Communication in Tamil

"This is not a stray case. This is the normal case in this country. There are many Sinhalese, including so-called intellectuals, challenging anyone who says there is discrimination against the Tamils. When the Tamils say there is discrimination against them they will be branded as LTTErs or LTTE sympathisers and the matter would be put to rest with that."

by Arul

(December, 25, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) After thirty years of making Tamil an official Language, communication between the government and the Tamils in Tamil is almost nil. This month I received a printed copy of the Life Certificate to be perfected and returned to the Divisional Secretariat which pays my pension, in Sinhala and English but not in Tamil. Last year too the Secretariat sent the form in Sinhala and English only. I complained about it through the press. But who takes notice of any complaint regarding Tamil.

This is not a stray case. This is the normal case in this country. There are many Sinhalese, including so-called intellectuals, challenging anyone who says there is discrimination against the Tamils. When the Tamils say there is discrimination against them they will be branded as LTTErs or LTTE sympathisers and the matter would be put to rest with that. If any Sinhalese, for instance, like Rev. Fr. Tissa Balasooriya, would state with facts and figures, that there is discrimination against the Tamils, he too will be branded an LTTE supporter and even called a traitor. If a foreigner says that there is discrimination against the Tamils he also would be called a person bought over by the LTTE.

Somewhere in the latter part of 1999, Professor Ratnajeevan Hoole made a statement that Tamils were being overlooked in government and professional bodies which Prof. Kalasuriya refuted. Before Professor Hoole replied I pointed out the promotion of eighteen Assistant Superintendents of Police to the rank of Superintends of Police, at about that time, all of them Sinhalese and not even one Tamil or a Muslim.

Prof. Kalasuriya kept silent. But still many Sinhala persons, including so-called intellectuals, ask dramatically whether there is any discrimination against Tamils and to prove it, pointing out some appointments here and there and some facilities and so on.

The government says it is not against the Tamils and is, in fact, trying to save them from the LTTE. Is it by communicating with the Tamils in Sinhala and discriminating against them that the government is trying to save the Tamils from the LTTE?

Trying to meet the arguments of some Sinhala persons who say that there is no discrimination against Tamils, I have found, is a futile exercise. Either they are ignorant and blind or they refuse to accept the truth.

The people who argue that there is no discrimination against Tamils may become the cause for the separation of the country.