My Own English World

Draft 5

The moment I read my textbook on the conflict of Sri Lanka, it would always reminds me of what this Tamil girl called Durga had gone through when she was small. It happened on an island on the southern tip of India called Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankans were made up of three major races and they were the Sinhalese, Tamils and Moors. At that time, races were not evenly distributed around the island.

Durga who was a typical Tamil girl came over to Sri Lanka with her family to look for jobs. After Sri Lanka gained independence in 1948, Sri Lankan government only granted citizenship to those who were born here or whose forefathers were born here. Hence, many Indian Tamils found themselves stateless.

“How could I support my family when I am jobless right now?” Durga mumbled to herself with tears rolling down her cheek.

Her friend, Rahul, overheard and offered her to work at the tea plantations in Sri Lanka .Without much consideration she agreed and this gave her the opportunity to interact with others and gain more experiences for her future.

Durga managed to speak English after working for a few months. When Sri Lanka was under the British rule, English educated Tamils like Durga could enter the government service get promoted and occupy some of the most important jobs in the government easily.

But with the independence, the Sinhalese government decided to improve the position of Sinhalese and made Sinhala the only language of administration in 1965 under the Official Language Act. Durga and her colleagues were given three years to learn the language or they would be dismissed. This unfair treatment affected Durga as she found it difficult to secure her job. The thought of getting promoted after striving for so many months vanished within a few seconds.

She found it unfair and when to look for Rahul. She said in a furious tone, “Why the government treated us so differently from the Sinhalese?"

"I…have got no idea about it at all. Maybe the government was just too biased to the Sinhalese,” stammered Rahul.

"Before 1970, university admission was based on merit and examinations were in English. This benefited English educated Tamils and they scored well in examinations. This resulted in, the number of Tamil and Sinhalese students were almost proportionate in the medical and engineering courses," Rahul added on.

"If I was to born earlier, maybe life for my family and I would not be like that. Now, Tamils like us had to work harder and score higher than the Sinhalese in order to secure a place in the University. It was important because it would later enable us to secure better jobs," Durga replied with a sign.

When the idea of asking a separate state was rejected, dissatisfied Tamil youths formed a militant group called the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE) and resorted to violence. Durga being a girl was also forced to join the army to fight against the Sinhalese. Tension between the Tamils and Sinhalese continued to increase, leading to more fights and deaths.

There was nothing Durga could do to stop this. All she wished for was just that the war could end in the near future as there were countless deaths and families were being separated.

However, gaining back confidence of the Tamils was not easy. The government had to ensure that there were equal rights for the Tamils in the country. They were able to speak their own language and equal work opportunities between them and the Sinhalese. Not long after Durga and her family left for India, the leader of the Tamil Tiger was arrested. Will Sri Lanka be like how peaceful it used to be in the future or will there still be conflict between the Tamils and Sinhalese? No one can predict what will happen in the future.

(645 words)

`Joceyln Seet Xue Ting
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`three'e'one [09]

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`Improve her english standard
`Get an B4 for my english
`Pass all english tests