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| Thursday, 22 April 2004 |
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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. Fate of Private Members' Bills During the term of 12th Parliament, many bills have been presented to the House by many MPs as Private Members' Bills (PMB). At the time of dissolution of the Parliament these bills were at various stages in the process to become Parliamentary Acts. Some may be at the early stage of first reading and some may be at the last stage pending for the Speaker's signature. Of these PMBs, there may be several of them which had the aye of MPs from both sides of the divide. These PMBs may have tabled with the interest of the public in mind. Therefore, in my opinion, it is the responsibility of the 13th Parliament to collect all pending PMBs to scrutinise and assess the benefits that would be passed on to the society and the country and to initiate actions to proceed, from where they have stopped in the process, to enact those PMBs which are found to be of important and beneficial. The Speaker and the party leaders shall give priority to this matter as already a lot of time and money has been spent on these in addition to the efforts and inputs made by various experts. If this could be done without delay, after April 22, 2004 the benefits envisaged to be acquired by the country and people could be delivered with blessings of the new parliament. TISSA JAYASINGHE, Talawatugoda A future for democracy? Since April 2, much has been written on the maturing of democracy in Sri Lanka. The high voter turnout, coupled with the relatively low electoral violence, is hailed as marking a significant turning point in our political culture. I beg to differ. I agree that getting rid of governments peacefully is a characteristic of democratic society, but a healthy democracy involves much more than turning out to vote every few years. It is salutary to remember that Hitler came to power in 1933 by democratic means. The Nazis simply exploited the fears and phobias of a demoralized population looking for scapegoats for their national ills. I am not suggesting a comparison between the Nazis and the present government. But the election, instead of resolving the political impasse that were the alleged reasons for it in the first place, has only worsened the deadlock. Far from replacing the politics of confrontation with a spirit of reconciliation and concern for the common good, it has put into Parliament narrow, extremist parties representing Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim ethno-nationalist chauvinisms. The politics of scapegoating (blaming 'the other' or 'the foreign hand') is still very much with us. A well-functioning democracy needs certain prior conditions. For example, no country gives the vote to children, and (despite the rhetoric of liberal democracy in the West) the universalization of citizenship rights followed on the heels of the spread of mass eduction and economic development. Citizens can only make well-informed judgments on issues that affect their lives if they have access to the necessary information and arguments. This presupposes an education system that helps people to think and argue and also to learn from people who are different to them; and a mass media that is responsible and independent, not controlled by partisan political interests. In other words, we need non-political institutions that foster mutual dialogue on a host of issues, not least on what constitutes our common good as a nation. So, until we address the bankruptcy of our media and our public educational system, democracy and social justice have little hope of flourishing. A case in point is the hysterical way in which several highly-educated Sinhalese denounce any talk of a 'federalist' solution to the protracted civil war. Those who want to put the clock back, and talk as if we can return to a pre-1956 Sri Lanka, are living in their private fantasy world. Those who reject any form of a federal solution must be challenged to see that they are choosing a return to war; and if they are not willing to send their own sons and daughters to the battlefront, they are simply continuing the double standards and hypocrisies of the politicians they have ousted. DR. VINOTH RAMACHANDRA, Colombo 3 The people have given their verdict. The majority of the poor voters have shown the previous Government, in very simple terms - "If you don't care for me - I don't care for you." Whilst the privilege lot enjoyed all the benefits the majority suffered. If one were to look at the elections results very carefully - it is very plain to see that 20 per cent of the rich voted for the UNF while 80 per cent of the poor voted for the UPFA. The poor voters have placed their trust and hopes in the UPFA, to relieve them from their suffering. This appeal is also from 20 lakhs of senior citizens who have sweated and toiled for 37 - 40 years in the public and private sector and invested their terminal benefits in Fixed Deposit Accounts, and exist on the interest, for their livelihood. It is really shocking that the interest paid on the "Gaurawa" accounts has been further reduced from 9.7 per cent to 8.5 per cent. How can Senior Citizens live on this meagre interest? Please spare a thought for the plight of these poor senior citizens and increase the interest factor to reasonable levels. CJW, Dehiwela Commissions of Inquiry The State obtains money from citizens by calling such money by the name 'tax'. Therefore tax-payers have an inherent right to question expenditure that serves no useful purpose. A commission of inquiry is appointed because: There is a matter to be inquired into - it is necessary to conduct such an inquiry. Findings on inquiry must be acted upon. Considerable time and money are expended when an inquiry or commission goes into action. If the findings on inquiry are set aside, then the findings become only academic in their usefulness. The Commissions of Inquiry Sessional Papers 1-1996 and 1-2004 have published findings which clearly demand disciplinary action against offenders named in them. On a domestic inquiry report in the private sector an offender is punished or discharged. The report is never relegated to forgetfulness. Since action of any disciplinary nature has not yet flowed from the commissions reports herein referred to, they seem to have been mere waste of public funds. DENROY, Etul Kotte Import of seeds for cultivation The present seed policy allows the private sector to import and sell seeds for cultivation. From early days the seeds of exotic vegetables like bean, beet, carrot or cabbage grown in up-country were imported, because we cannot produce those under our climatic conditions. But the recent trend in import of seeds of tropical fruits and vegetables like papaya, chilli and luffa have created an additional burden to the farmer. It is true that imported hybrids are high yielding. But the seeds are costly. The plants need intensive care, lot