At the height of the Second World War the late astrological professor Bulathsinhala was hauled up before the military high command.

"Is it true that you have made a statement to the effect that one of our bases would fall to the Japanese by the end of this year?" asked the Commander in Chief. "Yes sir," said Professor Bulathsinhala. "Why did you say so?" bellowed the Commander. "I say what I see" retorted the Professor.

Then the Commander gazed at Professor Bulathsinghala and surveying him from head to toe fired the next question. "What can you say about me?" "May I see your palm Sir," requested the Professor. The Commander held out his palm. After taking one look at the palm the Professor said, "Your wife is very unfaithful to you."

"You are bloody right" accepted the Commander and released Bulathsinghala warning him not to make such derogatory remarks to bring down the morale of the soldiers when a war is on.

That December, on Christmas Day the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour where the late John. F. Kennedy was a naval officer.

I was quite intrigued to read about the ‘English As A Life Skill’ programme apparently sponsored by the President’s Office. While we must applaud any attempt to teach English to our people there are reasons to believe that this particular effort is mere eyewash and is bound to fail. Consider these factors.

1) Why should the President’s Office run a national programme like this when the Ministry of Education with all its resources can do it much better? What we need is not more tuition classes with teachers from India, but a proper action programme led by the Ministry of Education. I believe the President’s Office is not equipped to run such programmes at all. Is somebody trying to create a small turf for himself by creating an ad-hoc system of teaching English using that office?

2) Who designed and planned this programme? Who were the educationists and specialist English teachers behind this programme? From the newspapers we gather that a gentleman by the name Dr. Sunimal Fernando is behind the programme. But according to Dr. Fernando himself, he is a sociologist and not an English specialist.

3) Maybe because of this weakness, Dr. Fernando has expressed the opinion that we should learn what he terms ‘South Asian English’ as opposed to English the rest of the world speaks. Dr. Fernando says for ‘South Asian English’ grammar and pronunciation are unimportant. He recommends a kind of sign language where we just try to crudely and weakly express ourselves, and call it English. Would Dr. Fernando recommend this kind of English to his own children?

4) Can we even start to learn a language when the brains behind it are saying "let us learn bad English and then call it South Asian English?" Will any qualified educationist agree with this method of learning a language?

5) Can anyone learn our own language — Sinhala for instance — if he is told that rules of grammar and pronunciation do not matter at all? May be Dr. Fernando’s long association with politicians has made him lose any sense of grammar and pronunciation.

6) We must be the only nation in the world to attempt to learn English from Indians for whom it is a second language. When the governments of UK, USA, Australia and even Canada would be more than pleased to teach English here why did Dr. Fernando decide on India as his resource base? According to Dr. Fernando it is because they do not follow the rules and pronunciation of mainstream English. Does this make sense as a national policy?

It is time for the Ministry of Education to state its policy with regard to various spurious programmes run by people of all shades and shapes in the name of English.

Unbowed and unafraid for 15 years

The article under the above caption appearing in The Sunday Leader of June 21, prompted me to pen this letter. It is heart burning to read the sentiments and other related matters concerning the assassination of a young, compassionate Founder Editor whose vision helped the offended and the downtrodden, irrespective of race or caste.

We need people of his calibre to save Sri Lanka. Any humane person would sympathise and cry over the demise of our beloved Lasantha. If Lasantha’s assailants read and understand the article referred to above, I am sure they will regret their mistake, own up their crime and ask for pardon. The spirit of the late Lasantha will certainly respond and pardon the sinners. If the assailants fail to report, Almighty God will surely mete out justice.

We console ourselves recollecting the assassination of Mahathma Gandhi.

About a month back a reader, writing under the above caption very lucidly argued that the Central Bank had made itself accountable to the depositors for the losses they suffered and the shake up in the country’s financial sector, by its decision to abort an inquiry it had undertaken in 2006/2007 into the activities of the Golden Key Credit Card Company.

The Finance Companies Act No. 78 of 1988 defines ‘finance business’—"As the business of acceptance of money by way of deposit, the payment of interest thereon and

(a) the lending of money on interest; or,

(b) the investment of money in any manner whatsoever; or,

(c) the lending of money on interest and the investment of money in any manner whatsoever."

Since the Golden Key Company was engaged in this business, the Central Bank/Monetary Board which "as charged with the business of giving effect to the provisions of the Finance Companies Act," had a duty to monitor the activities of the Golden Key Credit Card Company. If the investigation that was begun in 2006/2007 was carried to its conclusion, the disaster that followed could have been averted and the Golden Key Company could have survived as a company operating under the supervision of the Central Bank.

The report that the Central Bank had commenced such an investigation is not hearsay. It has been confirmed no less by a person than the former Governor of the Central Bank, Sunil Mendis. It has been corroborated by GKC Chairman Lalith Kotelawala who added that the examination was terminated — by the Central Bank — and that business of GKC was declared ‘legitimate.’

Sunil Mendis has made it clear that the inquiry was ongoing when he left the Central Bank. The obvious inference therefore is that the successor, Ajith Cabraal made the decision to abort the inquiry. Hence he must take full legal and moral responsibility for the disaster. Resignation or removal is not the answer. He should make a confession accepting liability for the damage caused to Sri Lanka’s financial sector and initiate steps to provide immediate relief to the depositors, especially those who depended on the interest income for their livelihood. This is also a step necessary for restoring investor confidence in the financial system of the country.

An English daily had on May 21, 2009 announced the good news that three more directors of Golden Key have been remanded. The judiciary is the last straw where Sri Lankans are concerned and it must live up to the golden rule that justice must not only be done but must appear to be done!

