Renaming Roads -A pressing need
Posted on August 24th, 2011
S.Senanayake
There have been some protests to the allegedƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ change of name of Bugatale Road to Dhanayake Mawatha in some English dailies.
Progress of a country cannot solely beƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ dependent on the growth of its GDP.It has to liberate from the shackles of colonialism
that have pinned down the country for centuries.There has been so much collateral damage to the culture and valuesƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ of the nation that we have to rediscover its lost glory with the new phase of the development.Our future generations should not be subjected to the pain and humiliation we faced, removing all the vestiges of colonialism in the country as possible.Colonial names that have adorned our towns,roads and places have lost its shelf life nowƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ and should be replaced by the names of the heroes who fought and sacrified their lives for the country,be them politicians,clergy or military personnels.Erecting statues and naming roads and places in their names are a norm in the developed world.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
However it is true that those colonial names are fashionable and bring a sense of elitism to the residents in the area.It is also easy on the tongues of theƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Colombo Elite and on the foreign nationalsƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ who live and work aroundƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ such places.However nothing should impedeƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ theƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ implementation of Mahinda Chinthana which takes a holistic approach to develop economic cultural and social aspects of the nation.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
Is it strange thatƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ these objections appear only inƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ EnglishƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ media and the suggestion that the road naming to be pushed away to a far corner in Galle and not in Colombo!ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
August 24th, 2011 at 2:09 pm
However easily my mind takes to the old names of the roads of Colombo, I am all for re-naming them. The local heroes and heroines names must be remembered and their deeds told once more in story books, history & films.
August 24th, 2011 at 4:31 pm
Senanayake is right.
Yet, while we are thinking of renaming English names to Sinhala names, Tamil continue their renaming. Muslims do their part too.
August 24th, 2011 at 8:09 pm
Changing names is just another cosmetic and useless process; instead the money and energy spent on such futile works should be spent on upgrading roads.
I am surprised; despite explicit dislikes of European links, many parents still want their children to attend international schools and take up European examinations instead of local ones.
Many “Gated communities” mushrooming around the country, none I am yet to see having any Sinhala name.
Who are we trying to fool, the Europeans or us?
August 24th, 2011 at 9:48 pm
I too am against changing names.
Why change names that are well known and established?
We can do better. With changes maps (paper and electornic) go out of date. There is a history associated with names. That too disappear. Finally we will have two names for the same road.
Mr Senanayaka, with all due respect, it is not a pressing need.
August 24th, 2011 at 9:55 pm
Would it matter re-naming roads, if all the lands on either side of the roads are already bought by minorities – Muslims and Tamils displacing the Sinhalese, there by radically changing the demographics in important commercial centers such as Capital City – Colombo, Kandy and many others.
In many places around the country it is said that only the temple land remains and that too will fall prey to this land grabbing once the incumbent priest passes away.
It is sad and indeed very sad that the ignorant Sinhalese are selling their birth right for a song. Politicians will look the other side as long as they can muster minority votes for their continued stay in power for a few more years!
The people of Sri Lanka must assert their presence not with cosmetic measures, but by concrete action to safeguard what is theirs and their progeny.
August 25th, 2011 at 10:55 am
The fact is that Colonial Rulers asserted themselves and replaced our local heroes & heroines with the European ones. Some of our Colombo roads are named after British Governors who were particularly nasty to the local people – are we fools to have continued these names for so long ?
It all started with the schooling systems and the text books used right after Independence in 1948. The textbooks were the standard textbooks used in the UK schools, all written in English too. That was the way things were done and the Sinhala adults of that time had no choice but to accept it all, as the modern schools were all carrying the western school curricula. Shouldn’t we know better now ? Now that we know the faults, they should be corrected. It is time that the masses of Lanka knew their heritage, notwithstanding the Colombo elites.
In order to feel connected with the west, now we have computers. There is no need to have British names on some major roads in Lanka. Otherwise, we may as well get colonised all over again !
August 25th, 2011 at 12:56 pm
I remember reading in one of the Sinhala daily some years back, a policeman catching a man removing the sward from one of the King’s statues and planting a Cricket bat instead.
