Letters
View(s):Let us make this Bhikkhu Act a blessing
Have they forgotten the basic objectives of putting on yellow robes: Protesting monks (file pic)
As a whole, lay Buddhists do not like to see their revered monks involved in activities that breach the 227 disciplinary rules they vowed to abide by at their higher ordination ceremony.
But unfortunately during the past few decades beginning from September 26, 1959, they happened to see some criminals and offenders among the Buddhist monks.
There is another group of robed professions among the politicians, businessmen, astrologers, black magic practitioners and native doctors. They have all forgotten the basic objectives of putting on the yellow robes.
For instance local newspapers carried accounts of several crimes perpetrated by a chief priest of a temple at Induruwa, Bandaragoda.
Also the Minister of Higher Education speaking in Parliament revealed the inhumane way senior student monks of a local university had ragged the freshers.
The whole world saw how some monks ran with their robes tucked up to avoid police tear gas and water jets at some demonstrations in Colombo.
Religion-wise all these acts are punishable offences. But the chief prelates have not expelled a single wrong-doer from the Bhikkhu society.
Who or what made these monks fall into this situation? The answer is not that simple. However the power crazy politicians of all Sinhala political parties must accept the lion’s share of the responsibility or the blame for using the Buddhists’ monks popularity to gather the votes of voters at elections.
The result is that most of the Buddhist monks are politically divided, slinging mud at each other, sowing hatred instead of compassion.
Senior monks should also take their share of the blame for not selecting the suitable person for the robe and not giving the novice monks a proper training and guidance and not monitoring their behaviour and progress.
The impracticability of some disciplinary rules and some teachings is also a problem.
Modern electronic devices linked with communication and information technology are being used extensively by almost all monks.
These devices give access to pornographic programmes that arouse their feelings, leading them to question their celibacy and perhaps commit misdeeds.
The educated and the rich refrain from ordaining their sons. Boys from poor families fill the gap.
This solution doesn’t answer the needs of the Buddhists and it has an adverse effect on the great religion’s existence. For that reason we need a durable, acceptable, practicable solution.
To get at that, we need time, patience, commitment and also intellectuals. We need to get rid of bigotry and we, laymen and monks both, have to loosen our tight religious bonds and let the robed and the laity air their views freely.
In doing so, we must not forget that monks are human beings and some relaxation of the old religious rules is needed.
The Great Teacher, the Buddha himself, spent a luxurious life until his renunciation at the age of 27. Over the next six years he tamed his body and mind to attain Buddhahood.
If the draftsmen of the Bhikkhu Act consider all these aspects, nobody will wage war against it.
We can make this Bhikkhu Act a blessing in disguise. With that in mind, Sri Lankan Buddhists should shed their differences and unite first. This is the time, the auspicious time for that.
H.M.P. Wickremarathne
Kengalle
Railway toilets wouldn’t be in this state if everyone did their duty
This is in response to an article on the state of public toilets at railway stations in the Sunday Times of February 7. I had written to the papers earlier on this subject.
Several times I observed that the toilets of the trains plying on the coast line in the morning, were used by traders to keep their merchandise.
I had also written about the manner in which the toilets in the inter-city train from Kandy to Colombo were cleaned .
There will be no necessity for tenders to be called to do this type of work if the Railway security personnel, guards, and station superintendents carry out their duties properly without fear .
Merril de Silva
King Sri Wikrama Rajasinha bridged the Kandy Lake
Reading of the recent proposal to bridge the Kandy Lake reminds me of the old adage “there’s nothing new under the sun.” Believe it or not, our last King Sri Wikrama Rajasinha built such a bridge.
In his Diary British Spymaster John D’Oyly writes – “In the middle of the ‘weyva’ lately built by the King, a square ‘kundasalawa’ has been built and covered with ‘koku ulu’ – There are also built, & in the same ‘weyva, 2 Yatra Donies [little boats]with 1 mast each, and 2 ‘pades’[flat bottomed boats or paddles].
The Bridge built for going to the ‘kundasalawa’ in the middle of the ‘weyva’, is made to fold up and open.” This would have been a unique and outstanding engineering feat of our engineers, yet practising in ‘Tri Sinhale’.
My mind travels back to 1940, or so, when I was a schoolboy in Kandy. The Municipal Council built a colourful barge, they called a ‘gondola’, which gave its passengers a leisurely glide round the lake. It disappeared after the Japanese air raid on Colombo.
