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All Sri Lankans who have been suffering due to terrorism for 30 years
now breathing a sigh of relief because of the bold steps and decisions
taken by President Mahinda Rajapaksa to crush inhuman LTTE terrorists.
According to the recent humanitarian operations made by our brave
war-heroes, many ultra-modern firearms, destructive weapons and
factories of manufacturing such dangerous weapons have been discovered
in the North by the Armed Forces.
It is very clear that the LTTE terrorists have been planning to
capture our whole island by using firearms and by crushing democracy and
assassinating patriots who preach peace, non-violence and equal rights.
We see very unkind and unpatriotic views expressed by leaders of
opposition parties in the media and they are jealous of seeing the
dawning of peace and harmony among the communities of our country.
So-called political leaders pretend that they are representing genuinely
the common people while paving the way secretly for establishing
violence and terrorism in Sri Lanka.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa repeatedly requested the LTTE leadership
to come for negotiations and to tread the democratic path by giving up
killings of sons and daughters of Mother Lanka. All such humble and
genuine appeals made by the President were looked down upon and ignored
by the LTTE.
Today, our mother Lanka stands proudly with her patriotic sons and
daughters with earnest hopes and aspirations for a better tomorrow. All
these victories and feelings of dignity are enjoyed by all citizens of
Sri Lanka due to the far-sighted leadership of people’s friendly
President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
Now, Sri Lankans are blessed with a good leader and our duty is to
protect him in order to bring ever-lasting peace and prosperity to this
war-torn country. With the blessings of the Triple Gem, may the
President be able to overcome all unpatriotic forces that try to
obstruct the way to peace in Sri Lanka.
May the gods protect President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the Chiefs of the
three Armed Forces, war-heroes and Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa
as they all have sacrificed their utmost to liberate this noble island
Sri Lanka from terrorism.
S. M. Wijayaratne Kurunegala
The entire world and our brainwashed past leaders were convinced that
the ruthless Tiger terrorism could not be liquidated. Now, thanks to our
brave soldiers it is almost breathing its last. As things are, the
entire nation will be liberated from the clutches of terrorism; before
the dawn of April 14, 2009 - New Year; and the entire Sri Lankan nation
will be breathing the freedom of fresh air under one flag.
Now, after 30 years we will be free and able to travel without fear
right across the country and worship the places of veneration etc.
without paying illegal toll to the terrorists, thanks to the President.
At present, all over the world people are only concerned about the
total eradication of terrorism from the surface of this earth. As the
President rightly declared that there are no good or bad terrorists.
If we are to live peacefully on this earth the annihilation of
terrorism is a must. This is being fuflilled to the last letter by
President Rajapaksa’s, in spite, of the unfair criticisms levelled
against him and the Army Chief and Defence Secretary etc. by the green
eyed disgruntled forces in the country.
Many past leaders did try but failed miserably, may be, due to fear,
corruption or sheer inefficiency in their own ranks. But President
Rajapaksa has been extremely lucky to have got an Army Chief, a Defence
Secretary and the Commanders of all the Forces and the solders working
tirelessly and selflessly with the fullest cooperation and dedication to
have a future Sri Lanka, sans terrorism. They are almost at the tail end
of it.
Ignominious criticism of genuine efforts and actions of the Forces is
not fair and healthy in a democracy; and it certainly sounds unpatriotic
too. The present actions of our Forces will enable one day for the
shadow Government in waiting, too, to rule and develop the country
better and peacefully without suicide bombers targetting country’s
leaders and the poor innocent civilians, from time to time.
Very soon the most wanted ruthless Tiger leaders will be vanishing
into thin air, thanks to the untiring efforts of our gallant soldiers
and the President’s courageous and unblemished leadership we lacked
since late Mrs. B!
May the Triple Gem bless our country, the nation, the President and
the Armed Forces.
R. Jayawardena Mount Lavinia
The Grade 3 school English Workbook is very attractive and educative.
The drawings in it are very simple and clear. The hand-written English
characters are very beautiful and if the teachers advise the students to
emulate them, they will learn to write beautiful handwriting at a
comparatively younger age. But, there are some errors in the book.
The word ‘yacht’ opposite the letter ‘Y’ has been misspelt as ‘yatch’.
The picture above the word ‘igloo’ is not an igloo but an Eskimo. An
Eskimo is a man, while an igloo is his house built of blocks of hard
snow and shaped like a dome. The picture above the word ‘yak’ is not a
yak, but an ordinary bull.
A yak is a stocky shaggy-haired wild or domestic ox. The picture
above the word ‘zebra’ has no black and white stripes. It looks like a
donkey in a tiger skin, or some other strange animal.
Someone may argue that these are trivial lapses. But it takes a long
time to erase wrong impressions in young minds. We need not bother the
Education Department regarding this.
The teachers themselves can rectify these errors by showing the
correct picture to the students. Some teachers may have done so even by
now. I hope the teachers who read this letter would convey the message
to their fellow teachers. Anyway, I am sending a copy of this letter to
the Education Publications Department, so that they can make the
necessary changes in their next print.
Thompson Koggala Kurunegala
The Fundamental or the Supreme Law of a country is its Constitution.
Sri Lanka is governed by the ‘Constitution of the Democratic Socialist
Republic of Sri Lanka’ (known euphemistically as the JR’s Constitution)
certified on August 31, 1978.
It replaced ‘The Constitution of Sri Lanka (Ceylon), adopted and
enacted by the Constituent Assembly of the People of Sri Lanka on May
22, 1972. This is popularly known as the First Republican Constitution.
