It may sound ridiculous, but it is true that the climate or environment of the northeast played a significant part in the ethnic problem of Sri Lanka. The arid zone in the north and east of the island is quite dry and has only one monsoon a year, whereas the rest of the island is blessed with two monsoons that water these parts abundantly to make it green and lush.

In the dry zone  - where the Tamil minority live -  water is scarce and large areas look like a desert.  The water is also somewhat brackish because of the high concentration of limestone that makes even a cup of tea uninviting.

Because the northeast is an arid zone, the British government did not bother to develop it.  After independence, successive Sinhala dominated governments did the same and completely ignored it, especially as it was a Tamil area with only about 3% of the population being Sinhala.

The Tamils realised that since their land did not sustain them, they had to venture out into greener pastures in order to survive and were therefore forced to go down south into the wet zone, where the Sinhala majority lived. 

They also realised that in order to get suitable employment they had to have a basic English education. They were therefore forced to educate themselves or starve. This great motivation for education through the years made the Tamil minority better educated than the Sinhala majority. 

The fact that the Tamils were in a more advantageous position due to their better English education, naturally engendered the hostility of the Sinhala Buddhist majority, who had a tendency to resist the learning of English, without realising its future effects and that one day it would be the international language of the "Global Village." 

 It was this hostility against the Tamils that led to Bandaranaike's 'Sinhala Only' language policy, which instantly divided the country into two ethnic nationalities, by the mere stroke of a pen, which in turn led to the present ethnic war.

Had the northeast been a wet zone, the British would have invested in it and grown tea, rubber and coconut just like in the south.  Then, there would have been no motivation for the Tamils to take seriously to education and causing an imbalance. 

The Tamils would have been just like the Sinhalese and there would have been parity with no feelings of hostility. This shows how the climate in the northeast has been responsible for all our problems!

I hope the Education and Social Service Departments take up the question of environment and its effects on demography and society and the ethnic problem.  Recently, I met a retired Sri Lankan Professor of Demography and Geography and he told me that the question of environment and its effects on the ethnic problem never occurred to him - an obvious lack of lateral thinking.

The governments of Sri Lanka could have remedied the problem of the imbalance in education and employment if they were willing to listen to reason rather than letting emotion get the better of them. 

If only they had opened up the Tamil areas and invested in technology, the Tamils would have had no need to venture down to the south in search of employment to support their families in the northeast. 

This would have also increased the job availability for the Sinhalese and there would have been no political threat to prevent or discourage the Sinhalese from immigrating to the northeast.  The only reason why the Sinhalese did not venture up north is because there was nothing attractive to them there.

Even now, the LTTE is not insisting on separation if the Tamils are given what they want in their areas, and if money is spent by the state on development.  The Tamil diaspora will also contribute in a big way and there would be great hopes for a peaceful and prosperous future.

Recently in London the President had met the British Prime Minister and said the new chief minister of the Eastern Province was previously a leading member of the LTTE and had entered the democratic process as a result of the development work done by the government which had been appreciated by the Tamil community. This is what all Tamils want.

So instead of fighting the LTTE in the north, if the military is withdrawn, there would be a great chance for peace and reconciliation.  The LTTE says that for the past 25 years great promises had been made by various governments and subsequently broken and that is why they bombed Premadasa and Chandrika and have refused to negotiate  - which they say is a waste of time.

The government should make every effort to change this impression.

Lt. Col. A.J.N. Selvadurai

United Kingdom

Bank of Ceylon chairman's business dealings

I refer to the letter written by Acting General Manager, Bank of Ceylon to The Sunday Leader which appeared in the June 8 issue, in response to an article written by Ranjith Jayasundera captioned "How the Bank of Ceylon Chairman helped himself" published in The Sunday Leader of May 18.

Even though, expressing my views would not be of any consequence especially nowadays, even with reluctance what prompted me to express my views was because of the utter surprise I received when the Acting General Manager had taken upon herself the responsibility of replying to these allegations as well as other allegations by various people against the chairman at various times in the recent past.

She has stated there that were many inaccuracies and false allegations in that article. If so, I would like to ask- Does that mean that all the other corruption charges in the earlier articles made against the various chairmen at various times are correct, as the editor has indicated?

Let me jolt your memory regarding some of the articles published in the same newspaper on various occasions regarding corruption charges against various chairmen.

(1) 17.12.2006 - "Taking the BoC to the cleaners"

(2) 24.12.2006 -"The great bank rip off"

(3) 4.5.2008 -"BoC dumps a billion rupees on ailing Mihin"

In choosing to reply this particular article the Acting General Manager has been trying to whitewash the chairman due to some ulterior motive known only to herself.

Being a BoC employee with many years of service let me enlighten you on some facts relevant to this matter.

With the establishment of the BoC in 1953 after the departure of the British, the first Ceylonese general manager to be appointed was C. Loganathan. He made his decisions independently without bending to any influence whatsoever. The next GM, who succeeded him was S.M. Sirimanne who also made his decisions without fear or favour as a consequence of which he had to seek redress in a court of law against attempts made by interested parties to block his extension.

When these persons with vested interests were unable to impose their will on the bank they resorted to nationalise the bank in 1961.  I need not stress the fact that the BoC which had such a golden era has now become a breeding ground for corruption especially with the TODs and other crooked dealings connected with the Mihin saga. I often wonder where the bank is heading.

