|
|
 |
 |
| Sunday, 21 March 2004 |
 |
|
 |
Letters |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
Please forward your letters to [email protected] in plain text format within the e-mail message, since as a policy we do not open any attachments.
The Sri Lanka-Malay Community Development Programme has written to the President, Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga expressing their happiness at mentioning the Malays as one of the communities making the Sri Lankan nation. The letter states, "We were extremely happy to read in the newspapers the UPFA's pledge before the sacred Sri Maha Bodhiya recognising the Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims, Malays and the Burghers as equals comprising the Sri Lankan Nation. We have been urging upon the major political parties in Sri Lanka to list the ethnic groups as given above by the UPFA. "WE thank the President and the component groups of the Alliance for doing the correct thing and hope this practice will be followed in the future. "We also hope this will be followed by the other political parties too." The Malays also thank the President for including two Malays on the National List. This is not strange in a country like Sri Lanka, that ordinary peace loving citizens are compelled to police the policemen, preach to the preachers, and judge the judges etc. On the land side of Galle Road, there are traffic signs stating no parking during certain hours. In this case the no parking reads as from 12 to 8 p.m., and these boards are spread from Colombo to Ratmalana, the size of the digits is about 6 inches. This is strictly not applicable to areas out of Colombo where parking is permitted in reserved areas. But within Colombo, even in these areas parking is prohibited during these hours. Now the million dollar question is, how the police have altered three no parking signboards to read as 5 to 8 p.m. in a particular area, running upto about 50 feet and planted them south and north of a leading garment establishment in front of the Mount Lavinia cemetery. The size of these digits is only about 2 inches. In noticing the disparity of the sizes of the digits, it is easily recognizable the surreptitious intentions of the Police. The establishment in the centre of these boards enjoys a privileged position amongst other commercial establishments in the vicinity. While the public can be grateful to the Police for being generous in their understanding, that it is difficult for commercial institutions to survive with these restrictions, however would the Police extend this generosity to other commercial institutions in similar vein. It appears that some public spirited citizen with resources or a competitor should file a FR case in order to bring the Police to think and act in a uniformed manner. This sentiment is only meant to get this country, to clean up its administration and ensure that every citizen is equal before the law, though unfortunately one part of the constitution differs from this universally accepted norm, which in my view is the foundation for other inequalities, that has now gathered momentum, clearly evident in this current election campaign, where many parties are promoting narrow religious and linguistic ideologies, thus damming the economic and social well-being of Mother Lanka. Walter Fernando, Elections Commissioner prove your mettle Recent media announcements have quoted you as having asked the POLICE to remove all unauthorized bill boards and posters, which statement you made several years ago as well. Your courage and conviction in attempting to enforce the constitutional requirements, and thereby, honourably vindicating the office you hold, before your retirement is appreciated. However it is pertinent to ask you through the media, as this is of public importance and interest, to consider the following: (A) To give notice to the politicians, and the political parties who, violate this law, that within so many hours or days, that you will by a gazette notification, or by whatever legal means available, that, you will declare their names as not eligible to participate in the elections, and would forfeit their deposit. (B)Alternatively you consider that these violators pay the cost of the removal of these obnoxious posters and hoardings, that too long before election, or forfeit their right to contest. (C) In the event you are unable to exercise to the letter, the powers that have been vested in you, want of teeth in the legislation, you should ask the Executive President to empower you with powers that will enable you to function as a committed Elections Commissioner, which image you have so far projected. (D)If you are unable to fulfil your constitutional requirement, for no fault of yours, should retire forthwith, thus consolidating your image, as one with courage and conviction, and that too before elections. You will by this exercise remain in the minds, of not only patriotic citizens of Lanka, but also the International community, and thereby reiterating that the distinguished position you have created for yourself will remain for posterity. We will ever be grateful to you, for attempting to reintroduce, character with clarity, in the Public Service, which has deteriorated to the lowest ebb. Your name and position