As a Ruhuna Puthra from a country that clings to its dynasties, this must resonate within him, for if a durable and equitable solution is not found, whilst he might breeze through two presidencies, a torn nation is not what one would bequeath an apparent heir.

Reading the replies from different readers I was really amused when I read one from a person named Nicholas. I don’t want to condemn or condone anyone but the facts are clear — it has not been the hoi polloi but a group of somewhat social people that have been taken for the ride of their lives by the Ceylinco Group.

Clearly the Swindler’s List published in The Sunday Leader shows it includes the upper echelons of our society including doctors, lawyers, executives, housewives, office workers as well as members of the clergy.

The blame lays squarely on these unfortunate people for being so gullible when, before the very eyes of the nation, several ‘investment’ frauds have been committed and hordes of common folk were cheated. The irony being that to date the powers that be — the Regulatory Board of the Central Bank — are still fumbling.

Investigative reporting has revealed that the head of this bank, even though informed of GKCC not being authorised to accept ‘investments’ but were doing so in contradiction of the law, kept mum, even disbanding the group of CB investigators, which re-bounded in GKCC creating a golden chance to rob the unsuspecting public.

I was an investor with HPT Investments but fortunately withdrew the larger sum to purchase a land, leaving a balance of Rs. 5000 of which I was refunded only Rs. 1000 in installments of Rs. 500 on two occasions and nothing more to date in spite of there being a sort of ombudsman named Kreston Company to whom all my endeavours to get the balance payment proved futile.

It was indeed a pity that when Mercantile Investments collapsed, my neighbour’s mother lost Rs. 50,000 with no reimbursements to date. She passed away eight years back. But not wishing to put a damper on hopes, I wish to make this letter a harbinger of bad news — no amount of demonstrating, letter writing or legal action will move the monies invested back to its owners —‘on the trot.’

It’s going to be true heartbreak and frustration, the reason being the earlier investment frauds were not on the level of GKCC. So, as the saying goes these unfortunate investors whose greed to make mountains of gold led them to GKCC will have to ‘grin and bear’ it for years. And in my opinion that makes Nicholas and the rest of the GKCC investors nickel-less.

The British High Commissioner had an absurd tale to tell the Sri Lanka Tourism Chairman, Bernard Gunathilake — that "the LTTE’s global empire of sleeping terrorist cadres and Tiger fugitive Kumaran Pathmanathan’s ascent as the new terrorist leader despite the destruction of the LTTE in the Wanni are the main concerns that prevents Britain from removing its Travel Advisory that tells Brits not to travel to Sri Lanka."

I can’t believe this. If that is so, with Osama Bin Laden still at large and al Qaeda’s global empire of not sleeping but very active terrorist cadres, Mullah Omar and the Taliban remaining equally active, shouldn’t Travel Advisories be issued preventing tourists from going to the City of London — where in addition young British Muslim terrorists are also walking around and plotting daily to set off bombs in the underground, buses, shopping centres, etc.?

Sri Lanka made history when its armed forces wiped out completely the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) who were named as the most ruthless terrorist organisation in the world by FBI, USA. In our memory armed rebellions have ended either by warring parties declaring a ceasefire or reaching a power sharing agreement as witnessed in the cases of PLO and IRA or by secession as in Kosovo or Chechnya.

There is no contemporary example in the world where a democratically elected government was able to completely crush a rebel organisation without ceding the country as Sri Lanka has successfully demonstrated.

However the response of the Western world towards this remarkable achievement is disgusting. Rather than assisting Sri Lanka to settle the IDPs in their home grounds the Western leaders are threatening to take our leaders to international courts on war crimes and also opposing the two billion dollar loan from IMF to Sri Lanka.

Rescuing more than 300,000 civilians during the military operation is a war crime by Western standards whereas bombing border villages in Pakistan’s Swat Valley causing deaths to hundreds of civilians is not a crime against humanity. What we need to do at this hour is to ensure self reliance and meet the aspirations of the IPDs who trusted the government and made the cross over with a long term political solution with rapid development of the North East Provinces.

It appears that after the war victories the government is planning on spreading its political tentacles throughout the country. Signs of moves to do so are evident in the government’s attempts at trying to coerce Tamil parties like the EPDP and DTNA to contest the forthcoming local elections in Jaffna and Vavuniya under the betel symbol.

If the government is able to convince the parties to contest the elections under the betel symbol, control of the two municipalities will invariably end up in the hands of the government. With those two local bodies won the government may proceed to contest the Northern Provincial Council elections too with the Tamil parties once again under the betel symbol and bring that province under its control.

The government has already made overtures to the TMVP members of the Eastern Provincial Council to join the SLFP, and the TMVP Mayor of Batticaloa MC has already done so. It is therefore a matter of time before the government is able to coerce the TMVP members of the Eastern Provincial Council too to join the SLFP and with that, stamp its authority and control over the Eastern Province.

Once the government secures control of all the provincial councils the demands of the Tamil parties for more power will fade away and there is a possibility of the country ending up in a dictatorship if some of the Muslim parties in the east too join the SLFP.

Douglas de Silva went away to be with the Lord on March 25 this year. He was a man who lived a life shunning publicity and the worldly ostentations. Even in death he made a wish to his family that he should be cremated privately without the usual arrangements related to funerals associated with a man of his standing.

God gave Douglas the gift of a dear wife, Fidelia who was a tower of strength to him for more than 50 years. He would often confess that his sons Dilhan and Harin were his wealth.

The writer has known Douglas and associated him for nearly 50 years. Douglas was the first Sri Lankan to have ventured into the establishment of a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Sri Lanka which at that time was the exclusive preserve of foreign giants such as Glaxo and Pfizer.

At that time it was necessary to obtain approvals from government authorities to establish this facility. The discouragement and scorn he received from the authorities did not deter him from his vision.

He proceeded to obtain foreign assistance from a UK company which paved the way to establish this facility which today stands as a sentinel to his dedication and determination — Unical Ceylon Ltd. Through this project, he demonstrated to the government and the medical profession that quality pharmaceutical products could be manufactured in Sri Lanka.

In this respect Douglas was hailed as a pioneer and although the industry associations persuaded him to take leadership, he preferred to work behind the scenes instead of basking in the limelight of publicity.

He was a visionary, a leader and above all a human being. He gave employment to young men from various backgrounds. Some of them, having benefited by his training and example of leadership ended up holding high positions in the pharmaceutical industry and other disciplines.

Douglas had qualities which we seldom find in present day society. He was a true friend to anyone who came into contact with him and his humaneness, and integrity will be the guiding factor to the younger generation he has left behind.

There was another aspect of Douglas which was his love for golf which he had inherited from his father who was the first Sri Lankan golf champion. Sometimes when we walked into his office room, it was a common sight to see him swing an imaginary golf club hitting yet another imaginary ball! Although his concentration appeared to be undisturbed, he would listen and discuss an intricate business problem without taking his eyes off the imaginary ball. That was the uniqueness of Douglas.

He lived the life of a true Christian, fearing God and active in the Church where he worshipped. Rev. Duleep Fernando gave us an insight into his Christian belief during the Service which was held at the funeral parlour prior to his cremation.

Douglas has left an indelible impression on many of us to emulate and we can only thank God that he was brought into our lives for a purpose which has been fulfilled through his commitment and sincerity which he showed us all throughout his life.

Thank you our beloved Douglas for your life which has touched us and we shall always love you.

Till we meet again.