of market inputs and package of practices. They are more susceptible to pest and diseases, need timely and regular application of several agro-chemicals in rotation. They need major and micro-nutrients in correct doses, short lived and not acclimatised to our wet and dry seasons. The farmers are market dependent for fresh seeds on each crop because they are hybrids. As a result, the farmer has to face high cost of cultivation, crop failures and low profits. In the long run we face the danger of extinguishing our local varieties. The imported hybrids have some qualities namely its appearance, size or taste which is not acceptable to local consumers and hence difficult to sell. Once I cultivated an imported hybrid chilli variety from South Korea known as "Malaysian chilli" among local vegetable sellers. The pods are large and extra long holds a few pods per 100 grams but housewife prefers more medium size pods. It is dark green instead of light green thus not accepted as green chili. The skin (pericarp) is thick instead of thin and most importantly not "hot" and spicy hence unsuitable as dry or green chilli. The consumer prefers light green (deep red when dried) medium sized "hot" and spicy produce at pola, vegetable stall or supermarket. This is our food culture. The second example is the hybrid papaya variety from Taiwan, which gives large fruits weighing 2-3 kilos, less sweet and it has to be cut as small cubes or pieces for consumption as a dessert. But we like papaya, which taste sweeter, scooped with a spoon as soft flesh as our local varieties. No customer wants to buy a large papaya costing Rs. 100 to Rs. 120 and once cut opened, the balance cannot keep in the fridge and consume. The tourist hotels and even exporters now refuse this variety. The seed importing companies have no system to test the suitability and consumer preference of any imported seed before releasing to the farmers for commercial production. Once produced, the farmers face the problem of marketing. The local varieties are acclimatised not only to our soils and climate, but also compatible with our food habits, culture and fit to our purse. Therefore substitution of imported hybrids for local varieties need more attention. The farmers cannot experiment or do trials with seeds at a cost. Because of this, the Ministry of Agriculture should take some corrective action to regulate the import of hybrid seeds. C. NANAYAKKARA, Kuliyapitiya Well done CE and IGP We salute the Commissioner of Elections (CE. and the Elections Commission), and the Inspector General of Police (IGP and the Police Commission), for conducting the General Election 2004 as the most peaceful election without political violence, held in independent Sri Lanka for the past 50 years. Only the first two General Elections of 1947 and 1952 did not have a follow-up curfew/emergency declared, while all the other ten General Elections had follow-up curfews. This peaceful position is the result of the 17th Amendment to the Constitution, which gave full powers to the Elections Commissioner to conduct a free and fair election. In a way the political parties who unanimously adopted this amendment, should take credit and pride for this splendid natational achievement. This is how political thinking should be! Let all political parties get the foresight to continue this sound trend in matters of public interest in future. H. D. HERMAN PERERA, Kohuwala The great betrayal With reference to the letter of B. S. G. Perera cn payment of pensions, it appears he has become an ardent campaigner in support of the bluff perpetrated by the UNF on the eve of the general election. UNF promised to rectify the anomalous situation and also to pay a four figure increase to the pensioners. This promise was repeated time and again in the election propaganda campaigns. To fulfill this promise it laboured for over two years and this gestation finally culminated in an abortion delivering only a note sent along with the March 4, vouchers to some of the pensioners. The recipient of this note was expected to personally contact the pension dept. One such pensioner (of whom I am aware) had been turned away with sheer askance! This may be the fate of all the others as well because the then Govt. did not mean to offer the much needed relief, instead this was only a political gimmick to fool the pensioners and to obtain their votes giving them the hope that the payment is only round the corner when the UNF comes to power again. If the Govt. had been really sincere, it could have easily given the much needed relief, had it taken tangible steps to prevent the corruption resorted to, by some of its ministers and the utter wastage at all levels of the administration. Even this note in question is something that need not have been sent because the pension files containing the relevant details are in the pension dept. Therefore there was no reason compel the pensioners most of whom are weak and feeble to make this "pilgrimage" to the pensions dept. It is a matter of deep regret that the attention of the economic minded Director of Pensions has not fallen on this wasteful note. He is the one who wanted to economise of the postage totally disregarding the inconvenience that would have caused to the pensioners had his pet scheme been implemented. It is quite pertinent to mention a Sinhalese proverb at this juncture: "Velicha atta watenakota gogatta hinawanawa" i.e. When the dried frond falls off, the young frond mocks at it (dried frond). Today the Director is a young frond and in a few years he will become a dried frond and he may become a victim (much to his chagrin) should there be director of his type at that time adopting pernicious procedures. At that time although he may have got to eat his words, he may not be able to do so, because he may be sans his teeth! On various occasions the pensioners pleaded with the Govt. to give them their legitimate dues as they are being crushed between two unsurmountable obstacles - the high cost of living and the inadequate pension. Finally the pensioners warned the Govt. stating that although they do not have the "strike weapon", yet they had the bullet like ballots which can be made use of even with their trembling hands. The Govt. living in a fool's paradise thinking that it is forever amber, threw caution to the winds. Taking advantage of this situation some of the ministers of the Govt. indulged in unbridled corruption over which Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe adopted the same stance which he physically demonstrated on the occasion when his colleagues committed the dastardly act of burning the draft constitution in the parliament - I.. no see; I no hear; I .. no speak. I can assuredly say that the pensioners have fired all the salvos in their possession along with the others to give an impregnable attack to bring down the UNF with an ignoble defeat. I hope that will be unforgettable to the politicians. L. MARASINGHE, Ratmalana |
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