Letters
View(s):Elephantine problem: Wise governance better than good governance
Everything appears to be going askew with our national mascot – the elephant.
The United National Party, whose symbol is the ‘elephant’, has tamely consented to the idea of a ‘jumbo’ cabinet and ‘jumbo’ appointments of state and deputy ministers and what not in the government.
In Sri Lanka’s villages, elephants appear to be running riot, destroying the huts of helpless villagers and rampaging over their farmlands. No action or only lethargic action has been taken to relieve the misery of these poor peasants, the lifeblood of our nation.
Then it is a matter for some surprise that Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe who heads the ‘elephant’ party has refrained from giving President Maithripala Sirisena, his partner, some salutary advice in this matter of choosing his Cabinet.
He could surely have advised the President who has recently shown great wisdom in steering the nation on a sound political course to take heed and not allow petty political considerations to override wiser courses of action that may have been followed with no harm coming to anybody.
Why didn’t both the President and the Prime Minister ponder on the fact that in the old days this nation needed only seven ministers, or exceptionally only a few more than seven, to run this country and run it efficiently and well?
Why then did the President have to pander to the petty ambitions, spoken or unspoken, of his cohorts in the former government? Was it loyalty to his former colleagues? If it was only that, surely it is as horrendous as the misplaced loyalty shown by these same persons who have been pandered to their former idol Mahinda Rajapaksa, whom they wanted to foist on this nation once again.
Wouldn’t ‘ intelligent or wise governance ‘ be a better motto to adopt than ‘ good governance’ to take the nation forward? If not, we are surely doomed to years of stagnation in the future. My prayer and earnest hope is that this will not happen and I am sure it will be of the right thinking citizens of this nation.
Hussain Packir Saibo
Via e mail
No thanks: Don’t worry we will take care of ourselves
A seasoned diplomat usually does not play his/her cards openly at once. One studies the situation carefully and applies one of the different modes, carefully chosen to suit the occasion, and then starts the discussions. If the situation is tricky, he will start with something distantly connected but amicably related to both, in order to build a rapport. Thereafter he will start playing his cards.
With regard to the current U.N. proposal to hold a joint inquiry it did not come out of the blue. It has been after several rounds of preliminary discussions where our Foreign Minister has also been consulted. Thereafter the proposal has been unveiled.
In playing his role here, the FM seems to have got his priorities mixed up. The intended proposal is only a preliminary step purported to carry much more, that is unsaid. If one looks into our past history, and sees what is happening around certain parts of the world today one would be able to imagine the likely consequences.
A sovereign country with dignity like ours must say ‘No thanks- don’t worry we will take care of ourselves’.
Dr. B. J. de Silva
Via e mail
Dengue battle: Reward the duty-conscious citizen
Keeping the environment clean at all times is of paramount importance to all responsible citizens. Hence the issuing of “red notices” and fines for irresponsible people is acceptable.
This negative approach is regarded as a penalty for defaulters. I would like to suggest a positive approach — presenting gift vouchers to those who maintain their environment in an exemplary manner.I think such citizens are worthy of such gifts.
If this positive deed is also implemented parallel with the penalty rule, I am sure we would be more likely to eradicate dengue and other health hazards in the near future.
I hope the authorities concerned will implement this idea, so that the common man will understand the value of hard work to keep the environment clean.
Ivor Hapuarachchi
Kandana
May justice be done to Seya
Seya looked forward to her fifth birthday On September 15, 2015
Earlier she had told her teacher in school
That one day, she hopes to become
A policewoman, fighting against crime.
But at 8.30 a.m. the following day
A search party found Seya’s body
By a canal, close to a Bo-tree
Raped and then killed..
She still looked peacefully at sleep
Despite her look of peace
Doctors confirmed sexual brutality
This act of murder of a five-year-old child
Has shocked our country
Could it have been mental illness?
Drug addiction, marijuana be the cause?
The CID is working hard to find the guilty
May God and all religions help them
To rid our homeland of such devils
In the future.
Punyakante Wijenaike
Colombo
Who let the cats out? Get some control tips from Aussie land
Very soon dogs and cats will outnumber the Sri Lankan population.
Isn’t it high time we learn lessons on pet rearing from other countries?
In a country like Sri Lanka, where cats and dogs are raised and bred wantonly, and abandoned without any hesitation, it is time the authorities took a leaf out of the legislation of other countries such as Australia where strict laws are enforced on owners who choose cats and dogs as pets.
According to the Government of Western Australia,The Cat Act requires the identification, registration and sterilisation of domestic cats, and gives local governments the power to administer and enforce the law.
The Cat Act requires all cats that have reached six months of age to be: 
- Microchipped;
- Sterillised; and
- Registered with the relevant local government.
Cats will be required to wear a collar and registration tag to ensure that owned cats can be easily identified and returned to their owner.
The legislation requires that a person who chooses to breed cats must apply to their local government for a permit.
When a cat is sold, the seller must ensure it is microchipped and sterilised prior to transfer. If the cat cannot be sterilised due to its young age, a voucher must be issued to the new owner.
