A friend of mine just left Sri Lanka because it was hard for him to find work and he had no possible path to citizenship or safely starting a business of his own. Because he’s a foreign national. Sri Lanka has no real path to immigration and officials can be downright hostile to people that even consider migrating here. Even dual citizenship has been suspended for years, limiting out access to talent in the diaspora. Compare this to other countries that actually compete to get skilled immigrants. In this regard, Sri Lanka doesn’t compete at all.
On one side there’s the human cost. The lack of immigration policy harms relationships and weakens families. Spouses depend on their local partner for their residence visa and have no real right even to be with their kids. It is also hard for foreign nationals to start business, which would be fine, expect that there’s no real path for them to become dual citizens either. It’s really unfair to a lot of people.
On the other side, this lack of policy also weakens Sri Lanka. Here’s how American lawmakers describe immigration:
In a speech on the floor of the Senate, Senator Moran [R-KS], one of the proposers of Startup Act 2.0, summed up the urgency of the need for the bill – “The future of our country’s economic competitiveness depends on America winning the global battle for talent. The Department of Commerce projects [Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics] jobs to grow by 17 percent in the years ahead. We have to retain more of the highly-skilled and talented individuals we educate in America to remain competitive in the global economy. Doing so will fuel American economic growth and result in the creation of jobs for more Americans.” (via Andrew Sullivan)
In Sri Lanka, however, they’re talking about having the Defence Secretary (Gotabhaya Rajapaksa) personally interview each applicant, a process which – done one a day – would take 5 1/2 years just to clear the backlog.
If a Sri Lankan startup wants to recruit a world-class engineer it’s really difficult and if they want to recruit more than two (there’s a set number of foreign nationals you can have, I think it’s two) it’s basically impossible. If, god forbid, that engineer falls in love and wants to settle here, she’ll never be secure because she’ll depend on her spouse and/or job for her place here and can at anytime be separated from her children and everything she’s built.
More broadly, Sri Lankans talk about attracting foreign investment, but if we make no attempt to attract foreign or diaspora human capital, we’re competing with one hand behind our back. Sri Lanka needs a sane immigration policy if we want to be a global competitor, and if we want to simply preserve the different types of families that grace our shores.
Pertinent thoughts Mr. Samarajiva (did I spell your name right?) but the problem is not an issue of immigration policy at all. The ‘majority’ of Sri Lankans are insecure about their place n the worl – those insecurities manifest in racist sentiments and in statements like “This little country is all we Sinhalese have… if [subsitute reference to any race] population keeps growing at this rate, we’ll get pushed out to sea and will drown and die…” which (though it sounds a bit like it is taken out of a Jehan Ranasinghe sketch) i am sure you would have heard at some point. Some of us – mostly Sinhalese and Tamils – behave as if we have gone pissing around the place marking off our territories… the bitches can come for a root, but we’ll bite their ass of if they so much as dare lie down… :-\
Interesting thoughts and all, but yes, Sri Lanka is the homeland of the Sinhalese people. The Tamils also have one. It is called Tamil Nadu (aka Country of Tamils).
You’d think people wold take better care of their home.
True.
Nevertherless, Sri Lanka does well in the region on many aspects (eg HDI).
Let’s be precise about this. Sri Lanka may be the only homeland of the Sinhalese people. But the Sinhalese aren’t the ONLY people for whom Sri Lanka is the homeland.
Yeah. Sri Lanka is the homeland of Tamils and Muslims and Burghers and, IMHO, of anyone who chooses to live and love here.
And Tamil Nadu is not the homeland of all Tamils. Sri Lankan Tamils, for example, are home here.
Maybe they don’t have a plan for this because not enough people from else where actually want to migrate here (apart from very few people, correct me if I’m wrong).
Of course if a plan is to include making people want to come and live/work here then that’s a whole different story – but one I think is not easy to do, and may be too risky to spend on right now.
Indika, I’m going to post this here again in case you didn’t see it, would very much like it if someone at the TRC saw this, and also the general public:
http://consumerist.com/2012/12/18/new-report-says-cash-cow-data-caps-are-about-pleasing-investors-not-congestion/
http://falkvinge.net/2012/11/28/free-market-failure-telcos-charge-more-for-sending-a-text-next-door-than-cost-of-sending-data-from-mars/
If you want people to come here, we should provide people an excellent health care system, efficient law enforcement agencies and a strong judiciary. More than infrastructure if we have those things, the rest will follow on its own.
Tastyjujubes, sorry, but you don’t know your facts. Sri Lanka is the home of Sri Lankans, not just Sinhalese. What you perceive as a Sinhala Buddhist identity is not more than 130 years old.
I didn’t mention any Sinhala Buddhist identity.
