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| Wednesday, 7 January 2004 |
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Letters | |
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It is sad to see that our so-called leaders are being led by the people who are supposed to be, actually, led by our leaders. In a cricket field it is the captain who calls the tune. He decides whom to bowl next and where his fielders are to be set. He will never tolerate anyone defying his orders. Can we see this happening under our so-called leaders in the political field? As we know for sure, the president and the prime minister are prepared to settle their differences and cohabit, at least, for the sake of the country but divisive elements in both parties are not permitting this to happen, because of their selfish motives. People in the know are fully aware who these characters are. Are our leaders prepared to act with some real guts? High time they realized that these trouble makers are nothing without their support. They would have never seen anything more than the outer look of the Parliament house in Kotte. Our candid advice to these leaders are be brave, do what is right for the country and lead but not to be led by others who are not fit to lead even a team of 'Elle'! If LTTE can produce a strong leader why not we in the south? It's by our leaders' weakness that we have played into the hands of the Tigers. S. H. MOULANA, Once in a while a great being is born Who acts as a beacon light To those that constantly travel In the darkness without a guide. Someone who is fearless and outspoken To dispel the many myths and fears That cast a veil of delusion On mortals with weak minds. Such a noble being was thou With thy fount of vast knowledge That helped to allay the ignorance Caused by blind faith without wisdom. Total adherence to the precepts five Was always thy only guide To mould the youth of today To be better citizens of tomorrow. And whatever faith one may profess to have This surely would ensure a more noble life. Metta, Karuna, Muditha and Upekkha, The Brahma Viharas four, Were always thy guiding star To steer all beings from regions far. 'Tis sad to think thy benign smile We cannot see again Nor hear thy melodious voice Speak to us once more. Alas! Mother Lanka has lost forever One of her noblest sons that e'er was born Unprecedented were the crowds that thronged To bow their heads in silent grief When flames engulfed the funeral pyre At the setting of the sun. May thy dreams of an unified Sri Lanka Come true in the years to come And may thou reach that golden shore That birth and death shall ne'er know. IRENE ABEYSEKERA. Death is another passage in sansara I am a Sinhalese Buddhist and I am rather dismayed at the "ceremonies" conducted for the funerals of our Buddhist monks. When Prince Siddhartha renounced all worldly pleasures and left his wife and infant child, he did not yearn for worldly pleasures. Unfortunately, today, the people of Sri Lanka have lost trust and confidence in many institutions, such as the Police, the Judiciary, in politicians and now, sadly, in our own Buddhist monks. This is because, the people know for a fact that many of them are not following the teachings of the Buddha. They dabble in politics, lead Trade Union movements and promote strikes to cripple the economy and inconvenience the poor people of this country and some of them are businessmen in robes. Many of them do not even shave their heads! When did you last see a Buddhist monk walking with his bowl to beg for food? When a Buddhist monk dies, even a junior monk, it is a spectacle. One wonders whether these are staged by interested parties, such as politicians who want to gain some mileage and TV footage. Almost every senior monk is accorded a State funeral, and the cortege will lie in State for several days, whilst "thousands" pay homage. One sees on TV the scenes of people crying uncontrollably. One wonders whether they knew the deceased monk personally or whether they will cry in this fashion for their family members or even a close friend of many years. Of course they know the TV cameras will focus on them for "footage of grief". Due to these un-Buddha-like scenes, the general public is inconvenienced, roads are blocked and sometime closed for traffic, business establishments have to close causing financial loss to business establishments. In other words, it is a general "holiday". The Buddhist monks who die, whilst alive preach the impermanence of life and death is another passage in sansara. There is no need to grieve. This is acceptance of one's Karma. One wonders whether some of the venerated monks would want this type of spectacle. Why cannot every monk give a pledge that when he dies, there should be no State funerals and that he must be cremated within 24 hours? Why cannot the Mahanayake priests issue a general decree to this effect, after all the Buddha, even though born a prince, did not have State funerals and periods of mourning lasting more than a week. The Independence Square is a Memorial for the gaining of Independence of our country and not a crematorium. Will the Mahanayake Theras please tell any government to have the cremation of Buddhist clergy at the cemetery? In fact now the Independence Square has become a crematorium, as has the Art Gallery become a funeral parlour. AJITH FERNANDO, Discrimination against Buddhist nuns For the umpteenth time, it was an elevating experience to read on December 5 the beautifully expressed letter of D. Amarasiri Weeraratne on the topic of male-chauvinism and the abominable discrimination against the womanhood. Their one singular debility has been the lacking of brawn, musculature and natural aggression (being of soft and intuitive make-up) and thereby having a subsidiary role in the mankind's brutal early civilizations which at first resolved issues only by use of force. The hallowed periods that often followed was consequently dominated comprehensively by the same men who had fought (and won) at sundry battles! Even to this date, their gender-dominance pervades the human scene on a basis of fiction-related theories and streams of subtle defamations. The horrible truth has been that there could be no basis for inventing today's culture upon past history because at that time the females were altogether debarred from education and leadership at every level! However, the exam processes of "modernity have proved conclusively that the contemplative ladies have consistently outstripped the men at exams and brain-related activity including the creative ones. Their psychic quality within their inherently intuitive personalities give them enormous natural superiority. The statistics speak for themselves. The hierarchies and the establishment "folks" - please note! Have you a conscience at all? Or, is it some other factor at work? You must take a leaf out of Mr. Weeraratne's book about this leadership thing. ROHAN JAYAWARDANE, Appointment of foreign principals Recently I read about the protest made by parents, teachers and students of Trinty College on the appointment of a foreign national as principal to the school. The school community is perfectly right in doing so, because there are several qualified principals available within our own country. Appointment of foreign nationals as principal will only add to the deteriorating discipline in schools as they are not familiar with the local culture and background of the students as well as the parents. In this context I wish to cite an example from South Asian country when I visited recently. The laws do not permit foreign nationals to hold the post of principal in their schools be it private or public however much they are qualified. Foreigners are not allowed to the secondary schools and are allowed at the tertiary education level only. The Ministry of Education should bring in strict rules that foreigners should not be appointed as principals at the Primary and Secondary Levels of Education, for culture, moral and spiritual reasons. Also insist on the Local Diploma in Education for this post, because the subject matter in the Diploma in Education gives a deep insight into the background of the psychological set of the Sri Lankan child. The M.O.E. should be aware of this and take immediate action to prevent this destructive practice in our schools and not hand over the responsibility to some other authority. Imelda Samarawickrema, |
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