Letters

 Immoral, authoritarian move

Bid to make unauthorised deductions from pensions

The director of pensions, with his covering letter dated January 4 and No. WWA/Distress/2005 has circulated a letter from a so-called Sri Lanka National Committee of United Pensioners' Associations, authorising the director of pensions to deduct the increase included in the December 2004 pension of the pensioners towards a National Disaster Fund.

In the first instance, this committee is not empowered to forward such authorisation without the prior agreement of the various pensioners' associations which should have obtained the consent of the pensioners before such agreement is reached with this committee. No such procedure has been followed. Then again all pensioners are not members of pensioners' associations and as such these associations and this 'national committee' cannot decide for them especially in respect of matters concerning deductions from their pensions.

It is a requirement that office bearers of any organisation should act only on a mandate obtained from the membership. It is otherwise immoral, dictatorial and authoritarian. The issue of the letter of authorisation by the signatories, for and on behalf of the pensioners, has, therefore, no legal validity and could be considered as abuse of their positions in organisations set up by them.

On the other hand, the director of pensions is not empowered to issue instructions to the divisional secretaries, or even suggest to them, to make deductions from the pensioners, on the basis of a letter sent to him by an-ad hoc body not fully representative of the pensioners and not an organisation properly constituted. Any such deduction is possible only on the written consent of a pensioner. In fact, no deduction could be made from the W & O. P. even with the consent of the drawer of the W. & O. P.

I may, for the edification of this 'national committee' state that the pensioners rose to the occasion and contributed their mite in providing relief to the tsunami victims, spontaneously.

Upali S. Jayasekera
Colombo 4

Contribution of the Muslim community

With reference to your editorial of 26.9.04 under the heading "Rabbits have it," the Muslims are deeply aggrieved and highly perturbed on account of this write-up as you have tried your best to portray the Muslims as a burdensome lot living on the fat of the land at the expense of the others.

Being obsessed with this line of thinking, you have even gone to the extent of remarking- "They breed and it is the job of the rest of us to foot the bills." Not stopping at that you have even commented on the physical condition of the Muslim as hyper fertile.

We Muslims feel that your remarks are terribly obnoxious and un warranted. Worst of all, you have dragged the name of Almighty Allah, the name most  sacred to the Muslims. Allah's exhortations are binding on all humanity in general as Islam is a universal religion for all times transcending all forms of barriers - caste, creed or community. It may be a  human tragedy that some have not taken to heart the teachings of Islam and there by they have failed in the run. But this dismal failure, should not be a cause to put the blame on the innocent Muslims. Each individual has a right to plan out his family affairs.

The Muslim community is neither a burden on the others nor a wortheses one. We being a business community, an enormous amount of revenue is collected by way of taxes and as such our contribution to the state coffers are proportionately much more than other communities.

Further, irrevocble historical records show to what unimaginable extent we have served this country: "In 1525, 1526, 1527 and 1539 A.D. the Muslim warriors of Zamorin went to Sarandib to help king Mayadunna in his fight against the Portuguese. Three  Muslim Generals Kunjali Marikayar, Patchai Marikayar and Ali Ibrahim, inspired by Hadrat Qasir Wali led these expedtions. In the war of 1536 A.D. Kunjali Marikayar inflicted heavy casualities on the Portuguese, destroyed many of their ships, chased them upto Tuticorin and took rest at Vedalai - Arabic, Arwi and Persian in Sarandib and Tamil Nadu, Dr. Thayka Shuaib, pp. 35.35. During that time Sri Lanka was know as Sarandib.

Muslims have also enjoyed monarchial position according to a report that appeared in a morning daily.

"There was a brief rule of two Arwi Muslims in Sarandib During the 13th century A.D. One of them was Gale Bandara. He was the son of King Buvenka Bahu I (reled 1272-1284 A.D.). The name given to Gale Bandara by his maternal grandfather was Ismail. But his father, the king, preferred to call him Wathini Bandara. He was installed as the king immediately after the death of his father and he ruled Hasthi Shaila Pura (present Kurunegala in the North Western part of modern Sri Lanka - The Ceylon Daily News, Colombo 3.2.1966" - Arabic, Arwi and Persian in Sarandib and Tamil Nadu, pp. 22,23.

Muslims fast for 30 days every year and during this period they strictly abstain from food and drink (even water) during the day and as such they avoid two principal meals - breakfast and lunch. This religious ritual drastically cuts down on the consumption of food items. And this reduction has a direct impact to reduce the demand for essential items on which the C.O.L. mainly depends. Further, this also serves as a formidable deterrent against the manipulation of price increases of essential items.

