. One issue is teachers;
we have to train the teachers. But we have to meet that challenge.
Q: The coordinator of this initiative, Sunimal Fernando, told
me about the findings of a socio-linguistic survey in Sri Lanka; it
showed a surprising amount of support, even enthusiasm, among both
Sinhalese and Tamils for learning each other's language. This must have
come as a surprise even to you.
A: Yes, but I have seen some of this. Government servants get
from (SL Rs) 10,000 to (SL Rs) 25,000, depending on the level of
competency, for learning a second language, Sinhalese learning Tamil or
Tamils learning Sinhala. We pay them; I don't think any other country
pays government servants like this. We are serious about this.
Q: In your address in 2009 during the launch of the Year of
English and IT, you made an interesting statement. First about Sinhala
and Tamil, not merely as tools of communication but as encapsulating
values and worldviews. And English is to be delivered purely as a 'life
skill' for its 'utility value,' as 'a vital tool of communication with
the outside world of knowledge' and as a skill that is required for
employment. Then you go on to say something very interesting: "We will
ensure that there will be a complete break with the past where in our
country English was rolled out as a vehicle for creating dis-affection
towards our national cultures, national ethos and national identity." So
you make a qualitative distinction between learning Sinhala and Tamil by
people belonging to the other community and English as a life skill -
but breaking with the past. So it was a real problem in Sri Lanka, the
separation of the English-knowing elite and the people?
A: Yes. Because everybody thought that English was for the
elite. And the elite used it as a sword - in Sinhala it is kaduva. The
elite used knowledge of English as a kaduva to cut down the others from
the villages. This was very prominent in high society, especially in
Colombo; they thought the people who didn't know English must be
somebody to be looked down upon. Now it has changed and we want to
change this attitude.
Q: And if this Trilingual Initiative really takes off and
achieves its target, it will really be a unique achievement. Very few
countries would have done anything like this.
A: Yes.
Q: Can you tell us about your thinking behind the removal,
through a Constitutional Amendment, of the two-term bar on holding
Presidential office? There has been international comment on and
criticism of this change.
A: The thing is I have seen the second term of various
leaders, not only in Sri Lanka but also in many other countries. Because
in the first year (of the second term) you can work. Yes, you make
promises, you can work in the first year. When it comes to the second
year, from the beginning the party is fighting within to find the next
leader. Government servants will be looking out to see who will be the
next leader and they will not work. And the President would be a lame
duck President from the second year (of the second term). See what
happened during the last term to (President) Chandrika (Kumaratunga),
what happened to JR (Jayewardene), what happened to others. I've seen
that, so I'm not going to walk into that trap! So I thought the best
thing - whether you contest or not, that is a different thing - would be
to be free from that (constraint). Because during the second term of six
years that the people have given me because I have achieved during the
first term, I must have that freedom, without conspiracies, without
pulling you down among your people, among the government servants
especially.
The second term is very important. To achieve development for the
people - that was the mandate they have given me. That's why I did that.
It doesn't mean ... whether I'm going to contest a third term or fourth
term, it's not like that. Generally, this (two-term limit) had made our
leaders lame ducks during the second term.
Q: You have told me on more than one occasion that one of the
problems with the Constitutional structure in Sri Lanka was that the
President was away from Parliament and that you had grown up in the
Parliamentary tradition and you wanted to overcome or narrow that gap.
Have you been able to do that?
A: Yes. Now it's compulsory, after the 18th Amendment, for the
President to go to Parliament, at least once in three months.
Q: This will solve that problem?
A: I think so. Because then when I have the right to go there,
at least once in three months, I can use it at any time when I think it
is necessary or useful. Even that they criticise, saying I am trying to
control Parliament! I don't want to do that; that's why I said once in
three months was enough. I don't want to go and mess around with the
Parliamentary system. I want to be there to feel the pulse of the
people, to hear the Opposition, to find out. I will give you an example.