But I do believe that Sri Lanka is the homeland of the Sinhalese people as an ethnic group.
Just like Punjab is the homeland of the Punjabi people.
And Maharashtra is the homeland of the Marathi people.
And Gujarat is the homeland of the Gujarati people.
And Karnataka is the homeland of the Kannadiga people.
And Tamil Nadu is the homeland of the Tamil people.
Well, it depends on how you look at the word homeland.
If we take the modern state then yes I agree that Sri Lanka is the homeland for anyone who has Sri Lankan citizenship.
However if we are talking about ethnic groups, then Sri Lanka is the homeland of the Sinhalese people. It is not the homeland of the Tamil people as an ethnic group. The homeland of the Tamil people, as an ethnic group, is Tamil Nadu (which literally means Tamil Country) where the identity, civilization, language and culture of the Tamil people developed and reached its peak. For the Sinhalese people, all of this happened in their homeland of Sri Lanka/Sinhaladipa/Lanka/Tambapanni/whatever you want to call it ie the large island south of mainland India.
RT @indica: The Global Battle For Talent, Wherein Sri Lanka Loses http://t.co/knZ8z4aL
RT @indica: The Global Battle For Talent, Wherein Sri Lanka Loses http://t.co/knZ8z4aL
Losing people to migration is the biggest issue in any professional services organisation here. The non skilled ones want to take the boat out. Every professional worth his salt has left or wants to leave the country. I think the govt wants to keep that way so, it makes it easy for them to run their theatrics and maintain lawlessness.
The Tamils here are as indigenous to Sri Lanka as the Sinhalese. Lack of that recognition or treating them second class aint gonna work. I guess Jujubes has learnt nothing from the war.
It’d help if the Muslims stop supporting the Pakistanis though whenever we play a cricket match with them.
Tastyjujubes, it is surely the modern state that counts because that is the here and now, the circumstance and time in which we live. The need then is to ensure that all citizens have equal rights and protections, regardless of their ethnic, religious or social background while compelling them all to act responsibly. This path gives us the only chance we have at a reasonably peaceful and prosperous future. We can argue endlessly about who got here first, or about whose traditional homeland Sri Lanka really is. But I can’t see how that would advance the cause of equality in any way, while I can see many ways in which it would prove a hindrance.
Mostly luck.
And Sri Lanka is the homeland of the Sri Lankan Moors, Malays, Burghers, and Tamils. We will treat it like our homeland, and anyone who wants to change that can come over for a face-to-face chat.
I think the story that people from different parts of the world (mostly india) came here and formed the sinhala race is also relevant to Burgher ppl. Cos they too have different origins in europe and have now formed as a one race in SL. May be David can correct me if im wrong.
yes, and in light of that fact, we sinhalese dont own this island at all. sinhalese folks can never, ever say they own this country, or that it is their ‘right’ or whatever, for as long as the original inhabitants of the island, it’s true owners and custodians, the Veddah people, exist.
What is unique to the island of Sri Lanka is contributed largely by the Sinhalese, they having been the architects of the island’s ancient civilisation testified by the ruins of Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa and Sigiriya (among others) and by the plentitude of inscriptions planted all across the island, as well as the ancient chronicle the Mahavamsa. Their tongue developed, flourished and continues to prosper in Sri Lanka, unique among the languages spoken there. Even the Buddhism practiced by the majority of the members of the Sinhalese community is unique to the island, ancient in nature, blending elements of tree worship and Hinduism, and having its own unique and iconic architecture in comparison to other countries where Buddhism holds sway over the population. In short, the Sinhalese provide to the island that which makes the island unique and separate from not only other parts of the region, but the world at large. This is to be expected, of course, because Sri Lanka is the homeland of the Sinhalese people, as a nation, and they have, over two millenia, waged numerous wars to protect their homeland from invaders, and risen up against those who have arrived from across salty water to steal land and falsely claim it as theirs.
The Tamils, on the other hand, are merely remnants of invasions into the island. They contribute very little to what is unique about Sri Lanka, as their culture, religion and language reached fruition across the Palk Strait in the landmass that is now Tamil Nadu; indeed, a calm and judicious review would reveal a veritable poverty of Tamil civilisation in the island of Sri Lanka quite inversely proportional to the circumstance that exists in the Tamil homeland of Tamil Nadu. The version of Hinduism practised by Sri Lankan Tamils is no different to the version of Hinduism practiced in Tamil Nadu with its emphasis on caste, ritual and worship of Shiva, and while the Jaffna Tamil dialact may pride itself on being “authentic” it hardly is indistinguishable from the Indian Tamil and if one were to uproot an Indian Tamil and a Sri Lankan Tamil and place them in a room the two would have no trouble communicating with each other in their mother tongue, as one would expect of people who spoke the same language. And as to history, the Tamil people would be bereft of any such if it were not for Tamil Nadu, whilst the non-existence of the island of Sri Lanka would mean very little to them given that it has played no role in the development of the Tamils as a people and nation.
