Doctorates for the President and his brother 

It is heartening to know that the University of Colombo has decided to confer honorary doctorates on the President and Defence Secretary "for safeguarding the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity, restoring peace and harmony among communities and upholding Sri Lanka's image among the international community."

This is the first time terrorism has been wiped off from a country by the leader of a country. It is a creditable achievement indeed.

The countries in the world know that there is a conflict in this beautiful island which was due to the discrimination of the minorities. When the minority Tamils resorted to an arms struggle after all their peaceful protests were ignored, it was labelled as terrorism. In the process of fighting terrorism in the last few months more than 300,000 Tamils were chased away from their homes and herded into a no-fire zone. Food, medicine and water were denied to these people.

Access to these people by aid agencies and reporters were also denied in the name of fighting terrorism. Knowing very well that women, children and elders were trapped in this densely populated areas security forces were shelling, and the air force was bombing allegedly indiscriminately killing 30,000 and maiming more than 50,000 including women and children.

The warnings, the polite requests and ultimately the pleadings by the Tamils, and requests made by world bodies such as UNO including India, a friendly neighbouring country, were brushed off in the name of wiping out terrorism.

The terrified people were herded into barbed wire fenced camps devoid of facilities and kept without any chance of communicating with the outside world. The Tamils still do not know whether their loved ones who lived in the Wanni are alive or not.

Sri Lanka is now known world over because it stands accused of human rights violations. Sri Lanka may pride itself that it has beaten the resolution brought against it at UNHRC with the help of its friendly countries. However, for a country which boasts of an ancient civilisation and professes to follow a religion which abhors killing it is a shame that such a resolution was brought against it at all.

The government has still not found a lasting solution to the conflict or for that matter the IDPs who are languishing in the camps. But the University of Colombo which teaches humanities and civilisation has thought it fit to confer honorary doctorates on the brothers.

Other universities in the world confer such titles on leaders who have demonstrated compassion and statesmanship when dealing with problems of this nature. Nelson Mandela is one such respected leader. However in Sri Lanka the leader intimidated all those who spoke against the war and shown his narrow-mindedness by not offering a solution to this conflict

The President may have safeguarded the territorial integrity of the country because he has captured the Wanni sans the people; but one cannot see how he has brought peace and harmony among communities as claimed by him and his supporters. It is the Sinhalese at the echelons of power, who are happy that the Tamils were driven from their homes and live in the camps at the mercy of security forces, and celebrate their 'victory' day and night. Sri Lanka's image is tarnished forever as it stands accused of killing more than 30,000 Tamils including women and children

It is disgusting that an institution like the University of Colombo has decided to confer doctorates on the twosome as if they have won a war against an enemy country. The day of awarding the doctorates would be the darkest day in the annals of the University of Colombo.

A Tamil IDP

Certain cunning persons are trying to confer the President with various worthless Degrees and titles, and some are even trying to make him a king. Perhaps it is to get favours for their business empires and gain undue advantage. Our President is wise enough not to be led up the garden path.

Sri Lanka is a very small country and the Sinhalese are in the majority only in Sri Lanka. In all other countries where our children have gone for studies and employment, the Sinhalese are the smallest community. Already our children are being harassed and some even beaten up and injured. Demonstrations are being held denouncing Sri Lanka. The governments of those countries are also hostile to us over the LTTE issue.

The government TV channels are showing war scenes and also clips of the opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe distributing leaflets in the streets and holding demonstrations followed by clips of Ravi Karunanayake speaking in parliament espousing the "Alimankada-Pamankada" comment, having suspended the normal programmes.

This has gone on for months and we are sick and tired of watching these scenes. These are now stale and unnecessary for they do not serve the national cause of rebuilding the badly battered economy. These worthless things must stop.

Coming to the point of the Emperor’s clothes — we have heard during our young days the story The Emperor’s New Clothes by Hans Christian Anderson — in which an emperor is tricked by a cunning weaver who supposedly dressed the king in a very thin flimsy robe. The Emperor in his vanity parades the streets to show his subjects his new clothes.

