The Sunday Times on the Web Letters to the Editor

31st January 1999

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Lanka's deepest tragedy

For us Christians, each individual person or community is God's own blessing. The Bible speaks of the essential and unassailable dignity of men, of each single individual, which springs from the fact that God created man "in His own image and likeness." 

By extension, the differences he brings with him as an individual and as a member of a given community are all to be respected. Differences make us unite. If all of us look alike how odd it would be or if all the trees or flowers are of a singular type. Thus nowhere can we visualise a society which is mono-cultural. In Sri Lanka too that is our reality. We are a pluri-cultural nation of different languages, races, religions and ideologies. Let us be happy and proud about it. 

One of the key elements of our diversity is our spirituality. Sri Lanka is the proud home of the four major religions of our planet - Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Christianity. It is so nice to see a church or kovil standing next to a temple or a mosque in many towns and villages in this land. There are thousands of them. It is a sign of our spiritual and cultural maturity that we are conscious of our call to transcendence. 

Yet, sadly for us, this land that boasts of a very high rate of religious allegiance has been gradually sliding into suspicion, hate, division, violence and civil war especially in the years after Independence. The present crisis has become like a cancer eating into every area of public and private life and crippling the nation. 

When looters in their thousands descended on the streets of Colombo and other towns murdering, burning and looting persons and property belonging to members of the Tamil community that black July 1983, the then President of Sri Lanka called it a "crisis of civilisation." Similarly, attacks on members of the Buddhist clergy, innocent Sinhala or Muslim villagers, attacks on places of worship and explosions of bombs at certain locations carried out by extremist Tamil groups cannot be classified as anything less brutal. The crisis seems to be worsening by the day. Sri Lanka is bleeding to death. No light is visible at the end of the tunnel. What has happened to us and why did differences, which should have helped us to unite, become cause for suspicion, hate, violence and civil war? 

In my opinion what has happened is not merely a crisis of civilisation but a crisis of religiosity as a whole. It is true that most of us do attend religious services and rituals. Yet the noble values of the religions we profess are not seen to be reflected in the daily moral and ethical choices we make. There seems to be a definite and wide gap between what we believe and what we practise. In other words, we as a nation, are experiencing a crisis of religious authenticity and credibility. 

The worse consequence of this crisis of spirituality and religion is our radical inability to rise above our limitations, suspicions and sense of hate and work out a dignified solution to the civil war presently engulfing us. In the practical field there seems to be hardly any leader today capable of and courageous enough to reach out even to one's political opponents and seek a way out of this crisis. All along these fifty one years since Independence, it has been a game of hide and seek between those in government and those in the opposition. 

Rather it has been like snakes and ladders. Each time a government tries out a solution the opposition sabotages. Heroism which places the country above self was and seems to be a rare quality to come by. What a tragedy. These political leaders too profess religious principles and attend religious ceremonies. Yet the nobler values of such religious orientations seem not to challenge or touch them. 

Still worse is the situation with regard to our religious leaders. We as a group have failed miserably to render witness to the teachings of our founders, teachings we loudly proclaim, before our laity. For someone who not only professes but also proclaims the teachings of the great founders, it is not possible not to work for peace. How sad it is then, to note so many religious leaders showing even open sympathy to "their own side" in the conflict and at times even agitating for the violent way. This I feel is Mother Lanka's deepest tragedy. 

Bishop Malcolm Ranjith 
Bishop of Ratnapura

Shame on you, teacher

Very recently an year one child of a leading school in Gampaha was five minutes late for the class, for no fault of hers. It was her third day in school.

The class teacher punished the innocent child and made her to stand in front of the class. Just imagine the mental reaction of the child.

"Punctuality is a must", but, is this the child psychology our primary school teachers practise in the class-rooms.

A retired teacher
Gampaha.

This is first grade discrimination

On the morning of January 10, I witnessed a demonstration with a difference. At about 11.00 a.m. a large number of Christians (Catholics) walked along the streets of Kandy carrying some placards. What aroused my curiosity was their peaceful walk chanting some prayers. Suspecting that the peaceful walk would be the prelude to a violent demonstration (calm before the storm), I too quietly went towards their final destination which was the Central Province Education Office, where there was a very large crowd displaying several placards.

