28th September, 2003 Volume 10, Issue 11 |
|||||||||||||||||
Home Letters |
JVP
shy to do 'U' turn with its policies now The
JVP has made it known that the country and the people are on the verge of
destruction and are portraying themselves as the only party that is
concerned about saving the country and the people. It
can never be forgotten that the JVP was the cause of immense loss of human
lives and destruction of public property during the insurrection of 1971 and
again when they violently opposed the devolution of power and the creation
of the provincial council system, which they later embraced and used as a
stepping stone to send members of the party to parliament. They
are responsible along with their late leader for having published a booklet
in which they had vouched support for the Tamil homeland concept for the
north east, which provided added inspiration for the LTTE to continue making
this claim up to this day. At
a time when the country is under pressure, they keep inciting university
students to commit violence and cause unrest. They are also fomenting unrest
at state institutions and public workplaces resulting in work stoppages and
thereby hardship and inconvenience to the public. At private establishments
too they are at the forefront of strikes, forcing many of the establishments
to put up shutters, throwing tens of thousands out of employment. It
is the JVP that has introduced the most horrendous form of agitation to
university students and the country's workforce. Known as the 'fast into
death' tactic, it is tantamount to inciting them to commit suicide, a crime
the JVP is guilty of. Instead of resorting to street demonstrations and
marches, they should be on the streets exhorting their youth brigades and
cadres and other youth to enlist with the armed forces to fill their
depleted ranks. They
concocted a theory that the government did not receive a mandate from the
people at the 2001 general election as the votes of the PA and JVP together
exceeded the votes of the UNP. The absurdity of this theory is evident from
the fact that the policies of the UNP and PA at that time were almost the
same, whilst those of the JVP were miles apart when compared with them.
Those who voted for the JVP, did so as they were opposed to the UNP and PA
policies and as such the PA and JVP votes cannot be aggregated. With
their policies being at total variance with those of the PA, they have been
struggling hard to bring about a political wedlock of the two parties by
even jettisoning some of their offending policies purely for political
expedience in order to grab a part of state power for themselves as soon as
possible. Of
course they have now come a long way round the bend in falling in line with
the policies of the PA. What prevents them from doing a complete
"U" turn and aligning themselves with the PA is their reluctance
to devolve power to the north east. R.
Seneviratne
Bid
to hoodwink an unsuspecting public (1) On
August 1, Sri Lanka Telecom announced a tariff revision effective September
1, and since then they have been advertising heavily in the newspapers and
on TV trying to fool the public about the first 200 units which are free of
charge. Given below are the tariffs prior to and after the latest revision:- Based
on the above tariffs, the monthly bills of persons using 50, 100, 200, 300,
500, 1000, 1500, 2000, 3000 and 4000 units are given below:- Monthly
bill includes the rental and 20% VAT. The
figures given in Table II above clearly show that all those whose monthly
usage is less than, 1074 units have to pay more from September 11, whereas
those who exceed 1074 units will be in luck's way with the compliments of
SLT!
There
are thousands of retired people, aged parents and others belonging to the
low-middle income categories who have SLT telephones in their homes. Many of
them hardly take calls other than in case of an emergency. Among them are
aged parents who have SLT telephones mainly to receive calls from their
children who have settled down in various parts of the country or gone
abroad. The monthly usage of these people will be less than 500 units. Thus,
the latest tariff revision will badly affect only the low-middle income
families (because of the 150% increase in the monthly rental i.e. from Rs.
200/= to Rs. 495/=) whilst granting a bonanza to the high income families
whose average monthly usage exceeds 1000 units. The
SLT may be of the opinion that they have the right to revise the tariff as
and when necessary. But, they have no right at all to mislead the people
through newspaper and TV advertisements. The
unnecessary expenditure on such advertisements could have been avoided, if
the tariff revision was done in a way to benefit the low-middle income users
rather than the high income users. The
role of the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC) is to ensure a
fair deal for the telecommunication companies as well as the users. How is
it that the TRC did not realise that this tariff revision will badly affect
only the low-middle income users? Didn't they realise that the latest
revision will benefit only the high income users whose monthly usage will
definitely be more than 1074 units? Will
the UNF government take steps to remove the burden placed on the low-middle
income SLT users? We sincerely hope that this will not be another instance
of the government turning a deaf ear (as in the case of price increases
imposed on us by Shell Gas and Laugfs Gas). V.
