5th Column

Dayaabara Handun,

I am writing to you after you went ‘viral’ with your interview at the World Economic Forum recently, describing our country and its virtues to an international audience as no one had ever done before. You have received so much feedback since then, so I thought I will clarify the issues that are being raised.

Handun, your predicament last week reminds me of what some of our cricketers used to say. They said it was easy to perform well and win matches but they feared winning the ‘Man of the Match’ award because they would have to answer questions at the post-match interview from Tony Greig!

You are also not the first person in recent times to get into trouble at an interview overseas. You can take comfort from the fact that it happened to no less than Uncle Ranil when he was ambushed in that Al Jazeera interview. Following in his footsteps you too said that what we saw was ‘distorted’.

Some accuse you of not being eloquent in English. They maybe the same people who laughed at Basil when he said “kaputaas hit the plane” or at Dayasiri when he tried to say ‘Disce Aut Discede’ (though that was Latin, not English) but sounded like he was swearing at someone in his native Sinhalese.

Yes, it is true that our country has produced some brilliant English orators. We have had SWRD, Lalith and Kadir becoming great speakers at Oxford. JR mesmerised his audience at San Fransisco with a stirring speech. Still, we assure you, Handun, we were not expecting you to recite Shakespeare.

As the past seven and a half decades have shown, a country will not succeed just because it is run by people who speak English fluently, nor will it automatically fail if it is run by those who cannot speak English. After all, among your ‘friends’, neither comrade Putin nor comrade Xi Jingpin speak English.

So, the majority of us absolutely do not have a problem if you didn’t utter a single word in English, spoke in Sinhalese instead and answered the questions posed to you in a rational, coherent manner. The problem we have, Handun, is that the answers you gave sounded like ‘koheda yanne, malle pol’!

You were asked about Sri Lanka’s economic challenges. You launched into what seemed like an essay on Sri Lanka’s natural beauty written for the Grade Five scholarship exam. You had a prepared sheet with you and you were determined to say what was in it, no matter what question was asked from you.

We can get an idea of what happened if we ask, would you have given the same answers if you were asked the same question in Sinhalese? You wouldn’t. You would have provided a more relevant reply. So, were you trying to be someone you are not, by speaking in a language that isn’t your mother tongue?

You could have simply followed the example of your leader, Anura sahodaraya. He doesn’t try to pretend that he is fluent in English. He doesn’t believe anyone will think less of him if he uses an interpreter and he has done well so far. If you did so too, we wouldn’t even be discussing this now.

If using an interpreter was not an option, you could have passed on that opportunity to someone who was better at handling the situation such as the two Harshanas, Chathuranga or even Harini. That way, the country wouldn’t have lost a great opportunity to get its message across to the rest of the world.

That is why you are being ridiculed and people like Nirmal question your ‘capacity’ though his idea of   Lakmali replacing you says something about Nirmal’s capacity to judge people. Honestly, we prefer the dynamic Handun who was COPE Chairman and did an excellent job rather than Minister Handun!

Some of your comrades defend you, saying what happened was not your fault but was SWRD’s fault because of his language policy. That is a different debate. The lesson here is that everyone must try to learn English to communicate with the world but those who are not fluent shouldn’t pretend they are!

There will always be those who belittle you, Handun. There will also be those who feel sorry for you. Instead, we should all feel sorry for our country. If you want something good to come out of your interview, you can ask your maalimaawa comrades to raise the standard of English education now.

In these matters, it is best to know something and know that you know it. It is also not quite a problem when you don’t know but know that you don’t know. It is a bigger problem when you know but think you don’t know. The biggest problem is when you don’t know, but don’t know that you don’t know!

Meeta hithawath,

Punchi Putha

PS- I’m sure you must be overwhelmed with advice on what to do next. Whatever you do, Handun, I have just one word of advice about what not to do: don’t ask Sajith how to improve your English. After all, however much irrelevant your answers were, we still understood what you had to say!