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| Sunday, 25 December 2005 |
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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.
Mahinda Chinthana has brought down fertilizer to its minimum with a bag of 50 kilos from Rs. 1550 to Rs. 350 per bag. This would allow the farmer to sit pretty with his cultivation. Another important factor that has to be adopted for cultivation was agro chemicals. They were priced very high in market. Use of chemicals should go parallel with fertilizer for a sound crop and a better yield. by Upali Wijesundera, Anguruwatte. Is it fair to delay the SL flight for CBK? I wonder why the SriLankan Airlines has acted irresponsibly by delaying the Singapore bound flight by one hour for Mrs. Chandrika Bandaranaike, the former President of Sri Lanka who had arrived one hour late to the airport. After all Mrs. Bandaranaike has become a ordinary citizen now, that she has relinquished her office as the Executive President of Sri Lanka. I think the authorities of the SL Airlines have violated the Aviation Law, causing great inconvenience to the passengers by delaying the flight for an hour. It is amazing the former President who enjoyed all the privileges she could, during her term of office as Executive President for 11 years, still wants to fool our countrymen! by Z. A. M. Shukoor, Aranayake. Who introduced free education? I refer to the very informative piece entitled "Who introduced free education" that appeared in the Daily News of October 17, 2005 written by Savimon Urugodawatte as a rejoinder to the comment made by UNP Parliamentarian and former Deputy Minister of Finance of the UNF government, that Free Education was introduced by the UNP. I wish to elaborate further that the Oxonian Charles Wilfred Perera Barrister-at-Law of the Inner Temple, a devout Catholic and a life-long friend of Dr. Christopher Kannangara had to face the reprisals of the Catholic Church to the extent that Perera's youngest son, the late Lucien had to leave the leading Catholic school in Kalutara and join Kalutara Vidyalaya to pursue is studies. I also refer to the lively comment of the popular columnist contact who authored round about of the Ceylon Observer of August 13, 1957 on the controversy raging within the National Congress and Sinhala Maha Sabha against the Free Education Bill, when Sir Oliver Goonetilleke, then Civil Defence Commissioner supported Dr. Christopher Kannangara saying that future generations would be ever grateful for this piece of legislation. But some stalwarts of the National Congress were up in arms against the Bill. So that indeed was the policy of the affluent class which went to form the Uncle Nephew Party, "Ex pede Herculean" (we recognise Hercules by his foot). by Elmo Fernando, Kalutara North. Christmas and trends in Church W. T. A. Leslie Fernando in his article under the heading "Christmas and trends in Church" in the Sunday Observer" of 11.12.2005 had referred to the degeneration of the standards of the Catholic clergy in the West and sexual misbehaviour of Catholic priests. There may be more bishops and priests not only in Great Britain but in other parts of the world as well who must have had and are having illegitimate children, is in the case of some higher-ups in other religions too. If a person murders another, even his wife, we want him to be put to death. But if a person, by his promiscuous sexual activities gets the AIDS and transmits it to his wife and others we want him to be protected, and cared for. Not that I want such people to be put to death. What I want to say is that we are not going all out for the cause of the matter - the immorality. So, the immorality thrives on. Whether it is among the bishops and clergy of one religion or all religions is not the real matter. One of the ten commandments is "Do not commit adultery". That was given during the Old Testament time. Jesus Christ went further and said "whosoever looks on a woman to lust after her committeth adultery with her in his heart". But who cares? by Arul, Colombo 13. Kasippu is an illicit brew distilled in every village in Sri Lanka. The people of Sri Lanka were in habit of taking liquor even before the Portuguese came to Sri Lanka in 1505. But illicit brews began to appear only after we got independence. In the early days kasippu was not known. In 1950 when a bottle of arrack was six rupees, the people in the low income groups drank toddy. Illicit brews became more and more popular as a poor man's drink when successive governments increased the price of liquor to fatten the government coffers. When the late Dr. N. M. Perera was the Minister of Finance he allowed every household to tap a coconut tree for toddy for consumption. (this earned him the pet name Ra Perera) He did this with good intentions of eradicating deaths due to kasippu poisoning. Increasing the