In a recent interview with a Sinhala weekly, Nadesan who succeeded
Thamil Selvam as the political-wing leader of the LTTE and who was once
a policeman in the Sri Lankan Police Department, has confessed that had
he continued to serve in the South, he would have still been a police
sergeant.
Now that he is the police chief and the second most powerful man in
the LTTE controlled area.
That lets the cat out of the bag. It is not the ‘liberation’ of
Tamils that the Tigers fight for.
They want to create a separate State where they could enjoy life and
power being able to become Presidents, Prime Ministers, Ministers,
Supreme Court Judges and Ambassadors and be on par with the world
leaders.
If they are to continue to live in a united Sri Lanka, not only the
higher caste Tamils will continue to dominate them, they will never be
able to move beyond being ordinary MPs.
To remedy this stifling situation and relieve themselves of the
inferiority complex, they are suffering from, they sacrifice the lives
of the poor innocent Tamils while the leadership enjoying the luxury of
power and recognition together with all the comforts.
Therefore, for them peaceful co-existence with the Sinhalese and
Muslims is just not possible.
E. M. G. EDIRISINGHE – Dehiwela
Reference J.B. Muller’s letter in the Daily News of October 22 under
the caption‘Raceless Burghers and racism’, I am objecting to the
description ‘Raceless’ as the Burghers since time immemorial have been
considered a Sri Lankan race.
As for his reference to falsehoods as it relates to my statement
about Burghers fighting among themselves, let me assure the readers that
I have enough documentary evidence to prove this.
Muller has, himself, got embroiled in two instances of disciplining
two senior members of the Dutch Burgher Union, once in 2006 when he was
one of the complainants to the Police, accusing a member of penning an
anonymous letter under the pseudonym of Beatrix lamenting thus: The
Shame of a Genteel Community. The accused, a senior member who had
served on DBU committees, was summoned to the Station to his shocked
amazement, protested strongly, and the matter dismissed by the OIC who
commented thus: Burghers fighting Burghers.
Muller also served on a so-called Commission of inquiry very
recently, inquiring into trumped-up charges against a senior member who
was expelled from the Union this week.
Now, having served on various Club committees and also being the
first Lady President of the Colombo Swimming Club (1990-1992), Clubs
expel members only for the following reasons: Fraud, violent brawls,
non-payment of dues, based on written complaints from fellow members and
after an Inquiry Committee of people who are not the complainants.
In my experience, seldom are members expelled. Social and Sports
Clubs and associations attract a motley of members and it is always
imperative that the President and General Committee of such Clubs
maintain a balanced disposition towards members, sorting out matters
tactfully.
The Burghers, being few in number, should not be treated like
children to be disciplined by hard-headed fellow members and Burghers.
The Burghers are highly racist. It is for this reason that two
Burgher Institutions exist in this country.
The Dutch Burgher Union and the Burgher Association.
The DBU is supposed to exist for descendants of the Dutch (male and
female) but I saw very little evidence of Dutch ancestry as the majority
of DBU members are of other European ancestry with Jewish/Moorish
origin.
The Burgher Association is for all Burghers. During British rule, all
Burghers were treated as coloured and as native Ceylonese. Wasn’t this
the reason why they too were barred from becoming members of All-White
Clubs like the Colombo Swimming Club, CH & FC, etc.? It was only in the
early 1970s that those clubs were open to Ceylonese.
It is for this reason that all Sri Lankans should drop their
pretences to a so-called European link and enjoy being Asian and Sri
Lankan.
LINDA VAN SCHAGEN
We are thankful to Sirasa for bringing the hidden talents of the
rural youths to surface by holding the most popular musical
extravaganza. While congratulating Pradeep Rangana - the versatile
medical student from Ratnapura who was selected on SMS as the ‘Sirasa
Super Star - Season 2,’ some of the drawbacks of the competition are
highlighted below.
On the final day of the competition, only two hours were given to
send SMS’s. The experience we had on this day was that sending SMS to
contestant no. 1 was difficult or not possible via Dialog either due to
network failure or jamming or transmission failure whatever you call it.
Only during last 10 minutes I managed to send SMS. I was told by
several people elsewhere that they had similar experience and could not
send even a single SMS to contestant no. 1. This was probably due to the
fact that so many people trying to send SMS to one number simultaneously
or it may be due to some other reason.
S. Silva of Dehiwela in his letter to the Daily News Citizens’ Mail,
titled ‘Super Stars and SMS disappointments’ (November 9) says ‘voting
through SMS was possible for one competitor and was not for the other
which may have had an effect on the final selection.’
Unfortunately, he has not identified the contestant whom he failed to
send SMS. We believe that it is the contestant no. 1. Sirasa should have
given at least one full day (starting from 9.00 p.m. on Friday 26th to
9.00 p.m. Saturday 27th) for sending SMS.
During the day of the semi-final and ten weekends prior to
semi-finals when other contestants were eliminated one by one, on each
day Sirasa had given full 1 1/2 days to send SMS.
We find that a great injustice has been done to Surendra, who was on
the top, throughout the competition beating all the contestants on
previous occasions prior to the final. He secured highest SMS on last
three encounters before the final.
He never dropped to last two in the competition where all others had
to face. With his lovable voice and attractive performance on stage, he
was deprived of the opportunity of becoming the Sirasa Super Star purely
due to SMS failure.
U. NANAYAKKARA – Nawala
Almost all the daily publications in Sri Lanka are carrying this news
item with alacrity because of the intolerable discomfort that noise
pollution causes.
I also saw some papers and letters to the Editor asserting and citing
the Muslims call for prayers using loudspeakers and there are locations
specifically used for as well as against the use of loudspeakers.
Islam is a peaceful religion. It does not in anyway condone causation
or initiation of anything that may cause irritable petulance or
discomfort to anybody.
If the general public feel even an atom of tetchiness by our actions,
then there is something radically wrong in our expressions of call to
prayers. A call for prayers constitutes seven statements and of the
first five statements, each statement is repeated twice.
I had urged and pleaded with our community, advocating the fact that
the first statement which says ‘Allah is Great’ only should be repeated
twice - which would take about 6 seconds - and the loudspeaker switched
off, if it is meant to be a reminder to those individuals who are being
enwrapped and engrossed in their day to day chores to leave off their
concerns for a moment and turn to their Lord; and the rest of the
recitation continues within the mosque without the use of a loudspeaker.
Moreover, it is imperative for a Muslim to be present in the mosque a
few minutes before the time for prayer and the necessity of a
loudspeaker does not arise.
The Muslim community should not feel deprived or having being denied
of a right. They should be happy at the decision of the Supreme Court
which is very practical and totally in line with the fundamentals of
Islam which totally prohibits insensitivity to others’ feeling and
emotions.
M. Z. M. NAZIM
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