|
According to the news item published in the Daily News of January 15,
I understand that the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon seems to have
headed to the Middle East to press for an immediate ceasefire between
Hamas and Israel and the delivery of humanitarian aid to the devastated
Gaza strip.
It is revealed from some news item that the Secretary General is
going to press for the full implementation of the Security Council
resolution 1860 adopted that stresses the urgency of and calls for an
immediate and fully respected ceasefire leading to the full withdrawal
of Israeli forces from Gaza.
In this regard, what I want to stress is the immediate step of
intervention by the New US President Obama. Everyone is quite aware that
Israel is listening to only its sponsor US Government.
M.Y.M. Meeadh Kandy
As a customer of Seylan Bank I like to express my gratitude to the
Monetary Board and the Governor of the Central Bank, Dr. Nivard Cabraal
for the timely action they took in transferring the management of Seylan
Bank to the country’s main bank, Bank of Ceylon. This saved our hard
earned money which we have deposited in that bank.
We are told that there have been questionable transactions and a run
on the bank following the failure of the Golden Key Credit Card Company
to meet its obligations, but we have still not been told why Golden Key
was allowed by the authorities to take deposits and why Seylan Bank
should have been involved with it.
A relevant questions is why the Central Bank of Sri Lanka had
permitted so many financial institutions including many banks and
finance companies to be run by one business group.
In fact why should one group have had a desire to operate so many
similar organisations without having one strong bank and one strong
finance company? I am not a financial wizard but even to my
non-financial mind, it strikes me that this may be to confuse the
public, the auditors and others, with a large amount of
‘cross-transactions’. Surely, the Central Bank officials should have
looked into this aspect?
Before this we had problems with another bank, the Pramuka Bank. I
had an account at that bank and had to wait six long years to get a part
of my money back. I am still not sure if and when I will get the balance
part of my fixed deposits. We were suddenly told that Pramuka Bank had
been closed by the Central Bank.
In this case, we were not informed of any other connected scam and up
to the time of its closure Pramuka Bank had paid me monthly interest on
my deposits without any delay. I like to ask the question why the
Central Bank did not hand over the Pramuka Bank to Bank of Ceylon or the
People’s Bank or the National Savings Bank if it felt that Pramuka Bank
was going to fail.
The opposition in the Parliament is asking for a commission of
inquiry into the failure of the Golden Key Company and the Seylan Bank.
The Government should show its good intentions, be transparent and hold
this commission of inquiry and also include the Pramuka episode as the
public wish to know the true facts.
The people have a right to know and also a right to get their money
back especially when we have invested the money in Central Bank
supervised institutions. The Leader of the Opposition was then the Prime
Minister but he never issued any statement on the closure of Pramuka
Bank and did not hold a Commission of Inquiry. Perhaps he is now a wiser
man and he is asking the present Government for a commission on the
current problem.
M. Damian - Wattala
We Sri Lanka Malays though a minority have contributed our mite to
our Motherland in every way. Our loyalty to Sri Lanka has never been in
doubt.
The numbers of young lives we have lost in this war, in proportion to
our numbers, are equal to that of the other ethnic groups. It saddened
us when official pronouncements and media reports regarding ethnic
groups in Sri Lanka failed to give us any recognition by grouping us
with the Muslims (though we are Muslims by religion).
However we are happy to note that of late this lapse has been
remedied from the President down to the officials and the media by
mentioning us by name. Even the registration form which every citizens
is now required to fill has a provision for the ‘Malays’ who earlier had
to include their name under ‘others’.
We are indeed thankful to the President for recognizing that we
Malays are part and parcel of this multi-religious, multi-ethnic,
multi-lingual land.
B. D. K. Saldin - Dehiwela
I am a retired Government officer practising law and residing in
Batticaloa. I have two daughters - one is following the LLB study
program at the Open University of Sri Lanka, Nawala, Nugegoda and she is
boarded at Wellawatte.
The younger daughter had applied for the LLB entrance examination
with the Open University and had to come to Colombo to sit the
examination. If she is successful she too will have to reside in Colombo
to follow the LLB study course.
I understand that there is a Open University - Legal Department at
the Jaffna University and there are about 20 students following the LLB
program.
My contention is that why there is no such Legal unit of the Open
University with the Batticaloa University. During my last visit to the
Legal Department, Open University, Nugegoda, the academic staff told me
that they do not have the required number of academic staff to open a
Legal Unit with the Eastern University. Several academic staff are
overseas on study leave.
The East should get priority as recently cleared area by the Security
Forces. There are a number of students who missed the information on the
advertisement hurriedly published by the Open University in December
last year.
I am also a LLB graduate from the Colombo University. I followed the
External LLB degree program during the seventies. All who were keen on
following the study course and with the qualifications were allowed to
register. However, this external program was later abolished and
conducting such programs were assigned to the Open University.
The mandate of the Open University is to provide educational
facilities for those living in distant places with the available
resources especially for the poor. To my astonishment, an academic staff
member invited me to enrol for a Masters Degree in Law of which they are
advertising soon. And to my dismay told that the course fee would be
colossal.
I humbly pray that University education should be free or at a
subsidized rates and undergraduates programs should be given priority
with a maximum number of intakes. Dons of the Open University told me
that they have to restrict the student intake due to lack of staff
members.
We at the Batticaloa are willing to teach LLB students free of charge
if enrolled with the Eastern University. We go by the Mahinda
Chinthanaya, enrich the poor students with the LLB with the available
resources - which would benefit to maintain law and order in the East.
May I suggest that the Open University re-advertise the calling for
applications for LLB entrance giving sufficient time for students in the
East. Since, only a short period was given to apply, a fair number
students might have missed the advertisement even in the other parts of
the country.
Manikkam AAL
I visited the published website and found the registration form to be
badly designed and confusing, most of all with no ‘Submission’ button to
complete the registration. The only button provided is for submission of
changes. Clicking that button resulted in the appearance of a request
for: ‘the correct e-mail address’ which had already been provided.
The on-line form has clearly been designed by a bureaucrat with a
poor knowledge of on-line form design, and no idea of what is required
for people to complete registration. The designer also shows inadequate
language proficiency. Importantly, no competent person appears to have
approved the design.
For the time being, no online registration is possible.
Mansoor Ghouse Rajagiriya
You cleared the North from the Terrorist hold
Your Gallant Victory, amidst difficulty was bold
The opening of the A9 Road, the fall of the Elephant Pass
Trapping the LTTE to a corner, of Mullativu was very class
We watched you in the Media, our heart beats were with you
Wading through the waters of the battlefield, with morals true
Crawling through the jungles, firing as you go
You kept the Nation’s hearts beat scamping with you to and fro
Full control of the Jaffna peninsula is under the Army now
A dream comes true, to the troops, the nation would bow
Mothers who have lost their sons in the battlefield, are now held in
high esteem
As Gamini of Hasalaka, the soldiers, we lost have all fought like a
team
Our President has to be honoured, both as a Good Leader and a friend
The crackers that rocked high spoke of the nation’s support in every
trend
The National Flag as it unfurled, fluttered in the breeze
Echoed the joyous cries of the nation, who now breathe at ease.
Vinitha Karunaratne Negegoda
|
