• Gutter journalists

• The Elders' Home or a Home for the Elders?

• Have we really lost our patriotism?

• A prayerful appeal

• Upholding Buddhist traditions

• Adverse effects of GM foods Prof. Athula Perera should be congratulated on his article on 'Genetically Modified Organisms' (DN June 5).

Gutter journalists

Current Journalists appear to enjoy the freedom of the Wild Ass. Asses and Fools rush in where Angels fear to tread. If the Ass tosses its mane, looks around and surveys the terrain before it, it could avoid the pitfalls. A Journalist duty is to educate, inform elucidate and enlighten the reading public on matters not readily available to them. Politicians and Persons are also within their ambit. Prejudice they should wrap up in their sleeves and be factual in whatever they write.

Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar who has done yeoman service to debunk the LTTE propaganda that the Sinhala country is a rump of chauvinists who are out to annihilate the Tamil, appears to be the target of some journalists kept by a certain newspaper. Kadir, knowing his place in the Government set up kept his trap shut when the P-toms agreement was signed with what is called the LTTE, an entity unregistered with the Elections Commissioner. The country knows the LTTE as a band of marauding murderers and thugs, who are shunned by sensible Tamil political parties and individuals. It is surprising that a person of Kadirgamar's stature should be singled out for ridicule by petty journalists unless they are mad. Mad dogs and bitches bark but the caravan moves on.

Let's console for God too is shunned by agnostics! A journalist instead of spinning sensational yarns have a duty by the reader of newspapers of this country to write truths and not peddle private prejudices.

Recently a Sunday newspaper sought to blacken Kadirgamar and his wife Sugandi. The journalist critic of Husband and Wife must be a Dhugandi for her puerile criticism is that Sugandi the wife of Kadir who is at most times abroad working honestly for the country should not travel with him at State expense but use her private money if she wants to accompany her husband. Lakshman is male and will want female company for that is why he is married to a woman and will not have to twiddle his thumbs when abroad. Further at Diplomatic gathering he will be accompanied by his wife, but Dhugandi believes that money must be saved for the State despite protocol.

Kadirgamar takes with him a Stenographer on his foreign trips for many of his letters and reports are confidential, but Dhugandi wants him to use the stenographers supplied by the Lanka Mission, who will sell the country's secrets for private gain.

Dhugandi in a recent write up on "The Phantom Minister" makes out that Kadir profits by the money paid out by his Ministry for the numerous services and ends her stinking article with the words "Lakshman Kadirgamar never-theless has been found wanting in his whole administration of the Foreign Ministry" Dhugandi if she did good journalistic ferreting would know that Kadirgamar's Ministry will have an Administrative Secretary and that the Minister will not shoulder that burden on his weary shoulders for he has other duties by his country.

Dhugandi's journalism seems to be similar to the freedom of the Wild Mare. The smelling dirt that Dhugandi has raked up will like water on the ducks back roll off Kadir's diplomatic coat and be lot in oblivions.

The newspaper that shows its ugly head on Sundays surely falls into the category of a Rag from the Gutter Press.

I. L. P. Samarasinghe - Dehiwela

The Elders' Home or a Home for the Elders?

It is either a quirk of human nature, an irony of fate or a paradox profoundly true that in a world seething with joy and hatred some people in a given situation tend to act ignoring the principles of natural justice and fairplay for reasons best known to them. I believe that finding reasons for such unusual behaviour is certainly beyond the ken of ordinary human understanding.

A case in point is the growing tendency to send ones aged parents to a Home for the Aged. This happens mostly among middle class and some upper middle class families living in and around Colombo. In the villages it is not so. There the family is a closely knitted unit where the aged parents are cared for in their hour of need. The concept of a Home for the aged originated in the rapacious West. The West in its mad race for material progress has left behind all its moral values and so they obviously consider aged parents a burden to be thrust into a home for the aged. But we Asians have a totally different culture and so we are morally bound to look after our aged parents in their hour of need.

