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| Thursday, 1 November 2001 |
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Letters | |
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It is said that politics is a game for rascals. However, we find that there are gentlemen, even today in Sri Lanka's politics, in spite of the recent dirty happenings in our Parliament. We were able to read the letter sent by our former Speaker of our Parliament to the leader of the UNP regarding his leaving the UNP. What a contrast this letter has displayed to point-out the typical character of gentlemen's politics and dirty politics? Anura Bandaranaike's letter is a lesson to all those unscrupulous politicians to teach them how this game of politics should be played. This letter shows Mr. Bandaranaike's character, his upbringing, his education and how the game of politics should be played with dignity and decorum. S. THORADENIYA The UNP, rather its over enthusiast benefactor Maharajah T. V. has thought it fit to advertise political footage strips in their Sirasa TV cricket commentaries brought to viewers from Sharja, to coerce uncommitted cricket lovers to vote for UNP in pursuance of Maharajah's business-class interests. This political coercion was pressed to a point of treachery, when Aviska Gunewardena was caught off the bowling of Shoiab Akhtar, the TV footage idiotically displayed "Bowl them all out on 5th Dec" We have no grouse over Maharajah's asking Pakistanis to bowl out the Sri Lankan team, true to the alien blood running in their veins, but let Maharajahs know for certain that it is not Pakistanis but the patriotic sons of this soil who will be bowling out lock-stock-& barrel their collaborators on 5th Dec.! A. C. L. Anthrax white powder and postal workers With Anthrax 'white powder' and postal workers being much in the news nowadays, it reminds me of a hilarious but foolish incident which occurred in a hill country post office during the period I was group correspondent to a leading newspaper and was thrilled to cover the story. A thick envelope posted from a village in Tamil Nadu addressed to a plantation worker, arrived in the morning postal bag delivered at the post office. The envelope found to be damaged probably during its long voyage, showed signs of losing its contents, some kind of white powder, everytime the postal workers handled it. There was signs of white powder all over, in the air, tables, desks and mail bags, somehow before long the word had spread that the contents, white powder is holy ash from a prominent Kovil in the Tamil Nadu, and the gifted ones are those who could taste it and apply a bit on their forehead, the packet of powder was almost empty within a few hours as not only postal workers even "Tappal runners' of the estates and customers who had come to the post office were given and many were begging for more to take home, when a senior staff officer from the North, who had also been offered the so-called holy ash wanted to examine the packet and to report on the condition of the letter and contents. The officer, after reading the letter written in Tamil nearly fainted when he discovered what the white powder was and what the men has eaten and still found all over the workplace. The sender has written it is the ashes of the old uncle who died recently, and wanted it to be sprinkled at various places of the estate where he had worked during his lifetime before going to Tamil Nadu. The post office had to work with a skeleton staff for nearly a week as most of the workers had fallen sick and the place cleaned and blessed several times. NAHEER TAIP, The public has a right to know The Ministers and MPs who were elected to power by the people of this country to serve the general public has defeated to the UNP. The people when they came to them to get their votes never said that after getting into power that they will not change the wishes of the people and jump into UNP to hide their cheating to the public. The President if she took early action as to how those cheats amassed so much of property and wealth she should have given the power to the Bribery Commission to investigate. During the time of former Prime Minister S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, some ministers of his cabinet and government who had taken un-explained wealth were investigated by the Bribery Department and those guilty were punished. The President who is an epitome of honesty should instruct the Bribery Commission to investigate into the wealth amassed by these cheats and give them relevant punishment. G. D. SIRISENA Priorities for a new government A new parliamentary election has been fixed for the 5th of December. I feel that it is time for concerned intelligent citizens and for professional organizations to think out and suggest policies for the new government to follow for the greater good of the country. This would be a much more useful exercise than the more popular 'politician bashing' I write this letter to suggest a few of them. The most important problems facing this country today are poverty and unemployment. These are the main causes of the ethnic problem. The two major races the Sinhalese and the Tamils compete for the same limited job opportunities. I feel that one of the first priorities for a government would be the establishment of a large harbour at Hambanthota. There are 200 ships bypassing Sri Lanka everyday. Colombo harbour is too busy to service them. However, this project would be a very large undertaking, would need massive foreign assistance and active involvement of the Cabinet and the Head of State. This project should be carried out before India has time to deepen the Palk Strait and build a harbour in their east coast. The biggest success story of Sri Lanka in recent years has been establishment of garment factories. These have helped to provide employment as well as for the country to earn foreign exchange. The export of housemaids cannot be counted as a success story since this creates a lot of social problems, disrupts families and is resorted to only by the poorest countries. There are countries in East Asia that have improved rapidly within the last twenty years. They have started with the garment industry which is labour intensive and later progressed to the manufacture TV sets and other simple equipment for export. As countries become more developed their labour costs increase. At the moment we in Sri Lanka have a cheap intelligent