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Citizens' mail
Your inspired and excellent editorial in the Daily News dated June 8,
2011, espousing the urgent need for Sri Lankan identity should be
readily appreciated by every right thinking person born and bred in our
fair island home and no less by those who have made Sri Lanka their
adopted home.
The Sri Lankan identity is the golden thread that firmly binds each
and every one of us, irrespective of one's social standing or belonging
to a particular creed or born into a different ethnicity or adhering to
a chosen political ideology or philosophy. May I take the liberty of
quoting in toto your well analysed opening paragraph of the above
mentioned editorial.
"A political solution signifying a common Sri Lankan identity - this
is and was the seeming insurmountable challenge. Over the past 25 years
and more, no other issue, perhaps, has invited more feverish and
exhausting hair splitting locally, than this question of evolving a
common Sri Lankan identity. The seminar hours spent over it painfully
interminable. The papers, documents and publications brought out over
the issue mind boggling proportions. Yet agreement over what should
constitute a Sri Lankan identity or a definition of the concept seems to
be deftly eluding the grasp of the local public."
The reason for my quoting in full the opening paragraph of your
edifying editorial is because you have expressed in no uncertain terms
as to the sheer urgency and absolute necessity and the multiple benefits
that will accrue to the badge of the National Identity and consequently
nullify the seeming insurmountable foggy cobwebbed ideas in this regard.
It is a matter of bread and butter to the ordinary folk. But it is of
paramount importance to the legal fraternity, and cannot be tampered
with.
In this regard we can look up the especially to the United States of
America where people from various countries belonging to different
nationalities have migrated and having obtained citizenship, enjoy all
the facilities of the American government, although they retain their
ethnicity. They are fully fledged Americans. We in Sri Lanka have three
major communities, the Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims and a fair
sprinkling of Burghers and Malays. All of them have been happily welded
together as their ancestors were, forming the fabric of the Sri Lankan
population.
Sadly this situation was shattered in the recent past. However, with
the cessation of the 30 year brutal war, we are now hopeful of a
brighter and happy future and should press the government to forge the
Sri Lankan Identity as a priority by legalizing it to be included in all
legal documents.
Ben Corea
When dengue was rapidly spreading in year 2004, I recollect having
listened to the SLBC morning news reading that the Korean government was
prepared to make a gift of a certain bacteria chemical to the Sri Lanka
government to enable us to eradicate the highly spreading dengue
epidemic at that time. It was mentioned in the same news that there was
a delay in getting that Korian gift, since our own Malaria control
campaign and mosquito coil producting multi-national companies were
against that gift and were vehemently objecting to it.
It was substantiated by the editorial of a national daily on June 23,
2004.
In view of the present day highly spreading dengue epidemic I would
request the Health Minister to get in touch with Korian Government to
get this gift of bacteria chemical to bring the present situation
immediately under control, and then to carry out the cleaning and
supervision of individual houses and punish and prosecute them for
keeping unhealthy compounds or gardens irrespective of position and
party politics.
D E Abeyweera
Kelaniya
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