Sinhala Trade Unionist condemns war mongering by Southern politicians

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 December 2004, 03:32 GMT]
"People in the south are against the resumption of war. Power-seeking politicians infuse the idea of war in the minds of the people in the South. The Political parties, greedy for power, are driving fear into the minds of the southern people," said Mr. C. Jayathunga, General Secretary of the Lanka Guru Sangamaya (Teachers Union), the overwhelming majority of whose members are Sinhala Teachers, at an interview given to TamilNet during his recent visit to Jaffna. He also said that the means to achieve peace is for both parties to engage in talks both recognizing each other’s equality of status.

Mr. Jayatunga visited Jaffna 10th December on the occasion of the 75th public meeting of the Northern Provincial Teachers Union.

"I think that it is correct to say that during the time of war, people are desirous of peace. And certain people during the time of peace become inclined to see the resumption of war. This is what is happening in the South now. The political parties greedy for power are driving fear into the minds of the southern people," he said.

"Majority Sinhalese in the south are neutral, but some political parties are clamouring for the resumption of war. But we are categorically against the resumption of war," he added.

"These political parties have access to mass media like radio, television etc. that we are denied of. But we are campaigning against the war at our union meetings and through the various publications our union puts out," said the trade unionist.

"Intense campaign by scheming political parties may result in the people voting with those parties, which advocate military means for achieving peace. If the present situation of absence of peace prolongs, those parties advocating war will take advantage of it, although the majority of the people are against it," Mr.Jayathunga warned.

"We adhere to the fundamental principle that military means will not provide solution to the ethnic conflict," he stressed.

Parties concerned in the conflict should engage in peace talks both recognizing each other's equality of status, he said.

"When ethnic strife began in 1977 we advocated national unity. We are firmly committed to these principles. Our stand taken in 1977 still remains the same unchanged," he stressed.

"When the ethnic conflict started intensifying we took up the position that the right to self determination of the Tamil people must be recognized and accepted. Our union is the first ever Trade-Union that has openly accepted and advocated the right of the Tamil people to self determination" Mr. Jayathunga told TamilNet.

"In the south we even distributed publications calling upon the government in power to withdraw the armed forces from the North and East. As a result of this we had to face lot of problems from the government," replied Mr. Jayathunga to a question whether his union could contribute to shape the views in the south.

"There are people opposed to the peace process both in South as well as in the North. JVP is presently opposed to the peace efforts. They don't believe that peace could be achieved through talks," Mr. Jeyatunga said in reply to question about the JVP's stand.

Speaking on issues related to teachers Mr. Jeyatunga said, "Our union receives complaints about problems that are common to all teachers in Sri Lanka. But problems, which are peculiar and special to northern province, are also brought to our union. One such problem is the severe shortage of Tamil officers all over Sri Lanka including the Ministry of Education. This creates problems, for instance, the circulars put out in Sinhala are made available in Tamil only after a long delay".

"We have requested the officers in the Ministry of Education to put out circulars in both languages simultaneously. But this request has not been met until now. Severe dearth of Tamil officers is the cause for this. This dearth is explained by the fact that a single cut-off point is applied in competitive examinations for recruitment of officers in the field of education. Because of this only few Tamils get selected. Last year, only 3 Tamils were selected to the posts of Principal Grade I. As a solution to this problem we have recommended to the Ministry that the assessment of cadre be done separately for the Sinhala and Tamil streams and officers be selected on the basis of separately held examinations," Mr.Jayathunga said.

He expressed the view the unity must be achieved on the basis of equality of both communities.

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