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| Sunday, 17 October 2004 |
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Letters |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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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 Passion of Christ' Wendell W. Solomon's criticism of the film The Passion of Christ that appeared in the Sunday Observer of Sept 12, is unjust and distorted. The main questions are: - Was Christ killed brutally? If so killed, by whom? Any attempt to side-track these issues is an effort to evade and escape. Solomon devotes a large part of his article quoting journals and journalists of like persuasion, labouring to prove that the film is a "moment in the life of George W. Bush". It is just puerile and stupid. So is his interpretation of the Gospel that by his death, "wanted his followers to cease ritual sacrifice of cattle, sheep.." S. N. Arul, Colombo. The Rabies scare The animal lovers are on the defensive, while the authorities are on the offensive, with full intent to kill. The ferocity of the attackers is surprising, as it seemed everybody had agreed on a humane rabies control scheme of sterilisation and immunisation, hailed worldwide as the cheapest and most effective way of eradicating rabies. We hear India is implementing this program with great success. Why are we suddenly being bombarded with stories of agonizing, lingering deaths (practically all of which was due to negligence), mad dogs running berserk on the highways with open mouths, foaming for a bite, and how much the poor government has to dole out daily to contain the deadly scourge ? If we remember right, it was Rs. 3 million at the last count! But how this sudden upsurge, real or fancied, of rabies ? We hear that a few months after a dog in the Bemulla area was given an anti-rabies shot by the authorities, he became violently afflicted with rabies, that sent him, maddened, biting every dog that crossed his path. Most of the neighbourhood dogs had to be destroyed. To the astonished question as to how an anti-rabies vaccine could produce rabies, it was explained - like to a simpleton - "Why, don't you know, sometimes what is jabbed into them is not anything anti-rabies, but distilled water !" Let our animal welfare societies decide whether our animals have to pay the supreme price in such unspeakable agony in order to uphold the corruption and cupidity of our administrators! Prema Ranawaka-Das, Colombo Relevance of foreign accountancy qualifications We produce our own medical professionals, lawyers, engineers, surveyors, architects and in the more recent past IT professionals. Then the big question arises as to why we spend billions of rupees in terms of foreign currency every year for acquiring foreign accountancy qualifications when he have the Institute of Chartered Accountants, the Society of Certified Management Accountants and the Association of Accounting Technicians. Modern accountancy concepts such management accounting and finance are adequately covered by the syllabi of our local Institutes. Further accountancy education includes numerous country specific areas such as taxation, company law, other commercial laws, accounting standards and so on. The British qualifications cover only British country specific areas. Mostly the children of affluent segment of the society can afford to do these foreign accountancy courses. These foreign institutes having exposure to massive funds locally and abroad carry out large scale publicity campaign to promote their qualifications misleading the gullible parents, students and the business community as to their relevance for this country. The foreign institutes do not allow an equal level playing field for the local Institutes. The result is social inequality and social injustice because underprivileged talented students who follow local accountancy courses are denied opportunities in the job market due to the massive publicity campaign carried out by CIMA and other foreign institutes. Allowing the foreign accountancy institutes to have a free hand in this country will surely defeat the very purpose for which local accountancy bodies were set up. Therefore, there is an urgent need for the authorities concerned to take appropriate measures to correct the unequal level playing field in accountancy education in this country. This will also contribute immensely towards the accomplishment of the new government's goals of social justice and fair play. G. B. Senaratne, Colombo 04. Long story in short - people to judge It appears that today we are living in a peculiar world. Many, like the three famous monkeys, do not like to 'see the truth', 'hear the truth' and 'speak the truth'. Everybody, the so-called international community, government of Sri Lanka, the LTTE, the Opposition are all beating round the bush blindly saying 'time will heal'. The more the delay in finding an acceptable and workable solution, the worse is on the cards. The most important criteria is that the people concerned should try to understand the true and correct history - the history of the Sinhalese, the history of the country, the history of the Tamils, history of the world with special reference to India and the history behind the issue at hand. Most unfortunately since of late our media and the international media - both electronic and print, had made it a practice to give unwarranted, undue and magnified publicity to the LTTE terrorists to show them as a set of humane human rights defenders or as some sort of saints whilst they are actually wolfs in sheep's clothing. This unwarranted publicity given to a brutish terror outfit has in effect nullified their terror tactics in the eyes of the international community effectively belying the claims of the GOSL and the Sinhala