Thereafter, they chanted some prayers and by 12.00 noon the demonstration was over. There were no slogan shouting, no threats, no hooting, no jeering. It was a demonstration with a difference - a disciplined one which is an example to all of us. As I was very impressed by their peaceful demonstration, I spoke to one of them who briefly told me about their problems. According to him, many Catholic children of the Central Province who applied for admission to year 1 in 1999 have been denied admission purely because they are Catholics. Explaining this injustice further, he said that St. Anthony's College, Katugastota (Which was once a school run by the Catholic Church and later handed over to the Government) allocated only about 25% of the vacancies to Catholic children. Although the present Principal is a Catholic Priest, the Department of Education does not allow him to take in Catholic boys exceeding the 25% allocation. As if to rub salt on the wound the other government, schools such as Vidyartha and Dharmaraja do not take in Catholic boys because Catholic region is not taught in these schools. If by chance these schools admit Catholic boys they are forced to study Buddhism. However, at St. Anthony's College and also at the Good Shepherd Convent (which is a private school run by the Catholic Church) Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam are taught!

Isn't this first grade discrimination against a religious minority? Though being a Buddhist, I thought of writing this letter as I was ashamed to hear about this grave injustice and also because I wanted to commend their disciplined and peaceful demonstration.

Their appeal to the higher authorities in the Department of Education have gone unanswered. Therefore, they have sent a petition to the President hoping that at least she who has correctly realized the multi-ethnic and multi-religious reality of this country and who is trying her best to build a united Sri Lanka, will take immediate steps to solve their problems.

H. Gannoruwa
Kandy

There's crime but no one cares

I am a foreign resident of Mount Lavinia and the statement of the police that there is no increase of crime in our area is totally wrong. They are fully aware of what is going on, but there is no action taken to curb this crime wave, for various reasons.

Whenever you call the Mount Lavinia police and ask for help, you do not get it. Their answer is no petrol for the car or no car at all or no staff etc.

The dark elements on Mount Lavinia beach have long been identified, but are not arrested by the police.

The stalls on the beach provide everything from drugs, young girls, young boys to alcohol. They have no licence to sell, no licences to be there but no action is taken. I can understand some police officers for not doing anything. As soon as they apprehend a suspect, politicians and businessmen get involved and by threatening the police they get their man free. So, why should a policeman do his job, when he can end up transferred to the operational areas? His life and that of his family is more important to him than his job. On the other hand he then should not be a policeman.

But these days there's no respect for the law by the citizens of Sri Lanka and it is difficult to reverse this attitude. This attitude shows in all aspects of life.

As long these elected officials only looking for the power and the privileges which go with the job, nothing will change.

As long as the politicians are working together with criminals to intimidate people nothing will change.

This goes also for the Mount Lavinia MC. The roads are deteriorating and garbage is not collected. The Mayor started with a big bang but what has happened now? 

Concerned Resident
Mt. Lavinia.

Where all was bright and only man was vile

Under the bright summer skies in the Adelaide Oval where seagulls swarm in flocks, every prospect seemed bright but only man was vile. The villainy of the re-emergence of Ross Emerson, the Australian umpire, this time around, challenged the ICC itself when he no-balled Muralitharan in the Carlton and United World series match on Satuarday, January 23. 

Murali's tormentors in the 1996 Sri Lankan cricket tour of Australia were umpires, Emerson and Hair. And here, was Emerson at it again despite the ICC having declared Murali's bowling action as legitimate. What is strange is that it is only in Australia that his action is suspect. Does the southern sun give them a sight so penetrating as to see what other umpires elsewhere in the world do not see? Why can't they be gentlemen and concede what they did in 1996 was not quite correct and put the whole thing behind them? 

Murali was called in the 18th over in the match between Sri Lanka and England, "It was one man's moment of glory and a disaster for the game of cricket "was how a commentator described the incident, Arjuna with 179 One Day Internationals and Murali with 200 test wickets are not green-horns in the game of cricket. The Lankan skipper in his usual unruffled composure confronted the tragi-comedy enacted by Emerson. What a scene it was! The lion in Arjuna was aroused, and the millions of viewers saw a befuddled wallaby before a roaring lion.

