Others try to make it to stable locations in the rest of the West.

If you offer Sri Lankan citizens UK passports (if we return to colonial status) and hold a referendum on the subject Ithink a clear majority will vote for re-colonisation.

Look at the situation on the ground, 60 years after independence. Look who is exploiting whom? And where’s the development?

If we assume that the Colonial powers would have eventually implemented a system of governance and way of life simi;lar to the one they have in their own lands then who can dispute that Colonial rule is not good for the masses? Take HongKong as an example. Look at the rest of the Brit colonies that were handed back to the people. Pakistan, India, Burma, Sri Lanka, Bangla Desh, the multitude of African states sinking in the mud, are all absolutely corrupt and living in a state of anarchy as we speak. Surely, they wouldn’t have been in the same state had the Colonial rulers stayed?

Thats the analogy I prefer to use. Its more realistic and practical.

Culture is fine. But detrimental culture should be destroyed and not carried on for the sake of culture.

We have to wake up and live at some poin f time from this long and weary slumber of ours.

I have been working overseas for the past 30 years and it is ONLY my English Language skills (thanks to those wonderful Colonial masters and teachers of yore who broke their backs to teach us diligently and effectively, unlike today) that have carried me through, successfully, all these years amidst a wide array of other professional achievements.

I will always root for the English Language and a return to good old Colonialism, any day, any time…

i agree to a great extent with the post. However i do have major issues with the comments.

What I do have issues with though are the comments by Jack Point and Kadalay.

What history has conveniently dusted over and made us blind to the fact that as a colonized country we were exploited mercilessly. I for one would prefer freedom to exploitation any day. Yes the british created certain institutions and yes they made roads etc etc. But what we fail to question is as to why these things were set up.

Quite frankly it was not due to any altruistic sentiments towards any of the “natives” that the Governor general felt. Rather all such institutions were set up to feed in to the most basic need for the british to be in Sri Lanka - the Econmic gain of colonialism.

Kadalay why do you vote for a return to colonialism… Do you think that would change things mmuch?

And furthermore don’t be blinded by the fact that colonialism is over. I for one beleive that colonialism is not a thing of the past and that while the colonial structures may have changed that doesn’t mean they have gone away.

Think about it.

Regards

We do however need to look more inside ourselves and to Asia to develop and build Sri Lanka into a modern nation.

P.S. Is the liking for fairness a result of colonization? I was under the impression its origins were much, much older?

Nor can Pakistan, Bangla Desh, The Phillipines, Thailand, Burma, and Indonesia, all neighboring nations.

Sinhala Only was a ploy that Banda thought would win him the elections, which it did, but nevetr envisaged its dire consequences that we see burning in front of our very eyes today, morning, noon and night. Banda never had any love for Sinhala as a language. Look at his ancestry. His roots take him up to a Tamil. And they were also converted to Christianity by the missionaries of the Colonial era very much similar to the rest of many of the political and business families in the Island.

Sinhala Buddhism will never be able to resolve the problems we face on the ground today. Only a totally secular system, supported by serious, decent, committed human beings will take us out of this stinking rut.

While I agree that we need to brush up our values systems when it comes to issues like patronizing white skin or considering a darkie as an idiot, I must vehemently state that the ability to be able to understand, converse, read, write and think in English is certainly one of the greatest assets we have ever had available to us in our beautiful land.

The fact that China, Singapore and others didn’t have to lean on English does not take away our need to do so.

Look at the tens of Millions of expat labor we have across the globe and expecially in the Middle East. Most of them would have been uch better off had they spent a little time sprucing up their English Language in parallel to their CIMA’s, IT Degrees, Chartered Accountancy’s, and even Master’s Degrees. The standard is absolutely putrid, for want of a better word.

We used to be proud of our expats, in comparison to those from India, Pakistan, Philippines, etc, before. No more, sadly. We are as bad as them, or even worse off now.

Look at the basic infrastructure of the nation. Its in tatters. Can you give me five reasons why?

Culture is good if its beneficial. It’s gotta be changed if its contributing negatively to society.

SL needs to change its constitution to a 100% secular one totally sans of religion and language if we want to develop into something to be proud of. Or else, we can swim with the eels at the bottom of the lake.

Good Luck, guys!

Have you looked at the Monkeys (there is no other word for them) who are the ‘representatives’ of the people?

Much better to be subject to British law and justice, administered by a Governor than be subject to the jackboot of these hooligans. Much cheaper too.