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| Sunday, 26 December 2004 |
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May there be nuts aplenty for the smashing ! Light Refractions by Lucien Rajakarunanayake My dear Santa, With all the crazy things happening in this Emerald Isle, I think this letter may not reach you in time for your annual journey across the world bringing cheer to those who need it. You may already have left your hideout in Iceland. With that in mind I thought of letting you know what I wanted for this Christmas.
Just now, good governance and respect for justice is something that we badly need. Is it possible Santa, for you to use your magic and make honest politicians of all those who claim to represent the people? Is there any trick in your bag to make them feel responsible to the people for their actions as the peoples' representatives? Most of them are political chameleons who cannot be judged from their current colours. As your sleigh is drawn across our country, take your eyes briefly off the stars that guide you to take a peep at the walls of our cities and towns. You will see a poster of a person full of glee in his grin but not in his eyes, raising his manacled hands in a demonstration of achievement. What he has achieved is imprisonment for two years and loss of civic rights for six years after, for bringing our highest judiciary into contempt. A closer look at the upraised manacled hands will show you a gold Rolex watch on one and a golden bracelet on another. These are not the adornments of the vast majority of our people, but it so happens that the person, better known as Sakala Banda Dissanayake, distanced himself from possible poverty in the future, when he was minister in charge of poverty alleviation programmes of two successive governments. Is there some magic portion you can put in the Christmas stockings of all our politicians to make them avoid such aggrandizement at much cost to the people? There is a very useful gift you can drop into the stocking of the Leader of the Opposition in our country. It is to give him the courage and capability to speak at important debates in parliament. Of late, he loses his voice as he enters the Chamber of Parliament, and even the annual budget was passed without a single word by him. It may be a record for the Guinness Book but we citizens are worried by having as Leader of the Opposition a person who falls silent in parliament, though he speaks freely and often foolishly at other venues. I don't know whether you distribute law and order as a gift to any country, but we seem to be badly in need of the touch of your Christmas magic to claim that we are a society where law and order are observed with respect, and not in the breach. It's a system where the police, politicians of all hues, and the underworld of crime are inextricably intertwined. Is there anything in your sleigh that can first help our police to distance themselves from intimate contact with those of the underworld? Also, we do need some Christmas magic that would prevent politicians from interfering with and directing the police, and also give the police the spine to stand firm in the face of political pressure. The third is a special charm to help keep politicians away from contacts with the underworld. I know this is a trinity of wishes in one, but we are in such a bad state where law and order are concerned, that nothing other than a sweeping change with a magic wand can give us any hope for improvement. As for traders who deal in the essential requirements of the people, if you have so far been treating them as people of goodwill, please stop thinking so of them. Our people are today held to ransom, not by the World Market, but by the machinations of local traders. Profit at any cost and pain to the consumer is their motto. It is time that you infused some courage into politicians and other people too, to stand up to the profiteering of these traders of the local bazaar, mainly responsible for the cost of living here going even higher that the path of your sleigh track in the skies. Of coconuts, one must plead that you touch every tree on our land to produce more, to make up for the thousands of coconuts that are broken, smashed and wasted at shrines to various deities, to ensure the release of that politician who is imprisoned for bringing the Supreme Court into contempt. I do know Santa that you will be flying over vast areas of our country that have been affected by the recent floods. While politicians, especially in the Opposition, are silent about it, being more interested in a futile exercise to spring that contemptible Sakala Banda out of jail, those people are in dire need of help. There would only be delight if you drop some food, clothing and any other essentials to these people, even forgetting those enjoying Christmas with a ball in the city. You will have to do airdrops of aid because these are not people who have chimneys in their houses, and many of them have lost their little houses too. I must again appeal to you to visit the many refugee camps in our country where thousands displaced from their homes by war languish in hope of better days that may take long time a-coming. They are most in need of your gifts of love, hope and courage. As you take your sleigh over the North-East, please give special strength to the people who live in fear of war, and ethnic cleansing. As you have such magical powers you will be doing us the biggest favour if you whisper in the ears of Velupillai Prabhakaran, who calls himself the Sun God, that his dreams of war can only lead to the sun setting on his ambitions, and give some thought to making peace with others in his own land, especially when they are ready to do so after many long years. Please find your way to thousands of child soldiers held by this Sun God and give them hope of speedy release. We have been described as lotus eaters for far too long but not without justice. Punctuality is not the high point in our lifestyle, be it political or otherwise. My last wish is that you make all of us pay much more attention to punctuality in getting done the things we have to do. Bring us all the blessings of Christmas. |
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| Produced by Lake House |
As one gets older the wish list becomes shorter. No more the toys,
trinkets and baubles that one believed were the main things about
Christmas. Although many people say that this is a gloomy Christmas
economy-wise for our country, you will not miss the brightly decorated
shops, hotels and restaurants found all over the city, which gives the lie
to these constant Jeremiads about the state of our country and its people.