Ex Employee

What  the Bible  says  about  leaders

"God controls all human kingdoms and can give them to anyone he chooses." - Daniel 15.21

"The will of the Lord alone is always, carried out." - Lamentations 3.37

"He protects those who are righteous; He allows them to rule like  kings and lets them be honoured forever." - Job 36.7.

"I help kings to govern and rulers to make good laws. Every ruler on Earth governs with my help, statesmen and noblemen alike." - Proverbs 8.15,16.

"He does not take the side of rulers nor, favour the rich against the poor, for He created everyone." - Job 34.19.

"God condemns kings and rulers when they are worthless or wicked." - Job 34.18.

"He does not need an investigation to remove leaders and replace them with others. Because he knows what they do. He overthrows them and crushes them by night." - Job 34.24,25

"He brings down powerful leaders and reduces them to nothing." - Isaiah 40.23.

Upatissa Attygalle

Bomb blasts and Tamil media

There has been a spate of bombings targeting civilians in Colombo, its suburbs and other areas during the course of the past six months or so. These bombs have been placed in crowded buses and trains on most occasions. The perception that many people have of these bombings is that they are mindless acts of terrorism perpetrated by a desperate terrorist group unable to withstand the onslaught of the government's mighty armed forces on the battlefield.

Certain persons in the government declare that the objective of these bombings is to provoke a backlash against the Tamils living in the south like in July, 1983 in the hope that it would destroy the economy and lead to foreign intervention.  But what has to be said is that even without these bomb blasts the economy has already been destroyed anyway.

The Tamil newspapers however paint an entirely different picture. According to them most of the bus and train bombings of the recent past have been in the nature of retaliatory attacks triggered by the deaths or serious injuries caused to innocent civilians in the north by the government's armed forces who oddly enough are portrayed as benevolent persons in a series of state sponsored television advertisements.

It is being reported that each incident relating to a bus or train bombing here was connected to some specific earlier event that occurred in the conflict areas resulting in civilian deaths and injuries. Some of these incidents are blamed on the Deep Penetration Units (DPUs) of the army which are deployed to carry out search and destroy missions in enemy territory.

They are supposed to attack strategic targets and also eliminate key personnel in the LTTE hierarchy whenever possible. Apparently the DPUs have a propensity to pick on civilian targets when they are unable to zero in on any hard target. This inevitably results in a very prompt 'tit for tat' bombing in the south.

Aerial bombings and heavy calibre machine guns fired from aircraft also cause a large number of civilian deaths, serious injuries and property damage in the north regularly. If the damage is heavy, swift retribution is meted out in some other place by way of a bus or train bombing. It would seem that every time there is an explosion or blast in the north its echo is heard in the south within two, three days.

The Tamil newspapers also state that little or no information is presented in the Colombo based Sinhala and English media about the regular massacres and mayhem inflicted on Tamil civilians in the conflict areas by the army, air force and other special forces. At most there may be a passing reference to some incident and that too after it is no longer newsworthy.

This, they say is in sharp contrast to the massive coverage given to the acts of violence unleashed by the LTTE in these parts with graphic footage and in such an impressive manner that even the wail of ambulance sirens is projected into the drawing rooms of persons living in places far removed from the scene of disaster!

As the Tamil newspapers continue to carry on in this vein, I just thought I should draw attention to these rather divergent views for the benefit of those who cannot or do not read these newspapers.

C. Sugumar

Kandy

Is there a shortage of change?

Can anyone please tell me if we have a shortage of change money? As a frequent traveller by public transport, I am harassed daily by conductors of every bus that I get in, asking for change money. It happens every day.

If I give a Rs. 10 note for a bus fare of Rs. 7 the conductor asks me for Rs. 2 change money so that he can give five rupees back. This has become a practice and the conductors always keep asking for change may be perhaps to avoid having to give the balance.

Sometimes I have seen the conductors having a separate bag containing coins which is usually kept with the driver tucked away safely. There are times that we lose out on the balance as they simply do not have the change to give us.

Of late, this method of asking for change is adopted by the supermarkets and retail boutiques as well. Last week, at a famous supermarket, I was asked for Rs. 4 in change. I tendered a Rs. 5 coin that I had and yet the cashier was asking for Rs. 4 which I did not have. 

I understand that there are times when they also do not have change but there are times that we too do not have change.  The possibility of bus conductors and cashiers having change money is greater than the general public having change.

Chandima Pallage

Makola

Disappearing yellow crossings

In Nugegoda and other towns, I have observed some roads being re-tarred. This is creditable. However the tarring obliterates the zebra markings for pedestrians to cross the road, creating problems for everybody. People follow familiar patterns and tend to cross the road at the same place everyday whether there is a marking or not.

A driver unfamiliar to the town may suddenly see people crossing haphazardly and this may result in accidents. I have seen some 'near miss' accidents due to the absence of the familiar zebra lines on the new road surface.

I suggest that the authorities who direct the tarring should have their in-house gang to do the repainting of the yellow lines, so that this gang can do the repainting as soon as the tarring is completed. This will create more job opportunities and also be a boon to all road users.

Another hazard road users have to face is the protruding tiles on the pavements and curbs. This really is a matter of quality control at the time of approving the contractors' work bill. This also needs the attention of the authorities.

Sunil Cooray        

Dehiwela

A Colleague