Meanness and machinations are often counterproductive. This was proved that day. A revitalised Sri Lankan team fielded and batted well to overhaul the massive target set for them by the Englishmen. 

D.J. Sirimanne 
Matale

Private sector must participate in road safety

The rapid increase of motor vehicle ownership in Sri Lanka over the last two decades due to liberalised economic policies of successive governments has placed considerable pressures on the road network, and its traffic control devices, many of which were never designed for the traffic volumes now using them.

The benefit and convenience offered by the ownership of the private vehicle is so attractive that most individuals aspire to owning one as soon as they could afford. Motorised vehicles include motor cycles and mopeds as these are often the first affordable motorised vehicles-especially to people in developing countries. 

Constraints, to the improvement of road safety are:

(A) Fragmentation of responsibility of safety issues.
(B) Inadequate action to co-ordinate and implement safety counter measures.
(C) Absence of safety-conscious planning and design of roads.
(D) Inadequacies in technical and financial resources available for action.

While it is the responsibility of the government and Provincial Councils for funding road safety, the private sector especially could play a dominant role in the affairs of road safety. 

The insurance agencies in Sri Lanka are mostly committed to the post accident stage spending vast amounts as compensation and not much thought or financing is directed at accident prevention. The insurance organisations can participate both via funding and by sharing its business at marketing skills to assist the government and its agencies in tackling the problem.
 

Camillus Abeygoonawardena
(Deputy Inspector General, Director Traffic Police and Road Safety)

May your bold remark open their eyes

"Sri Lankan Buddhists are only nominal Buddhists. Gambling and drinking is rampant in the country. To call it a Buddhist country the Buddhists must live according to the principles of Buddhism." Though this remark of Mr. Ashraff is not altogether correct as there are millions of good Buddhists here, I welcome his observation at a time like this. One may object to him and say "You mind your religion and we mind ours." But, I disagree because Buddhism in not a closed religion as many other religions are. It is open like the gates of heaven are open to the righteous.

It is worth noting here that Buddhism has no commandments. It only shows the way to make oneself one's own master to be achieved through self-reliance without depending on any external being. A good Buddhist fears no god, ghost or demon because the gods are at the service of man who follow the five precepts, at least.

To confirm what Mr. Ashraff says, alcoholism is the shame of this land and the number one enemy of our people. It is the main cause of economic and moral poverty in Sri Lanka. Since this reality has fallen on deaf ears of many, you have opened their eyes with a characteristic bold remark.

Since Buddhism does not forbid consumption of liquor, it is relevant here to lay down the Buddhist stand-point in this regard. A Buddhist is expected to observe on his free will, the precept of abstaining from consumption of intoxicating drinks for several reasons and not because of a command. Its consumption is referred to as an institute for sin because it (1) incites quarrel, (2) acts as an agent for disease, (3) makes one disgraceful, (4) causes impudence, (5) diminishes wealth and (6) weakens wisdom. And, that is why one should abstain from taking liquor the production and sale of which are undertaken by those who are unmindful or unconcerned of these consequences.

Incidentally, one may say how can Sri Lanka a Buddhist country witness so much of crimes and violence. This has a two way answer. It means it does not matter if there is violence in a non-Buddhist country. It matters only when it happens in a Buddhist country. Why? Buddhism exudes compassion unparalleled in any other religion, extending even to animals making all living beings one whole family. So it is unimaginable to witness the occurrence of terror and violence in a country imbibed in the spirit of Buddhism. On the other hand, only when it is fitting to denounce this country for any lapses or mishaps it is considered a Buddhist country and not otherwise. Then it is a multi-ethnic, multi-religious, multi-linguist country. Within this context, how can this country for instance reconcile itself with the concept of holy war recognised in Islam, and Christianity. With the unequivocal commitment to compassion in Buddhism, animal slaughter and temperance too, is the same. 

E. M. G. Edirisinghe
Dehiwela.

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