On
the wane
The CWC had organised a May Day rally in Nuwara Eliya despite the
ban on such rallies. There was tight security with men from the
Minister’s Security Division (MSD) as well as nearly 100 policemen
brought in from the Kurunegala division to provide security to CWC
leader Arumugam Thondaman and the other participants. The rally
was set to start by 9.00 a.m. but there was poor attendance so that
by about 12.30 p.m. a rather infuriated Mr.Thondaman decided to
call it quits and leave the venue. The meeting got off shortly with
a few other prominent CWC personnel and lasted about two hours.
But the crowd was much smaller than ever seen at a CWC rally. Maybe
the role of kingmaker that the party has been playing for too long
is on the wane as is evident from the recent election results.
Lure
of filthy lucre
Seems like the LTTE is never out of NGO-backed apologists. At a
recent discussion among NGOs at Jawatta, Colombo 5, a prominent
so-called woman activist turned the guns on the military blaming
it for all the violence in the north and east as well as defending
the recent LTTE attack on a group of farmers in Trincomalee district.
In her zealous urge to whitewash the LTTE, the woman went on to
say that the villagers were killed because they had stolen cattle
from some Tamil villagers. May be in the kind of human rights upholding
democracy that these NGO apologists advocate, summary executions
may be a just punishment for stealing cattle. Obviously for them,
the love of the dollar is much more important than all national
interests.
Who
will foot the bills?
Last week the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation accounts department received
several mobile phone bills amounting to the value of Rs. 260, 000.
But none of the phones belonged to employees of the CPC. When inquires
were made , it was revealed that friends of a senior officer attached
to the personnel department had been allowed to purchase the phones
in the name of the CPC as the Corporation employees were given a
concessionary package. Letters of recommendation had been given
using the Corporation’s letter heads to these persons stating
they were employed there so that they would qualify for the phone
package. However the bills too have now ended up at the CPC. Despite
the revelations of this irregular practice, the man in question
is very much still there. As for the bills, it is not clear who
will foot them.
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