will be quoted at every public debate and you would have set an impeccable yardstick which will help, to stem the corruption in the administrative service of Mother Lanka. Walter Fernando, I am a suffering citizen one among the 99.99% of the population who have no political affiliations and who have not benefitted by even one-cent by whoever sits on the "throne" and rules the country. On the contrary we have always fallen from the frying pan to the fire after every election while our self-styled "politik saviours" have regularly increased their salaries, allowances, other perks, car permits and "huge" arrears whilst consuming "Parliamentary special" prawn-buriyani" for just Rs. 15/- ignoring the fact that most of their countrymen have only one square meal a day and some none at all. I will not cast my vote to a candidate and party:- 1. Who has defaced my walls and neighbourhood with their repulsive devil-faced posters. 2. Who has accepted higher salaries, higher perks, "big" arrears and duty free car permits during the last term of parliament having promised to make sacrifices. I will cast my vote to the candidate and party:- 1. Who promises not to accept any increase in salary, allowances and other perks during their term of office. 2. That compels their candidates to declare their assets before an election. They should also declare their liabilities like loans taken etc. Assets and liabilities of family members should also be disclosed. 3. That will restrict the cabinet to 20 ministers. In the good old days, when there was proper governance, we had just one Minister of Education. Now we have about half a dozen. One for Higher Education, one for Tertiary etc. There is overlapping in several areas and no one to account for in some. Food, Agriculture, Irrigation, Co-operatives etc. should be under one Ministry. There is a lot of co-ordination and interaction necessary among them. 4. That will abolish subsidised meals in parliament and M.P.'s hostels. They should also pay half of their electricity, telephone, postal and petrol bills. 5. That will ensure the independence and the continued proper functioning of:- a. An independent Election Commission. 6. Who would 'voice' the agony and protests of the common man due to the high cost of living especially the hikes in electricity and telephone charges which are due to the "sins of mismanagement". 7. That will prohibit their MPs from appointing their family members to their official staff. 8. That will withdraw the present special pension privileges for MPs and make the conditions the same as for any other government officials. 9. That will withdraw the special "Attendance Allowance" of MPs. As it is even if a MP enters the Chambers through one door and leaves through another he gets the allowance. MPs like any other person is paid a salary for attending to his duties. 10. That will make all politicians "equal in the law of the country" with any other member of the public. There should be no "double standards" where justice is concerned. 11. That will prohibit the use of official vehicles for the family members of MPs. At present visits to the markets, Tuition classes, Swimming Pools and even Night Clubs are all done in official vehicles. 12. That will prohibit the development of "official body guards" to the family members of MPs. Public funds are used to protect MPs and not the members of their family. 13. That will honestly address its mind to the present chaotic transport system. As it is, even pregnant mothers and school girls have to cling precariously on to the footboard of overcrowded buses whilst in the meantime our "Poltik Saviours" fly past in their luxurious limousines escorted by many security vehicles. 14. That will increase the interest rate on fixed deposits of the general public - not necessarily those of business enterprises. 15. That will once and for all stop strikes in the health sector. 16. That will prohibit politics from universities. Ragging should be prohibited. Politicians other than the President, Prime Minister and the Minister of Education should be debarred from entering a University. 17. That will de-politicise education. The entire Education System should be in the hands of an Independent Education Commission. There should be a National Educational Policy. Teacher appointments and transfers should be done by committees appointed by the Commission. There are many political appointees now, doing politics and not teaching in the schools. 18. A candidate who would behave himself/herself in parliament and outside so that we could be proud of him/her. They should not use present day parliamentary language. Any takers? M. V. Noel De Silva, This is in response to Ajith Samaranayake's "Two faces of Sangha militancy" in the Observer of the 14. Here I wish to draw attention to the earlier history to the times of the Buddha and to what happened afterwards. I am quoting entirely from "Buddhism In India" by Gail Omvedt. "It is important to note that the life of the Sangha did not involve asceticism. In this Buddhism departed from the Samana tradition and was also opposed to Brahamanism (Indeed the middle path rejected both the asceticism of normal samana life and worldly hedonism). This lead to the Buddhists sometimes being called "mundakagahapatis" or shaven