OPEN LETTER TO MADAM CHANDRIKA .B. KUMARATUNGA. CHAIRPERSON, COMMITTEE ON NATIONAL UNITY AND RECONCILIATUONS.
Posted on December 24th, 2015
Daya Hettiarachchi Toronto Canada
National Unity and Re conciliations
RE your recent statement on the above topic I am sure the entire country would welcome your proposal ,the way I do, to teach National Unity and Reconciliation” as a classroom subject. Any effective effort to eradicate mutual distrust among the communities and thus national building” is highly commendable.
Please be courteous to consider the following observations.
The proposed classroom teaching is only for the conflict resolution caused by the after effects of the war. Source materials for research will be in short supply being limited to the history of Sri Lanka and some of it may not help the reconciliation efforts. Sri Lanka is a multi-ethnic, multi -religious and multi -cultural society, and the national policy of education must reflect this reality.
THEREFORE A BETTER ALTERNATIVE WOULD BE TO HAVE HUMAN RIGHTS (HR) AS A PART OF THE SCHOOL CARRICULUM WITH DUE PRIORITY AND EMPHASIZE ON NATIONAL UNITY AND RECONCILIATIONS CONCERNS. This can be achieved through the practice of principles of HR, as conflicts do stem from disregarding rights of other(s).
Kindergarten children may be introduced to civic mindedness, social values and tolerant behavior and progressively upgraded by inclusion of positive examples of peaceful coexistence of other countries, culminating in university graduate studies on principles of all major religions and UN declaration on Human Rights.
This effort will no doubt be globally and universally acknowledged and praised.
Daya Hettiarachchi
December 23rd, 2015 at 7:40 pm
Mr. Hettiarachi, You should know by now that no amount of appeasement will work. The major problem we have is the large mass of Tamils in Tamil Nadu just 12 miles away. Tamils in Sri Lanka either Jaffna, Batticoloa or Nuwara Eliya have no loyalty to Sri Lanka. Their loyalty is to a mythical Eelam. They lost Dalit caste status by coming to Sri Lanka. Many of them came as illegal migrants and got the benefits of free education and became doctors, engineers etc, and went abroad. Do any of them have an iota of loyalty to Sri Lanka. No! The Tamils who go abroad speak violently against Sri Lanka.
What has to be inculcated is Patriotism to the country. In USA every day they sing the National Anthem with their hands over the heart. They are taught to salute the flag and love the country even though all of them are immigrants or children of immigrants. Unfortunately the Colombians consider is unfashionable to love the country and love the flag.
The introduction of Tamil as a National language was a waste of time and it only made matters worse. If we had insisted on Sinhala as the National and Official language and English as a link language by now everyone would be talking to each other. Instead we taught one stream in Sinhalese, another in Tamil, and the one more in English. So the two groups remained separate and distinct. In Singapore Lee Kuan Yew tackled this problem by ensuring that every block of apartments had an equal mix of people of different religious and cultural backgrounds. Therefore no ghettos formed.
In any case in my opinion CBK is the worst person for the above position. She is completely biased against the Sinhala/Buddhists since her father and husband were killed by Sinhalese. She is suffering from PTSD I think due to these deaths and the bomb blast which removed her eye. She stopped teaching Sri Lanka history during the earlier time when she was President. Now she has removed teaching of Buddhism in schools and is going to replace it with a religious teaching which covers all the religions. The poor children will be so confused in their minds. She has also removed reference to Naga Vihare (Northern Prov) from the text books. She should not be allowed to mess around with school curriculae.
December 24th, 2015 at 2:46 am
Cerberus. I agree with you 100% Chandrika is the worst person to do this. She cant even her children to be patriotic. Writer does not have a clue what is happening in Sri LAnka. He is a POTHE GURA type guy. He needs a training.
December 24th, 2015 at 5:22 am
Chandrika is an Indian sucker like her father.
December 24th, 2015 at 5:26 am
We also heartily agree with Cerberus that it is PATRIOTISM that is needed in Lanka. This should be taught in schools and every other institution in Lanka. Adults (Teachers, Parents, Politcios, especially) must lead the way.
Tamil Leaders ought to set the example first of all by showing PATRIOTISM to Lanka. Ever since Independence (1948) have prominent Tamil Leaders shown any PATRIOTISM to Lanka ?
With PATRIOTISM, mutual Trust & true Reconciliation will follow, and Law and order in the country too.
December 24th, 2015 at 8:05 am
I agree with rest of the commenters…
Bandit Queen is the worst choice to chair this position. She is nothing but a Tamil lover and an anti Sinhala-Buddhist. This is the same woman who said she doesn’t know to whom this country belongs… She is an arrogant, corrupted, power hungry woman who feels that SLFP belongs to her family, because her father started it.
Count my words, she will mess up everything she touches, just like she did when she was in power. Daya Hettiarachchi should know this better than any one us…!
December 24th, 2015 at 9:16 am
CBK should heal herself first. Her distaste for all things Sinhala & Buddhist (due to unfortunate deaths of her father & her husband) at hands of Sinhala extremists, makes her TOTALLY UNSUITABLE to handle ‘Reconciliation’. In her case, will it turn into a conscious or unconscious hate campaign against all the Sinhala Buddhists ??
Both CBK & Ranil are more loyal to foreign countries.
Both CBK & Ranil ought to retire from politics. The country will be happier and more prosperous then.
December 25th, 2015 at 12:10 am
You are absolutely right Cerberus. Tamils are an entirely different breed. They have no loyalty whatsoever to Sri Lanka and the ones who accommodate them with open hands, Singhalese.
Recently I met a young Tamil guy here. Since he was young and belong to the modern generation, I had a chat with him as a Sri Lankan. Alas, he astonished me within the minute by going on non stop repeating the same fabricated history of theirs that we read on their websites. I couldn’t say a word. Then he paused after complaining that Singhalese aren’t learning Tamil because they discriminate Tamils.
That is the instance that I lost it. Then he heard it really well, loud and clear from me, all of it, and the low life disappeared. Now I know that even a kindergarten Tamil kid isn’t what we think. They are all indoctrinated by their parents and their society.
This led me to think that there won’t be peace ever in Sri Lanka because these overseas Tamils will never allow that to happen. This is what this Yaha Paalana lokkas don’t understand. This is why we have to strongly oppose that road link with India. Ponil can’t be trusted although he said that is not going to happen.
This is why we must do everything in our powers to chase away this useless unpatriotic lot from the government.
December 25th, 2015 at 12:13 am
…. and as everyone can see, CBK is carrying on with the agenda that has been entrusted to her by her western bosses. As long as she is living, she will do everything to suppress Singhalese Buddhists in order to please her pay masters, western bosses who are financed by the Tamil diaspora. She is the absolute curse for Sri Lanka and Singhalese.