1956 is politically a significant year that changed not only the lives of ordinary citizens of the country but also the carrier lives or the professional spheres of parliamentarians. In 4th February 1956 , the Ceylonese celebrated 8th independence day after 1796- 1948 period of administration of British Empire. 'Winning independence' never was something very easy for our people.
There were very many reasons as to why we needed freedom from The British Empire. Were our people back then during the period of 1796 -1948 got an opportunity to understand the British totally or fully with regard to their political or economical views ? If yeas. what was the bar?
The language was one of the bars for both locals and for the British in knowing each other. specially for locals because i do not think that they bothered too much about what locals though about them or about their patterns or styles of administration.
What is the solution if citizens do not understand what an administration is trying to say?
The solution is or my suggestion is to have an administration of your own other than a foreign administration or an administration foreign to you that do not understand what you say.
so justifying what i mentioned above, we gained independence in 1948 yet it was not a complete independence theoretically.
why?
Until 1972 the British Empire had some control over our country.
In order to feel total freedom, the citizens must know or understand what state workers or representatives of the country's government say or when trying to obtain the services provided for them.
what was the biggest bar ?
The official language
Our people faced problems when dealing with newly elected or selected governments, in the offices because of the official language back then.
why?
further, I thought of analyzing the reasons and applicability a bit more than what i explained above , behind then government declaring Sinhalese as 'official language of the country as one of the solutions to the issue shown or appeared before them, issues faced by most the people of the country and by adminsitrations.
We under British rulers for how many years?
1796- 1948=?
152 years.
what was naturally the official language of Ceylonese back then? Mandarin?
i do not think that the British knew Mandarin back then like they know or have learned it today.
so though we liked or not The British didn't use Sinhalese language in handling official matters or dealings. on what foundation they should have used 'Sinhalese language in their official or other dealings with Ceylonese?
what emperors learned and used local languages when handling or governing colonies other than the mother tongs of their empires?
what is the easiest way to understand the official and social need of then government declaring Sinhalese language as official language?
This is the way that i tried to learn it........
What was the total population of the country, Ceylon in 1956?
what was the total Sinhalese population back then?
out of them how many people could read and speak English fluently or at least partially?
100%?
50%?
25%?
10%?
05%?
Did they all very well understand every single word the British spoke of?
Did they very well know what they were asked ordered to do in English?
Did they very well know how to convey a message to their heads and chiefs of British Government in English?
can we say that they had very good translators that they could rely on or trustful?
what was the mechanism used in the courts back then? or else were the cases filed at courts asked or solved in local languages?
Did they understand what the English juries say before the courts? did they know what and how the lawyers explained things before Judges?
The answer is NO.
in other words, the truth is though the English lived and governed us for more than one and a half centuries the very rural people, the peasants did not know at least 05% of the English language. kindly correct me if you have data to prove me wrong.
is it easy for any administration to govern a country without facing any issues, practical, specially when majority of their people do not understand how things work in the government offices due to the languages used or that they are unaware of or have not learned etc.?
The leader of the country back then, Prime Minister S.W.R.D. Bandaranayake was a scholar and knew very well how to handle the language of the British and was a person studied in English in a reputed world class university in the Britain. He, who faced no issues handling English Language decided to use Sinhalese Language as the official language considering all the issues faced by his people, citizens. You cannot expect then government to use Tamil language as the official language because of the size of the total population of the Tamil People including other races.
Though English is an International language we all like to use and speak it is a foreign language. In other words it is not none of us's mother tong.
Therefore i can say that we cannot find fault in declaring Sinhalese language as official language of Ceylonese back then according to my personal awareness.
further.................
Gradually number of 'total population of each race of the country increased and due to the decision taken the number not only entering formal schools but also Universities increased.
Situation changed over years, socially, economically and politically in the country. Some took no efforts to learn each other's languages or culture always tried to depart from each other by trying to live zonally and geographically isolating from each other. i.e. Elam
The issue further separated Sinhalese from Tamils psychologically more than geographically. after solving the problem the government decided to enter Tamil language as a compulsory language for not only school children but also for state workers.
but i have a doubt whether it was applicable for every race? Is it only Sinhalese have to study Tamil language or is it applicable for both races?
According to what i learned ' if you are a government worker, you cannot say 'you can't work in the Northern part of the country due to lack of knowledge of the language. Any resident of Northern part of the country cannot say that they can't work in the southern or Central or any other parts of the country due to lack of knowledge of the language.
My brother who was born in the Jaffna Peninsula, about a year ago, went to Jaffna Kachcheri to get a copy of his birth certificate for a reason. He said that it was a little difficult for both parties due to lack of understanding of each others languages to convey his need and to provide the services with no or less difficulty. But luckily he met a girl who lived in our village for years and now working there and she has helped him a lot.
one day in this year i went to a government office for a reason. one of the sections was headed by a Tamil lady and what one of the other officers told me was that she cannot read Sinhalese therefore it was a little difficult when dealing with official matters. But i forgot to ask them whether they speak in Tamil with her.
No race or nationals can think of establishing sustainable peace in the country by geographically isolating from each other or politically divisioning from each other unless they try to learn each others languages 100%.
Thank you reading.
