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| Sunday, 7 August 2005 |
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Letters |  |
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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 media never gave any prominence to the Sethusamudram matter. Why? When it was published, I expected the whole of Sri Lanka, nay the whole world to rise up against this selfish act. What is the use if we cannot gain anything out of this? This is our attitude Let lying dogs sleep! Queenie Balasuriya, May I congratulate you for the just and bold editorial in the July 17 edition of your paper. Your rationale is appreciable. Let's hope that the Government owned media under the aegis of whatever party in power maintains a high standard in objective writing. Usually the government managed media is not popular even when factual writing is presented. This is because there is a general belief that such managed media presents only exaggerated one-sided view. Therefore, there is always a desire to read the opposite views in another medium. It is good to have divergent views on matters of common interest. That vibrancy and the seeking of truth is potent and healthy component of democracy. It is nothing wrong if certain groups of newspapers support particular parties. And a clever reader would detect what the tone of the paper is by reading between the lines. Take for instance, a particular Sinhala newspaper that is openly supportive of ultranationalists that want dominant race hegemony and gives its readers that the Tamil community members are all Demala trashtavadis (Tamil Terrorist) - this is the term used by a journalist writing in English frequently in the sister paper of the Sinhala paper mentioned above. One of the main causes for racial prejudices among some people in the country is their mind-conditioning by the media. This is particularly so with some Sinhala mainstream press. The Tamil Press too in turn resorts to unwittingly use the term "Paerina Vadihal" (Majority race predominance desiring racists) without distinguishing such racists from the other people in the Sinhala community who are not racists at all. K. S. Sivakumaran Why does the Government machinery elevate the status of Village Councils, Urban Councils to the status of a Municipality? To us ordinary citizens, this elevated status is supposed to bring better and improved services, for which we are also called upon to pay increased taxes. There is no doubt that the perks, comfortable air- conditioned rooms, the powerful impressive four wheelers, the ringing of the telephones of this elected and appointed administrators keeps on adding to the cost of the taxpayer. But my dear countrymen and citizens of Dehiwela-Mt. Lavinia have you ever evaluated the services of this Institution? The services of the Dehiwela-Mt. Lavinia Municipality has deteriorated by leaps and bounds. Some of the street lights have stopped working for several months. There is not a single responsible person who will take your complaint down and have it rectified within a reasonable time frame. The cement blocks that protect pedestrians and motorists which are laid across drains are broken or dislodged. Our garbage is removed approximately once a week and thereby I have maggots in my garbage drum. I have a suggestion to the Municipal councilors and the Municipal Commissioner. Assign a responsible officer to take down complaints, give a receipt or reference and hold that officer responsible to be in his seat and distribute the complaints accordingly. Walter Fernando, Having read with interest the article on coconuts in the buffer zone, I am tempted to make the following observations on the theme. The flora in the ecosystem of our coastal belt is primarily shielded by the familiar Wetakeiya fence. The roots of the plant are the size of a man's wrist compared to those of the coconut plant which is only about the size of our fingers. It is no wonder that no tsunami upto 9 on the Ritchter scale has been able to dislodge even their dry leaves, let alone uprooting them. However, one could observe whole coconut trees, both young and old, being pushed along after being uprooted by the tsunami. Legend has it that the then Kapurala of the Seenigama Devale has cut down the Wetakeiya fence on the sea-side of the devale with the misconception of improving its visibility, around the 1920s and a tsunami had brought the sea upto its present position. Even in the recent episode one could observe greater damage in the areas without the Wetakeiya fence. Incidentally, it is intriguing to observe the ongoing coastal conservation projects in the south piling up long ranges of rock and clay sans any vegetation being grown in them. The thixotropic clays would simply be dissolved away with a few fiery tropical afternoon thunderstorms; be sure.It would, therefore appear logical to include a Wetakeiya fence as the primary cover instead of low-yielding, low-profile coconut trees. K. D. Somaratne, |
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