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I refer to the correspondence under the caption 'Washing hands is a
must in Islam' by Dr. Mareena Thaha Reffai in an English daily.
Let me say at the outset that washing hands in the instances stated
by the learned doctor is a must not only in Islam but everywhere in the
present day civilised world. Positively, it is not confined to Islam and
we do not need a great personage like the founder of Islam to teach us
this simple health habit.
Now, here is her statement first followed by my brief remark.
'It is recommended by our religious practice to wash our hands before
eating.'
No. We do not need a religion to tell us of this health habit. It is
just commonsense (though it is most uncommon nowadays). Children are
trained to do so by their parents and teachers irrespective of any
religious persuasion. I am totally non-religious. But my parents also
trained me that way.
'We wash our face, hands up to elbow and legs up to the ankles ...
(and all the rest of it) five times a day'.
No. I do not do so. Nor do the vast majority of the world population
do such washing, not to mention Sri Lankans. It is so impracticable to
wash five times a day in this manner and it is such a hassle as well.
But we have no objection to Dr. Reffai doing so.
'It is recommended to go to bed also in this state so that an angel
will pardon for our sins right throughout the night.'
No. In the first place, do not commit sin. It is an absolute
absurdity to expect angels to pardon your sins in your dreams throughout
the night once you have been sinful. Be honest with your conscience and
stay clear of sin rather than dependent on angels.
'Shave your body hair at least once in 40 days, preferably more
frequently.'
Agreed to an extent. Shaving body hair may make it easy to maintain
your body cleanliness. But it is not necessarily so.
Many men grow their beard feet length. And they still remain sinless
and clean. Among innumerable examples, Ho Chimin, Fidel Castro, Che
Guerra, Leon Trotsky, Confucius and our own Pandula Andagama, not to
mention the late Dr. Abraham Kovoor and my son.
'If one does not do them, it is considered to be a sin and will be
punished in the next world.'
Sin? Anyway, we rationalists do not believe in next world and would
not mind it in the next world as long as the punishment is not meted out
here and now.
Dharmapala Senaratne
A Minister or some high official of the Water Board interviewed on TV
recently stated that 100 Litres of water per day per person and a five
member household was the basis of the current rates charged for water.
Any consumption beyond this 15 units per month was considered waste.
Though this arbitrary limit of 100 Litres is not beyond dispute let
that pass and let us examine justification of the current rates and the
untenable assumption of a five member household.
1. Water supply is a service and not a profit making business. To
keep the rates within reason the inefficiency and consequent waste must
be eliminated. The current waste is over 50 per cent due to leaks,
unauthorised tapping, supply to illegal squatters etc. if this waste is
eliminated the cost and consequently the selling rates could be
drastically reduced.
The legal consumer is made to pay for the waste and inefficiency of
the Board.
2. Many affluent families have no more than two or three occupants
per house and on the 100 Litre basis they would use nine or ten units
per month. The consumption beyond this is used to water their gardens.
This excess is subsidised for the rich.
3. Large houses with extended families may have 10 to 15 occupants.
These are not rich people who could opt to live more comfortably.
When these people pay their water bill at Rupees 82/50 per unit they
will have to die of starvation.
Fair billing has to be on a flat rate or on a per capita basis.
Lincoln Wijeyesinghe Dehiwala
On Sunday, October 26, about 7 a.m. there was a serious accident on
Nawala Road, near Koswatte junction. This resulted in the death of a
person who was in his car travelling in the opposite direction.
Nawala Road is Route No. 176 - Karagampitiya-Hettiyawatta. This road
was thoroughly repaired recently and given a good surface by the RDA.
Thereafter, the private bus drivers have made it a race track. They race
with each other and with the few CTB buses that ply. These drivers have
no regard for human life.
This accident too was caused by trying to overtake another bus. Two
concrete posts and a parapet wall were also broken by this speeding bus.
This will give an idea of its speed. If this happened on a school day,
the situation will be unthinkable. I appeal to the DIG (Traffic) to take
stern action against these maniacs. They are murderers let loose.
Devan Perera Nawala
The sudden crop in coconut prices at the Colombo auction held on
October 30 will have a serious and long term negative set back to the
coconut growing industry. The lowest auction prices had dropped to Rs.
13 per nut, average price to Rs. 15 per nut and the highest to Rs. 16.41
per nut. Under these circumstances, the farm gate price will be in the
region of Rs. 10 to Rs. 14 per nut and very much below the average cost
of production.
Application of Fertiliser and attending to other agricultural
procedures will be totally out, and will all authorities concerned give
a serious consideration to the coconut scenario and take effective
measures to step up the farm gate prices of coconut and relief measures
for fertiliser.
The timely action taken by President Mahinda Rajapaksa to safeguard
the tea industry in a similar plight is highly commendable and a similar
action taken to safeguard the coconut growing industry will be deeply
appreciated.
J. V. R. Dias Wattala
Toilet facilities that have been provided by the Kalutara Urban
Council for the use of public in the town are in appalling condition.
Hence, it has become a common phenomenon to see people easing themselves
under trees or whatever places they think suitable for an urgent relief.
It is sad to note that the besides Chairman, other members of the
Kalutara UC too are not bothered of this ugly situation, although it is
situated within the council premises itself.
In this context, I would like to appeal to all councillors of the
Kalutara Urban Council to give prior and attention to this gruesome
problem and provide at least basic amenities for the public as early as
possible.
Furthermore, offensive smell emanating from the stinking unauthorised
fish stalls sited in the centre of the town is unbearable, thus the
people are forced to inhale polluted air in an unhygienic atmosphere.
A. R. Kalutara
The recent killer Kasippu claimed 15 lives and blinded 10 villagers.
