8/9/2019 Contributions of Diaspora Communities to the Process of Nation Building in Sri Lanka

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Contributions of Diaspora Communities to TheProcess of Nation Building in Sri Lanka

 by Rifai

( anuary !"m !#$%& London& Sri Lanka 'uardian TamilDiaspora community can play a great role in the process of nation building in Sri

Lanka today) *ost of Tamil people + ha,e spoken agree Tamil community should -ork

 -ith ne- go,ernment to de,elop Sri Lanka) They are -illing to rebuild North and .ast

region) /et& it is up to ne- go,ernment to formulate some -orking mechanisms -ith

Tamil diaspora so that they could happily come back to Sri Lanka and in,est in

Northern 0 .astern part of Sri Lanka)

8/9/2019 Contributions of Diaspora Communities to the Process of Nation Building in Sri Lanka

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+ think that ne- president should take some bold step to reconcile -ith Tamil

community) Tamil political leadership should take some steps to reconcile -ith Sri

Lankan go,ernments) + think that 1# years of distrust and cynicism bet-een Tamil&

*uslim and Sinhalese community should be -iped out from surface of Sri Lanka

fore,er) + think that TN2 and some other political parties should be integrated into

national politics) This could be done by offering Tamil *Ps some po-erful ministerialposts in the cabinet)

+t -as reported that TN2 -ould not accept any ministerial posts from this go,ernment)

They argue that accepting any ministerial post -ill be detrimental for them to -in o,er

Tamil political rights) 3or that reason they are not -illing to integrate into national

politics) They feel that once they ha,e accepted any ministerial post they ha,e be

politically ensla,ed or forced to bo- do-n to Sinhalese political leadership) This type

of negati,e thinking -ould not take this nation any-here) + think rather than thinking

negati,ely Tamil political should engage in nation building process) They should feel

that they an integral part of Sri Lanka) 4e should -ork to de,elop all regions of Sri

Lanka nationally) 4e should -ork to enrich all communities of Sri Lanka) 4e need to

create this gracious mind set ups in our political leadership)

Tamil politicians think they are elected to -ork for Tamils alone& Sinhalese politician

think that they are elected to -ork for Sinhalese community alone& *uslim politicians

think they are elected to ser,e to *uslim community alone) 4e need to break this

regressi,e mind set up) ) Communal mind set up is not constructi,e thinking) This

mind set up begun since -e got independence from Britain) This communal thinking is

a curse on all Sri Lankan communities) 4e should come out from this narro- thinkingand build a national identity -ith differences in our cultural identities)

5is .6cellency President *aithripala Serisena is the president for all communities) 5e

is the president for the entire nation) /et& unfortunately& there is no such national

feeling among Tamil community) Tamil population should not be marginalised in

nation building process) 2 Tamil friend of mine told me that if Sri Lankan go,ernment

has taken any meaningful de,elopment programmes of reconciliation in North and

.ast people -ill forget all -hat happened in the past) Lesson learned and

reconciliation report is an eye -ash and it did not bring any meaningful reconciliation)Confrontational politics of Tamil political leadership -ould not bring any benefit for

Tamils) +n the same -ay& marginali7ation of Tamils by Singhalese leadership -ould not

 bring any good for Sri Lanka) +t is timely needed to ha,e some sort of communal

reconciliation in Sri Lanka) 8ther-ise& future generations -ill suffer a lot)

1) Tamil diaspora9s contribution to the de,elopment of North and .ast:

Tamils of Today are not Tamils of the past decades) Today& Tamil people ha,e a

lot to offer for the de,elopment of Sri Lanka) Take for instance& Tamil diaspora

8/9/2019 Contributions of Diaspora Communities to the Process of Nation Building in Sri Lanka

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community in .urope they could do a lot financially to de,elop North and .ast)

 4hy does not Sri Lankan go,ernment create some mechanism so that Tamil

people could in,est in North and .ast; 4hy should Tamil community in North

and .ast depri,e of this golden opportunity to de,elop their region through their

in,estment; Ne- 'o,ernment should gi,e dual citi7enship to all Sri Lankan

citi7ens -ho li,e in abroad) +n this -ay& Sri Lanka could bring a lot ofin,estments from Tamils -ho li,e in .urope) Countries like Pakistan& +ndia and

Bangladesh encourage their citi7ens -ho li,e abroad to in,est in their countries&

 yet& Sri Lanka go,ernment ha,e some unnecessary fear from its citi7ens -ho li,e

abroad) 'o,ernment should open the country for foreign in,estment) 4hat

 -ould be better in,estment than that of its o-n citi7en9s in,estment in their

nati,e places; + ha,e spoken to many Tamil people they are ready to in,est in

North and .ast yet& Sri Lankan go,ernment is not facilitating realistic -ays to do

that) +n the same -ay& there is no harm in gi,ing administrati,e po-ers such as

local go,ernment& health& and education) 'i,ing such po-er -ound not pose any 

national threat) Such a broader minded thinking is needed to make any

meaningful reconciliation)

2)

! Contributions of Tamil academics and professionals to the post conflict Sri

Lanka)

+t is estimated that nearly one million Sri Lankans li,e in .uropean countries

today (This is appro6imate estimate it may be less or little more) 8ut of this

totally& many people are professionally <ualified people like doctors& engineers&

accountants& =udges& la-yers& teachers& academics and other professionals) *ost

of these Sri Lankan e6patriates came from Sri Lankan uni,ersities and institutes)+t is reported that thousands of Sri Lankan doctors are -orking in the >? alone

like-ise& thousands of Sri Lankan professionals -ork in .uropean countries)

These people ha,e moral duty to support nation building process in Sri Lanka)

*ost of these professionals ha,e already benefited from Sri Lankan

go,ernment9s free education in schools and uni,ersities) No- they should pay

 back) +n return ne- Sri Lankan go,ernment should encourage and facilitate to

get back these professionals into Sri Lanka) There is no system or mechanism to

do this right no-) This begs the <uestion of dual nationality in Sri Lanka as -ell)

@ The debate for and against dual nationality in Sri Lanka)Pre,ious go,ernment did not ha,e any desire or -ill po-er to offer dual

citi7enship for Sri Lankans -ho li,e in .uropean countries for fear of Tamil

.elam diaspora) The pre,ious go,ernment assumed that a large number of

Tamils -ill come back and reAstart Tamil struggle once again) This is a baseless

fear) Today& dual citi7enship could bring a lot of economic benefits to Sri Lanka)

Professional and business people -ill make some in,estments in Sri Lanka) To

e6pedite this& ne- Sri Lankan go,ernment should facilitate dual citi7enship)

8/9/2019 Contributions of Diaspora Communities to the Process of Nation Building in Sri Lanka

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This could create thousands of =obs for the local people in Sri Lanka) This -ould

 boost the profit of Sri Lankan 2irline as -ell) 3ormer president on his ,isit to

London in !##1 in,ited all Sri Lankan professionals back home yet&

unfortunately& due to the stupidity of some officers in pre,ious go,ernment Sri

Lanka that did not materialise) Dual citi7enship card -as used for some political

gains) To get ma6imum economic benefits from its e6patriate communities in.urope Sri Lankan go,ernment should issue dual citi7enship all Sri Lankans

li,ing in .urope) +t is in the national of Sri Lanka to e6pedite this process) 4e

hope that there are some clea,er people in Sri Lankan go,ernment today to do

this)

Posted by Tha,am