Silva Middle
level users pay more (2) SLT
recently announced their final 're-balancing' exercise as provided in the
Shareholders Agreement of 1997, with the privatisation. The re-balancing
exercise was formulated to compensate for the loss of revenue from the
reduction of international call charges by increasing the national call
charges that were under priced. The exercise was spread over five stages. In
the earlier four re-balancing exercises, increases were applied to each of
the middle and high level blocks of call units, ensuring that all users
contribute to the re-balancing exercise. In
this final re-balancing exercise, however, the maximum call unit charge of
Rs. 3 is applied to the 201-1000 call unit block, while reduced call charges
of Rs. 2.75 per unit for the 1001 - 3000 block and Rs. 2.50 per unit for
units over 3000 (high users) is being applied. Therefore, high users pay
less and middle level users pay more under this revised scheme. The
table at right shows the results of the revised tariffs applied to middle
level and high users which is clearly contrary to the original re-balancing
exercise. High
users are also the major contributors to network congestion at peak times.
Augmentation of the network to maintain service quality requires substantial
capital investment which has to be generated from call charges. Affected
Moderate User The
Kadirgamar conspiracy Your
exposure of opposition appointed member Kadirgamar was timely, as he has got
away with his bluff for too long. He is known to be a real master of
intrigue! Underhand
tactics are a Kadirgamar trait. It was not very long ago that his brother
Rajan undercut his boss, and took over with the connivance of another
Bandaranaike (FDB). Otherwise, there would have been no coup attempt in
1962. Kadirgamar
tries to cash in on the old school tie-Oxford and Trinity, but sometimes
even these great places of learning provide mavericks. Not only 'Lions' but
also rats like the 'Garden' and such vermin like the one who propagates for
the media, all to be taken with a pinch of salt! J.A.V.W. Conversion
Confusion This
is written in response to the highly partisan (i.e. pro-Christian) article
with the above title, published in your paper of September 7. I write as
Hony, Secretary, All Ceylon Women's Buddhist Congress which initiated action
against two of the bodies seeking incorporation. A
serious inaccuracy has been made in your journalist's attempt to denigrate
the Chief Justice as favouring Buddhists by nominating only Buddhist
justices to hear these three cases. The very first landmark case against
"Christian Sahanaya Doratuwa" was judged by a panel including
Justice Ameer Ismail, a Muslim! As for the other insinuations she has made
against the Chief Justice, we leave it to the Attorney General. Indrani
Devendra JVP
should march across LTTE held Wanni If
the objective of JVP organised protest marches is to tell the people that
lakhs of Sinhala youth/monks are against the ongoing UNF peace MoU and the
proposed interim administration for the north and east, this 'people's
march' should have started not in the deep south, but at the Anuradhapura
Sri Maha Bodhiya, (where the LTTE gunmen massacred pilgrims) and proceeded
with their much boasted 50,000 army, right across the LTTE controlled Wanni,
Jaffna, and ended at the Naga Vihare. Here the JVP red robed monks and the
army could have done a fast unto death, until the LTTE cadres gave up
terrorism, arms, and their demand for Eelam and a division of this united
Sri Lanka, and join the democratic stream spearheaded by them and the SLFP,
as urged by all the big nations who have come to rebuild this ruined
country, from the north, east and even the deep south. If
these extremists who once ruined our entire country trying to come to power
by terrorist methods - attacking police stations, robbing jewellery and
money from banks and homes of terrorised people, destroying electric
transformers and forcing all to live in the dark even without TV and radio,
closing schools, offices, and all government departments with the drop of a
JVP signed chit - can perform this march for liberation from the LTTE
terrorists, they can come back as real heroes, amidst pandals and garlands,
and then the peace loving people of this country might vote them into power
with a few more seats. Liberator Will
