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| Monday, 11 August 2003 |
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Letters | |
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Please forward your letters to [email protected] in plain text format within the e-mail message, since as a policy we do not open any attachments.
Gun-ho! and the licence to kill Politicians are to carry licensed guns. It is pithily stated in our indigenous folk lore that horns should not be bestowed upon horses. The politician will continue to speak against gun culture while having a licensed gun in the pocket. At least one Minister has recently undergone training at the commando firing range in Ganemulla. If without licence, the politician has behaved with brazen impudence against law and order, would he not, when armed for battle fit Churchill's description of "a bull who carries its own china shop around with him." Earlier, they got their henchmen to do the foul deed while they shot their collective mouths at every turn to prove Laski's pronouncement that "power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely." It is pretty apparent that politicians immature with power. It is the people who should be armed against the very politician they voted into office. So ego-centred and wrapped in his feel of power, he is "the fly that sat upon the axle-tree of the chariot and said, 'what a dust do I raise'." With the security provided at the expense of the voter, he is still not secure in mind. Francis Bacon saw it coming as early as the 16th century: "Security is the grandmother of destruction". The voter listens at the hustings but having voted, he realises that 'nice' is a four-letter word. With empty rhetoric he will "promise to build a bridge even where there is no river." G. K. Chesterton said of the politician: "He is born with a silver spoon in his mouth, so that he may never afterwards be found with the silver spoons in his pocket." But that was about British politicians. Ours build mansions even in the jungle and have bank accounts in Switzerland and Singapore. And now they are to have guns in their pockets. Duck, my countrymen. SHARM DE ALWIS - Kiribathgoda Handicapped - are they under privileged? Injured soldiers, those born handicapped, those with handicap caused by accidents, all of them would want to be as normal as they could. How can we help them - have you given a thought? Today the number of handicapped are very much more in number than ten years ago. What can we do to make their lives better? Those who have wheelchairs to have difficulties in wheeling them on sandy or rocky grounds. Access to public places like libraries, places of religious worship, some hospitals will be difficult because of steps. Life would be made easier for them by providing railings, ramps and cement surfaces at such places - like the one done by the "Sethpavana" volunteer organisation at the Bellanvila Temple recently. It has made a world of difference to the elderly population as well as for the young handicapped wheelchair bound. A wheelchair bound university graduate told me that if the public libraries had a similar set up it would greatly benefit their studies. We owe this to the handicapped to make them useful members of our society. DR. (MRS.) D. N. T. WIJAYARATNE - Talangama. No traffic police on rainy days! Policemen are supposed to be tough people. They are considered hard nuts. But in Sri Lanka it is the other way around. They seem to have become chickenhearted fellows. Leave alone catching rogues and arresting crime, they are very scared of getting wet! If there is a small shower policemen leave their posts and disappear. Thereafter there will be traffic jams everywhere. Colombo roads are most congested on rainy days. Schoolchildren get late. Teachers get late. Hospital staff get late. Office workers too get late. Schools and offices cannot start on time. Drivers get irritated and keep tooting horns, shouting at each other which raises their blood pressure. We inhale more polluted air. So, we get ill faster. Much time, money and fuel is wasted on the road, cost to the national economy is very heavy. As our educational institutions, hospitals and economic activities are centered around Colombo, this is a national issue. This is a very irresponsible act on the part of the police. I kindly request the authorities to take stern action on this matter immediately. Please provide policemen with rain coats and instruct them to control traffic irrespective of rain particularly during rush hours of the day. The life should go on whether it rains or there is sunshine. Policemen are paid to do their job. All of us must work hard for a better tomorrow. To salvage this country. Policemen do a good job of work under difficult conditions, that we appreciate. At the same time, rainy days also should not be forgotten. I hope that this lapse too could be corrected soon. RANJAN DE SILVA - Mt. Lavinia.
