MINISTER OUTLINES PROGRESS ON LANGUAGE TRAINING;

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 000929 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/INS, SCA/RA USAID FOR SCA, CMM, DG E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/08/2018 TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM CE SUBJECT: MINISTER OUTLINES PROGRESS ON LANGUAGE TRAINING; ACKNOWLEDGES LACK OF MOVEMENT ON POLITICAL SOLUTION REF: COLOMBO 866 Classified By: Ambassador Robert O. Blake, Jr. for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Summary: In an October 8 meeting with Ambassador, Minister of Constitutional Affairs and National Integration Dew Gunasekera described the progress his Ministry is making to increase Tamil language training for Sinhalese-speaking civil servants, police and Buddhist monks to help promote national integration. For example, all new Sinhalese-speaking civil servants must have varying levels of proficiency in Tamil, depending on their job responsibilities. Gunasekera, who heads a Parliamentary Select Committee to think through ways to implement the 17th Amendment and reconstitute an independent Constitutional Council to appoint independent heads of the Human Rights, Bribery and other Commissions, admitted that politics and the lack of consensus between the SLFP and UNP parties have stymied progress on implementing the 17th Amendment, but expressed hope that a recent Supreme Court order might help resolve the impasse. The Minister candidly admitted that the GSL's stated goal to devolve power to the provinces is not working and would not by itself satisfy Tamil aspirations for a political solution. He did not foresee progress on a political solution in the near future noting that the President and his team are focused on a military solution. End Summary. Stepped Up Tamil Language Training -------------- ¶2. (C) Gunasekera asserted that the root cause of Sri Lanka's conflict is language. He lamented that it took 31 years to make Tamil an official language in 1987 (along with Sinhala),but he acknowledged that little progress was made to implement the 1987 law. Gunasekera, who was Chairman of the Official Languages Commission from 2001 to 2004, said he won the President's support to put language policy under his ministry so that he could take charge of pressing for progress. He said his major accomplishment was to make Tamil compulsory for all new Sinhalese public servants entering the civil service after July 2007. He said lower level service staff in the ministries are required to have only speaking proficiency while higher grade civil servants must pass a proficiency test in written and spoken Tamil. He said the first proficiency exams were held in March 2008. 7,700 Sinhalese civil servants sat for the Tamil exam while 2,000 Tamil civil servants sat for the Sinhalese exam. More than 50 percent passed. Those that failed will receive more training until they are able to pass. For those who are already in the public service before the new law took effect, the Ministry has offered them a one-time incentive of 25,000 rupees (USD 250) plus annual step increases to gain proficiency in Sinhala or Tamil (whichever is not their native language). ¶3. (C) The Minister said he has attached particular priority to training police and healthcare workers in Tamil since these two areas were the focus of the largest number of public complaints. He indicated that 3,000 Sinhala police are now proficient in Tamil, while every national hospital has Tamil speakers in its wards. Ambassador noted that the judicial system also has come in for criticism for a lack of Tamil speakers. Gunasekera agreed saying the Tamil language capability in the judiciary is still "a crisis," adding that the Chief Justice also had complained. The Minister said his Ministry will open a new training center for Tamil language teachers in Kalutara on October 18 to help correct this problem. He also noted that the Ministry has begun training Buddhist monks to help promote national integration. 17th Amendment Still Stuck -------------- ¶4. (C) Ambassador asked if there was any hope for progress in implementing the 17th Amendment to reconstitute the Constitutional Council which could then appoint independent heads of the Human Rights, Bribery, and other Commissions. Gunasekera, who heads a Parliamentary Select Committee on the 17th Amendment, lamented that the absence of consensus between the ruling SLFP party and the opposition UNP had COLOMBO 00000929 002 OF 002 stymied his efforts to resolve the matter. He confided he was secretly pleased that in response to a recent fundamental rights petition, the Supreme Court had ordered the government to reach a consensus on this matter by October 16 expressing hope this might help break the log jam. Political Solution - 13th Amendment Is Not Enough -------------- -- ¶5. (C) Ambassador noted the USG's frustration that no progress has been made on a political solution either through the All Parties Representative Committee (APRC) or some other mechanism. Gunasekera candidly agreed that merely implementing the 13th Amendment to devolve power to the provinces would not satisfy Tamil aspirations. He also agreed with Ambassador's assessment that the 13th Amendment was not being implemented, noting "central government ministers want their empires." He expressed support for the work of the APRC, but noted it remains stymied by lack of UNP and JVP support for the process. Ambassador pointed out that the President was also to blame since he has thus far not thrown his political weight behind the APRC. Gunasekera agreed, noting that "all eyes are on Killinochchi" (eg the President and his team remain focused on a military solution). Comment -------------- ¶6. (C) Gunasekera has been active in politics since the late 1950s. He was elected to Parliament as a representative of the Communist Party from 1986 to 1989 from the Ratnapura district. He has quietly been ONE of the more progressive Ministers to push for progress on language and other steps to promote national integration. He also is ONE of a small number of Ministers participating in the ONE Text Initiative, a multi-stakeholder dialogue aimed at achieving consensus on key peace issues (reftel). BLAKE