The legislation does not limit the number of cats that one can own. This will be upto local governments who may choose to introduce a local law.
As a responsible pet owner, you are still encouraged to:
Keep your cat confined to your property, especially at night.
Ensure your cat is easily identifiable with a collar and a name tag.
Microchip your cat.
Sterilise your cat.
Vaccinate your cat.
Such legislation will be appropriate to a country like Sri Lanka where cats and dogs are breeding without any control whatsoever.
A Concerned Citizen
Bring back the hangman; ‘kill the killers’: A Buddhist view point
The President’s announcement that he intends to obtain the views of Parliamentarians before he sanctions the implementation of Capital punishment, in response to the public outcry following five-year-old Seya’s rape and murder has raised a few issues.
The public call for the re-introduction of the death penalty is strident. The President’s action in seeking the views of legislators is a democratic move though, we respectfully advise him on the risks involved in the process.
There are, without any exaggeration, a good number of ‘immoral’ men on both sides of the political divide. Some of them are well-known plunderers of public wealth; or drug dealers enjoying deputy and state minister positions.
Many other ‘honest’ men are those who turned a blind-eye or even aided and abetted the rogues. Some who were rejected by the electorate but found favour with every government in the past few decades have entered through the back door.
Let us look at the history of capital punishment in our country. In 1928, D.S. Senanayake brought in a proposal saying, “capital punishment should be abolished in Ceylon and the necessary amendments in law should be introduced at an early date.”
This proposal was passed by 19 for and 7 against in the Legislative Council and a copy was forwarded to the Secretary of State for Colonies but in view of the feelings at the time that it would operate against imperial interests, the resolution was not implemented.
In 1936, Susantha de Fonseka, member for Panadura brought in a resolution that, “ In the opinion of this Council, the death sentence should be abolished as a punishment for murder, and in lieu thereof a person convicted of murder should be sentenced to life imprisonment.” This never saw the light of the day.
MP for Kandy Fred de Silva proposed in 1955, “that this House is in the opinion that the government should consider the desirability of abolishing capital punishment and substituting thereof a term of life imprisonment”. Again it failed for the third time, though Parliament passed it.
However, it was only in 1956, under S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike’s government and on the Prime Minister’s initiation, who was keen to suspend the death penalty on account of the commemoration of Buddha Jayanthi (2500 years after Buddha) that the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice Mr Samaraweera brought in a Bill for suspension of capital punishment for a period of three years.
In all previous occasions, the proposals brought up by individual members got the approval but either they failed to present them as a draft bill or had to be rejected under the whims and fancies of colonial rulers.
From a Buddhist perspective, the first precept is to abstain from destruction of life. The Dhammapada states: Everyone fears punishment; everyone fears death, just as you do. Therefore you do not kill or cause to be killed.
“Him I call a brahmin who has put aside weapons and renounced violence toward all creatures. He neither kills nor helps others to kill.” These are injunctions against supporting any legal measure which might lead to the death penalty. There is disagreement among Buddhists as to whether or not Buddhism forbids the death penalty.
Like today’s street demonstrations, people gathered at the gates of King Pasenadi, demanding that Angulimala be apprehended. The King met the Buddha to clarify his task. The Buddha responded: “if you see Angulimala now a good bhikkhu, who does not kill, how would you treat him?”
The king says that he would pay reverence to him as a good bhikkhu, and the king was surprised when the Buddha pointed out Angulimala nearby; the Buddha was able to discipline Angulimala without force or weapons and bring peace.
The significance of this story within the Buddhist convention highlights the only explanation Buddhism accepts for punishing a criminal: to help re-form his character.
The Cakkavatti-sihanada Sutta discusses the connection between criminal justice and social justice, especially the link between poverty and hostility. “Let no crime triumph in your kingdom, and to those who are in need, give property.”
Most people believe that removal of capital punishment has caused the murder rate to increase; as if most of the perpetrators are wandering about thinking of murdering someone because there is no threat of a death penalty.
The truth is that man has in him a desire to kill under various circumstances [killer instinct]. But he has those instinctive checks upon that desire which may arise at times, through education, upbringing, the position one holds in society, all of which stand in the way of the anti-social desire.
That out-dated theory of an eye-for-an-eye, and a tooth-for-a-tooth, has long been forgotten in more civilized quarters in which the death penalty is discussed. People kill for many reasons, and thus that multitude of reasons may include in a particular case, a particular psychology of the given individual.
But in modern times, when psychology, psychiatry and so many sciences enable us not only to probe the human mind but cure the human mind of its imbalances, it is meaningless to argue that all you can do with a man who kills another is to kill him yourself.
The purpose of criminal law should not be punishment; instead it should create an opportunity to heal a man. Law should not stand in the way of social reform.
Government should not attempt to distract the attention of the enraged public from its failure to fight crime. The inefficiency of the law enforcement authorities and the state prosecutors has caused the conviction rate to drop below five percent. The government needs to protect the children against criminals through a programme of educating parents and teachers.
If we think the death penalty deters others; America punishes a larger percentage of its population than any other nation, but she continues to have the maximum crime rate in the region.
K.K.S Perera
Vi a email