It is not the National Anthem!

By Sugath Samarasinghe

(Courtesy of The Island)

This refers to the letter of Neville Ladduwahetti (NL) in the Opinion Page on the subject National Anthem in your issue of 2nd February.

NL has pointed out here that “Article 7 says ” National Anthem of the Republic of Sri Lanka shall be “Sri Lanka Matha”, the words and music of which is set out in the Third Schedule “. It is obvious from this that anything sung in any other language is NOT the National Anthem of Sri Lanka.

In another article on page 10, Rear Admiral Sarath Weerasekera has reported that “Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and the Cabinet have unanimously decided to sing it in the Tamil language also”. If this is correct, I think it is unfair by the Tamil people of our country to delude them into the belief that they are singing the National Anthem, when in fact they are not. I think, by this act the government is reducing the Tamils, in effect, to a second class status, by getting them to sing some song other than the country’s official National Anthem at the National Day celebrations. Thus, it will be in fact inimical to the efforts being made to bring about national reconciliation.

The same principle applies to those who claim that the Lion Flag that was raised on the Independence Day in 1948 is the real national flag. The Constitution has stated the lion flag with the green and orange strips is the official National Flag. Thus, I do not think the government should be concerned with those who insist that the other is our national flag.

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