Letters
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People have lost lives because of this road closure in Kandy
After reading the letter in the Sunday Times of February 21, regarding the opening of the A 26 road block opposite the Kandy Dalada Maligawa, I wondered whether there are any other people in Kandy who share the same views as the writer.
The A26 road has been blocked near Dalada Maligawa about 15 years ago and the closure of such a main road has created a number of critical problems of which the most vital one is the travelling and transportation between Kandy and all destinations on the Kandy-Mahiyangana, A26, road.
An intelligent person will realise the real situation by comparing the time, about 40 minutes, taken by a vehicle to go from Queens’ Hotel to Boowelikada junction, just the corner of the Maligawa, which took about two-three minutes before the road was closed.
Scientists have made people aware through all media of the high concentration of air pollution in the Kandy city area and the nation was warned of the bad health effects caused by trapping of school buses, vans and public transport for several hours in the traffic congestion along the road around the Kandy Lake during rush hours.
It is correct to remind all personnel responsible for the traffic management in the Kandy area about other entrance roads to and away from Kandy. But it is very important to remind everyone that closing a main road like A 26 is critical.
This closure has resulted in a critical health problem as all vehicles including Ambulances transporting all patients to Kandy General Hospital from many areas have no option other than crawling in the traffic jam along the road around the Kandy Lake.
According to the information, seven patients have lost their lives because of the road block near the Maligawa.
Worshippers and tourists who relax on the beautifully paved road by the side of the Maligawa should be made aware of this reality.
K.R. Abhayasingha
Kotaligoda
A visa for dual citizens of Canada/Sri Lanka?
I am a Sri Lankan by descent and hold dual citizenship of both Sri Lanka/Canada as evidenced by my dual-citizenship certificate issued by the Sri Lanka government in June 2003.
I have in the past travelled to Sri Lanka without the necessity of a visa based on the production of my dual citizenship certificate and the Canadian Passport.
Since of late, most, if not all, airlines at Toronto Pearson International Airport have refused boarding based solely on production of the D.C.C and the Canadian Passport.
The airlines insist that one should obtain a visa despite the fact dual citizens do not require a visa to enter Sri Lanka or alternatively they insist on a “clearance” from the Toronto SL Consulate.
The Consulate Office declined to comment and said they have no authority to give any kind of clearance but they do have the authority to grant visas!
Through disgust and pain of mind coupled with my physical disability my grandson helped me to get an ETA online at the Toronto Pearson Airport at the eleventh hour to permit boarding the aircraft.
On arrival at B.I.A. Colombo I produced my Canadian Passport and my D.C.C and the Immigration Officer at the counter made it expressly clear by stating, “You don’t need a visa when you are a dual citizen.
I am sorry, I have no option left but to give you a 30 days stay since our system indicates you have obtained a visa. You can go to the Immigration Office at Punchi Borella and obtain a waiver.”
I am a person with physical disability and I had to spend several hours filling forms, taking photographs and playing “musical chairs” to meet an Assistant Controller for the visa waiver approval.
Finally I got the waiver on my passport after spending approximately six hours! I do not know whether to describe this as a “tragedy” or “comedy”.
I request the Prime Minister’s personal intervention on this matter to solve the problem.
Zaheed Ismail
Via email
Multiculturalism cannot be surreptitiously used to de-legitimise a national culture
Right of Reply to Raymond Paranavitane’s “Mr President, Mr. Prime Minister, that was a monumental step forward in building bridges’ published in the Sunday Times of February 21.
Mr. Paranavitane a Sri Lankan living in Australia says he was ashamed of how the indigenous people of Australia were treated as well as the attitude of the majority community towards the minorities in Sri Lanka.
He also says that independence was achieved not by the majority community alone. His reference to the apology by PM Kevin Rudd in 2008 to the indigenous people hinting that the Sinhalese need to do the same.
Mr. Paranavitane is reminded that the British destroyed a civilization that existed for more than 40,000 years.
Ethnic cleansing in Tasmania, mass murder through spread of small pox, rape, enslavement, theft of children (stolen generations) and plunder of land are some of the crimes committed by the British colonial government. What good is a token apology without reparation like the Jews are continuing to receive?
