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Modern words replace 'Ethno-religious chauvinism'

Reading the letter to the editor on 'Ethno- religious chauvinism' in the Sunday Observer on August 16, 2015 and perusing the contents of the article by Padma Edirisinghe (Sunday Observer, July 19, 2015) one gets into a dilemma of finding time to research the accuracy of historical details. Instead, why not we move forward with the intellectuals and free thinkers (can be an ordinary person) who modify concepts and theories that existed in ancient times?

Modern scientists would never condemn Sir Isaac Newton or Einstein when challenging their theories. An activist for the love of his or her religion or ethnicity in 1915 (almost 19th century) killed another or did a wrongful act, is a misguided activist who could be corrected by any reasonable person.

Those miserable humans were unfortunate to have missed the 21st century free thinkers then. Such unfortunate people are still living today in all parts of the world. (Some are leaders) Modernity is challenging everything for a change to take place. Else the world will not have anything new to learn.

It's sufficient to use words such as 'nationalism' 'patriots' ' ethno- religious chauvinism' 'pogrom' 'anti Tamil riots' 'anti-Muslim prejudices' appearing in writings are now disappearing from the vocabulary and words such as 'good governance' 'common good' 'democracy' ' standards' 'quality management' ' quality person' are being replaced.

The idea behind these terms are accepted irrespective of religious belief. Those ideas are developed from various leading religions in the world. It shows that this is exactly what was in the minds of great religious leaders centuries ago.

A day will come when those remaining fundamental ideas of religions will be confined only to the minds of human beings. That day a fundamentalist who will be unidentifiable from outer appearance, will be an ideal citizen of a peaceful and beautiful world.

Gamini T Pandikorala - Panadura

What's ailing the Bribery Commission?

The lead story, 'Bribery officials on the Mat' in the Sunday Observer of August 2 attracted my attention. The Minister of Justice, Wijedasa Rajapakshe made a serious charge that the officers, instead of exposing wrongdoers and initiating legal action against the bribe takers, have been trying to cover up the culprits.

At a time when the Yahapalana government is all out to cleanse the Augean stables of bribery and corruption in the country, especially by the big wigs who had a field day in the previous administration, it is unbecoming of the commission to Investigate Allegation of Bribery or corruption to adopt a lackadaisical attitude. Hundreds of complaints have been made deserving promt action but unfortunately CIABOC has shown a Nelsonian blind eye detrimental to the good intentions of the current regime.

Minister Rajapakse revealed a case where a former Cabinet Minister was enable to explain a bank balance of Rs. 400 million. This is one instance where the officers are deliberately dragging their feet, he observed. A layman may ask what if these officials were bribed by the offending culprit. The minister said the Cabinet has decided to take action against the officials concerned.

There were news reports the CIABOC was heavily understaffed and there no police officers to undertake investigations. Against this backdrop, the commission may be in a tight corner in the midst of a large number of complaints. It is the duty of the Minister to make a thorough investigation in to the affairs of this vital institution where it needs a complete overhaul with the appointment of professionals whose honesty and integrity should be above average.

Now, it seems the Government has become a lame duck trying to clear a backlog of probes following an avalanche of complaints. Since the present regime took office on January 9, corruption is no hanky panky business.

M. Azhar Dawood - Dehiwela

'MR's million votes, where are they?'

UPFA campaigners during the past six months, especially during the recently concluded general election period boasted about MR's 5.8Mn votes polled in the presidential election on January 8 2015. They calculated their general election performance from this voter- base level.

But what actually happened? The UPFA polled only around 4.7Mn votes, less than over one million from the boasted 5.8million.Where has this one million votes gone is the question! Equally strange is from where did this one million votes come? This is unexplainable.

However, in contrast, the UNP's five million votes polled in the general election are easily explainable.

From President Maithripala Sirisena's 6.2Mn votes in the January 8 presidential election, 0.5Mn+ has gone to the ITAK/TNA and another 0.5Mn to the JVP and some to other parties, totalling nearly 1.2Mn making up for the UNP's 5.0Mn.

Another observation is, in the 2010 general election, the UPFA obtained 4.8Mn votes almost similar to this time's performance. Then how did it go up (by 1Mn to 5.8Mn) in the last presidential election? From where did this one million votes come? Can any election expert explain this situation for the benefit of the public?

K. U. Pushpakumara - Pitakotte