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Implementation
please
Once
in a way we hear statements like this
Successive
governments have failed to implement the constitutional provision
in regard to the use of Tamil as the second official language.
That was from Raja Collure, Chairman of the Official Languages
Commission.
That’s it. Then the Tamils will have to wait for months
to hear a similar reminder that the promise to permit them
to do their business with the government in their language
is yet to be honoured.
The promise was first given half century ago by Prime Minister
S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike; who enacted the Sinhala Only Law which
stated, “The Sinhala language shall be the one official
Language of Ceylon,” who said the sentiments of the Tamils
would be respected.
He confirmed that promise in the pact he signed with Federal
Party Leader S.J.V. Chelvanayagam in 1958. The pact undertook
to grant to Tamil the status of the language of a national
minority and to make it the language of administration of
the Northern and Eastern Provinces. That was his response
to Chelvanayagam’s demand for parity for the Tamil language.
Bandaranaike kept his promise. In September 1958, he enacted
the Tamil Language (Special Provisions) Act which made Tamil
the medium of instruction for Tamil students in schools and
universities; provided for admission of Tamils to the government
service; made it possible for the public to transact business
with the government in Tamil and made Tamil the language of
administration in the Northern and Eastern Provinces.
The regulations needed to implement the 1958 Act were not
made. The UNP spoilt it. Its leader Dudley Senanayake vowed
to prevent the enactment of the regulations and offered to
sacrifice his life to stop it. Bandaranaike tore up the pact
yielding to UNP pressure.
In 1965, Dudley Senanayake offered to do the very thing he
prevented Bandaranaike from doing. In his pact with Chelvanayagam,
the D-C Pact, he expanded the scope of the B-C Pact by agreeing
to make Tamil (a) the language of administration and record
in the Northern and Easter Provinces (b) to make it possible
for a Tamil speaking person to transact business in Tamil
throughout Sri Lanka and (c) to provide for legal proceedings
in the Northern and Eastern Provinces, to be conducted and
recorded in Tamil.
He honoured his pledge by enacting the Tamil Language (Special
Provisions) Regulations 1966 Act, which provided for the use
of Tamil language (a) for all correspondence between the public
and the government in the Northern and Eastern Provinces;
and (b) for the translation of all laws, regulations, government
notifications, publications into Tamil.
The regulations were not implemented because the opposition
led by the SLFP and supported by the LSSP and CP opposed it
and when that coalition came to power in 1970, it went back
to the 1958 Tamil Language (Special Provisions) Act through
the 1972 Constitution it enacted. But it provided for the
translation of laws and publications in Tamil which were in
the 1966 regulations.
The 1978 Constitution retained the 1972 constitutional position
that Sinhala be the official language and the Language of
Administration and Courts countrywide. But it made Tamil a
National Language and provided for its use in administration
and courts in the Northern and Eastern Provinces. No enabling
legislation was needed to implement these provisions.
The 13th Amendment to the Constitution has two parts: the
Official Language, and the Provincial Council system. The
first part contains these provisions:
(1) Tamil shall also be an official language.
(2) English shall be the link language.
(3) Parliament shall by law provide for the implementation
of the provisions of this Chapter.
The Tamil United Liberation Front was not satisfied with merely
naming Tamil as an official language and took up that matter
with Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. President Jayewardene
then enacted the 16th Amendment which was enacted in December
1988. It deals with (a) Languages of Administration, (b) Languages
of Legislation and (c) Languages of the Court.
Under Languages of Administration the 16th Amendment provides
a scheme where Sinhala and Tamil are made the languages of
administration and courts. Taking the practical needs of the
people, it provides that Tamil be used in the Northern and
Eastern Provinces and Sinhala in the rest of the country.
But it provides that Sinhala and Tamil be made the languages
of administrations in the Assistant Government Agent divisions
where both linguistic groups live in significant proportions.
It also provides for the right of every Sri Lankan citizen
to transact his business with the government and its institutions
in his language.
The 16th Amendment is part of the present constitution and
had been incorporated into it. So what the Tamils need is
the implementation of the present Constitution. The Tamils
would be satisfied if the last offer made by the Sinhala leaders
is implemented.
The last offer was the constitutional draft presented to Parliament
by the Chandrika Kumaratunga government in August 2000. It
only consolidates the series of agreements reached from the
time of S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike to that of J.R. Jayewardene.
It states the position clearly and coherently.
It says, “The official languages of the Republic shall
be Sinhala and Tamil.” It adds, “Sinhala and Tamil
shall be the languages of administration throughout the Republic.”
Then it spells out the scheme of implementation, that Tamil
would be the language of administration and courts in the
Northern and Eastern Provinces and Sinhala in the rest of
the country. It also makes provision for the use of Sinhala
and Tamil in the Assistant Government Agent divisions where
both linguistic populations live in significant number.
All that the Tamils are asking for is implementation and not
reminders.
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