groundviews » Interview with Prof. Tissa Vitharana on the 13th Amendment, Constitutional Reform, IT and English language

Interview with Prof. Tissa Vitharana on the 13th Amendment, Constitutional Reform, IT and English language

July 3, 2009 at 5:52 pm · Categories: Colombo, Constitutional Reform, Education, Politics and Governance, Post-War | by Sanjana Hattotuwa

I began my conversation with Prof. Tissa Vitharana, Minister of Science and Technology and Chair of the All Party Representative Committee (APRC) by asking him about the state of play in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in Sri Lanka, and what exactly the declaration of 2009 as the Year of IT and English meant. We talked about work force development, business service outsourcing, the sustainability of nenasala’s (cybercafes) established by ICTA and efforts by his Ministry to promote IT across the island.

Over half of the programme was devoted to Sri Lanka’s constitutional dynamics, and in particular, options for constitutional reform that included the full enactment of the 13th Amendment. I asked Prof. Vitharana what he felt about the success of the APRC process as it was nearing its end, and also talked in depth about the constitutional architecture the APRC would propose (referred to as 13th Amendment plus).

For the Minister’s answer as to whether he had lost most of his hair on account of the APRC process and whether the 13th Amendment alone is enough to address the underlying causes of violence in Sri Lanka, please watch the video in full.

[Note: For a complementary video, and interesting counterpoints to the Minister's views on the 13th Amendment, please see this exclusive video interview with the Leader of the JVP, Somawansa Amarasinghe.]

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Atheist said,

July 4, 2009 @ 8:04 am

To listen to Prof. Vitharane is a breath of fresh air. His sincerity with regards to the 13th amendment is obvious. He is quite right in saying that the rural youth must be first introduced to spoken English – “the talking approach “ – before mastering grammar. This is a radical approach to the teaching of any language, in particular to the teaching of English to the disadvantaged in Sri-Lanka. This will challenge the old view of English as the “imperial” language of the British (and the elites of Sri-Lanka), and bring about a new generation of youth that will treat English as a world language.

It would be marvelous to one day hear the rural youth of Sri-Lanka speak in English without being hampered by any social restraints. I hope members of the Diaspora, living in English speaking countries, with good English skills will go to Sri-Lanka at least for a short while in order to teach the rural and inner city youth.

People like Prof. Vitharane exemplify the virtues of fairness and justice. These are the very qualities that more politicians should embrace.

Shanthi!!! Peace!!!

Justice said,

July 4, 2009 @ 7:25 pm

After viewing both interviews Mr.Vitharana’s and Mr.Amarasinghe’s,I have a feeling we are not far from a consensus .
Both make excellent points.If we add the comments made by some readers to Mr.Amarasinghe’s interview it make even more sense.
What we need is a hybrid package,take Somawansa’s ideas of secularism,have all three languages as national languages.
Empower the province and local governments with powers including management of land , law and order and revenue.
Make sure that proper mechanism of funding is enshrined in the constitution.
Also checks and balance to make sure that the provincial and local governments cann’t be dissolved without proper reason and procedure.
A second chamber in parliament for proper represtation of provincial govt’s interest.
For heaven sake don’t call it devolution package or federal state.Then every body would be happy.
I think, president with his enormous good will and political capital he has earned with the conclusion of the war, will have no problem selling this to any one be it in SL or abroad.
Now what we need is political will to proceed with this.
Mr.Vitharana,Thank you for a painstaking effort.You will be the unsung hero if this important peace of legislation comes into effect.
You will be the Thomas Jefferson of SL.I apologise I couldn’t come up with an indigenous name.Is it because SL didn’t have statesman worth mentioning name?

groundviews said,

July 13, 2009 @ 11:06 pm

[Editors note: The site with the following story is blocked on SLT ADSL connections in Sri Lanka]

President will not devolve power says Tissa Vitharana

2009-07-13 | 6.45 PM

Minister Tissa Vitharana addressing the politburo of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party has said the President had requested him to delay the proposals on devolving power to the north and east in line with the 13th amendment.

Vitharana had made this revelation at a heated politburo meeting of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party.

Prof Jayamapathy Wickremaratne, who attended the meeting, had questioned Vitharana continuously on the delay in presenting the proposals of the All Party Representative Committee (APRC). Wickremaratne had explained that there was no need to take so much time to discuss the basics of power devolution as it was discussed 76 times during former President Chandrika Kumaratunge’s term in office and was later presented as a constitutional amendment in 2002.

Due to the heated discussion on the delay in the APRC proposals, Vitharana had been compelled to come out with a secret he had held on to all this while.

Vitharana had said the President had requested him not to present the proposals and to take more time for it. The President it is learnt had reiterated to Vitharana that although there was a necessity to present the proposals to minimize the agitation among the Tamil community, there was no need to quicken the process.

It was further revealed at this meeting that stories in the media that the President had shouted at the likes of Champika Ranawaka and Wimal Weerawansa for making statements against power devolution was a farce. The news of the President shouting at Ranawaka and Weerawansa had been released by the media unit maintained by Minister Dullas Alahapperuma.

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