unemployed labour force. We should make use of this. Inducements should be provided for manufacturers like Sony, Mitsubishi to establish factories in our FTZs. Our trade unions also should understand that very militant trade unionism can be counterproductive, force factories to close down and reduce employment in the long term. We should establish more technical institutes to import middle grade technical skills and training to our youth. At the moment we have lots of university graduates but our electricians, mechanics and carpenters have learnt on the job. If they were given a formal training what could they not do? Perhaps make better or cheaper equipment? We need a more abundant and relatively cheap source of electricity. We can switch off few lights and airconditioners in our homes, but without more power we cannot establish more factories. The exact source of electricity should be left to the experts, the engineers. Environmental factors should be looked into by a duly appointed authority. This should be tackled by the Government as a top priority. The Bishop of Chilaw should not be allowed to dictate government policy. Members of NGOs who drive about in gas guzzling limousines should not be allowed to preach 'environment' to others. It is true the biggest problem this country faces today is the ethnic problem, however everything else need not come to a halt until this is solved. Dr. V. P. H. Rajapakse According to a news report filed by the Washington Post Service, President George W. Bush had told American public that the military strikes in Afghanistan had put the Al Qaeda network "on the run" and he had added "we must defeat the evildoers wherever they hide". "Success or failure depends not on bin Laden," he had said. "Success or failure depends upon rooting out terrorism where it may exist all around the world." This is like sweet music to ears of almost all peace loving Sri Lankans both Tamil & Sinhalese. Today in Sri Lanka there exists an 'evil man' Prabhakaran - world class terrorist who has been developing 'human bombs' of mass destruction which have destroyed over 60,000 lives both of military and innocent men and women, national leaders and destroyed billions of dollars worth of public assets. He seems to have perfected the art of 'suicide technology' by forcibly taking children as young as eight and been sent to fight on the frontlines at age 13. He has through pure indoctrination and various psychological means completely brain-washed these young recruits to commit suicide while his own family enjoys the comfort of Swiss hospitality. Supposedly, many young recruits are girls whose families are coerced into letting their children into his camps. As the evidence clearly shows now if the BIA attack on July 24 went ahead as planned by this 'evil man' Sri Lanka would have been the first country to have been attacked by suicide pilots. A more closer look at LTTE suicide missions shows that LTTE are the masters of this technology having carried out nearly 200 suicide missions up to now both here as well as in India. It proves beyond any doubt that the LTTE is truly an International Terrorist Organization with a well-planned international network with strong ties with other terrorist groups abroad. If President George Bush is serious about the war he has declared on terrorists worldwide and those who harbour them, then he must act now to hunt and capture Prabhakaran and LTTE activists and help destroy his sources of collecting money and other weaponry. The international community should not have double standards in fighting terrorism. N J PERERA This letter is a response to the article with the above heading (DN Oct 17.) There are two types of abortions, spontaneous and induced. Spontaneous abortions are those that occur naturally. Abortions occurring due to some action (physical or chemical) are induced abortions. The present law allows induced abortion only for saving the life of the mother. In the modern world this indication is extremely rare. From my point of view we should not change the law as it stands today. It is good to clarify in our mind the question of when human life starts. From my point of view human life starts when a sperm fuses with an egg (fertilization). It occurs usually in the Fallopian tube (uterine tube). The human being starts as one cell. It goes on growing and dividing and travels towards the uterus. Usually it gets attached to the inner lining of the uterus after about a week after fertilization (implantation). There it gets nutrition from the mother and continues growing. It is good to know how soon a baby grows inside the uterus of the mother. The heart beats in 3 weeks from fertilization. Brain waves are seen in 6 weeks. All organs are formed in 8 weeks. Therefore, when an abortion is done at 8 weeks of pregnancy a fully formed baby is removed. Some argue that because abortion is illegal in Sri Lanka (except as mentioned earlier) there are many abortions done where unsterile and harmful methods are used resulting in complications and even death of mothers. Therefore they argue that abortion be liberalized. I do not think that these complications are good enough reason to legalise killing of unborn babies. Some argue that a woman has a right to decide whether to continue her pregnancy or not. This argument cannot be accepted because a woman has no right to kill the baby that is inside her.Even in the case of rape and incest the woman has no right to kill her baby. A woman has right to resist rape and incest. The unborn child is a non-aggressor. He should not be killed because the crime of his father. Some argue that the baby before 20-24 weeks is not viable; that he is unable to live if he comes out of the uterus. Therefore, they argue that it is not wrong to kill him or take him out and allow him to die. It is a false premise because by taking him out you are preventing him from becoming viable. The common method used in clinics that do abortions is called by an euphemism "menstrual regulation". A woman who has missed her periods after sexual intercourse goes to the clinic. The contents of the uterus are removed by applying suction at the opening of the womb (the opening of the cervix of the uterus). If the woman was pregnant, the pregnancy is therefore removed. It is nothing but an abortion. The Independent Medical Practitioners Association of Sri Lanka in a document published in 1998 says this about menstrual regulation. "The so called "menstrual regulation" after a missed period if performed during early pregnancy tantamounts to a criminal abortion." From my point of view any physical or chemical means that prevents implantation is tantamount to an abortion. This is one of the actions of the intrauterine device or the loop. That is why it can be used to prevent a pregnancy when it is inserted into the uterus within 72 hours of unprotected sexual intercourse. In the same way one of the actions of the recently introduced 'emergency contraception pill' or the 'morning after pill' is the prevention of implantation of a fertilized ovum. Therefore, in my mind it amounts to a potential abortion. Prevention of implantation is one of the actions (although it may not be the major action) of even birth control pills and the injections given to prevent pregnancy. Something that is wrong. Making it legal does not make it right. DR. LUCIAN JAYASURIYA Establishment code inconsistent with
