7th March 1999

It will take more than painting walls

Thank you "Sunday Times" and Hiranthi Fernando for highlighting the plight of the women of Unit 2 of the Mulleriyawa Hospital.(Sunday Times, Jan. 31, 1999)

This is a sadly neglected segment of our community, and as women, we would like to ask the authorities what steps are being taken to improve the living conditions of these patients.

While applauding the Ports Authority for its decision to maintain these wards, we would like to remind those involved that it requires a higher level of commitment than just seeing that the walls are painted.

We ask the authorities of Mulleriyawa to view each case individually and to see that the women are treated with dignity. During a recent visit to the hospital, it appeared to me that a few patients seemed to be heavily sedated, and that was disturbing. Why are they under sedation- does their treatment require this, or is it just to make them "easier to handle" by the staff? (The pun is intentional, for there are instances of patients being made pregnant by the staff.) Is anyone taking steps to trace the whereabouts of the families of patients well enough to be sent home? On what basis are genuinely service- oriented NGOs asked to keep out of Mulleriyawa? Is it because they raise disturbing questions and demand answers?

Romola Rassool
Wattala

Are we waiting till murder turns to mayhem?

Murder, Murder, Murder, cold blooded murders!! First at Hokandara when six persons in one family were killed and now at Ratmalana where father and son have been killed whilst the others in the family escaped narrowly by running away.

There is only one deterrent punishment for this-the immediate re-introduction of the death penalty.

Even the clergy is now advocating this.

What is the Government waiting for? Till murder turns to mayhem?

The ordinary citizens of this country do not have arms or bodyguards to protect them. They depend on the Law and its stipulated penalties for protection.

Nissanka M. Ediriwira
Colombo

There are five Reids not four

There are Five brothers, not four, as reported in your columns. And Johann, better known as "Tiny", is the youngest of the quintet, not Barney.

Readers also take note that the correct order, from eldest to youngest, is Claude, Ronnie, Buddy (Barclay), Barney (Brian) and Tiny (Johann). Like his four elder brothers, Tiny Reid also excelled at cricket at S. Thomas' College, Mt. Lavinia, and later at club and mercantile levels, before emigrating to Australia in 1971. He played in the Royal-Thomian encounters of 1967 and 1968, earning the rare distinction in the latter match of opening both batting and bowling.

I trust this sets the Reid brothers' record straight once and for all.

Roger Thiedeman
Melbourne, Australia

You're not going for a party

There is a big hue and cry about the Provincial Council Elections being scheduled for Holy Thursday, April 1. The Catholic Church has marshalled its forces for a show-down with the government to protest over the date.

Be that as it may, I fail to understand why church authorities should go so far fearing that 'Curfew' may be enforced after elections. Holy Thursday in the church liturgy, is a sacred day. But has the church taken steps to impress on its faithful the religious significance of that day? I have observed that the church has failed to tell the faithful, at least its womenfolk, how they should dress when coming for Maundy Thursday service. In most cases, specially in the so called affluent areas in Moratuwa, women come dressed for mass as if they are going for a party.

Lenard R. Mahaarachchi,
Moratuwa.

It's an insult to our intelligence

I have a simple solution to combat election fraud and violence.

Why not allow everyone to cast their vote by Absentee Ballot?

Won't this save the masses a lot of trauma?

That way, the politicos can keep their hired gun toting goons elsewhere trained and fit to fight the common enemy the Tamil Tigers in case the Army needs reserves.

And dear ministers, please don't insult our intelligence by saying it is only the "Manaape" or preferential vote system that is responsible for violence. It is the craving for power, position, privileges, and the desire to make money by corrupt means that is responsible for election violence

Mano Ratwatte

Those bleeding hearts that talk peace!

Your columnist, Rajpal Abeynayake is quite entitled to his personal views on peace and the so-called 'peace' efforts of Dr. Tissa Vitharana (Sunday Times, 29.02.99, page 4). However, his obvious antagonism towards the efforts of the National Movement Against Terrorism (NMAT) should not cloud the ground situation in the north today.

All these 'peace' talks and 'peace' efforts are very nice on paper. There appears to be a lot of altruism directed towards Prabhakaran and Tamil separatism. The general idea is to ridicule the fact that separation and nothing less is what the LTTE wants. Even former Indian Prime Minister V.P. Singh was convinced that the LTTE and other separatist groups wanted the whole of Sri Lanka as a Tamil State. There is enough evidence to back this contention whatever the 'peace' groups say. It is quite strange that this same benevolence was not extended to the JVP in 1988/89. Neither is such charity extended to criminal elements who upset the Wayamba elections or to the killers of Hokandara or to the rapist murderers of Krishanthy Kumaraswamy. Why did these 'peace' groups jump with joy when the Krishanthy killers were sentenced to death?

One is at a loss to understand the double standards of these 'peace' groups, who bend over backwards to extricate Prabhakaran from the hole he has fallen into, while screaming for the blood of other criminal elements including the Krishanthy killers, the Embilipitiya killers, the Hokandara killers and the Wayamba thugs.

Dr. Tissa Vitharana may dismiss (to quote)- "... as laughable the comparisons of the Nazis to the LTTE....". This is mere rhetoric when compared to the factual logic of the NMAT. We have already had several 'peace-talks' with the Tigers, with disastrous results. The NMAT gives exact figures of numbers killed and property destroyed as a consequence of such 'peace-talks'. Can the Tigers be trusted this time around? Can Dr. Tissa Vitharana guarantee peace? Certainly the public and the forces are not prepared to suffer the consequences of such a dubious effort once again. People in the comfort of their Colombo 7 homes should not expect the public and the forces to face the music if and when the talks fail. As it is, all the nice words of Tissa Vitharana and the cocktail circuit 'peace' groups will not convince the people and the armed forces that the Tigers are going to be peaceful this time.

It is all very nice for these so-called peace groups to exhibit altruism from the safety and comfort of their homes in Colombo 7.

Let those philanthropist 'peace' groups confine their bleeding hearts to the cocktail circuits and to seminars in 5-star hotels. Let the forces deal with Prabhakaran and save the country from further destruction. We are sick of so-called 'peace processes'.

Cecil D.Dharmasena
Kandyout of sight

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