anybody deny.? 1
That the LTTE is the world's most vicious terrorist outfit? 2
That Pirapaharan is a convicted criminal - being sentenced by two of the
highest courts in two countries - Sri Lanka and India? 3
That Pirapaharan, one time most feared terrorist is today the most revered
terrorist in the world? (As Sri Lankan government officials, politicians,
foreign diplomats, foreign ministers and special emissaries are hauled to
his hide-out - super luxury bunker in the Wanni to pay homage and exchange
pleasantries). 4
That Pirapaharan is responsible, accountable and answerable for all the
mayhem, chaos, economic upheavals, destruction to life and property alike in
the last two decades? 5
That it is Pirapaharan who started this bloody carnage that has cost the
country over a hundred thousand precious lives, first by killing Mayor
Duralappah and later ambushing and brutally murdering 13 Sri Lankan
soldiers? 6
That Pirapaharan is the first to have introduced the 'cyanide bait' and
'human bomb' culture to the world? 7
That Pirapaharan is solely responsible for killing his own cadres whom he
felt were a threat to his leadership in the terror group - Uma Maheswaran,
Mahattaya etc? 8
That Pirapaharan is after the blood of all his political opponents and
government informants? 9
That Pirapaharan is responsible for hundreds of thousands of refugees -
Tamil, Muslim and Sinhalese in their own motherland? 10
That one 'megalomaniac' is holding a whole country to ransom due to the
weak, backboneless and self-centered leaders of the south? Ranjith
C. Dissanayake,
The
death occurred very peacefully of Anthony Marcellus on June 30 after a
rather complicated illness. He was in ill health for the last two years
after surgery. He suffered normal fever initially and was hospitalised at a
private hospital on June 26. He
was laid to rest on July 2 in the presence of a distinguished gathering
including clergy, relatives, neighbours and his friends at Madampitiya R.C.
cemetery. He was 74 years at the time of his death. Anthony
Marcellus had his secondary education at St. Benedict's College, Kotahena.
After completing the H.S.C. he joined the Law College to qualify as a lawyer
but could not pursue his studies as he got involved in politics. Initially
he was a member of the C.P. He contested the C.M.C. polls on the C.P. ticket
and won the Kotahena East ward. Anthony
was a kind hearted person, respectable and smartly dressed. He was a devout
Catholic. A
parishioner of St. Andrew's Church, Lunupokuna, Mutwal, he helped in the
church activities whenever necessary in many ways. He was generous with a
heart of gold and helped the poor. He hated dishonesty and wrongdoers. Because
of this he at times appeared to be a little haughty and stern. His services
to the church and society were elaborately eulogised by Rev. Fr. Dr. Mervin
Fernando at the funeral service. He
was the brother of Josephine, late Dora and Patrick. A faithful husband to
his wife Barbara whom he married on June 29, 1957, he was a loving and
caring father to his four daughters and only son Suresh now domiciled in
Australia. He was also an adoring grandfather to his seven grandchildren. He
served at the Colombo Harbour mainly in the cargo clearing, despatch and
freight departments. There he gained a wide knowledge in freight service. Having
retired from the Port Commission, he opened his own private transport
business in 1973. He named and registered the business under Transworld
Movers (Pvt) Ltd. This expanded very lucratively with his clever business
mind. At present it is managed and controlled by his fourth daughter Ramanie.
At the time of Anton's demise, he was the chairman of Transworld Movers (Pvt)
Ltd. His
untimely demise is an irreparable loss not only to his family but to all his
associates. He leaves his wife Barbara, daughters Sandra, Tamara, Sharmila,
Ramanie and only son Suresh. We
extend our heartfelt condolences to the grieved family and all his loved
ones. May
Lord Jesus bless his widow and family to have courage to march forward in
all their activities. May
the soul of Anthony Marcellus rest in peace. Bertram
Fernando
|
|
|||||||||||||||
| ©Leader
Publication (Pvt) Ltd. 410/27, Bauddhaloka Mawatha, Colombo 07 Tel : +94-75-365891,2 Fax : +94-75-365891 email : editor@thesundayleader.lk |
|||||||||||||||||
