A PIONEERING ATTEMPT BY OUR
OUTPOST TO ADDRESS PEOPLE IN THEIR OWN LANGUAGE IN THE NEDERLANDS
By Walter Jayawardhana
The Embassy of Sri Lanka in the Netherlands has started publishing
a Dutch Language Public Relations News letter named ‘Sri Lanka
Kroniek’ From August 22.
This is considered to be a pioneering attempt by one of our foreign
outposts to reach a nation where they represent Sri Lanka , in their
national language , deviating from the old practice of addressing them
in English .In the Netherlands naturally Dutch is more relevant and
productive to tell the present generations , than English, about the
beautiful tropical island and our historical relations with them since
Sri Lanka is one of the few countries in the world that uses Roman Dutch
Law as part of our civil law ,” said M.H.M.N. Bandara, a spokesman
of the embassy.
Sri Lanka was a Dutch colony in the 17th century and they had left their
cultural imprint not only on law, but on crafts like carpentry, architecture
,canal building ,foods like lamprais, specific varieties of cakes, consumption
of chilies overtly in curries, combs worn as head ornaments, language
etc. Roman Dutch Law disappeared altogether from the land of its birth
since, in 1809, Code of Napoleon was imposed on the country.
The target groups of the news letter are the Members of the Netherland
Parliament, the Members of the Municipality Governments of the Netherlands,
Media Groups and Journalists, Dutch Sri Lanka Friendship groups, Diplomats,
Foreign Ministry officials, Travel Ageneses, NGOs, and Business organization
in the Netherlands.
In the First public relation News letter there are many small news
items with colorful Photographers such as ‘Susanthika’ coming
Seventh in the semi final of 200 meter Olympic. It said despite the
position she showed her best in the world athletic field for nearly
16 Years. The newsletter discussed how Micro Company assembled Double-decker
Buses in Sri Lanka. There were also brief write ups on the New Dutch
Ambassador for Sri Lanka, the Dutch Coat of Arms during her imperial
days in Sri Lanka and colorful Kandy Esala Perahera – “One
of the best cultural shows in the World.”
The Embassy plans to issue the news letter every two weeks. The Embassy
spokesman says that in addition to this Dutch Language News letter the
Embassy has also already created a photo based web site entitled ‘Netherlands
Sri Lanka Friendships site’ http://www.flickr.com/photos/29478433@N04/)
to develop the Friendship and understand between the Netherlands and
Sri Lanka in both Dutch and English languages. The Embassy wishes to
promote the News related to Sri Lankan tourist attractions through this
web site and news letter. Especially nature lovers, adventure seekers
and the young travelers are encouraged to travel to Sri Lanka in this
website.(
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