It is morally wrong and shameful for someone born and educated in Sri Lanka after migrating to seek greener pastures to denigrate Sri Lanka and equate the Sinhalese to the murderous European invaders that used Terra Nulles to take over inhabited lands and territories. This is the height of ingratitude to mother Lanka.
Does Mr. Paranavitane not know that our problems trace roots to the arrival of Portuguese conquistadors in 1505, the Dutch and the British?
He must read works of Paul E Peiris, Emerson Tennant, Queyroz, Tikiri Abeysinghe and G. P. Malalasekera to understand the crimes between 1505-1948. Only those that converted became the privileged lot and were educated, given jobs, land and titles.
Birth was not registered unless converted to Christianity. It is a surprise Buddhism did not end up in the museum. Sinhalese lost a language they had been using for 2600 years, their culture and customs.
They had every right to engage in a process of rectification of historical injustices. The policies of the British under divide and rule were biased and Sinhalese that sought these corrective measures did so not directed against minorities but to get back what they previously held.
Mr. Paranavitana is challenged to give a single example where minorities are legally, constitutionally and legislatively denied what legally, constitutionally and legislatively is given only to the Sinhalese.
It is a historical fact that there was no independence struggle in Sri Lanka. Not a single gun was fired after 1848. Exchange of letters does not constitute an independence struggle.
There were no civil disobedience movements like in India or wars waged by Japan. The Church sided with the Colonial governments and never supported any independence effort. Sri Lanka became the lucky beneficiary of other people’s struggles in Asia.
We did have independence struggles. These were in 1818 (Uva) and 1848 (Matale) and these were certainly fought only by the Sinhalese. The minorities and a handful of majority (Lascoreens) were on the side of the enemy.
Mr. Paranavitane needs to be corrected. Kevin Rudd’s apology was not to all Aborigines. He only apologized to the Stolen Generations. The apology did not cover the crimes since Europeans landed in Australia. This is a big omission. However, Aborigines are still discriminated.
Sinhalese Buddhists deserve an unequivocal apology from all three colonial invaders.
The communities in Sri Lanka eat, live, celebrate, share woes, work together – we do not have any enmity. The problems are created by politicians, political parties, rebel groups and their supporters.
Mr. Paranavitane praises the singing of the national anthem in Sinhalese & Tamil and sees it as an act to bring people together. The People are not divided nor dividing the nation.
He says peace can be ushered by singing in Tamil. By this same logic those who said that in 1948 the anthem was sung in Tamil must explain why the Illankai Arasu Katchci was created in 1949 seeking a separate state and why after singing in 2016 the TNA is demanding a separate state, claiming Sinhalese cannot live in North or East and is against Tamils marrying Sinhalese.
What else must the country forfeit or cede to gain the confidence of the minorities? Can Mr. Paranavitane tell us how many proposing the singing of the anthem even know the words in Sinhalese or Tamil or even hoist the national flag?
Why does Mr. Paranavitane not call for Australia to sing an Aboriginal song alongside Waltzing Matilda. Will Australians give due place to the Aborigines on National Day?
Multculturalism is attempting to annihilate countries that have rich cultures because those pushing these ideals do not have long histories to be proud of.
People cannot be allowed to experiment with a country’s national anthem. National anthems connote the national identity of the country.
It is nothing that has to be copied from examples followed in other nations. The Dutch anthem has words no one knows the meaning of but Netherlands will not hear of changing it.
India with 28 states sings the national anthem in Bengali and there are 72 million Tamils in Tamil Nadu who do not protest. Everyone wants to dabble in what they feel is ‘politically correct’ and the nation has to become a casualty.
David Cameron can say that all Muslim immigrants have to learn English or leave but when Sinhalese say all citizens must know Sinhalese it becomes a controversial issue.
What Mr. Paranavitana needs to wake up to is that in a sovereign state there cannot be ‘multiple nations’. Multiculturalism cannot be surreptitiously used to de-legitimize a national culture, cast aside historical links and supplant new living styles which are alien and have no roots in either the predominant culture or ancient civilization of the nation.
Shenali D. Waduge
Via email
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