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 Affairs State Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe said the event would be held in a manner that minimises inconvenience to the public.

Samarasinghe said the Government decided to sing the National Anthem only in Sinhala at Independence Day celebrations. However, he pointed out that those who wish to sing the National Anthem in Tamil will be able to sing at the celebration. The national anthem will be performed in Sinhala, but anyone can sing in a language they prefer. They may sing it in Tamil in celebrations in the North,” Samarasinghe said.

This time the National Anthem will only be sung in Sinhala at the official ceremony. But there is no restriction to sing the National Anthem. Anyone can sing it in a language they prefer. People in the north and east can sing the National Anthem the way they prefer,” he added.” 

END QUOTE

I hope genuine patriots, irrespective of our ethnicity, and in a non partisan manner will vehemently condemn this pathetic statement by a Cabinet Minister. The Presidential spokesperson should clarify if this is the government’s position. If it is not, then Samarasinghe should be sacked, or resign in disgrace.

The national anthem of Ceylon (Sinhale) was written by the patriot Ananda Samarakoon and titled “Namo Namo Matha” which was chosen as our national anthem shortly after Independence.

As if the lyrics being changed to Sri Lanka Matha by the 1961 government of Ceylon was not insult enough to his creation, now we have divisive elements, Indian bootlickers and ethno centric lunatics trying to make a pig’s breakfast of our nation and its fabric by having us sing it in multiple languages.

The national anthem of this country should be the original song that was written. It should be sung accordingly in the language it was written in. Thus “Namo Namo Matha”, written by Samarakoon in Sinhala, and given the honour of being our national song, should be sung in the original Sinhala words by ALL people.

In Singapore, their national anthem was written in Malay and is sung by all citizens (i.e. Chinese, Malay, Tamil, Sinhalese, Eurasians etc) with patriotic fervour. In Ceylon (Sinhale), the anthem should be sung in Sinhala (the language it was written in) by all citizens (Sinhalese, Tamil, Moor, Burgher, Veddah etc). Countries which have anthems in multiple languages do not have a historical, cultural or societal context that is applicable to our island. 

If our national anthem had been written in Swahili even, then every citizen should sing it in Swahili. This ridiculous notion that we should sing the anthem in multiple languages, or condone different parts of the country singing it in various languages is not only insane, but tantamount to propagating the very same Indian sponsored Tiger nonsensical rhetoric that was supposed to have been decimated in 2009 once and for all. 

Samarasinghe’s reference to:

1. Being allowed to sing the anthem in another language (in this case Tamil)

2. Referring to using Tamil in the North and East

is equivalent to high treason, and advocating separate ethnic identities, regional identities, promoting a fabricated ethno centric history and is the stark opposite of one nation, one people and the principled ideals of one Ceylonese people that our Independence Movement fought for. It violates the sanctity of our anthem, disrespects its creator and demonstrative of an ad hoc policy by inept government. 

The government, especially the President, should make its position clear on this matter. Given Samarasinghe is a Cabinet Minister, his idiotic words represent the government. Our nation needs no enemies when it has inept fat buffoons (who speak just because they have a mouth) in charge of the country. 

It is extremely disappointing too that there was a statement by the Prime Minister that seemingly ran contrary to a statement by the President’s office, where the press reported the PM as saying that there would be no ban on singing the anthem in Tamil.

The national anthem should be sung in one language. It should only be translated for educational purposes, and transliterated (i.e. spelt out phonetically) into another language to assist those who wish to sing it (e.g. a foreigner who wishes to participate in singing it can read the pronunciation of the Sinhala words).

Truly disappointed in this government. This pandering to India and the Indian agenda is deeply disturbing and an insult not only to the nation, but to the sacrifices and struggles of all those who fought for our independence in 1948, as well as to the memory of those innocent citizens killed by the Tigers and the memory of the brave men and women of the armed forces who in some cases made the ultimate sacrifice to reintegrate the country.

When will we get a genuine patriotic government who will end these nonsensical policies, contrasting statements by government ministers, abolish the Indo Lanka Accord and abolish the 13th amendment?

It is also disappointing that some people are trying to belittle 4th February 1948. We were fully independent on that day. Becoming a Republic is totally separate from Independence. There is no question that the British did bad things. But that does not excuse twisting history and facts. We had a democratically elected government of the people in 1948 (indeed we were Asia’s oldest democracy). The name Ceylon was merely the English phonetic version of “Sinhale”. The name “Sri Lanka” is an artificial Indianised name which has no historical reference in our texts, or any colonial records. The Privy Council merely followed Ceylonese Law TO THE LETTER. Unlike today’s corrupt courts, which are supposedly sovereign, politicians had no bearing on judicial verdicts. The Privy Council ruled against Tamil racists who tried to challenge the legality of the Ceylon Citizenship Act. The Privy Council merely followed the law. Singapore similarly used the Privy Council for a considerable period of time to give business confidence to investors (it has since given that up, but certainly doesn’t mark that day as its Independence Day). 

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

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

I wish you a Happy Independence Day and hope that sanity prevails upon our potential first world paradise!

#ScrapIndoLankaAccord #Scrap13thAmendment

Best wishes, 

Stanley Gunaratne.