householders ...." The book goes on to describe the response of the Buddha to the conditions put forward by Devadatta. " ... He puts forward five conditions all aimed at making life more regorous for the Bhikkhu, but the Buddha refuses to accept them: No, Devadatta. Whosoever wishes to do so let him dwell in the woods; whosoever wishes to do so let him dwell in the neighbourhood of a village; Whosoever wishes to do so let him beg for alms; Whosoever wishes to do so let him accept invitations from the laity; Whosoever wishes to do so let him dress in rags; Whosoever wishes to do so let him receive gifts of robes from laymen ... Kulla vagga VII,3.15) In fact the Sangha provided for the individual Bhikku in four clearly defined ways that offered better often better conditions than the precarious world around; food, shelter, clothing and medical care. ... Regular contact with lay supporters came largely through donations of food ... In return the bhikkus provided teaching, moral and practical instruction of life and psychological support in times of stress. Later the Sangha also took on other features out of which the famous universities of ancient India grew. It became an economic and financial institution; apparently loaning money. It became a social institution that was a refuge and a balance to the power of the state. In the process "corruption" of various types set in, and it departed from the original ideal-but the uniqueness of the Sangha as a monastic institution remained". J. K. B. Abeysinghe, An article by the BASL appearing in the Daily News of the 26 Feb. 2004, states that Attorneys-at-Law, who lend their practice to institutions that are not exclusively legal in appearance and in practice, may be subject to disciplinary action. They are also barred from sharing fees or profits with anyone, except Lawyers. They call this surreptitious, unlawful, unethical, and unprofessional, a total combination of all what is against a decent society and accepted norms, and it appears that only the BASL can create such an yardstick, so fine, so protective, so defined, that ordinary laymen would certainly find it impossible to accept, and the reasons are numerous. I enumerate some of them. (1) I wrote to the BASL as far back in July 2003, on a controversial matter, pertaining to a Senior Attorney-at-Law, complaining that I was ridiculed and humiliated in open court, producing an authentic copy of the proceedings. At the request of the BASL, I forwarded an affidavit, visited the BASL office, emanated over a dozen telephone calls, including one today. The only answer is that, my complaint is with someone senior, and that, it will be attended to. So this is the degree of the ethical and moral norms accepted and practiced by the BASL. (2) Many professionals, work for companies and individuals, and some of these Companies and individuals have no qualifications, except that they are registered under the laws of the land, and authorized to conduct business. Does this mean that all hospitals must be owned, and run by doctors, or they cannot engage doctors, and all pharmacies should be owned and run by pharmacists in order to engage pharmacists? In other words all pharmacists and doctors must work under those who are qualified in the same profession. How would surveyors, valuers, and architects work for real estate companies, whose directors or owners may not be having any qualification. In a more ironical position, the government an institution which has the least qualified, and competent persons, abundantly evident today, engages people of all these professions. The OPA and other professional bodies need examine this statement of the BASL and apprise the public of its views. Walter Fernando, Politics and religion: can they work together? The Buddhist clergy's involvement in these elections is not born of extremism, fundamentalism, nationalism, or any other - ism! Their involvement is plain and simple: as a consequence of our mainstream politicians' lust for power, the voice of the Sinhala majority of this nation has been increasingly marginalized. The Buddhist clergy has been attempting to counter this. Their decision to enter the fray of politics is merely a necessary last resort on their part to serve our nation where the politicians have failed. Many critics declare that in principle, monks have neither a place in nor a right to partake in the governance of the nation. In deed, their primary objective is to serve the spiritual needs of the people. However, since the very inception of Buddhism, monks have been advisors to kings of the ancient lands that are now India and Sri Lanka. In context of this historical phenomenon, to oppose our Buddhist clergy today on account of principles would be unjustified. There is therefore a definite need and a definite niche in this country's governance that the Buddhist clergy are hoping to fulfil. What we must next look at then is their ability to accomplish this goal. To quote the Venerable Madawela Punnagi: "Buddhism as a religion is neither theistic nor atheistic, but humanist. "Humanism (being the noun of the word "humanist") is defined as being "a system of beliefs based not on religion but on the people's needs" (from the Longman Dictionary). Does this one word alone not define the