Sri Lankan Foreign Employment Promotion and Labor Welfare Minister Keheliya Rambukwella sat down with Arab News recently to talk about government priorities following the defeat of the Tamil Tigers.
“We want to give the members of the Tamil community jobs both inside and outside Sri Lanka since they have been victims of the war and they were practically immobilized in rebel-held territories in the north and east of the island for a considerable period of time,” he said. “The LTTE perpetrated these heinous acts of carnage spanning well over three decades against peace-loving citizens.”
He said that the government is in the process of opening migrant training centers in the recently freed areas. “Two such centers have been already opened in Jaffna, the northern capital, and Trincomalee, a major city in the northeast of the island,” he said.
These centers would train Tamil youths in a wide range of skills according to their aptitudes. “They can come out as white-collar workers, skilled laborers — such as masons, painters, welders, electricians and auto technicians — according to the needs of the local and international labor markets,” he added.
Following the training, the minister said that the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) will consider them for placement in overseas stations and the local private and the public sectors will also harness their talents for the country’s development.
Speaking about the assassinated LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, Rambukwella did not mince words. “He made life extremely dangerous for ordinary people,” he said. “He killed tens of thousands of people and he shouldn’t expect a happy end for his life ... should the masses trade their lives, democratic values and their right to live in a peaceful society with an irredeemable terrorist who habitually prowls behind? ... If someone attributes a certain degree of respectability to such a criminal, it may seem ridiculous to ordinary masses. Everyone knows that criminals are not revered. And, with terrorism, the most important thing is not just the number you killed, but the number you frighten ... The LTTE terrorized a whole nation, and, when the threats are as grave as these, it does not pay for any government to wait and see. He always posed the threat of blowing up of bombs in key positions, and, we had the firmness to do the right thing. That’s how they ended their grisly campaign ... We have made arrangements to rehabilitate the rebels who have surrendered during the war against the rebels. They are a bunch of misguided youths, it is our responsibility to help them turn over a new leaf,” Rambukwella said, assuring that the government will help them get into the mainstream of the society. “Sri Lankan citizens will be treated equally irrespective of race, religion or caste.”
Answering a question about the celebrations following the government’s victory, the minister said it is nothing but fair for people of all communities including the Tamils in other parts of the island to celebrate an occasion that brought an end to 30-year reign of terror in the rebel-held areas.
“People could not walk freely, not only in Tamil areas but in other Sinhalese and Muslim areas, too. The man who went for work, was not sure of his return home because of some bomb explosion,” he said. However, respecting the sentiments of the people, he said that President Mahinda Rajapaksa has instructed the government to put a stop to victory celebrations and embark on programs to develop the country by turning the crisis into an endeavor.
Speaking about the country’s overseas workers, the minister said there has been a remarkable increase of 20 percent in its deployment of workers in the Kingdom. He also pointed out that there is a sizable drop in the recruitment of Sri Lankan manpower from other labor-importing countries in the Middle East.
Sri Lanka has a labor force of some 550,000 workers in the Kingdom, the largest concentration in the Middle East. Around 80 percent of them are women working as housemaids.
Rambukwella elaborated that on an instruction from the island’s president, the Sri Lankan government has pledged to gradually reduce the number of women workers in the Middle East. “We are preparing ourselves to send more skilled male workers to these countries,” he said. Remittance from Sri Lankan overseas workers is the second-largest revenue earner in the country.
He said that the government is looking after the families of the housemaids who are working abroad. “More than 4,000 children of these domestic workers were given scholarships by the government, free stationery and other facilities to pursue their education,” he said, adding that even counselors are sent to these home to advise the children in the absence of their mothers and even medical facilities are provided free of charge.
“But all these facilities and services would not compensate the mother’s presence at home,” the minister said, emphasizing the presence of a woman would do more good in the family considering the social problems created due to the vacuum.
He said that arrangements are being made to provide insurance coverage for all domestic workers in the Kingdom. “Some seven leading insurance companies have applied and we are in the process of selecting a suitable applicant who would fulfill our requirements,” he said.