A small boy who was among the crowd seeing this, shouts "The Emperor is naked." It is only then that everyone in the crowd and the king realises the truth. The Degrees being conferred upon the President cannot cover his nakedness for they are worthless.

We the Sinhalese are a minority in all other countries and the Tamils who are all over the world are a bigger community. Therefore we should treat our Tamil brothers and sisters with respect and give them their rights as enjoyed by the Sinhalese. This attitude will soften their attitude towards our people in the foreign countries. Now that the terrorists have been defeated we should not hereafter think that all Tamils are terrorists.

The government must focus on rebuilding the economy of Sri Lanka and bring down the cost of living.

Those acts will have long lasting benefits and peace will prevail in Sri Lanka.

Let us live and let live. Sri Lanka is not a monarchy but a democracy.

V.K.B. Ramanayake

Maharagama

Is this to harass minority groups?

It was heartening to read the President’s recent speech avowing that all citizens irrespective of ethnic background will be treated as equals. This was further confirmed by the remarks of the retiring Chief Justice. Now we are told all citizens should register themselves on www.citizens.lk by the Ministry of Defence who sanctimoniously say it is for the security of ourselves and our property.

The forms are to be directed to the police of the area where the person concerned resides. The form has a column for ‘ethnic group.’ Why is this necessary? A question like this from the Department of Census and Statistics is acceptable. But how does it concern the police?

Doesn’t this sound like a ploy to find out where the minority groups reside and carry out ‘checks’ on them because all of them can be suspected to be LTTE supporters? Something is definitely rotten in the state of Denmark.

The gurus who designed the form also have a column for number of residents — either permanent or temporary! You presumably cannot have both in a home. When, if ever, can we all proudly call ourselves Sri Lankans?

A.J. Vincent

Nugegoda

Ombudsman for financial institutions

Ever since the Golden Key, Sakvithi and Okanda financial scams, with monotonous regularity, various irregularities of other finance companies who have defrauded and duped depositors by insidious ways have been reported in the print and electronic media.

Despite the constant vigilance and monitoring of the Monetary Board and the Department of Supervision of Non Banking Financial Institutions of the Central Bank, certain dubious finance and leasing companies continue to fleece and defraud unsuspecting depositors of their millions if not billions of rupees, and complaints of depositors against finance companies have been escalating.

Most of these complaints relate to:

The deplorable and parlous state to which financial companies have fallen into in many cases can be attributed to:

While depriving the depositors of their legitimate dues, some of the finance companies are pursuing their crooked business activities in dubious ways.

It is timely to appoint an Ombudsman for financial institutions similar to the Insurance Ombudsman. Such an appointment will provide quick relief to the many depositors who have been duped/defrauded. He should also be empowered to carry out regular off-site and on-site inspections to appraise the financial performance, the risks that the financial institutions are exposed to and evaluate the effectiveness of the system and controls, while also ascertaining whether the institutions are properly managed, and report on any irregularities. This is an immediate requirement.

J.T.R. Fernando

Colombo 8

Police - its about time you did your duty

For whatever reason one has to sadly agree that our police, especially the traffic police cut a sorry figure by their lackadaisical attitude towards their duties.

While the members of the three forces have shown us and the world how to combat evil, the police particularly those in urban areas are either sleeping or have been having it good.

It was almost a year ago that the ban on vehicles emitting excessive smoke was introduced. Subsequently, the ban on sound pollution came into effect. What action have these so called ‘guardians of the law’ taken? Nothing!

Private buses and vans flout these laws right under their noses and yet they are incapable or incompetent to take action. It was only the other day that a reader’s letter appealing to the AG was published in your esteemed paper.

The police chief should be ashamed and should relinquish his job if he is incapable of giving effect to these basic laws of the country. If he is incapable of solving simple matters like these, how on earth does he expect to solve bigger issued placed before him?