Tissa Devendra
Via email
Don’t forget MR lost whenever he contested as an individual
The ‘Joint Opposition’ says that without Mahinda Rajpaksa, the SLFP would not be able to win local council elections. How come?
MR is not going to contest in all local authorities, the polls are going to be contested by different individuals. If they cannot win, then there must be something wrong with the candidates.
The other point is that when MR contested as an individual, he lost. He and his supporters should accept the reality and do their politics accordingly.
MR lost because of his government’s misdeeds from 2010- 2014. Some may argue no allegations have come up against him.
But, all politicians and officials who are facing allegations had his blessings and connivance and some got involved so that he could be in power for ever.
B.S. Perera
Kiribathgoda
The ugly side of an insular phenomenon
Though I lived in Italy for over 12 long years and often went to the Teatro alla Scala with my Milanese friends, I was never a great opera enthusiast.
Nevertheless, having been exposed to so much music internationally, I developed a sensitivity to serious music, both western and eastern.
Kishani Jayasinghe’s rendition of Danno Budunge only adds another dimension to a popular song that has seen many transformations over time.
Watching the clips of her singing at the Independence Day celebrations concert, it is obvious that when Kishani left our shores and went on to make an impact on the world scene as a soprano it was with a thorough understanding and awareness of the sensibilities and nuances of her own culture.
This comes through clearly in her rendition of some of our well known folk melodies at the same concert. Kishani is a highly skilled and well schooled soprano, and as Sri Lankans, we need to be proud of her achievements internationally.
I personally think that she must have adapted her operatic singing style to cater to the sensibilities of a local audience at the Independence Day concert.
She could have beautifully sung the songs she did in a strictly vernacular vein if she wanted to but that is not what one expects from an internationally renowned opera singer.
Ignorance and lack of exposure to authentic world music is a sad and insular phenomenon. Regrettably, certain segments of our society seem to suffer from it. Criticising Kishani Jayasinghe in a most unjustified and undignified manner only exposes this unfortunate reality.
Tilak Samarawickrema
Via email
Have designated places to hold demonstrations
Steet demonstrations and public meetings have become part and parcel of ways to bring to the public’s attention any matters political, communal etc.
There may, no doubt, be valid reasons for such demonstrations. Sri Lanka being a democratic country, the citizens have a right to highlight their views to others in public places or through the media.
However as such gatherings for protests can be from a few hundred to over a thousand people, it is not clear whether the public approves of such demonstrations.
The government of Sri Lanka can regularise such meetings or demonstrations as in England. In London, several parks have a place allocated called ‘Soapbox Corner’ where meetings can be held and any speaker can speak on any subject excepting anything against the Queen.
Here too, the Government could declare specified places to hold meetings and for street demonstrations and exclude roads leading to schools, hospitals and in busy working districts. Colombo being the capital city, Fort railway station, Eye Hospital junction and similar places must be spared of such demonstrations.
With Sri Lanka today attracting many visitors, it is very important to keep our country peaceful, safe and attractive.
Dr. V. Mahendran
Chunnakam
The smiling knight and the Bollywood damsels
I chanced to read D. P.Jayasinghe’s letter in the Sunday Times of January 17. He surmises that Sir John would have definitely laughed off the cartoon depicting him with the Bollywood bombshell. This is an understatement- the reaction was far more titillating.
In fact Sir John was pictured all smiles with the whole list of the stars in the cartoon ( by Collette if I remember right).
Then Sir John being Sir John invited all of them to a garden party at Temple Trees with the cartoonist and the newspaper photographer to do the needful.
This picture too appeared in the paper the next day to the elation of all: it wasn’t clear who looked more pleased – the knight or the damsels.
M.Z. Abdeen
Kandy
Slaughter of chickens in markets
I believe the following that I describe, takes place in all CMC-run markets. A man is seen killing chicken in public where people including children visit to buy vegetables.
The act is done in front of other terrified chickens who are packed in metal cages.
It is an awful sight, a practice not in keeping with this compassionate land. I appeal to the Justice and Buddha Sasana Minister to put a stop to this slaughter in public.
Tudor H. Wickremasinghe
Colombo 9
Why can’t they learn to sing the National Anthem in Sinhala?
