CHILCOTT ON ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND DEVOLUTION - I
On Saturday the 10th The Island carried a letter from Mr. Dominick Chilcott to the editor published under the above title. Mr. Chilcott in his letter says that he is happy to be part of a national debate in Sri Lanka on the above issues. However, he is not just another reader of "The Island" but the High Commissioner for the United Kingdom, and as such he enjoys other privileges that no ordinary citizen enjoys. He has found it necessary to speak on internal matters of the country, which our High Commissioner in London does not reciprocate and obviously there is an asymmetry in the relationships. It is obvious that the diplomats from the western countries in Sri Lanka have taken upon themselves to give instructions how to solve our problems. It is true that most of these problems were created by the Europeans and especially by the British, but that does not mean that the western diplomats have any right that the High Commissioner for Maldives for that matter does not have or has not taken upon himself by forcing the government of Sri Lanka through various means. Mr. Chilcott has said that Sri Lanka moved in a retrograde direction in 1956 alienating the non Sinhala speaking minorities. He further says if his fairy godmother were to grant him the power to change one thing in Sri Lanka's recent past it would be to prevent the Sinhala only language law from coming into force and to make English the common working language. It sounds like a fairytale with or without the godmother and it is I suppose the way the English rulers in general wanted the leaders of the country to follow. It is not something that the English would most probably recommend only to Sri Lanka but to the entire world though they may have to give into American English rather than what could be termed the English of the English.
English is the only subject I hated at school, for some reason or other I liked even Latin and obtained very good marks in that subject in the two years I had to study that subject, and in spite of my dislike of English and not making an attempt to learn that language it has been forced on me by western cultural colonialism and it so happens that I am replying to the High Commissioner of the English in their language. These are ironies of western Christian cultural colonialism and English or Kaduwa (sword) as it was called by the undergraduates even in my days is not just another language. It cuts, slashes and chops us and our cultures and unless one has a good shield to protect it would be difficult to maintain one's identity as without a shield or paliha the kaduwa would disfigure one. Fortunately my parents have given me a paliha made of very good Sinhala varney or steel and Shakespeares and Newtons have not been able to disfigure me. Even as a school boy I felt the burden that English imposed on us though at that time, of course, I did not know much about cultural colonialism with which English was associated.
It so happens that most of the knowledge created by western Christian modernity in the last five centuries could be found in English and it makes some of us to have a working knowledge of English. However there is no reason to make English the common working language of all the people in Sri Lanka. Mr. Chilcott probably does not know what Baila is in the modern Sinhala idiom. However, all that can be said is that he is a baila preacher when he mentions of alienating the non Sinhala speaking minorities. He wants not only the Sinhalas but also the Tamils to have a working knowledge of English rather than a working knowledge of Sinhala. If Tamils can acquire a working knowledge of English why cannot they have a working knowledge of Sinhala? This is the type of venom that the English governors and the other English administrators poured on the Tamils against the Sinhalas to make sure that English reined supreme. Mr. Chilcott or an apology for English in Sri Lanka could remind us the treasure that can be acquired with a knowledge of English as most of the knowledge created in the last five centuries is in English.
However, like everything else treasure is also a relative concept. What Mr. Chilcott considers as treasure may not be a treasure at all to me. English is not a very good language to express Buddhism and one who treasures Theravada Buddhism may acquire a knowledge of Pali and Sinhala instead of English. Why should Mr. Chilcott think that everybody will gain by having a working knowledge of English? I always make it a point to tell my students who learn about Newton and others in Mathematical Physics that they should have a knowledge of English for three purposes. As far as they are concerned, not those who want to study Theravada Buddhism unless of course they want to compare it with Anglican and other varieties of Christianity, they can gain access to knowledge through English, and that if they have something fundamental to contribute, not working in or doing so called research in a peripheral problem for the purpose of getting a research paper published in a so called prestigious international journal, it can be done through English. I tell them that there is a third reason why they may study English. It is the language that can be used to keep those who know English but not Sinhala, in their place.
Mr. Chilcott probably wants all the majorities and minorities in the whole world to acquire a working knowledge of English following Singapore. Many people are in the habit of quoting Mr. Lee Kuan Yew and to preach baila on the development that Singapore has been able to achieve and compare it with the "mess" that Sri Lanka is in. They would point out at Sinhala only bill and other kinds of "reasons" for the so called mess. However these baila preachers forget two things. One is whether we in Sri Lanka want the kind of development that Singapore has achieved. The Sinhalas have been used to live in peace (not the peace of Chilcott and company- I am using the word peace because my English is adequate only to read and understand so called science philosophy etc., but not to express certain idioms in Sinhala) and tranquillity. In Sinhala we say nivi senahille jeevathveema emanating from Nibbana or Nivana and Senaseema. In other words until we attain Nibbana we want to live in peace and tranquillity. However it is clear that Mr. Chilcott true to the "democracy" of the western majoritarianism does not want us to choose our own development. Why should we follow the westerners and Mr. Lee Kuan Yew in development as well? This is nothing but colonialism of Christian modernity and Mr. Chilcott cannot deviate from the age old policy of the British imposing their wish on us. A second point that those who quote Mr. Lee Kuan Yew forget is that Singapore was able to attain the present level of "their development" under one party rule. It is not the English or any other language that helped them to develop but the absence of a genuine opposition either to criticize or to throw obstacles to the "path of development". I do not want to go back and ask all the devathas (three hundred and thirty million of them) in the absence of a fairy godmother, to give Singapore a two party system as it is not my policy to interfere with the "development" of others even with the help of devathas.
(To be continued).
Professor Nalin de Silva
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