The homely atmosphere found in an ordinary home is totally absent in an Elders Home. Some of these aged parents have lived in their homes as little children with their parents, and some have built these homes and lived in them for long years. When such parents are dislodged from their homes and natural surroundings the psychological impact upon them must be terrible. There is no doubt that throughout their stay forced stay in these homes they must be undergoing severe mental pain. In the villages the situation is quite different.

There the aged parents are looked after with loving tender care. At least one child usually the youngest or the "Badapissa" lives with the aged parents. The Badapissa inherits the Mahagedera in terms of an unwritten law or convention that it is incumbent on him or her to look after the aged parents, of course the other children too lend their unstinted support for the purpose. It is a very pleasant sight to see in the villages during the Sinhala New Year men and women some with babes in their alms and with other little children coming to the Mahagedera to see their aged parents and spend the festive days with them. They never fail to bring gifts to them. They usually spend more than a week in the Mahagedera.

Just after the dawn of the New Year they present the gifts to their aged parents and also offer beetle and beg for forgiveness - any lapses on their part during the past year. Their little children too follow their parents by worshipping the grandparents on bended knee. The aged parents bless all of them saying "Thunuruwan Saranai or Theruwan Saranai". This friendly atmosphere is not found in the city. It is a Sine Qua Non that aged parents must be allowed to continue to live in the homes they lived right throughout the years. It is their home "The Elder's Home and not any another Elders Home".

The Buddha has preached that one must look after ones parents in their dotage. He has said that in every home there is a Buddha referring to the Mother such is the reverence and the importance attached to the Mother by the Buddha. Buddhists must note this fact.

I would like to adduce some reasons as to why some ungrateful children send their aged parents to homes for the aged.

1. After marriage some find that their partners resent the presence of the others aged parents resulting in the helpers aged parents being forced into a Home for the Elders. This is done to maintain family unity.

2. Some children from middle class families educated and holding responsible positions married from families high up in the social and economic order find it infra dig to keep their aged sometimes not so educated parents with them and so they pack them off to a home for the aged and that too to a State sponsored institution.

3. Some seek greener pastures overseas leaving their aged parents to languish in a home for the aged run by the State.

4. Some like to live comfortably with no liabilities or responsibilities so they send their aged parents to a home for the aged. I repeat that some of these hapless aged parents have lived in their home since childhood inheriting the houses from their parents and some have built these houses and when such persons are forced to spend the rest of their lives away from home and their known environment the mental suffering must be unbearable perhaps recalling memories of the pleasant times they had with their children in the not too distant past. Buddhists must be careful for they will suffer the same fate at the hands of their children before their death which is called "Dittadamma Vedaniya Karma".

Sons and daughters of this blessed land

Don't send your parents to any Elders Home

Keep them with you giving them a helping hand

And make them happy without any fuss and foam.

GEORGE TILLAKERATNE - Etul Kotte

Have we really lost our patriotism?

The article by Lionel Wijesiri on the above (June 14) is a very sensible description of patriotism.

Some of us are obviously confused as to what patriotism is. Having migrated to Australia 15 years ago, I am now an Australian citizen. The pathetic situation in the country at the time, the belief that the country was moving further in the same direction, the right to live as a good citizen and placing my family's interest ahead of everything else were the factors that motivated me to migrate. Ten years prior to that, I had returned to Sri Lanka, after studies in England, with the resolve never to leave Sri Lanka again. It took me a few years to realise that I had made a mistake and to reverse my own decision. I am now happily settled down in Australia and I am proud to say that I made a very wise and sensible decision.

My choice in 1990 was very clear. Should I be willing to make sacrifices and actively attempt to direct the country in the right direction, or should I move to a country in the hope that I would have a fair chance for a decent future for me and my family? I took the latter path and decided to leave Sri Lanka for good. By choosing this path, I lost my claim to patriotism to Sri Lanka. That is a fact that cannot be denied.