Pilot project to discharge army deserters I thank Brigadier H. F. Rupasinghe, VSV (retired) for his much commendable meaningful observations on the above issue on 21 July, 2003. During the past two decades, the brave youths joined the three armed forces and the Police to fight a battle. After basic military training they performed duties in the war zone to the entire satisfaction of the battle commanders. They do not desert the forces due to fear of death, they fought and sacrificed their lives for the sake of the country. A soldier who performed hazardous duty at the bunker for a longer period without a proper relief will not report back for duty after a couple of days rest with his family members and loved partners because he knows that he has to undergo the very same difficulties for another longer period. Dear parents and loving partners do not allow them to return since they know that their sons, partners will not come back again to see them for a long time. It is the general feeling of higher ranking ex-servicemen that poor military administration had paved the way for demoralisation of the well trained infantry men, some of whom are now engaged with horrendous crimes. Whatever it is, desertion is a serious and punishable offence under the soldiers service regulations and military discipline. Discharge certificate is a well-recognised document which assesses the military conduct of the holder, and it should not be issued to deserters through their respective kacheries. If the government implement such a project, no doubt in future more and more deserters will roam to kacheries to collect their discharge certificates. Therefore I wish to appeal to the concerned military authorities to make immediate legal arrangements to apprehend and punish the deserters without allowing them to enjoy for the tune of barbaric underworld troops. MAHINDA NIHAL PERERA - Moratuwa. Whenever I pass the Municipal Sports Club grounds situated opposite St. Bridget's Convent on one side and a part of the Vihara Maha Devi Park on another side and adjoining the Art Gallery, I feel very sad. I was employed at the Colombo Municipality and made good use of the grounds, then situated in a corner of Vihara Maha Devi Park where the Open Air Theatre came up later. When the Sinhalese Sports Club adjoining the Art Gallery moved to Maitland Crescent in the early fifties, the Municipal Sports Club was shifted there making more room for the extension of the Park. A new club house was put up on the side of Green Path (Ananda Coomaraswamy Mawatha) as the old club house used by the Sinhalese Club situated along Albert Crescent was not given to the Municipality with the grounds. A lot of sports activities took place and blossomed on that grounds. The Municipal teams became prominent in many fields of sports winning several championships, as in the days gone by in the thirties and before. The club even had free ballroom dancing classes once a week which became very popular and also had Christmas Balls at the end of the year which usually went on till day break. Some years back, the previous government took over the Municipal Sports Club grounds, against stiff opposition from the Municipality. It was said that the grounds was needed to put up a Cultural Complex as an extension to the Art Gallery and John de Silva Theatre, and that the money for the construction of the complex had been provided by the Japanese government. At that time I wrote to Minister of Cultural Affairs, Lakshman Jayakody, welcoming the project as it would benefit a large number of artistes of various cultural fields and would also bring about an uplift in the cultural sphere, though I was feeling a little sad that the home ground in which I had enjoyed playing and dancing for some years, when I was in the Municipality, was being taken away. Since the taking over of the grounds, several years had passed. But no construction work for the Cultural Complex had taken place, other than the laying of the foundation stone with a fanfare! Why is the construction of the Cultural Complex not done? What has happened to the money that was said to have been given by the Japanese government to the then government for that purpose? The metal or some other sheets with which the ground was enclosed after taking over are now showing signs of falling apart. If the complex is not going to come up, why not hand over the grounds to the Municipal employees for their recreation and for practices by schools and other clubs which had been going on when the grounds was taken over. ARUL - Colombo 13 I was interested to read the letter by S. Kanage Rajeswaren (30/7/03). As a visitor to Sri Lanka I totally agree that investment in Sri Lanka's rail network makes real sense for the future. We have failed to do this in the UK and the results are delays, de-railments, cancellations, higher fares and fewer people using trains. An important point was not made in the letter however and that was, the safety aspect of travelling by rail. In my two-week stay I have witnessed two serious road accidents involving trucks and buses and numerous minor crashes not to mention the near misses every few minutes. Investing in Sri Lanka's railways for passenger and freight would certainly help reduce the chaos and congestion on the roads and provide a safer way for the residents and tourists to travel. ROBIN KEWELL - UK During World War 2 the British established certain defences mainly in Trincomalee and Colombo in the face of the Japanese invasion of South East Asia. One such defence shield was the Ceylonese Royal Artillery (CRA) established as the 18th Coast Battery 6th Coast Regiment to which brave young boys were enlisted to man heavy artillery mainly in Trincomalee. The establishment of these Army Units under the control of the British weathered the storm of the bombing of Colombo harbour and Trincomalee in April 1942 by the Japanese who had a formidable fleet of aircraft carriers. Ceylon escaped an invasion by a very narrow margin due to the formidable courage and bravery of the Ceylonese forces after the training given by the British in the defence of Ceylon. We propose to collect the names and addresses of the veterans of the C.R.A. who are still alive with a view to obtaining some compensation or grativity from the Royal Artillery Headquarters in the UK. Please write to the undermentioned giving the names, numbers and addresses at a very early date. K. V. DAVID - E. R. DE SOYSA 4, Lumbini Avenue - Ratmalana. |
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