masses.We call upon all concerned, the government and the Opposition to arrange to hold a referendum in the East to feel the pulse of the easterner. Unlike in the previous years, the majority of the Tamil populace in the East boycotted the LTTE commemorative celebrations and shown solidarity with the newly formed "Negenahira Udhanaya (Awakening of the East). We are aware that presently the Muslim and Sinhala communities in the East forms a majority of about 70% and with the support of the majority of peace-loving, right thinking moderate Tamil people of the East a referendum may be won with a healthy majority of over 85% Aye's against No's. Then de-merge the East from the North. The long-drawn issue can be solved without much effort and waste of time. Ranjit C. Dissanayake, Battaramulla. Cops, cops and cops Recently police officers especially in Colombo have been successful in solving some gruesome murders and many other crimes including vehicle thefts and over powering of underworld characters. On the other hand there are police officers who appear to be either hand in glove or will fully shielding criminals either for personal or political gain or through fear of victimisation by higher officers who have connection with people who are sadistic and live with crime. For example the undersigned was robbed of a refrigerated truck in Katugastota sometime back. The necessary information was provided to the police but though many years have gone by nothing has been done about the robbery. Of course the Talangama Police apprehended the suspect with all the documents of the vehicle lost, but strangely enough the suspect is supposed to have escaped from their custody in Kandy whilst in transit to recover the stolen property. That was it and thereafter nothing has happened. In the meantime the suspect visits his home in Nittawela and the wife gets pregnant regularly. They are seen in public as normal citizens. It is strange that the suspect of this nature is allowed to roam about in public by the police. Is the public safe with this suspect being around? S. J. Wanigasekara, Colombo 05 Can the UN be reformed? Your editorial in the Sunday Observer of September 26 calls for universal praise. This subject of UN Reform has been kept under wrappers for far too long, for fear of disturbing the powers that be. Your statement is forthright and clear and will at long last encourage public debate. It will give an impetus at reaching a permanent solution to a much vexed issue. You rightly pointed out why the UN on which humanity has based its hopes these last 59 years has become what you call "a rubber stamp". You ask for "wider representation in the Security Council": "doing away with the totally undemocratic Veto Power enjoyed by the permanent members". Unlike most others who have written on UN Reform you, Mr. Editor, has hit the proverbial nail on the head, when you state: "No single nation could take the responsibility of ensuring peace and tranquillity. It is the United Nations that is best suited to the task". Unfortunately you stop here. We should ask and search for the reason why it has failed? You will soon see that the UN is based on a Charter, not on a Constitution. "Sovereignty" of individual nations is the basis of the Charter. It is loosely united on a "Treaty System" and can be ignored according to the convenience of the parties involved. This system is not only irrational, it is also morally perverse. None of these "sovereign" entities, live under the rule of law. You, Mr. Editor, say that "the UN must be democratised". This is why, in our opinion, the UN though it was thought to be the best suited to ensure peace and tranquillity has failed in its task. Besides this there are many other reasons why the UN cannot be reformed. Chief among these is that the World Trade Center, the IMF and the World Bank, are outside the control of the UN. These are the organisations that manipulate prices, create national debts of developing countries and make the frightening imbalance between rich and poor. You suggest a concerted effort by all nations. This can be done, we believe, by looking outside the UN for a solution. Countries can come together on the Federal principle, where nations while having complete freedom in their domestic affairs remain subject to a Democratic Federal World Government under a Constitution for the Federation of Earth. Such a Constitution is in existence since 1977. It was unanimously adopted at the Second World Constituent Assembly in Innsbruck, Austria. Dr. T. P. Amerasinghe, Colombo. What about peace-keeping here ? As a reader from Matara wrote recently, in Sri Lanka violence is on the rise and we seem to be heading towards anarchy. We have been informed by the press which had quoted relevant authorities that there are about 40,000 illegal weapons in circulation and about 35,000 criminals are on the run as the police have not been able to apprehend them. Every four hours a murder is committed in our country. Suicide bombers pose a threat as many seem to have infiltrated the city and its suburbs. So much so that the ordinary people of this country live in constant fear and wonder what fresh horror may loom next. As such, it is ironic to note that Sri Lanka is sending army and police personnel to keep peace in foreign countries. It was reported in the press that even the Head of the Police Crime Division is due to join one such Peace-Keeping Force. What about his duties here ? The need of the hour is for all defence forces to join the Police in its efforts to maintain law and order here and secure the safety of all law abiding people of this country. We must first ensure that there is peace within our shores before leaving to maintain peace in other countries. Mirelle Jayawardena, Moratuwa |
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