Bandu W. of Colombo 7 in the Sunday Times of February 7 writes of the multi lingual South Africa National Anthem
Long ago, an African Spiritual “Ole Black Joe” was parodied as follows:
All the world is kanagatu, enga sari I poe,
Lo, dark is how my heart grows thehettu,
Far from the gamay narkioe
Is this what we want, to ridicule ourselves? Why can’t the Tamils learn Sinhala, at least to sing our anthem in the language of the majority?
If they are clever enough to learn any international language, in a matter of a few months (in all the countries they live in now) why can’t they learn Sinhala, for peace and harmony in Sri Lanka?
This is an insignificant point their politicians want to score. It is much better for them to demand that all pro-LTTE organisations both here and abroad, be disbanded immediately, so that we can all live in our beloved Sri Lanka without strife.
They should demand that the anthem of all the countries they inhabit as a diaspora, be translated into Tamil, so that they can sing it with fervour and loyalty.
Reader
Via email
De-freezing the freezed Variable Cost of Living Allowance to People’s Bank pensioners
Without hedging and harrowing around the bush let us plunge into the quagmire and endeavour to reach the true position on the need to de-freeze the frozen Variable Cost of Living Allowance (VCOLA) to a section of the Pensioners by Peoples’ Bank – an unparalleled deprivation of a decisive component of any wage or salary, past, present or future.
This has successfully divided the pensioners into three categories chronologically.
A. Prior to July 1996: 85% maximum entitlements with VCOLA.
B. Post 1996 pensioners: 90% maximum entitlements, non-deductible Commuted Pension and COLA at the last drawn salary entitlement (i.e. denial of VCOLA.).
The VCOLA in 1996 was around Rs 4000. Currently it is at the brink of Rs 30,000. Because of this rapid escalation it has created a third category of pensioners who retired recently because the fast escalating Cost of Living and successive upward triennial revisions (7 since 1996) have put them on a higher plane, therefore better off than the earlier categories especially the second category–the most unfortunate of the lot.
Without casting aspersions on individuals the collective decisions of those very individuals have caused immense loss to almost all those who retired after June 1996, more virulently affected are those who retired before the turn of the century.
Nevertheless it is true to say even these retirees do not fall into the category of ideal pensioners like the legislators, those above, even those just below them. Their current comfortable situation is short lived, is ephemeral.
The loss of 5% and deduction of commuted pension for the pre-1996 pensioners has been more than covered by the substantial increases in the VCOLA. The gain of 5% and the non -deduction of the commuted pension for the post-1996 pensioners have been swept away by the freezing of the VCOLA at the last drawn salary entitlement.
The loss currently is over Rs 26,000/ per month an amount that is more than the monthly wage of an average wage earner.
Many an appeal has been made to the decision makers up to now, no move worth speaking of, has emanated from the managerial enclosures.
Even if the move is to restore the defreezed VCOLA and pay arrears for those who lost it, it will be more a tinkering operation than deep penetrating cure for the malady that may recur again in another virulent form.
A major problem in addition to the deprived VCOLA is the non-extension of the benefits of the triennial upward revision flowing from the Collective Agreement to the pensioners.
The most suitable immediate solution is in addition to the restoration of the VCOLA with retrospective effect and inclusion of the pensioners as eligible recipients of the triennial revisions under the Collective Agreement that too with retrospective effect.
These will help repair the past damages foisted on the pensioners without rhyme or reason based partly on the Public Administration circular mooted for a certain other purpose and rescinded the very next year.
While holding on to this currently non-existing dispensation, the higher management introduced this deprivation. This may help in ameliorating part of the problem.
As for the surviving spouses, the state dispensation of passing on the same pension of the deceased spouse to the surviving spouse should be adopted. It is one of the generous dispensations of the Government in recent times.
The acceptable solution that is being adopted in our country itself is to base the pension on the current gross of a similarly placed officer as to grade, seniority and salary point. This gets closer to the indexing of pension which is a more sophisticated tool and may take more time to gain currency in our country.
This basing of the pension on the gross drawn by a similarly placed officers and doing away with basing of the pension on the last drawn gross of the retiree has a more equitable dispensation as its content.
Of course the twin tinkering operation should precede this for the surviving pensioners are nonagenarians and the average life expectancy is two decades short.
As pensioners who have received the worst dispensation, compared to any other Bank pensioner in the country, they should receive the long delayed equalization with the other state bank pensioners with immediate effect and continue with the suggested moves to ensure that the pioneers who built the Bank to enable the Bank to continue as a self propelled gigantic institution do not live to rue the days they spent as loyal and dedicated workers.
R. Suntheralingam
Via email
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