Sri Lanka scraps minority language anthem

(December 13, 2010) Sri Lanka has scrapped its national anthem's minority Tamil language version, a move that may add to the country's ethnic tensions after a bloody decades-long civil war. Public Administration Minister John Seneviratne said on Monday the Cabinet decided only the original Sinhalese-language version of the song should be sung publicly. Sri Lanka's constitution recognizes the version sung in Sinhala, the language spoken by the country's ethnic majority. But it is ambiguous about the Tamil version. “There is only one national anthem which is constitutionally recognized,” Seneviratne said. The Tamil-language anthem has been sung in Tamil schools and public offices in Tamil-majority areas for nearly 60 years, constitutional lawyer Jayampathy Wickramaratne said. Tamils have long complained of systematic marginalization by ethnic Sinhalese-controlled governments in language use, jobs and education. Sri Lankan troops defeated the Tamil Tiger rebels last year ending the country's civil war, but the government has yet to follow up on its promises of equality and power-sharing.