Article 170 of the Constitution (a) the President, (b) the Speaker, (c) a Minister, (d) a member of the Judicial Service Commission, (e) a member of the Public Service Commission, (f) a Deputy Minister, (g) a Member of Parliament, (h) the Secretary General of Parliament, (i) a member of the President's staff, (j) a member of the staff of the Secretary General of Parliament. But in the Establishment Code meant for the officers in the public service and approved by the Cabinet of Ministers in 1985 the above list has been introduced with the following addition. (k) an employee of a Public Corporation, a Statutory Board or an Institution vested in the Government. I strongly feel that the said Cabinet approval is entirely inconsistent with that of the Article 170 of the Constitution and therefore the said EC is a bare nullity. O. V. D. KARUNASENA Mr. Ranil's fate will be known on 6th December. He said that he would not coalesce with any party but not kept to his words. He has formed the United National Front by getting the SLMC and CWC to form the coalition government in case if he wins the election. The PA dissident jokers can't face election but pleading Ranil that they be placed on National List. How can these dissidents including an academician and a teacher face their constituents? They brought shame to the very voters who elected them to Parliament. They are branded as traitors for letting down the dynamic President at the eleventh hour. They are like jumping fish and cannot be tolerated by any party. ALBERT PERERA The legal education in Sri Lanka is yet another subject which has not received adequate attention of successive governments. No serious attempt has been made to innovate or expand the facilities available for legal education. The existing facilities for law students at the only Law College we have in Sri Lanka leave much to be desired. The annual intake to the Law College remains static for the last so many years. Although the number of candidates sitting the Law Entrance examination has increased over the years the number taken in has not commensurately been increased thus shutting the doors of the Law College to many a candidate scoring higher marks. It is a pity that instead of expanding the facilities at the Law College to take in an increased number of students, each year the authorities keep on raising the cut-off marks so as to limit the intake to a quota determined years ago. The facilities at the Law College need to be expanded to enable an enhanced quota of students to be taken in which will help a larger number of candidates scoring higher marks at the Law Entrance to have their legitimate aspirations fulfilled. L.M.SENEVIRATNE, Commercial ads. are heard by thousands of people all over the country and many of them pick up English by listening to the radio and TV. Script-writers for these should therefore be extremely careful to use flawless English in the ads, they create. A recent commercial ad. heard over the radio describes how a young lady who has been accosted by two ruffians deals with them. She gets 'Dutch courage' and whacks them soundly with her umbrella, sending them sprawling into a drain! "Dutch courage', we learnt at school, is a sort of false courage that one may assume only under the influence of alcoholic drink. I feel certain that the brave, young lady was not under the influence of pol, gal or whatever and she could not have had Dutch courage of any kind! But what will be the position of a student who is trying to learn English? He or she could get thoroughly confused by the wrong use of this idiom. The golden rule to follow, when one is not sure of the exact meaning of a word or idiom, is not to use it at all but to use another term. News announcers too are often guilty of incorrect pronunciation of commonly used English words e.g. technology, technological, development, meteorology, entrepreneur etc. Of course, any good dictionary could help them in this regard. Listeners expect perfect standards from them and there is no excuse for anything otherwise. DR. RILEY FERNANDO, Having read the article by B.P. Perera, MRI Colombo 8 on the above, I still remember the exposition of the Tooth Relic from China about 25 years ago in Colombo and the size of that Sacred Tooth was not different to that of the Sacred Tooth Relic at Dalada Maligawa. D. GUNASEKERA, Human Rights and a horrendous crime The super-power America is very jubilant in attacking Afghanistan and killing the innocent people including children in their teens. Several lost their limbs and maimed. If Osama bin Laden was the culprit for the attacks on Twin Towers and Pentagon, then America must search for him of his whereabouts instead of bombing Afghanistan and sending cruise missiles. This horrendous crime committed by the Americans and the British will not be condoned by any democratic nation in the world. Where are the Human Rights activists for this atrocities? To America and Britain is there a different set of Human Rights? R.MAJEED If you wish peace, prepare for war In the context of what is going on in Sri Lanka today and in many countries of the world, I would wish to quote a Latin saying which I learnt as a schoolboy - Si vis pacem para bellun - If you wish peace, prepare for war. Cannot this be applied to the LTTE problem in the country and those created by terrorists elsewhere? Negotiation is just a word these days. One faction or the other is always too extreme to negotiate with! E. FERREIRA |
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