Mind you this was immediately after the 1996 World cup victory.
When he was confronted, he confessed “අනේ Sir, otherwise nobody would consider him as a ජාතික වීරයෙක්”!
Good Luck and glad that now we have computers!
August 25th, 2011 at 5:52 pm
Curiously in the West they name places using words associated with natives after practically eliminating them. In Sri Lanka it is just the opposite. We do not like name boards but practically worship their culture and language to the point one’s prospects and social status depend on how well s/he can handle English. Also English is the main criteria for selection to positions of authority even in highly technical/scientific areas. Once in these positions they advance in their carriers simply by awing people with fluent English. This is one of the main reasons why we have not developed a significant technical knowledge base or capabilities (unlike those technologists in East Asian countries who use their native language) despite having eighty years of higher education.
August 26th, 2011 at 5:46 am
Since there is a demand in Lanka to learn English, why not teach it properly ?
Why not have English as a proper subject in all schools, particular the grammar and literature parts ? Whilst ALL the other subjects are taught in Sinhala, English as a subject should be taught properly too. Right now there is so much Sing-lish and poorly written English, it is hard to follow what such a writer is trying to say. We say : everything in its proper place ought to help.
People like to know at least some English or another foreign language for the simple reason that jobs are not available in Sri Lanka in most Science subjects and they therefore like to try for job opportunities abroad. Knowledge of the English language is a real plus in the fields of Science & International Commerce. The English language allows a person anywhere in the world (not just in Lanka), to move fairly freely in the international job market. Let’s face it, the billions abroad are not going to learn Sinhala or Tamil to suit Lanka’s masses ! So whilst the earning capacity is better abroad and there are jobs & resources abroad too, people will move out for jobs abroad and the knowledge of foreign languages definitely helps.
On thinking further on the matter of naming roads, foreign sounding names (please, NOT surnames of Colonial leaders !) can lend a sense of bringing the world into Lanka. Lanka is a small island and can do with some diverse sounds other than Sinhala & Tamil, or else we may end up too insular. For instance, I cannot fault calling a road London Mawatha, or Dutch Mawatha (not Olande Mawatha), or even Bugatalle Mawatha, as opposed to, say, Brownrigg Road which is an absurdity now that the real history of Lanka is there for all to see. We now know that British Gov.Brownrigg was responsible for the Uva-Wellessa massacre. These facts were not recorded in the history books of the past. In the past, the Uva-Wellessa massacre was recorded in the history books merely as a Sinhala uprising.
By the way, “Bugatalle” means :
1. An unimportant or insignificant thing; a trifle.
2. A short, light piece of verse or music.
3. A game played on an oblong table with a cue and balls.
[French, from Italian bagatella, diminutive of dialectal bagata, little property, possibly from Latin bca, berry.]
On thinking further on the matter, I personally don’t see a reason to contest a harmless meaning foreign word used to name a road. If we do not already have a ‘Beijing Mawatha’, we ought to have one, in honor of China and all the help we have received from China.
August 26th, 2011 at 11:07 am
People who ignores should not be allow to place rule in the society. Unlike before, Sinhalese have enough evidence how the world of conspiracies evolve and take place around the world. Therefore, it is government duties to remove anything that destroy Sinhalese. Also,, I said that it is ok take something good from the West, but reject everything that harmful. This has to be done by law; All road names should be replace with Sinhalese names. And government pass the law that requires every Sinhalese new bone babies should be given a Sinhalese name.
Furthermore, you can’t depend on a government to do it. Sinhalese have to build a powerful world organisation to get government do it. That’s why I said Sinhalese have to build their own economy first with a world org. in order to control government by Sinhalese and get them pass new laws. Otherwise every Sinhalese government will be controlled by foreigners and destroy Sinhalese.
You have to have little bid of dictatorship to do it, but can’t do without a Sinhalese world org. with a world business empire attach to it.
West is the major thing. You have to do exact what western countries do and if you don’t you lose.
West’s main tool is getting control over world economy and then control other governments and promote various programs that is harmful to other countries.