Payment of wealth tax (Zakat) is one of the cardinal principles of Islam. This is levied to alleviate the suffering of the less privileged.

Therefore, the service renderd and sacrifices made by the Muslims have brought immense benefits and these have been enjoyed by the ancestors, they are being enjoyed by the present generation and will also be enjoyed by the future generations of those whom you refer to as "the rest of us".

In fairness to the Muslims and on the grounds of journalistic ethics, I would kindly request you to have this letter published in your paper.

M. N. M. Cader
Dehiwala

For a moment

For a moment, the world stood still

In horror, bewildered, speechless, helpless,

For a moment, we Sinhalese, Tamils, Buddhists nor Hindus

Could claim this land to show our origin.

The roaring waves, the mighty quakes expressed displeasure

Of twenty years fighting,

The laughing ocean, did remind us, for a moment,

We are her dust

The earth quaked, the water retracted, the scabbed exposed,

Israelites with Moses, crossed the Red Sea

It happened again in Lankan waters, for a moment

We had to believe

No stars could guide, no astrologer could predict,

No technology could warn, the humans were helpless

It came as a thief, were you ready, for the next world, ocean did ask, for a moment?

The snakes crawled in land, the animals hid, the trees unshaken,

Were they informed?

Living in harmony with the environment

Did save their lives from angry ocean

Didn't aborigines plead, the Red Indians cry,

The Mennonites show, of our careless development,

The wisdom of man, his technology and brilliance,

Was ridiculed by nature and animals, for a moment

The ending of a season, beginning of Poya,

Celebration of 10 years, ended with destruction.

Weeping and waiting scorching and praying,

In fear and hope, lie our brothers, and sisters.

Angels among humans, helping and caring

While vultures among humans were preying on dead,

Vultures in politics, you are the constant tsunami,

Of luxury and selfishness, making millions beg

The greatest lesson from tsunami, for all, why fight?

Who owns? This wonderful land?

Unite under humanity, the drama unfolded,

Mocking our ownership for a moment,

If race and religion is the barrier for unity,

Lets forget our race and religion for a moment,

For unity in diversity, hard work and efficiency,

Depicts your race, warm heart your religion.

Dr. Lakmini Ilangasinghe
Kandy

Well done, STF and its commander

The STF and its Commander, DIG Nimal Leuke deserve the congratulations of the law-abiding citizens of the country for the manner in which they are dealing with the dirty, repugnant tactics of the LTTE. Their handling of the attempt by a top Tiger cadre and his men to enter a tsunami welfare camp in government territory in Amparai on the night of Tuesday, January 25 deserves our admiration. As reported in the press, the STF stood firm in preventing these rowdy cadres from entering the camp, interfering in its work and attempting to pressurise the refugees not to co-operate or talk with the STF. The LTTE men were compelled to retreat with their tails between their legs.

We have no doubt that the STF outfit at least, if not the other arms of our defence service, will uphold the self-respect of the country. Its sovereignty and its honour, without bowing down to sickly orders sent down by our ministers and politicians to ignore LTTE violations of the CFA and to accommodate their demands, however, illegal they may be, lest that holy cow, the so-called peace process is endangered.

I have felt that our service commanders have all unlike the STF been supine and pusillanimous  towards the LTTE.

Instead of meeting the LTTE head on  and preventing breaches of the CFA and being firm they have to date in the main opted to go along with such violations taking comfort in the conscience easing view that they were thus protecting the peace process.

None of our service commanders had the spunk to resist, as such a step would have prejudiced the seemingly easy life they were having with perks, status, parades and all and the grandeur of military service without the bother of military imperatives.

The army, navy, airforce should at least now emulate the STF. No more can the country tolerate 'Verugal River' crossings in breach of the CFA. That would be high treason.

Prolanka
Colombo 5

 Chechnya, Florida - a far cry

What about the atrocities of the armed forces at home?

George Fernando of Nugegoda writing to The Sunday Leader some time back and again in the issue of January 23 to prove the point that there is no creator god cites the horrors in Chechnya and Florida.

My point of contention is why Fernando is going to far away lands like Chechnya and Florida to cite examples of slaughtering children.