ideal government? In terms of their beliefs and values, the Buddhist Clergy is therefore already well placed to steer this nation's governance towards a humanist one, towards a system that truly addresses the country's needs. It is up to us to give them a powerful enough voice in parliament to accomplish this. I believe that as a nation we stand at a crucial juncture in our history. If we continue as we have done, the ethnic conflict will manifest in other ways and continue to erode our nation. Eventually, one race will have marginalized the other two at the expense of the nation's prosperity. The alternative is to forge a new nation of the 21st century, one that sets and maintains high socio-economic standards, and one that is perceived a leader in the eyes of the international community. However, this can never be achieved under the misdirection of a handful of selfish politicians, but only under the guidance of solid, ethical principles born out of love for this nation. That decision remains firmly in our hands, at least until April the 2! Indunil Weerasinghe, Safeguarding Sinhala Buddhists Well done President! We are very happy with your decision to take over the three ministries of Interior, Defence and Communication. You took them under your control at a very opportune moment. There is chaos everywhere - strikes, fasts unto death and whatnot. It is now more than obvious that the UNF government is incapable of handling the day-to-day administration of the country. Though some of the Ministers brag about their feats, everyone can realise how inefficient they have been from the time the UNF took over the administration of the country. The Prime Minister's claim that he cannot go ahead with the peace process until he is given back the Ministry of Defence is absurd. It only goes to prove that he is sulking like an immature boy and not acting in the interests of the country. "We are thankful that you are there as the overall leader. May you continue with the blessings of the Triple Gem to govern this country many more years to come. If you are able to solve the ethnic problem to the satisfaction of all communities, I am sure you will go down in history as another Vihara Maha Devi, born again to safeguard the Sinhala Buddhists and our country. Mrs. Geetha Weerasinghe, How will the JHU fare on April 2 When the late Imam Khomeini a cleric took power by driving out the Shah and forming an Islamic government dominated by religious clerics in 1979 the western mass media went berserk demonising Imam Khomeini and his clerical government. After that no other Muslim country has so far had a clerical led government to-date. Strange though it be, Sri Lanka has created history by being the first Buddhist country in the world where clerics en-masse have entered the fray to participate in electoral politics. The parallel between Iran and Sri Lanka is very clear. In both countries the clerics are pushing and have pushed for religious government after watching their respective countries going to seed on secular government systems. In Sri Lanka this critical development has created a controversy and the mass media especially the state-owned, is going to town berating the Buddhist clerics. Noble though the ideas of the JHU, the media especially the state media have gone berserk demonising the JHU day in day out. This is on account of both major parties the UNP and the UPFA having hidden fears that the JHU has the potential of taking chunks of votes from their traditional vote bases. Since, 1979, the clerics in the Islamic Republic of Iran have triumphed at all elections held. Will the clerics in Sri Lanka triumph on April 2nd or would they get only 15 seats. Realistically speaking many forecast that the JHU will get 5 to 6 seats. This would be good enough for a start for revising religious values. Saybhan Samat, Trinco-Anuradhapura Road: another addendum This refers to the letter by Naveen Pandya of Yakkala that appeared in the Sunday Observer of February 29. It is really a nightmare to travel on this road. People from the five districts of the North have to use this road to attend to their various needs at the Provincial Council Offices in Trincomalee. Also a number of people from Anuradhapura and Puttalam use this road. Lorries from the North have to come to Trincomalee to collect cement from Mitsui factory. There are only three A class roads in Trincomalee District connecting Trincomalee to Colombo via Kurunegala, Batticaloa and Puttalam via Anuradhapura. Trincomalee-Anuradhapura-Puttalam Road is the worst of all. So much so that the CTB and the private bus companies like to cancel bus services to Vavuniya at their whims and fancies because the road is in a horrible condition and brake down of buses are too frequent. If the Road Development Authority is waiting for Capital Allocation from Foreign Funded Projects can't they patch up with gravel out of their annual maintenance allocation and help the poor travelling public to travel with less body pain caused whenever these buses fall into the gaping potholes. If one travels by a van or pick-up the pain is indescribable. I have not seen any body using a car on these stretches. V. Regunathan, NECORD, |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security Produced by Lake House |
