SRI LANKA

Reports say that the Sir Lankan Government is mulling over the idea of abolishing the Tamil language version of the national anthem. Some even say that it has decided to abolish it. If true, that would be a stupid mistake.

The official argument is that all countries, even multilingual ones such as South Africa, have one version of their national anthem. Under normal circumstances, I would agree. But Sri Lanka is not normal circumstances. In 2009 it emerged from a brutal 26-year civil war, in which the Sinhalese majority had battled with the nihilistic and suicidal Tamil Tigers, who were seeking a separate homeland in the north and east of the country. The final stages of the conflict were particularly bloody, and a number of outside countries would have liked to put the Sri Lankan Government in the dock for war crimes during this period. Against that background, what is needed is reconciliation, not further restrictions, however minimal they may seem, against the Tamil minority. After all, the two versions of the national anthem - which, other than the language, are exactly the same - have been around since independence in 1948.

It may be that the Government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa was merely flying a kite. Nevertheless, it is yet another worrying signal from what is rapidly looking more like a Sinhalese nepotistic monarchy than the democratically elected leadership of a multi-ethnic country. Sometimes symbols matter; this is one of them.

Walter Blotscher