Sometime back too, we read a news item about a few being dead due to
consumption of this dreadful Kasippu. Illicit moon-shiners are aplenty
throughout the island and we can expect recurrence of same also in the
future. Valuable human life cannot be allowed to perish by this
poisonous trade. The law is not harsh enough.
Once in a way we see in newspapers some police officers standing
behind a few Kasippu barrels which are dumped at the station after a
raid. But never depicting the faces of those 'killer mudalais', despite
of being caught red-handed, at least, to make them ashamed. The practice
has been for the offenders to pay the fine, get released and start
brewing it again.
It is a known fact that most of the Kasippu mudalalis do their
business with the indirect sanction of the area police station. Even if
the police were to raid a Kasippu den owing to some reasons, such a raid
will be informed beforehand so as to escape with a few bottles instead
of barrels.
There is one way to stop the Kasippu menace once and for all. The
villagers should be informed that if they wished to save their fathers,
husbands, brothers and other loving males from consuming this toxic
drink, they should inform the OIC of their police station by some means
and watch for their positive actions. If it appears to be
unsatisfactory, the matter should be apprised to the Police
Headquarters. If the PHQ raids a Kasippu den successfully, the OIC of
the relevant area should be summoned to the PHQ and questioned about his
lapses and take disciplinary action against him. I believe by this
suggestion the brewing of Kasippu could be eradicated to a large extent.
Nazly Cassim Colombo 13
While the whole world is highlighting the importance of preventing
violence against women, some television channels in this country are
actively promoting it. These television stations import cheap soap
operas dubbed in Sinhala from India and broadcast them for prime time
viewing right into homes and bedrooms in Sri Lanka. This is a time when
older children might well be watching and could easily absorb the
culture of women-bashing so explicitly portrayed in these dramas. Almost
every soap opera run by these stations are full of scenes in which women
are abused, assaulted and treated as chattels.
While the Prevention of Domestic Violence Act of 2005 provided
enabling legislation to bring direct offenders to book, it lacked the
teeth and institutional set up to deal with less obvious, more subtle,
promoters of the culture of violence against women. The only remedy left
in the hands of civil society in dealing with this problem is to name
and shame the offenders. Unfortunately, in this and other matters in
which the media is involved, they stand up for each other and will not
give publicity to any campaign against one of their kind - like doctors
who hide or defend the medical mistakes of their colleagues. In the end,
one might well have to go before the Supreme Court as this is clearly a
case in which the fundamental rights of women are being openly violated.
D. W.
The mosquito menace has been threatening our lifestyle for too long
and it is time that some drastic action is taken to get rid of it
without delay.
The key is to eliminate the root cause for the problem rather than
trying ad hoc remedial measure. Whenever a dengue outbreak is there, we
see increased activity and fogging for a few days. Millions spent on
mosquito coils only make coil manufacturers rich. Such half hearted
attempts can only subdue the problem for a short period of time.
Destruction of mosquito breeding places will only be the effective
solution to the problem.
Singapore is a country with a similar equatorial climate to ours,
high rainfall and dense living conditions. These are ideal conditions
for mosquito breeding, but Singapore is free of mosquitoes due to some
stringent regulations and tough enforcements. Singapore has an anti
mosquito task force whose only duty is to see that the country is
mosquito free. Dedicated teams of over 500 officers do regular audition,
inspection and enforcements.
It is high time that here also a dedicated task force be set up with
the task of tackling the mosquito menace. Municipal and Urban Councils
should have anti-mosquito teams whose full time job would be tackle this
issue.
Preventive surveillance and control, public education, enforcement
and elimination of potential mosquito breeding places should be carried
out aggressively in order to get rid of mosquito menace.
K.G.E. Nugegoda
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As eminent Cardiologist Dr. Athukorala is insisting that vegetarians
do not get cancer. It is urgent and imperative the authorities at the
Caner Hospital looks into his claims and immediately stop feeding the
patients with any kind of meat - including fish, chicken, pork, dry fish
and egg. I wonder whether milk falls under the category of meat since it
comes from the animals.
It will also be a useful study to check how many of the patients at
the Maharagama Cancer Hospital, in-ward and out-door, are vegetarians,
if any at all. It could turn out to be a report which could be acclaimed
worldwide.
While we Muslims will continue to eat meat as it is allowed in our
religion, if as treatment vegetarian food is proved to be beneficial to
a patient and recommended by doctors, Islam prescribes it should be
followed.
For example if a patient is - say, allergic to pineapple certainly
Islam prohibits pineapple for that patient.
I hope some specialists at the Cancer Hospital will look into this
urgently and do the needful.
Dr. Mareena Thaha Reffai Dehiwela
The Weekend Daily News of December 13 published an article by Lionel
Wijesiri in which he makes a sweeping statement that "cartoons lead
children astray." I agree with him in that monitoring is the key word
and that most cartoons today are of a damaging nature but there have
been sublime cartoons such as those put out by Walt Disney Studios and
some which have thrilled a senior citizen like me have been Winnie the
Pooh, Tom & Jerry, Aladin, Pinnochio, Robin Hood, Jungle Book, Ice Age,
Kung Fu Panda, Madagascar 1 & 2.
Cartoons of this nature do help in the development of an aesthetic
mind and get the child involved in humanities and will be of tremendous
use in the creative field. Violence, certainly, must be eschewed and it
is truly a pity that many cartoons devote time and attention to this
ignoble aspect.
My small grand sons gave away their toy weapons after I had addressed
them on the subject that Mr. Wijesiri rightly writes about. When their
vehicle was at a check-point, the five year old told the soldiers who
were carrying guns, "We gave them away" for the sentinels to seek
explanation from the seniors.
Sharm de Alwis Kiribathgoda
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