It is a well known fact that besides the directors Lalith Kotelawala had appointed to his countless number of companies, everyone in these companies knew exactly what was happening. No one, I repeat no one, can plead innocence that he did not know what their King Pin and his Queen were doing with other people’s monies. They should all be put behind bars for the nightmare that has been created by this local Ali Baba and his God knows how many thieves.

It is a fact that Lalith had appointed a team of ‘yes’ men who pretended to know nothing of the evil that was going on within this giant conglomerate. Even the high and the mighty in this country know that there is bribery and corruption in every nook and corner of this country and is thriving unabated. We all know that there are Mervyn Silvas publicly brandishing their swords, daggers, and guns claiming that they are the President’s thugs. And all what the decent and law abiding people of this country can do is grin and bear! What a pathetic state this beautiful island of Sri Lanka has been transformed into ... all for the sake of political power!

What probably most if not all the people know, is that Lalith had a few loyal and unscrupulous thugs who bribed their way to the highest echelons of power to bend the law in his favour. They were the inner circle of obedient servants who like in the Mafia will do anything that the boss desires.

Now that investigations are on, they must not be limited only to Golden Key, but to every man and woman who had anything to do with Lalith Kotelawala’s personal and official affairs. Despite a court order that every director connected with Golden Key and other companies directly or indirectly must declare their assets and liabilities, most of the directors have not done so, showing scant respect for the judiciary. The court must ask the IGP to set up a CID team comprised of efficient investigators who will visit the directors in their homes and obtain their declarations.

The big question today is, why are the police not taking proper action to arrest Sicille Kotelawala when she is absconding. If a small man or woman did this he or she would have been hunted down. Here is a woman who has been taking Rs. 4.5 million from Golden Key as a monthly salary, played out hundreds of depositors and has the gumption to treat the judiciary with scant respect.

The lawyers who are appearing for the high and mighty Kotelawalas are pleading for a husband and wife who lived a life of super luxury doing the grand with the monies of depositors and now reduced to nervous wrecks and paupers.

The lawyers appearing for the Kotelawalas should be ashamed to plead on behalf of their clients when they know that it is this couple who must be put behind bars for the havoc and misery they both have caused to hundreds of families who put their faith in them!

In the Letter to the Editor by Betram de Lile titled "A golden knockout" in our issue of June 28, 2009 the writer had inadvertently stated "It was indeed a pity that when Mercantile Investments collapsed…"

We wish to stress that the reference is to Mercantile Credit and not to Mercantile Investments which is healthy and very much in existence to-date.

We regret the error.

It is now six months since she left us after a 13 year battle with illness — a woman who influenced thousands and yet, was a private person; a person who changed the lives of many children and the poor but shied away from recognition and applause. She would be embarrassed by my public tribute, but I overcame the fear of her rebuke as I thought of writing these lines, so that others could also learn to appreciate their own mothers.

She taught me that society was bigger than self, and arrogance and pride went before a fall; that material wealth was fleeting, and contentment lay in sharing.

Even though she was a private person she gave up her privacy, and our home became a shelter for those in need of protection and care. Everyone was welcome regardless of their status in life and was treated with dignity and equality shattering the deep divisions of language, ethnicity, caste, creed and class.

Many ‘unwanted’ babies and abused women travelled through our home, sometimes staying for weeks and at other times, a few years. One such baby became her precious daughter and our beloved sister. Each story was terrifying and unique often involving the abuse of women by men. She sheltered these women throwing caution to the winds, risking the reputation of husband and sons. She taught us that ‘right’ work was more important than ‘good’ work, and had to be undertaken whatever the cost.

The poor and the weak were at the heart of her mission in life. It was not just compassion that drove her to provide a meal for 1500 children each day, but an inward belief that the poor had a right to demand from others who had plenty. She strove to educate those who could not afford it — always attempting to move every family one step higher, while driving home the point that education does not create moral beings, but that a transformation of heart was the beginning of an ethical life.

As her mission grew, it had to be institutionalised to cater to many. But she never lost sight of the individual’s need — for food, medicine, shelter, education, protection or to escape from a destructive habit — even if it was outside the defined institutional programme. She strove to demolish the separation between public life and private living by embedding her mission into her lifestyle.

The lot of the marginalised, the weak and the poor stirred her soul making her a natural ally of the underdog. She was constantly looking for ways to defend and fight their cause.

One evening at dinner, we were introduced to a lady who had been released from prison for a couple of days into my mother’s care. In a well publicised case, the lady was convicted of murder despite pleading her innocence. My mother reading the newspaper account appealed on her behalf, visited her in prison, and gave her hope until she assumed a new identity and settled into family life upon being released from a life sentence.

Though she was born to the majority race, she had a deep sensitivity to the injustices and aspirations of the minorities. She believed in the lines of our national anthem which says "Eke mawakage daru kalebawina" (we are but the children of one mother) and dreamed of a united country where all lived with dignity and were equal before the law. Her death has cast on us an even heavier responsibility to work towards this goal in spite of the many detractors.

She was mentally alert to the last and spent her fading years in talking, advising, counselling, writing and working on email and computer, never giving up on life. There are many memories that I recall amongst which are the late night discussions in which she advised and sometimes argued her case, always advising her sons to treat their spouses with equality, love and dignity.

She sometimes had a word of counsel about the grandchildren or would often directly speak to them herself, with remarkable relevance and respect. She gave us all the gift of being open, communicating from the heart and instilling in us that people were always more important than things.

Life is uncertain, death is sure. She always lived in the context of eternity and death held no terror for her. She had experienced forgiveness and therefore, was a forgiving person. I share in her belief that we do not earn our eternal reward, but life, and eternal life is a gift given by God to be celebrated throughout. Death is only a temporary parting. Ammi, I will meet you soon.