{"id":98612,"date":"2020-02-03T16:21:37","date_gmt":"2020-02-03T23:21:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=98612"},"modified":"2020-02-03T16:21:37","modified_gmt":"2020-02-03T23:21:37","slug":"the-national-anthem-should-be-sung-in-one-language-and-the-1948-independence-should-be-honoured","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/02\/03\/the-national-anthem-should-be-sung-in-one-language-and-the-1948-independence-should-be-honoured\/","title":{"rendered":"The National Anthem should be sung in ONE language and the 1948 Independence should be honoured"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stanley Gunaratne.<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

The quote below is widely circulated in at least two, or three Sri\nLankan mainstream newspapers. The government minister, a member of the\nPresident’s cabinet is making a statement on the singing of our national anthem\nat the 2020 Independence Day celebrations:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Speaking\nto media at the Information Department, Public Administration and Home Affairs\nState Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe said the event would be held in a manner\nthat minimises inconvenience to the public.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Samarasinghe\nsaid the Government decided to sing the National Anthem only in Sinhala at\nIndependence Day celebrations. However, he pointed out that those who\nwish to sing the National Anthem in Tamil will be able to sing at the celebration.\nThe national anthem will be performed in Sinhala, but anyone can sing in a\nlanguage they prefer. They may sing it in Tamil in celebrations in the North,\u201d\nSamarasinghe said.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\ntime<\/em><\/strong> the National Anthem will only be sung in Sinhala at the\nofficial ceremony. But there is no restriction to sing the National Anthem. Anyone\ncan sing it in a language they prefer<\/strong>. People in the north and east can\nsing the National Anthem the way they prefer<\/strong>,\u201d he added.” <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

END QUOTE<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hope\ngenuine patriots, irrespective of our ethnicity, and in a non partisan manner\nwill vehemently condemn this pathetic statement by a Cabinet Minister. The\nPresidential spokesperson should clarify if this is the government’s position.\nIf it is not, then Samarasinghe should be sacked, or resign in disgrace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nnational anthem of Ceylon (Sinhale) was written by the patriot Ananda\nSamarakoon and titled “Namo Namo Matha” which was chosen as our\nnational anthem shortly after Independence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As if the\nlyrics being changed to Sri Lanka Matha<\/em> by the 1961 government of\nCeylon was not insult enough to his creation, now we have divisive elements,\nIndian bootlickers and ethno centric lunatics trying to make a pig’s breakfast\nof our nation and its fabric by having us sing it in multiple languages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nnational anthem of this country should be the original song that was written.\nIt should be sung accordingly in the language it was written in. Thus\n“Namo Namo Matha”, written by Samarakoon in Sinhala, and given the\nhonour of being our national song, should be sung in the original\nSinhala words by ALL people.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nSingapore, their national anthem was written in Malay and is sung by all\ncitizens (i.e. Chinese, Malay, Tamil, Sinhalese, Eurasians etc) with patriotic\nfervour. In Ceylon (Sinhale), the anthem should be sung in Sinhala (the\nlanguage it was written in) by all citizens (Sinhalese, Tamil, Moor, Burgher,\nVeddah etc). Countries which have anthems in multiple languages do not have\na historical, cultural or societal context that is applicable to our island. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If our\nnational anthem had been written in Swahili even, then every citizen should\nsing it in Swahili. This ridiculous notion that we should sing the anthem in\nmultiple languages, or condone different parts of the country singing it in\nvarious languages is not only insane, but tantamount to propagating the\nvery same Indian sponsored Tiger nonsensical rhetoric that was supposed to have\nbeen decimated in 2009 once and for all. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Samarasinghe’s\nreference to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Being\nallowed to sing the anthem in another language (in this case Tamil)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2.\nReferring to using Tamil in the North and East<\/p>\n\n\n\n