R. de Silva

Dehiwela

It’s time to introduce visas for SL

For far too long, Sri Lankans have been subject to unfair treatment at the hands of embassies demanding visas to enter their country. Some European countries like the UK blatantly rob people of their money on the pretext of visa application fees or else they sit on the application for months and reject them or issue them when no longer necessary.

I am sure most Sri Lankans who travel will agree that it’s time Sri Lanka too began a process of issuing visas on a reciprocal basis. Of course consideration should be given to areas that can be affected by such a move — as the tourism industry, and that precisely is why I say that a process should be put in place in order that the same inconvenience as imposed on Sri Lankans by the likes of the UK High Commission, is not caused to genuine visitors and tourists to the country by our missions overseas.

Introducing visas will also enable the government to use the fees collected towards the maintenance of our missions.

I hope the government and the tourism industry give this suggestion serious consideration.

F. Gunesekera

Dehiwela

I first met Anura Cooray on a very cold and dreary day in the winter of 1952 at the Royal Air Force Camp in Locking, Somerset, in the UK. Though it was a dreary day, the warmth of the meeting of several of us, Ceylonese, at that time training with the RAF on a three year Aircraft Engineering Apprenticeship, was an exhilarating one. I had been in the UK a few months before Anura arrived, and meeting up with new faces from home was something we all looked forward to with great delight.

There were trainees from the UK, Ceylon, Pakistan, Rhodesia, Burma, New Zealand and friendships built up then have lasted to this day, over 50 years later.

A friendly guy, Anura was always an instant hit with everyone in camp, especially because of his prowess in boxing. Whenever there was a boxing competition against another camp, and when Anura got into the ring to fight his opponent, the roar that rose from the crowd was deafening. He usually walked out of the ring having easily knocked out his adversary in the first one or two rounds

On our return to Ceylon, we were stationed at Royal Ceylon Air Force Camp, Katunayake where we served with the air force for a few years. It was during that time that Anura met and fell in love with Manel. Very soon they were married and I had the honour of being his bestman at their wedding.

By 1960 we had both left the air force. Still very young and in our mid 20s, we had chosen the paths to our future careers. I joined Lever Brothers and Anura had decided to go abroad. Manel was the 'force' behind the man. She convinced Anura that their future lay abroad and they must sail the seas to England, the country that Anura was already familiar with. By then they had been blessed with the birth of their first child - a daughter whom they named Kumari.

The decision was made and they left the shores of Ceylon in 1961 for greener pastures in London, England. After overcoming the initial obstacles of finding suitable employment and accommodation, they settled down in Paddington, London. Between them they had decided that Anura would resume his studies whilst doing a job, and Manel would start and run a shop of their own.

And so began a tremendous struggle to bring up a growing family whilst at the same time achieving the targets they had set for themselves. 'Karmalika Stores' came into being at the corner of the street where they lived and Manel behind the counter, ran a successful operation - whilst Anura got down to academics, doing a job during the night and studying during the day. He took in his stride the O/Levels, A/Levels and then the Law exams.

He was called to the Bar (Lincoln's Inn) in 1968 and practised at the Bar in London. By July 1978 he was appointed Acting Stipendiary Magistrate. In August 1982 he was appointed fulltime Metropolitan Stipendiary Magistrate, the very first non-white to be appointed to that position. He was approved to sit as Assistant Recorder in November, 1985 and by February 1989, he was promoted Crown Court Judge - His Honour, Justice Anura Cooray.

What a meteoric rise, a tremendous achievement and yet for all intents and purposes, Anura remained the same simple man to all those who knew him. During one of our visits, it was Manel who very proudly produced a photograph of the family when they were invited to have tea with the Queen soon after Anura was appointed 'Judge Cooray.'

He retired from Circuit Bench in October 1997 on grounds of ill health. He passed away on April 30 in a hospital in London after a brief illness. He leaves behind his loving wife Manel and his children Kumari, Vincent, Sita, Samantha and Marlon. Our love and sympathies go to them.

Duncan Perera