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Government as a caring entity

Amid deepening public concern over the safety and well being of the child victims of the current devastation, it is encouraging to learn that the Government is losing no time in putting in place all essential measures to contain to the maximum the dangers they may confront.

Equally heartening is the news that no less a person than President Kumaratunga is taking on herself the task of evolving a special program to ensure the security and well being of these destitute children.

We call on the authorities to do everything in their power to secure bright and wholesome futures for these unfortunate children, most of whom have lost both parents to the killer waves which swept our shores recently.

As indicated by Cabinet Spokesman and Minister Mangala Samaraweera, the National Child Protection Authority would be playing a key role in working out procedures and practices for the well being of destitute children.

We laud these moves by the State to take these children under its wing because numerous are the evils which could befall them, including slavery and sexual abuse. We urge that quick, expeditious moves be made by the State to bring these children under its care.

As significant as the State's moves with regard to destitute and orphaned children are the welfare measures it will be launching for the assistance of the displaced population in general.

The special coupon system for the obtaining of food rations from the network of cooperative outlets of the country by the tsunami victims, could be considered a stitch in time which would meet their essential needs.

Of equal importance are the contemplated salary advances for affected public servants and other relief measures, such as the payment of financial compensation to families which have lost their bread winners.

We urge that expeditious moves be made to effect these measures which bear witness to the caring arm of the State. In fact a duty is cast on the State to ensure that no stone is left unturned in its search for the most effective pro - poor and pro - people initiatives.

Likewise, particularly in relation to ensuring the well being of vulnerable groups such as children and women, the Government would need to clearly establish that nothing would be allowed to stand in the way of law-enforcement. We call on the Government to show no quarter to those persons and forces which are intent on preying on these helpless sections.

Gone with the waves

Amid the chaos and misery of the tsunami waves also surfaced reports of a light nature like for instance the jailbreak at the Matara prison where some 300 inmates took to their heels along with the deluge.

The latest episode to come to light is the washing away of some hundred police uniforms among other belongings of the khakied gentry in the destructive tidal wave.

Not that this would have caused any ripples among the public.

They are bound to allude various connotations to this incident. Some would venture to say that the Police Department itself was in a state of drift and the washing away of police uniforms in that fashion was a symbolic pointer to the state of affairs in the law enforcement establishment.

There are others who will argue that the fate which befell the uniforms represented an indictment on typical police indifference or lack of imagination. For example, they would point to the every day hassle of traffic jams caused primarily by policemen guarding intersections all at sea on how to act.

For some, the retreating uniforms could have been an act of unmasking some miscreants in the police who take cover behind the police uniform to engage in the darkest deeds. They would say that the sea gods had rightly picked the uniform to register their displeasure.

It may also be the gods' way of stripping them literally before the public to unmask them sans the sacrosanct uniform. There will those who will hope the experience might make better policemen of those who lost their uniforms - that they would turn a new leaf along with the new uniforms and be of better service to the public.

The report also says that a well known tailoring outfit in the city had come forward to supply new uniforms to the unfortunate cops. The public might wonder if this was really a priority.

Why did this outfit think about police uniforms when their largesse would have been more appreciated by the hundreds of victims left only with the clothes on their bodies. Where is the uniformity of aid distribution they may be tempted to ask.

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