is\nequivalent to high treason, and advocating separate ethnic identities, regional\nidentities, promoting a fabricated ethno centric history and is the stark\nopposite of one nation, one people and the principled ideals of one Ceylonese\npeople that our Independence Movement fought for. It violates the sanctity of\nour anthem, disrespects its creator and demonstrative of an ad hoc\npolicy by inept government. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\ngovernment, especially the President, should make its position clear on this\nmatter. Given Samarasinghe is a Cabinet Minister, his idiotic words\nrepresent the government. Our nation needs no enemies when it has inept fat\nbuffoons (who speak just because they have a mouth) in charge of the\ncountry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\nis extremely disappointing too that there was a statement by the Prime\nMinister that seemingly ran contrary to a statement by the President’s office,\nwhere the press reported the PM as saying that there would be no ban on singing\nthe anthem in Tamil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nnational anthem should be sung in one language. It should only be translated\nfor educational purposes, and transliterated (i.e. spelt out phonetically)\ninto another language to assist those who wish to sing it (e.g. a foreigner who\nwishes to participate in singing it can read the pronunciation of the\nSinhala words).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Truly\ndisappointed in this government. This pandering to India and the Indian agenda\nis deeply disturbing and an insult not only to the nation, but to the\nsacrifices and struggles of all those who fought for our independence in 1948,\nas well as to the memory of those innocent citizens killed by the Tigers and\nthe memory of the brave men and women of the armed forces who in some cases\nmade the ultimate sacrifice to reintegrate the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When will\nwe get a genuine patriotic government who will end these nonsensical\npolicies, contrasting statements by government ministers, abolish the Indo\nLanka Accord and abolish the 13th amendment?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is\nalso disappointing that some people are trying to belittle 4th February 1948. We\nwere fully independent on that day. <\/strong>Becoming a Republic is totally\nseparate from Independence. There is no question that the British did bad\nthings. But that does not excuse twisting history and facts. We had a\ndemocratically elected government of the people in 1948 (indeed we were Asia’s\noldest democracy). The name Ceylon was merely the English phonetic version of\n“Sinhale”. The name “Sri Lanka” is an artificial\nIndianised name which has no historical reference in our texts, or any colonial\nrecords. The Privy Council merely followed Ceylonese Law TO THE LETTER. Unlike\ntoday’s corrupt courts, which are supposedly sovereign, politicians had no\nbearing on judicial verdicts. The Privy Council ruled against Tamil racists who\ntried to challenge the legality of the Ceylon Citizenship Act. The\nPrivy Council merely followed the law. Singapore similarly used the Privy\nCouncil for a considerable period of time to give business confidence to\ninvestors (it has since given that up, but certainly doesn’t mark that day as\nits Independence Day). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

May 22nd\nif we wish can be commemorated as a “Republic Day”, but should not\ntake away from what was achieved in 1948. Indeed, we lost our independence in\nJuly 1987 thanks to the political establishment licking the boots of India\n(the nation who created the Tigers and who still promotes their agenda here).\nFrankly the government of 1970 did not have a democratic mandate (over 50% of\nthe vote) to change the constitution at the time. Furthermore, it\nis ridiculous to focus on “the role of Japan.” Japan committed barbaric\natrocities<\/strong> across all of Asia, and would certainly have done the same in\nCeylon had they managed to reach here. It is an insult to the peoples of China,\nKorea, Malaya, Singapore, etc, whose populations were subjected to unspeakable\nJapanese subjugation, slavery and executions, to try and condone what the\nJapanese did. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In short,\nour Independence Day and celebrations should be based on the truth, apolitical\nand established upon fact. The Anglo Ceylon Defence Treaty was a beneficial\ndefence alliance mutually agreed upon and protected us from India. If that had\nremained intact, India would never have dared threaten us, much less set up a\nterrorist group to destroy our country. I hope politicians in the future do not\nmake each Independence Day a political tamasha about their own party. This\nshould be a NATIONAL day of unity just like in the United States, or Singapore,\nwhere the country unites beyond partisan lines and celebrates what\nwas achieved and takes a moment to THINK about where we are going.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wish\nyou a Happy Independence Day and hope that sanity prevails upon our potential\nfirst world paradise!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

#ScrapIndoLankaAccord\n#Scrap13thAmendment<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Best wishes, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stanley\nGunaratne.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stanley Gunaratne. The quote below is widely circulated in at least two, or three Sri Lankan mainstream newspapers. The government minister, a member of the President’s cabinet is making a statement on the singing of our national anthem at the 2020 Independence Day celebrations: “Speaking to media at the Information Department, Public Administration and Home […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98612"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98612\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}