President Kumaratunga should be admired for asking teachers to teach or depart. How true and how relevant. As very well expressed by her, there is no other way to judge the performance of the teachers than to peruse the national statistics of the GCE O/Level percentages of passes and failures and in which subjects they have passed or failed.
The Ministry of Education can give more teeth to the President's statement, in this computer age by publishing the figures of examination results broken down into districts and then per school. You can go one step further to see in what subjects the students did not perform well.
When these statistics are published the under performing district/educational officers, school principals and finally the most important "Teachers" in the respective schools who have not performed can be easily found and should be taken to task with punishments or further training.
Teachers in government schools should realise that a free educational system (free books, uniforms and a mid-day meal) probably the only one of its kind in the world is found in this country.
They should learn to suffer shortcomings in silence in the greater interest of the future of our country rather than abandon their duties in the school and run to the nearby paddy field during ploughing or harvesting times.
At least then it will to some extent ease the unemployment problem and the output of both the farmer and teacher will increase rather than when the teacher tries to do the farmer's job too! No wonder we cannot be self-sufficient in rice and the literacy rate is declining.
In countries like Japan, Singapore and Taiwan, parents select schools and universities for their children by the academic performance rating vis-a-vis result and do not go by big names of institutions as it happens in Sri Lanka.
Let us hope that the same system will hold good in Sri Lanka too in the very near future especially after this pep talk to the teachers by the President.
I read with disappointment the speculative letter written about Apostasy among Muslims by Dr. A.M.M. Amirudin in 'The Sunday Times' of 8th instant. It surprises me to see the unscientific approach of this Man of Science to give his verdict to the issues of society connected with an unnamed organization.
His line of thought in this, exposes his fear of the said unnamed organization being given Legal immunity and power in order to put on right track the contemporary Muslim society in Sri Lanka.
The writer is insulating himself from the curse of the Muslim community by not quoting the name of the organization which issues edicts on Muslim religious affairs. The only organization recognized by the Muslim community as authoritative to issue religious edicts is the Jamiyathul Ulema (The Council of Theologians). It is this organization that is awaiting incorporation by parliament. The attempt of the writer in this instance is to strip the religious authority franchised to it by the community to date.
This situation is similar to a Buddhist calling for the stripping of the authority over the Buddhist society by the Maha Sanga.
He quotes the verse from the Al Quran, "There is no compulsion in religion" and tries to prove the fact that there is no apostasy in Islam.
The learned writer should know that the full sentence of the verse cited by him reads thus in Al Quran:
"There is no compulsion in religion. Truth stands out clear from error" (2:256).
He should know that the second half of the sentence "Truth stands out clear from error" is the guiding factor in this verse. The clear truth convinces the mind in paving the way to the acceptance of the religion by volition without any form of compulsion. By the token of this, the man who accepts the religion simultaneously makes a social contract with the community of believers.
Therefore deviating from the fundamental creed of the religion takes the man off the bearing of truth and thus he becomes rudderless. Thus this very act leads to the dissolution or breach of the social contract made, by the accepting the convincing truth. Breach of contract is a punishable crime in any civilized society, whether worldly and material or mundane and spiritual. This nature of breach of social contract is called apostasy.
I believe that the writer is ignorant of the true meaning of the word "Apostasy" and as a result confuses himself and others with the word "Unbelief".
The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines-
Apostasy: Abandonment of principles; apostasis Defection
Unbelief: Lack of belief, esp. in religious matters.
There is apostasy in Islam as in any other religion. The criterion for one to be declared an apostate is based on the dictates of Al Quran, the traditions of the Prophet known as the Hadith, Kiyas i.e., analogical deductions and the Ijma the consensus of the community of believers. Therefore one to be declared an apostate is not the unilateral decision of the body of the learned theologians (unnamed organization) but an instrument of the decisive factors given in the four sources of law in Islam i.e., Al Quran, Hadith, Kiyas and Ijma.
For example the Kadianis and the Ahmadis are declared apostates universally despite the fact that they claim to be Muslims. This is because they went further than the Quran and the Hadeeth by introducing a new prophet in Islam after the Prophet Muhammed (Sal).
Any Muslim who rejects the Quran or Hadeeth or invents his own way other than that of Quran or Hadeeth is an apostate.
The writer is also inventing a new religion within Islam "Sunnism". I wish to enlighten the readers from the misrepresentation of facts by the learned writer. Islam is the religion as preached by Prophet Muhammed (Sal) by delivering the Message of Allah and practically setting an exemplary life in accordance with the Message of Almighty Allah i.e., the Quran.
Later on in history as a result of the Shiahs for deviating from the set course of the Prophet Muhammed (Sal) the strict followers of the Prophet Muhammed (Sal) came to be known as Sunnis since Sunna in Islamic terminology means the practice of the Prophet.
Further, he conjectures that empowering the said unnamed organization will lead to declare the Shiahs as unbelievers and apostates. I believe that the writer is not aware that the world community of learned Islamic Theologian from then to date have not declared the Shiahs Unbelievers, instead the Shiahs (Sectarianism) have been recognized as a deviant sect from the dictates of the Al Quran, Practices of the Prophet Muhammed and the four righteous Caliphs including the righteous Ali ibn abu Thaalib.
The Bohra community have been living in harmony with all including Sunni Muslims, to date there have been no incidences in history to mention of friction with Sunni Muslims. I do not understand why the learned writer is skeptical over this.
There are also mention of "incitement to murder" and "threatened with death" in his letter, I think that it is childishness on his part to make a mountain out of a mole hill. In this country the law prevailing in the land is not the Muslim Law and instead Muslims are dispensed with only the Muslim Personal Law, which is mainly dealing with the affairs of the Muslim community like Marriage, Divorce, Inheritance and Wakf etc. Here, I wonder, from where the writer found the most conjectured death threat and potentiality for murder by empowering the said unnamed organization.