It in turn replaced the ‘Ceylon (Constitution and Independence)
Orders-in-Council 1946 and 1947’ the so-called Colonial Constitution.
The First Republican Constitution prescribed an Oath or Affirmation
of allegiance to the Constitution that should be taken by every Member
of the National State Assembly promising to uphold the same. The Second
(or the JR’s) Republican Constitution (above) prescribes a similar but a
shorter Oath or Affirmation which undertakes to ‘uphold and defend’ the
Constitution.
The Sixth Amendment to the present Constitution introduced by its
Seventh Schedule, an additional Oath or Affirmation in the following
terms as a part of new Article 157A:
“I, .... do solemnly declare and affirm that I will uphold and defend
the Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and
that I will not, directly or indirectly, in or outside Sri Lanka,
support, espouse, promote, finance, encourage or advocate the
establishment of a separate State within the territory of Sri Lanka.”
The underlying reason for its introduction is to curb the commission
of any act which endangers the sovereignty, independence, unity and
territorial integrity of the country. An offender is liable to
deprivation of his civic rights for seven years and forfeiture of
property as well as loss of office.
This Amendment to the Constitution led to controversy in that the
elected Members of Parliament representing the Tamil United Liberation
Front (TULF) also known as the Federal Party which advocated and vowed
to create a separate State for Tamils refused to take the said Oath or
Affirmation because of their militant stand on the policy of separatism.
The said members eventually lost their Seats in Parliament. The
‘boys’ in the form of the ‘Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam’ (LTTE)
spawned by the demand of the Federalists for a separate State for the
Tamils swallowed the lives of Amirthalingam and others on their failure
to pursue the goal of a separate State for the Tamils.
Our criminal law too takes a very serious view of waging war against
the State inclusive of an attempt or abetment of same in a special
chapter in the Penal Code where the punishment in terms of the Criminal
Procedure Code (Section 114) is death of imprisonment for a
determinative period and forfeiture of property.
In the light of the above constitutional and criminal jurisprudential
backdrop it is urbane to consider the conduct of the Leader of the
Opposition Ranil Wickremasinghe in entering into a Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) with Velupillai Piribaharan aka Prabhakaran the
leader of the most dreaded terrorist outfit in the world to virtually to
give away the Northern and Eastern Provinces of Sri Lanka without the
sanction of the then Cabinet and the reigning President. This was to
help usher in the much dreamed of a separate Tamil State in Sri Lanka
which the TULF/Federalists failed to accomplish.
The conduct of Wickremasinghe tantamounts to the violation of the
Oath or Affirmation (one does not know which) that he would have so
solemnly taken rightly deserving the maximum punishment prescribed by
law.
Y.K. Mount Lavinia
I have read in the Daily News of January 17 that the Healthcare and
Nutrition Ministry is going to take legal action against 100 Sri Lankan
doctors who have not returned to Sri Lanka yet, after completing their
scholarship periods abroad.
It was also mentioned in the same news report that some doctors stay
back in foreign countries without returning to Sri Lanka after
completing their scholarship periods.
Such doctors should be severely punished by the Health Ministry
taking into account the fact that they went on scholarships by utilising
the taxes paid by the poor people of this country. Therefore, it is
their bounden duty to return to Sri Lanka to serve our people, since
there is a shortage of specialised doctors in this country on various
medical fields.
I am happy what the Ministry is proposing to do. I presume they all
went abroad on scholarships after signing a bond to return to Sri Lanka
and not to be crazy for earning very high wages in foreign currency.
Please be patriotic and respect your profession. You have been
elevated to that prestigious position by the poor taxpayer of this
country.
D.E. Abeyweera Kelaniya
Yes we have a good leader, team, vision like America.But our peoples
mindset have to change, especially slander, negative thoughts, jealousy,
caste, blaming others, oppose for the sake of opposition, the terrorist
issue and now the bailout, etc, all these obstacles have pulled us down,
being resistance to accept change have brought us to this stage. Now we
have to open our mind as followers and at least practise the five
precepts, work hard, and try to bring the country up.
We have to show that we are capable in running our own affairs and
country without depending on others.
We have to be united in our stand, thoughts, speech, deeds, respect
everyone, and together build the Nation. Now we have everything lined up
for a better future or another 30 years of misery and suffering. Its our
CHOICE! Think very carefully, be matured, our future generations rely on
our decisions. Change for the BETTER.
Eddy
The recently held medical exhibition of the Sri Jayawardene Pura
University Medical Faculty at the BMICH attracted massive crowds. It
seemed to be very successful as the arrangements done were in such a
manner.
The service of checking random blood sugar, the pressure and the
advice relevant to the results were done for a nominal fee of Rs. 100 by
the doctors. HelpAge and another private optical company were offering
free services in checking the eyesight of the senior citizens. The
medical students took no rest in explaining the visitors all about the
diseases in the human body allocated to them in different departments.
Food caterers, soft drink sellers, ice cream vans etc. were aplenty
for the visitors to enjoy their choice. All in all, everything was fine
except for the following two matters.
1. Crowds were so large that over five counters were fast issuing the
tickets with assistants in attendance.
Whereas for physical checks to enter the exhibition area only three
males and one female cops were deployed with roof provided while
visitors were in the hot sun, the queue hardly moving. Those intend to
hold exhibitions in future could avoid similar inconvenience to the
visitors.
2. The body of a male had been placed ‘totally naked’ while a medical
student was explaining various things about the corpse. Surely, the
private part could have been covered since women with their daughters of
different ages were visiting it. Actually, it was a grave mistake on the
part of the organisers. Such things should be avoided in future medical
exhibitions.
Nazly Cassim Colombo 13
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