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| Friday, 15 February 2002 |
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Letters | |
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Execute death penalty - to save democracy On December 5, 2001 ten youths of Madawala in Kandy were massacred. A date reminiscent with the 5th of April 1971 when the 1st insurgency of the JVP commenced and an estimated fifteen thousand perished thereafter. Political analysts claim that this was the beginning of the socio political blood let in the entire history of the country, which has now spanned over thirty years and claimed over sixty thousand dead and a further thousands maimed and destitute. The tragic event in Kandy should hopefully be the final act of politically motivated mass killings. It should never be allowed to happen again. There have been ethnic and religious riots in the past one hundred years, but they had died down soon enough as those who resorted to violence of the kind we face today, were executed within the ambit of the law. Grievous crime, gang rape or armed robbery was dealt with equally appropriate punishment. Today, not a single day passes without reports of automatic weapons being discovered in the hands of the undesirables. Contract killings are common with underworld and private armies maintained by politicians at public expense. As the reports indicate this to be the case in Kandy. Such has been the practice of political parties over the past thirty years. The justification being that they are under threat from the warring LTTE or in the South, by rivals in the political field attempting to assassinate them. A new Government, and a political culture devoid of the guns are in the offing. The great majority of this country have endorsed this as a prime requirement and has voted accordingly. Yet, these very sentiments were expressed by the previous Govt. of Mrs. Kumaratunga in 1994. Perhaps, Kumaratunga's a vision at the time was exactly that of the new prime minister but circumstances and the realities led to the inevitable. The one hundred day political honeymoon of the new Govt. would soon be over and the acid test of realities would soon emerge. Especially with the Government in pursuit of a desirable end to the Northern conflict which is fraught with the self same enigmas faced by President Kumaratunga, except perhaps that the world has changed decidedly after the September 11 attacks in the USA and the world coalition against all forms of terrorism. The distinction between armed struggles and freedom fighters being devalued and being unacceptable by the world community. The LTTE should therefore beware that to renege agreements with the present Govt. would seriously affect them internationally and a peaceful end to this conflict permanently impaired. Besides the Northern conflict, the new Govt. must be cognisant of the fact that at the last general election they won by 45.62% of the total votes cast and apart from the appendage of minority parties and the percentages thereof, the total votes against the UNP accounted with 37.19% for the PA and 9.10% to the JVP. As such as the total polled against the Govt. is 46.29%. These facts represent a dormant but very potentially dangerous figure if the honeymoon goes sour. In the south, the defeated parties are aware that their comeback is only when this Govt. faults either in the peace negotiations and/the escalation of the war or the escalation of the cost of living, all of which is interconnected. There are already signs of the Opposition parties criticising the removal of barriers, the rapid normalising of goods and services to the undearned areas without security safeguards and agreed conditions. The Govt. I believe cannot be naive to implement these without adequate safeguards. At least they must activate the dormant intelligence services to keep a double track vigil to the activities of the LTTE. This should be done from the standpoint of past experience and back up for a hiccup. A fact neglected by the previous Govt. with calamitous results in the end. It also happened to the Premadasa Govt. earlier on. There is no doubt that measures must be taken to build confidence between the warring LTTE, but most importantly the civilians must be provided with all facilities to lead normal lives. However, preparation for the unexpected must be given the highest priority. It is in such default that the possibilities for violent protests and a backfire exist. And is the very test, the Govt. has to pass where demonstrations are not met with force. If the present Govt. fails to address the issue fairly and squarely, then the return to violence is inevitable. The self same predicament the Kumaratunga Govt. faced in the past. The resort to extra judicial killings becomes inevitable. As such, the one and only safeguard to assure the rule of law prevails is the implementation of the death penalty. Such a measure would have assuredly minimised the amount of social and political crimes and a deterrent to the former, in the past. Yet, it has been conveniently set aside, perhaps for the reason that it allowed the politicians to exercise their powers at will without facing the consequences. Or that they thought to appease the lobbyists of clergy, NGO and other organisations who at best passively watched the erosion of social justice without murmur: Or lest they worried; "The haft of the arrow would be plumed with their own feathers and the arrow head would pierce their own bloody-necks". The time has come to put an end to such parochial interests and do what is right by the country at large, to safeguard Democracy. G. MAHEN P. SIRIWARDENA-Colombo 05.
Having decided to take my wife and children to a 'movie', I perused an English daily in order to decide on an appropriate film. I was aghast at what I saw. Of the seventeen English films advertised, fifteen (nearly 90%) are listed below. The very titles tell a story. 1. Julia - Adults only, 2. Spirit of the night - Strictly for adults, 3. Faust (The Love of the damned) - Strictly for adults, 4. In the cold of the night - Adults only, 5. Irresistible impulse - Adults only, 6. My teacher's wife - Strictly for adults, 7. Dreams of desire - Strictly for adults, 8. Bikini island - Strictly for adults, 9. Body of influence 2 - Strictly for adults, 10. Sexual response - Strictly for adults, 11. She - Strictly for adults, 12. Lady's game - Strictly for adults, 13. Love is love - Strictly for adults, 14. Woman scorned - Strictly for adults, 15. Dangerous seductress - Adults only. If this is what is dished out, can we build a society rich in values and morals? Are we sowing the seeds of immorality and expecting to reap the fruits of morality? DAYA PALIHAKKARA
Denying Kandy citizens the right to build There is a severe shortage of houses in Kandy especially for the middle classes more so because businessmen have bought most of the residential premises for commercial purposes. Now that the banks and other financial institutions are competing to give housing loans on easy terms without hassles, the middle classes are looking out for sites to build. Unfortunately Kandy is surrounded by hills and the only available building sites are on the slopes of these hills; but the U.D.A. is not approving plans where sites are above 1800 feet. This is because the Kandy Municipal Council gives the excuse that they cannot provide water services. However, earlier it had given water services to houses and even hotels much above 2000 feet with a steady supply of water having installed higher capacity pumps at the pumping station and installing storage tanks at Primrose Hill. Now, without planning with foresight and instead of increasing the pumping capacity of the pumps and the storage tanks and encouraging people to build, it has found a quick fix solution by informing the U.D.A. that water services cannot be provided to land over 1800 feet. What is more shockingly unfair and unjust is those who have buildable land on the hills are unable to block them out and trace roads as the surveyors discourage them saying that the U.D.A. will not approve building plans. The landowners who are parents are in a quandary that they will die intestate leaving their children an enormous burden of prolonged testamentary cases. Even in the case of parents who some years back gifted or sold their properties above 1800 feet to their children are in the same pitiable plight. What is more, this is tantamount to discrimination denying a civic right to some hapless landowners. TISSA AMARASEKERA-Kandy. |
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