I shall appreciate if the learned Doctor would do his research properly and rewrite in the true perspective in consonance with his true self.
Many people are both worried and highly critical about the performance of our cricket team lately. I do not think they fared too badly. True, the world champions failed to enter the finals in two contests, but they failed by just one run on both occasions. Who knows? Had they got those two runs, they may have won one trophy or both. After all they beat the champion of both contests in the league stage. They did not just beat Pakistan; they did so by 70 odd runs!
There is more to it. Although there was some unnecessary confusion on the day of the last Pak-NZ match, it was crystal clear that on the existing rules, NZ qualified to meet Pakistan. But, what a silly rule that was? In any sport, the finalists should be selected on the overall performance of the teams in the league stage. In cricket when teams are level on points, one could go by (1) Runs per wicket; (2) Net run rate.
Now in one day cricket, the number of wickets is irrelevant. Team A may get 223 runs all out while Team B may get 222 runs for 1 wicket in the allotted overs. Team A with 20 runs per wicket wins, although Team B's runs per wicket is tenfold, which is fair.
The net run rate is different. It is a measure of the overall performance. In Sharjah each team played four matches, and the net run rate reflects quite accurately, the performance in all the matches they played against one another under comparable conditions. So how could one ignore this fair yardstick and go by the performance in just one match?
Our Cricket Board should bring this to the notice of the ICC and declare that in the eyes of the discerning cricket lovers all over the world, Sri Lanka was the right team to meet Pakistan. It should endeavour to get that absurd rule deleted from the rule book.
The presence of the military in Yala on the President's directive will undoubtedly gladden the hearts of people in the border villages, wildlife enthusiasts and the organisations that agitated for the military presence. Most of all it will bring a sigh of relief to the wildlife personnel working in this valuable national reserve.
The military presence will have the desired effect to curb LTTE terrorists' activity only if regular movements and patrols are done by the army unit, to the untrodden interior of the northern and north-eastern boundaries and regions of the Yala Group of reserves which connects the eastern jungles.
The eastern jungles of Lahugala are contiguous with the Kumbukkan forest and Yala. The two former regions were made accessible many years ago by a Forest Department contractor who constructed a network of lorry trails to facilitate the removal of the felled tree logs from the Kumbukkan forest to his timber coupe then located at Lahugala in the east.
The LTTE does not infiltrate now into Yala through the usual eastern road via Arugam Bay/Panama as presently there are several security blocks and checks, but do so through the remote interior boundaries of Yala which connects the old lorry trails in the Kumbukkan forest with the eastern jungles of Lahugala.
The 'Yala Incidents' highlighted in the newspapers only reveal the recent happenings, but the fact is, LTTE activities commenced within the Yala reserves a little over a decade ago.
In 1985 Park Warden D.V. Senevirathna and the staff of Yala east national park were harassed and a wildlife tractor removed. A year later wildlife Assistant Director Shirley Perera and a few of his staff were abducted at Tunmulla (Yala east natural park) and brought to Okanda circuit bungalow, where they were held captive.
For their good fortune the army STF training unit temporarily stationed at Kabilitta (in Y.E.N.P.) happened to come by and rescue them.
The wildlife authorities, after this incident withdrew most of their staff from this park leaving behind only three men at Kumana village.
From then on the presence of the LTTE in Yala East National Park was a common occurrence with one of their training camps located at Kiripokuna (in Yala East National Park).
The villagers in Kumana were harassed and they sought refuge in the surrounding jungles at night, returning to their home by day, till they finally abandoned the village for good.
The LTTE's first presence in Yala block 2, across the eastern provincial boundary to the south, was witnessed by wildlife personnel in 1987, when the late wildlife Assistant Director M.M.D. Perera and staff on mobile patrol in the area were ambushed and shot at.
Fortunately they came back to Yala headquarters safe, but with a badly damaged jeep. Two days later the Thalagasmankada circuit bungalow in Yala block I was burnt down for the first time by the LTTE. The bungalow was rebuilt.
A year later again the same wildlife Assistant Director accompanied by Range Assistant K. Arulanandan and Jeep driver Dingiri Banda on their way to Kumana via Arugam Bay/Panama were ambushed and killed by the LTTE at Ikiwatuna (in Yala East National Park).
Since then for almost a decade, the 18,148 hectares of Yala east national park (Okande), where the famed wet land ecosystem nestles within, is unprotected, neglected and totally abandoned by the Department of Wildlife Conservation, thereby aggravating poaching, fishing, the illicit removal of timber and other forest produce by villagers from Panama, Etimale and even Maligavila, who also carry out illegal gemming at Eriyapola down the Kumbukkan Oya in Yala National ParkBlock III.
During my long career in the Department of Wildlife Conservation, I have trekked and travelled by jeep along these lorry trails constructed by a timber contractor, from the eastern jungles of Lahugala through the Kumbukkan forest that lead to the remote boundaries of the Yala group of reserves. Just two years ago, I again had the opportunity of travelling through some of these old trails which can still be used today.
These regions and the presently abandoned Yala East National Park are the two important areas the Department of Wildlife Conservation should first seriously focus their attention on, if the Yala group of reserves is to be safe from LTTE terrorists and others who carry out illegal activities within the park's environs.
The most disturbing factor regarding the "Yala Incidents", as highlighted in the newspapers, was the semblance of suspicion on the staff working in Yala, being at the bottom of the acts of banditry, which resulted in the unnecessary transfer of 32 experienced, knowledgeable resource persons who have contributed and could further contribute to the future development, management and conservation of the Yala group of reserves.
Childers Jayawardhana,
Gampaha.
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