There are no such people called Veddahs anymore, they having intermarried with various others and contributing to the creation of the Sinhalese people. The Sinhalese, as a people, are unique to Sri Lanka and did not come from anywhere else, as a people. Their identity, language and culture developed entirely in the island. Sri Lanka is the homeland of the Sinhalese Nation.
Tasty
“What is unique to the island of Sri Lanka is contributed largely by the Sinhalese, they having been the architects of the island’s ancient civilisation testified by the ruins of Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa and Sigiriya (among others) and by the plentitude of inscriptions planted all across the island, as well as the ancient chronicle the Mahavamsa. ”
Tell me, why is it that so many of the ancient inscriptions in Anurdhapura are in Tamil? Why does one ofthe Chief’ swho signed the Kandyan convention do so in Tamil script?
What of the tradition of bringing brides from India, to marry the Kings of Kandy? The food of Kerala is similar to that of this country, most people, Tamil, Sinhalese and at least a part of the Moors probably originated there.
” Even the Buddhism practiced by the majority of the members of the Sinhalese community is unique to the island, ancient in nature, blending elements of tree worship and Hinduism, ”
But you do ignore the single most important contribution-in fact the defining contribution of Christianity which was introduced by Col Olcott. Everything from the Buddhust flag to Bakthi Gee, to Daham Pasal, to the Buddhist wedding ceremony and much else stem from his revival and are no more ancient than the late 19th century.
There is nothing wrong with being recent, but there can be no special claims made that it is any more or any less traditional than Hinduism, Islam or even Christianity, given that it has existed here from at least Portuguese times.
I’d also add lamprais, cricket, chili (brought by colonists via South America) and tea as things which have been contributed from outside.
We’ve made them and many other influences uniquely Sri Lankan, but I don’t think most modern or ancient Sinhalese would be as ignorant as Mr. Jujubes above. Jujubes, also, not Sinhalese.
Anuradhapura was invaded by the Tamils on several occasions. It is therefore understandable that there would be Tamil inscriptions, though I do not understand how you vouchsafe for saying “so many.” Unlike the Sinhalese, who built Anuradhapura and proceeded to make it one of the founding lights of civilisation in the island, the Tamils contributed to its destruction, as invaders commonly do, even looting away items such as the Buddha’s alms bowl which were deposited there, to their homeland in Southern India. History may not be very politically correct by today’s standards.
The Kandyan aristocracy were not of Tamil origin. The Nayakers had a Telugu origin. The Telugu people are a distinct ethnic group and their homeland is Andhra Pradesh in present day India, and the Sinhalese to this day colloquially use the term ‘Andara Demala’ to refer to a language they cannot make heads or tails of. The use of Tamil in the Kandyan Kingdom would be analogous to the use of French in England. The homeland of the French is still France, and of the English, England.
I struggle to understand how the origin of any brides matters, given that the identity of the Sinhalese as a people originated, developed, and came into being in the island. The English, as a people, have Viking, Germanic, Norman (French) ancestry yet they are English.
The Buddhist flag, Bhakthi Gee, and Daham Pasal have no real bearing on the tradition of the Buddhism practiced in Sri Lanka, although they do add even more unique characteristics. (Ask: What innovations have Sri Lankan Tamils contributed to Tamil Hinduism so as to make it unique to the island?). Buddhism is Sri Lanka is very ancient and its development, periods of decline and ascendance in the island can be very clearly discerned not only through historical records but through physical testimony. Anuradhapura was a centre of Buddhist thought and Sinhalese civilization long before Jesus Christ was born.
I dont think the point here is to debate about the uniqueness, or innovations people bring to the table.
Every culture contributes substantially to make modern day Sri Lanka as vibrant as it is, and much more from an economic point of view. No single race or group can claim to be greater in that sense.
It is very silly to deny that the original people of this land, Veddhas are almost non-existent.
While there is no doubt that the majority of Sri Lanka has and will for the foreseeable future remain Sinhala, it does not mean that one race has an automatic superiority over the other.
Jujubes, you certainly add colour to this forum in general, but with your aggressive no-one-else-but-me approach shows me and everyone else here that you have learnt nothing from 30 years of war and loss of human life. It’s people like you that always look for someone else to blame for the disaster that Sri Lanka has become, yet never consider looking into your own actions to see how you may have contributed to the circumstances. It’s beliefs and minds like these that take Sri Lanka backwards, and cause the very brain drain that Indi speaks of.
Correction: It is very silly to deny that the original people of this land – Veddhas, *as* almost non-existent.