Recently, when Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe raised an issue on
casinos, that somebody had started a casino on government land, I issued
orders and found out it was a true story. I immediately called Ranil and
thanked him for raising that. The Opposition's duty is to show us these
things and if I am there, in Parliament, I will be better informed about
these things. Where something wrong has happened, we can always rectify
it. It is very important that I should be very close to Parliament.
Q: The other issue that is commented upon and criticised is
the jailing and conviction of your former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka.
Neither he nor any member of his family has asked for a Presidential
pardon. Is it a political problem in Sri Lanka?
A: No, it's not a political problem. The law is for all;
everybody is equal before the law. Whatever wrong things they have done,
they have to face it. People understand this. Some Opposition MPs,
thinking they can use this as a platform to gain political advantage,
are using his name. But I don't think it's a matter over which people
are excited. They are not interested.
Q: Neither the UNP nor even the JVP seems to have taken this
up in a serious way.
A: No. When they want to say something or do something, they
bring this up.
Q: One is the rule of law and the President's role. But there
is also a personal side. He was your Army Commander, you knew him
personally. How do these two sides interact?
A: Yes, it's really difficult. But whether you are the Army
Commander or not, if you do something wrong, you will have to face it.
We never thought he was a man like that, we didn't know. When he came
forward as a candidate, somebody informed and said his son-in-law was an
arms dealer. We never knew about this. He didn't admit it either. He
should have informed us. He sat as Chairman of the Tender Board; no Army
Commander had done that earlier. We made a man who was supposed to
retire in a little while the Army Commander. If I had known that his
son-in-law was an arms dealer, I would have warned him or tried to
correct him.
Q: There are, I'm told, about 11,000 self-confessed LTTE
cadres or supporters in custody, hardcore elements and maybe some
others. How do you resolve this issue?
A: Some of them have already been rehabilitated. Four thousand
have already gone home. We have released the children and the old
people. Some of them don't want to go; they are with us, for their own
sake.
Q: In your UN address, you extended an open invitation to all
Tamil expatriate citizens of Sri Lanka who wished to come and join the
development of the country. Has there been a good response to this?
A: Yes, there has been a lot of response, including from those
expatriates who want dual citizenship. But there are also those who went
away for other reasons, but showing the conflict as the reason. Many Sri
Lankans have gone and settled down abroad and taken the citizenship of
other countries.
Q: You have been in close touch with Indian leaders. You have
come to India; you were the chief guest at the closing ceremony of the
Commonwealth Games; you have maintained continuous contact. Are you
satisfied with the level and quality of India's contribution to this
process, after the war ended?
A: Yes. Yes. Relations have been excellent, after the war and
before the war ended. We have been in close touch, the leaders of the
two countries.
Q: For example, building 50,000 houses should take care of
most of the housing needs of the displaced people in the mainland North.
Then there is restoration of the collapsed railway network in the North.
Palaly Airfield; KKS harbour; road development projects; a power project
in Sampur in the East ...
A: So all these projects have been given to India. But still
some of the papers are making a big fuss over our projects and making
comparisons with what we have given China.
Q: Did the Indian Government, political leaders or officials,
express concern over this?
A: No, no. They are much more mature. Because everything had
been offered to them first. The airport, the port, Hambanthotta harbour.
Even Sampur was offered four years ago. We need development, rapid
development. This will greatly help the people of the North, the Tamils.
People who used to support the LTTE, those who made a big fuss over
these projects, including Professor (MS) Swaminathan's blueprint for the
development of agriculture and fisheries in the North, should realise
this.
Q: As you embark on your second term, your new term, as
President of Sri Lanka, what is your message to your people and to the
international community? How should they respond to Sri Lanka's new
situation?
A: The message to my people is that I am concentrating on
development work. I want to make Sri Lanka a hub for the development of
knowledge, energy, commerce, naval transportation and aviation. To
achieve that, our people must stay together, rally round the government
and achieve it - for the people. To the international community, my
message is they must understand our position. We defeated terrorists,
not freedom fighters. The whole world is facing this problem. So they
must realise what we have achieved and help to develop the country,
develop the North-East. They must help us not to widen the gap between
the communities but to bring them closer. The past is past; you don't
dig into the wounds. We must think positively, not negatively.
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