Private motion moots Sri Lankan identity

By Ashwin Hemmathagama

Our Lobby Correspondent

The requirement to state one’s race and religion in Government documents is an impediment and an inhibition to developing a strong national identity and should be dispensed with, stated UNP MP Ravi Karunanayake, moving a private member motion in Parliament.

“Sri Lanka is striving to ensure prosperity.

We are blessed with a multiracial and a multi-religious society. Although we have gone through a racial problem, we need to make sure that action is taken to create a Sri Lankan identity. It is time to get ourselves together and call ourselves Sri Lankans. But the problem which keeps us away from reaching this goal is the religious and racial parties that have come up. You have parties that fight elections on a religious basis. Brutalising the Sri Lankan identity is a crime. Here is the opportunity to put things correct,” proposed Karunanayake.

Seconding the motion, UNP MP Eran Wickramaratne said, “We are all Sri Lankans. The conflicts polarise, but we have a new opportunity. Today I saw an identity card of a colleague written in Sinhala. But a Tamil speaker’s identity card is written in Sinhala as well as in Tamil. Why have these differences? All our identity cards should be written in both Sinhala and Tamil languages on both sides.”

Joining the debate, UNP MP Ajith P. Perera highlighted the impediments seen in the Constitution, whereas the birth registration process has already been modified to omit giving details about race, father’s employment, and religion on the birth certificate. “But according to Article 41 (a) of our Constitution, it is necessary give the race,” he said.

“Every identity card should be written in Sinhala and Tamil. English is not necessary. It is just a link language,” agreed Minister of National Languages and Social Integration Vasudeva Nanayakkara.