Furthermore, by turning my back on the country of my birth, the country that educated me and the country of my friends and relatives and by depriving the country of a good citizen, I have to admit that, to a certain extent, my act qualifies me to be branded as a traitor who deserted the country when it was in trouble. I can blame the circumstances and cite many examples, but that will not take away my responsibility for my own decision.

The above applies to most expatriate Sri Lankans who live in affluent countries, some of them having left Sri Lanka with huge legal obligations unfulfilled.

However, looking at the articles that appear on internet sites and community media, one cannot help wondering how lucky Sri Lanka should be; if the expatriates are so patriotic, how super-patriotic are the ones who remain there and suffer - specially the ones who have the qualifications and the skills to migrate quite easily? How fortunate should a country like that be?

Expatriate Sri Lankans, let us not fool ourselves. By claiming to be patriots, we are insulting the gutsy Sri Lankans who have decided to stick with the motherland and fight it out - in whatever way they feel is right. Some of them may not be patriotic, but they are relatively better citizens than us deserters.

As expatriates, we can still help the country that we left, we can help our friends and relatives, but we can never be patriots - not even good citizens, unless we pack up and go back. As a human being, one must strive to be a good citizen, wherever he/she is. Once that simple requirement is fulfilled, one can then look towards the next step - patriotism, that too wherever he/she is.

KEERTHY SILVA - Australia

A prayerful appeal

There was a time in the past, the entire services on Sundays in churches were regularly broadcast. It was very advantageous in many ways. My wife and I were regularly attending without much difficulties. Now, we both are in eighties. Our health, visual faculties are on a declining stage. There may be many others who may be confined to bed, bed sores, crippled, invalids, some in senile condition, sick, aged, etc., etc.

There may be so many categories of people who are unable to travel; some may be in various fields of work, foreign embassies, high commissions, etc.

The travel as it is well-known, is tedious and costly by hiring van or any other vehicle.

I fervently hope this may catch the eyes of episcopal authorities, SLBC and other relevant authorities, may kindly broadcast on the 1st Sunday of every month directly from a church so that we can listen the entire service. It will definitely soothe our minds and souls to a certain extent in this turbulent world.

J. E. VETHANAYAGAM - Moratuwa

Upholding Buddhist traditions

The Buddhist Temporalities Ordinance was enacted in the year 1931 Ordinances No. 19 of 1931 and has been amended several times. The Temple of the Tooth of the Buddha is the most venerated relic for the Buddhists which has always had the patronage of the Kings of Ceylon.

The Mahanayake Theras of the Asgiriya and Malwatta Chapters have for a long period of time received grants from Royalty in the way of vast stretches of land the income of which is utilized for the upkeep and performance of the various religious rites attached to the temple.

On July 1, 2005 at 4 p.m. the election of Pradeep Nilanga Dela Bandara was announced as the 19th Diyawadana Nilame in an overwhelming count of 199 votes while he held office as a Basnayake Nilame of both the Ruhunu Kataragama Maha Devale and Ratnapura Devale.

The Provision to Section 12 of the Ordinance states that the Diyawadana Nilame shall hold office for a period of 10 years which is a long period of time when compared with the term of office of an elected Government in a Democratic State.

On his election he announced that he shall uphold the highest traditions and the Buddhists in Sri Lanka and abroad look up to him to safeguard the dignity and transparency attached to his office.

Earl R. De Zoysa - Ratmalana

Adverse effects of GM foods Prof. Athula Perera should be congratulated on his article on 'Genetically Modified Organisms' (DN June 5).

I know several vegetarians who need a lot of proteins but are afraid to consume soya meat because they are uncertain about the bad effects of soya meat.

Prof. Perera has written in no uncertain terms about the adverse effects of the entry of such food into the local market. He says that their harmful effects can be detected by a simple laboratory test. The national policy has now been formulated and Sri Lanka has signed the Cartegena Protocol on Biosafety. Therefore the national policy must be implemented immediately. Since there are many consuming GM foods in Sri Lanka because they are not aware of the bad effects of those, several publicity and awareness programmes should be commenced highlighting the hazards of the use of GM foods.

S. FERNANDO - Panadura