Letters to the Editor

Expand SAARC: There is much benefit in it
I commend President Chandrika Kumaratunga for her recent far-reaching proposals for strengthening the bonds of the SAARC countries. May I urge her to strengthen this process by proposing a wider vision? Keeping a wider vision often helps solve problems that could be otherwise difficult.

Specially, I urge her to propose bringing in Afghanistan, Burma, Cambodia and Iran and possibly Thailand into SAARC -- with a view to eventually creating a confederation of South Asian states.

The SAARC Heads of State and Foreign Ministers, who were in power at the time when Bangladesh made the proposal for the setting up of the South Asian grouping, are no more. I discussed the proposal for the expansion of SAARC with Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar and Ambassador Nihal Rodrigo at the Asia Society in New York in the 1990s.

Advantages in widening SAARC are:
1. A wider group will help allay fears based on religious and ethnic differences. Clearly, there will be more Muslims and Buddhists in the expanded group. Kashmir could then "belong" to both India and Pakistan and would not pose a hindrance to these two countries coming closer to each other.

2. The "smaller" members of SAARC would have less to fear from the eventual confederation.

3. It would encourage Iran to look eastwards where it has greater cultural and ethnic links and moderate its involvement with West Asia.

5. It will reduce expenditure on the armed forces and discourage proliferation of nuclear and missile technology.

6. This is a process that is underway in the European Union. Therefore, the proposal cannot be declared a far-fetched idea.

Help us reach Hunupitiya Railway Station safely
Thousands of train commuters, including office workers, teachers and schoolchildren, come to the Hunupitiya station daily to take a train to Colombo or other destinations.

But it is disheartening to see that there is no proper access way to this station. Therefore, some commuters have to walk along the rail track to reach the station, which is no easy task, especially for children and the elderly.

People who come from Averiwatte Road, Kurunduwatte, Bishop Road and Hunupitiya are greatly inconvenienced by the lack of proper access from the level crossing end (near the Buddha statue).

There is an access way running parallel to the Colombo Commercial Company (fertilizer) building which some people use but halfway along this access way weeds and plants as tall as five or six feet have come up. As such, the people are compelled again to use the rail track to reach the station. This access way may be developed into a proper path. I hope the local authority and Railway officials would take necessary action.

Study the larger picture, before implementing death penalty
There is agitation for the re-implementation of the death penalty as a measure of arresting the increasing crime rate in the country, following the killing of a High Court judge. It's a typical Sri Lankan response with authorities reacting emotionally and taking myopic and dangerous decisions.

This decision to re-implement death penalty should not be taken by the politicians and legal community alone. It is a matter for a broad consensus including sociologists, psychologists, economists and educationists because the reasons for grave crimes are either social, psychological, economic or educational. There are no born criminals.

Unfortunately, no apparent studies have been undertaken by our intellectuals on the subject. The ground reality also shows that corruption is high in both the police and the judiciary as revealed by studies and made known by the President.

Therefore, I strongly object to the re-implementation of the death penalty but suggest an assessment of the level of social injustices, unequal distribution of wealth, lack of education, bad social influences, flaws in criminal justice system and political influences be undertaken because that is where the cause is.

The Presidential term ends in 2005 - not 2006
The nation is being given to understand and absorb the proposition that the current President's second term comes to a close at the end of 2006 and not 2005.

If a President is re-elected as was done in respect of the present President, there could have been only two swearing-ins, but in the present instance there had been three. Two of the three had been made in public. The third is claimed to have been made in camera. The swearing-ins are, however, public events and should be performed in public view. If one of the swearing-ins did not happen in public, it causes suspicion in the public mind.

Despite the three swearing-ins, if the President decides to step down at the end of the six years of her re-election, there will be no issues created. If, on the other hand, she decides to stay in power one more year, she would certainly be creating issues. The impact of such issues may be far-reaching.

Such a decision may well have repercussions not only for us but also in the international community. The world community might doubt the validity of an administration, headed by a president whose power has expired by the yardstick of the island's most authoritative document - the Constitution.

The other vital consequence of such a personal and unrelated decision on the part of the President is that it will result in a personal gain to her of an extra presidential year. High-powered public authorities would do well not to profit personally by unilateral decisions, made in their personal favour.

The other ambiguity that develops from the postulate is resting on the validity or otherwise of the President sitting in office 12 years and not 11 years under the committed circumstances. Under the normal flow of the Constitution she is entitled to a full 12 years - two six-year terms. But she went for a second term one year before her first term ended. Supposing she had lost the election what would have been the position? Would she have stepped down? Would the nation have allowed her to continue for one more year on the basis that her first mandate was for six years? What would have been the dilemma of the elected candidate? To wait one long year to assume office? What would have been the reaction of the millions of citizens who voted for a change?

The argument that the President acquired a six-year mandate to rule upon the third secret swearing-in validates the argument that the President was mandated to continue in office in the last year of her first term despite the fact that she was defeated at the second attempt. I, therefore, advise her advisors to put the correct facts before the President and assist her to take the correct decision, which is to step down at the end of 2005. The President, above all is duty bound to preserve the image of this nation in the national and international eye.

Diplomatic muddle: Local recruits or home-based staff?
I refer to Thalif Deen's column titled "Foreign Ministry shake-up and clean-up" which appeared on November 21.

He mentions that Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar has said that some of the non-diplomatic staff including clerks, stenographers, messengers and drivers have been appointed "without even a piece of paper". "There are no files and there is no authority whatsoever for the appointments". "The illegal appointments to Sri Lanka overseas missions have been made mostly with no examinations, no interviews - nothing". The bottom line, he says, is that "so and so was from Moratuwa". This is wrong.

I do not know whether the minister was referring to the appointment of local staff or home-based staff (clerks, stenographers, etc., selected from Sri Lanka and sent to our embassies abroad for three years). Home-based staff means staff sent from Sri Lanka and the government provides the air ticket for the officer and family, the house rent, medical, education allowance for children below university level and a heavy baggage. Local recruit gets only the salary from the government.

In the case of home-based staff (clerks, stenographers, etc.), selection is made through a competitive examination conducted by the Examinations Department and an interview. The interview board normally consists of officials from the Foreign Ministry and other ministries/departments. Last month, an examination to select clerks and stenographers was held by the Examinations Department and similar exams were held in November 2003 (for stenographers) and in July 2002 (for stenographers).

In the case of stenographers, in addition to public service stenographers, they have to compete with stenographers from the Bank of Ceylon, private firms and other institutions. Home-based drivers and messengers are selected on a rotational basis. This practice of selection through exams and interviews has been continued for the past several years even before 1994 with only a few exceptions. In the case of local recruits, what the minister said is absolutely correct.

Thalif Deen replies: Mr de Silva obviously has got his wires crossed. Our article did not refer or even use the term "home-based staff". Our reference was to "local recruits" whose appointments - mostly without even "a piece of paper" - were abused by the previous administration.

But some of the home-based non-diplomatic staff members, whom Mr de Silva defends, are no angels either. An increasingly large number of these home-based staffers are refusing to go back home after completing their three-year assignments, mostly in Western capitals, preferring to go underground and remain as "illegal aliens" with no visa status. In New York, several of these staff members have opted to work illegally in Sri Lankan-run shops peddling blue films and pornography. At least one western country has sought assurances from the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry that its non-diplomatic, home-based staff leave the country before authorising visas for incoming staff.

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