fines on illicit liquor and raiding on illicit breweries have been a farce as long as crooks masquerade as police personnel and members of parliament. The price of liquor should be reduced so that a non poisonous drink is within the reach of a poor man. The patriotic organisations together with religious groups should make the people aware of the adversities of drinking kasippu. by P. A. Binduhewa, Panadura. The writer of the letter under the above headline (Sunday Observer 11.12.2005) is not quite correct in his assessment that a majority of Christian had voted against a particular candidate at the recent presidential election and that the result had left them in dismay. The outcome shows that they had voted for the candidate of their choice in the use of their sole discretion. Everything that was part of the hustings has been forgotten and all have settled down to normal life in the hope that good results will follow. The several quotations made from the Bible which are inspiring would always be relevant to Christmas. by E. M. A., Hendala The Midnight Mass is celebrated throughout the world is an event connected with the birth of Jesus Christ. The Midnight Mass, as of recent time became the centre of a women's fashion parade. Those who come for the mass dress in the latest trends and hair styles and wear all shades of make-up. Some women are improperly dressed in very short "Hot Pants" with the outline of their personal underwear seen and protrude from the flimsy see through skirts. Women in saree show a six inch midriff with a gold or silver decoration on the naval. Their low cut jackets with deep necklines, uncover a three quarter of their breasts. It is a dress competition by the women attending the Mass, which does not suit the occasion and does not have a shade of a religious event. Most of the men are nattily dressed. Sad to say that 99% of them are as high as a kite on liquor due to continuous imbibing throughout the day, up to midnight. If the Police deploy the services of a breathalyser, the drivers of vehicles will be definitely over the prescribed limit permitted by law to drive any motor vehicle. This is a humble appeal to all Christians and non-Christians to refrain from the acts described in this short letter, lest it will tarnish the image of the Christians and the Church. Let the Midnight Mass in 2005 be a unique event in Sri Lanka and set an example for the rest of the world to follow. by Bandula Seneviratne, Colombo 8. The beaten UNP still keeps shouting that it is actually they who won, even though the SLFP contestant is sitting pretty in the President's chair! How dare they assert that all the Tamil votes denied to them by their erstwhile good friend and mentor, Prabhakaran, would have all been theirs? Is their certainly not proof of the ali-koti givisuma? So Prabakaran has simply killed Ranil, politically, just like he killed the others, physically. Next, they say their members were knocked out of the voting lists. As the Elections Commissioner points out - at first they stated that 600,000 names were missing, then it came down to 400,000 while it is now around 70,000! He rightly says this charge cannot be taken seriously, until specifics like the names of the disenfranchised voters are furnished. No wonder the UNP is yet reeling under their defeat. Every private media, every rich corporation, religious men, every gambling, illicit syndicate, bankers, every underworld operator, were all behind the UNP, with full page advertisements, posters, announcements, private and public, bribes (not only three-wheelers, but also vans, cars, houses, land) and unlimited supplies of cash, specially from foreign interests. What display of childish pique, as not coming to the election results meeting! Let them at least now gracefully admit that they have truly lost. by S. V. Weerasinghe, Colombo 8. We must have a good form of government with the necessary checks and balances. Let us abolish the party system, election on the district basis and the preferential vote and go back to electoral constituency, first-past-the-post,, and the executive committee system of the former State Council. The President should be made responsible to Parliament and elected along with the members of Parliament at one and the same election. This will reduce waste of time, energy and money. The elected members will form into committees and elect their Chairmen who will be the Ministers. A Prime Minister will be elected by the house. Under this system all the members are participants of the administration. A number of seats may be reserved for any unrepresented sections of the population and also for persons of merit who do not like to face the hustings. This same electoral pattern can be adapted for Local, Provincial and Urban elections with suitable modifications. by B. E. Wijesuriya, Nugegoda |
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