He could have numerous incidents of this in his home Sri Lanka where the state religion is Buddhism, a religion he adores and admires. A few of the incidents he could have cited as examples are:

1.    The bombing of the primary school at Nagar Kovil in Point Pedro by the SLAF where 140 school children (Grade 1 to Grade 2) perished and another 100 maimed for life. The ages of the children were five to eight years. All the air force personnel who were responsible for this were Buddhists. George Fernando, please note.

2.    Carpet bombing the Navaly Church where the civilians, mainly women and children, were slaughtered by the SLAF after advising them to take refuge in the church.

3.    The slaughter of 150 innocent civilians including many underage  at the Wandarmoolai Easter University campus; again after asking them to take shelter there by the Sri Lanka armed forces whose. members are all Buddhists.

There are numerous instances of murder and mayhem committed by the forces.

That is why I state that George Fernando need not stretch out as far as Chechnya to prove that there is no god.

The atrocities committed by Sri Lankan armed forces is ample proof that no amount of Buddhist preaching can  change bad men. Bad men are bad men.

K. Indran
Navaly, Jaffna

Why the animals were saved!

The animals never insulted God, their creator, they never indulged in aborting their young ones, and even after birth they did not abandon them in dust bins and in lavatory pits, nor did they sell their young ones for slavery and sex. They do not take bribes, and let down their own species, nor do they spoil the environment.

We humans have lost touch with God; it high time we learn and change our ways or the next disaster will be worse than the one that we already had.

Milroy
Wattala

Pensioners' plea for arrears

I refer to circular No. 4/2004 of the director of pensions and his letter No. PN 4042A dated February 25, 2004 sent to all divisional secretaries to pay arrears to all pensioners who retired before 31.12.1996. So far only a few pensioners have been paid. I earnestly request the director to look into this matter and pay these arrears as early as possible.   

T.K. Mutaliph
Wattala

Aid to tsunami victims

There have been numerous personal contributions made by both local and foreign persons, including heads of state towards the tsunami victims and the rehabilitation process.

Have our President, Prime Minister, Leader of the Opposition and other ministers made personal contributions? If so, in the public interest, they should declare the figures.

N. Perera
Galle

When my younger sister-in-law rang up to inform of my brother Shanmugalingam's sudden demise I could not help but sob and was almost choked. Being physically separated for more than two decades with irregular contacts by letter or phone, I thought his death  may not affect me. I felt out of sorts from the time of hearing. There is some invisible chord that binds us though we don't discern it.

My brother had his early education both at Manipay Hindu and Jaffna College. My father who found him rebellious agreed to send him to Allahabad for higher studies. Being a teacher and later a principal he sensed the need for higher education at any cost. Father's desire was fulfilled when brother returned with a first class agricultural engineering degree from Allahabad.

Before returning home he underwent practical training in farm machinery arranged on his own. His being a rare qualification at that time, it enabled him to get a well paid executive appointment at Browns. Being anxious to hone his skills further and at the same time being a good negotiator, he continued to change jobs in organisations handling different brands of farm machinery. Thus he had short spells at Sathiyawadi Motors, Kurunegala, Collets, Arnco Paranthan and Sri Lanka Sugar Corporation, Kantalai. Armed with these exposures he went to Zambia as chief agricultural engineer to the Zambian government serving the longest spell in his career and was close to President Kenneth Kawunda.

Prevailing adverse conditions in our country coupled with his own pursuit for higher opportunities paved the way for emigration, more to realise career ambitions than in search of greener pastures. This underlying desire and his abiding love for his country especially his own community led him to seek the Zambian assignment and later his migration to the land of opportunities.

In the US too, Boston that saw the historical tea party proved attractive to him compared to other salubrious states.

In the States of course from his established profession he turned his attention to computer technology, contributing his skill to innovations in the Tamil font. Intention was to reduce the number of strokes to form an alphabet. In addition he was devoting his time to political analysis and cultural resurgence.

Even as late as two weeks before his demise he spoke to me about his undying desire to get back home and contribute his expertise to the agricultural and cultural development of the country with particular emphasis on the neglected areas of the north and east.

In spite of the almost nomadic (both domestic and foreign) existence, his ever-loving spouse and children readily adjusted themselves. His was a brilliant mind with a restless and irrepressible spirit. He took wing early in life and the family meekly followed the shepherd. Only time can reveal his worth.

As for the families of his four surviving brothers and the only sister who predeceased him, we have lost a lovable and loving member of the extended family.

R/ Sjam,iga;omga,
Urumpiral