In Canada, whenever we read or hear about Sri Lanka it is so often negative in its portrayal. We read about the tragic aftermath of civil unrest and the daily struggle of some of the island's people to survive. We rarely read about the beauty of the island, the friendliness and generosity of its people.
I want to take a moment out of my day to pay a compliment to the people of Sri Lanka. Throughout our lives there are many mountains to climb. Perhaps Sri Lanka is struggling to climb one at present.
Two years ago I was fortunate to spend four weeks wondering around your enchanting island. I soon became accustomed to the sights and smells, the never-ending streams of people in the streets of Colombo. After a busy day visiting the market, temples and historical sights, we returned to our bungalow along the Indian ocean shoreline.
The mornings in this peaceful village were delightful, watching the almond eyed children with their mothers collect water from the taps. Always they greeted us with bright smiles and friendly hellos.
As we discovered your island's history we became enthralled with the ancient palaces of past civilisations, fascinated by the Buddhist caves, Hindu temples and shrines along our route. We visited mountain passes and stood, amazed at the splendour below us. In villages people greeted us, asked questions and showed us great hospitality.
The city of Kandy and its surroundings was a must to visit as was the ancient cities. I was fascinated with the clock towers that dotted the island's towns, reminding us of the hour. Our pilgrimages to mountain tops were always with the help of the local people. I remember vividly standing and looking out far below across a lush valley of shades of green, like a velvet blanket covering the earth. As I stood with many others atop that mountain I couldn't help but think it was for all people. Far off in the distance a row of mountains stood shoulder to shoulder like soldiers on parade. I felt sad about the conflict that exists amongst such beauty.
Most of what I recall was the eagerness of the people and the generosity of spirit which remained with us at all times.
The mornings were the best though, as we swam in the sapphire blue waters of the Indian ocean. As we watched the fishermen pull in their catch of the day. We'd sit and drink our tea and eat sugar buns from the local caddy. Soon we were joined by the villagers. In that time I learnt everything about your island, its history, its people and the hope that is there for the future.
At the moment many people hesitate to visit your beautiful island. My hope is that one day they will feel free to do so. Hopefully it will be soon. As a people you struggle to reach the top of your mountain. I wish you luck and sincerely hope to visit your country again one day.
Exorbitant charges by lawyers and delays have caused a gulf between law and justice.
The endeavours that are being made by Minister G. L. Peiris to bring justice within the reach of the common man should be commended by all sensible people.
The Minister has called for public representations regarding delays in Courts. However the litigants will not like to identify themselves and come out with what they have to say because it will hurt these lawyers. They know how vindictive and hardened some of them are and under the present set-up no one will like to antagonize them. This is the reason for putting forward their grievances through the press for a number of years with their identities kept secret. There should be a separate file in the Ministry with paper cuttings of such letters. The Minister will be able to gather what the public have to say from such a file.
It has been reported that the Minister has also consulted lawyers and Lawyers' Associations with regard to this matter. He will have to be careful about the types of lawyers who advise him. They may make things more complicating and expensive while pretending to give good advice. This is like "Horage Ammagen Pena Ahanawa Wagei". I am saying this as they are a powerful lobby who even managed to do away with Conciliation Boards established by the late Felix Dias Bandaranayake when the UNP came to power, because it affected their income. Mediation Boards with less powers were instituted later.
As a litigant who has become almost insolvent through litigation, I wish to reiterate in summary form what so many litigants have been saying over the years.
A large number of cases are called and postponed. The crowded Court house is like a market place. Not more than two cases can be taken up for trial. Trial cases should be fixed taking into consideration the number of cases that could be taken up in a day. The dignity of the Court also could be maintained thereby. The Court atmosphere which instills dread should give place to only dignity. The public should be treated courteously by all concerned such as the Court staff. Lawyers should realize that they are there to serve the public and not to humiliate and harass them, unnecessarily. A member of the public should feel free and confident to speak without the assistance of lawyers, if he wants to do so.
There are certain procedures which lead to expense and delay. For example, a victim of a motor accident has to file a separate case for compensation after the motorist is found guilty. The law should empower the judge to grant suitable compensation for the victim at the conclusion of the trial.
Mediation Boards should be given more powers. It should also be made compulsory for certain category of cases to go before Mediation Boards for arbitration.
Summons should be issued by registered post to prevent abuses by fiscal staff.
Maximum fee to be charged for each category of cases should be stipulated. This may be implemented at a later stage as it needs careful consideration.
Lawyers' fees should be collected through a collection Branch of each Court. The Collection Branch will accept money on a note from the lawyer, the details of each case will be recorded by computer. The lawyer will inform the Collection Branch after disposal of each case. The Collection Branch will then reimburse the fee to the lawyer retaining a certain percentage as service charges.
The government should give special recognition to judges who take initiative to dispose of cases expeditiously like the case of the judge mentioned in a letter to a daily paper recently.
These proposals if implemented will bring justice within the reach of everyone and the judiciary will become the pillars of democracy in its implementation.
The President, in a recent pronouncement in almost a Churchillian tenor, issued an ominous and emphatic warning that a country cannot engage in a war and at the same time cushion the people with subsidies. The burden of this plea is evident even to the most ingenuous simpleton. The only point of interest is what are the subsidies to be axed and what are those to be retained.
It is common knowledge, media censorship not withstanding, that colossal sums of money both local and foreign are being fretted away daily by way of injudicious political panjandrums, unscrupulous and insidious contracts, political globe trotting, corruption and providing perks and privileges to political sycophants. In fact the last government was voted out for blatantly indulging in such antics.
It stands to immutable reason that the poor people will stoically and passively accept even more drastic burdens if it is apparent that all other possible sources of conserving monies have been exploited and exhausted. This is what transparency is all about, where words match deeds and vice versa.
It is a great travesty to hear the very people who are beneficiaries to sumptuous subsidised meals, subsidised travel and a host of other benefits at the expense of the people, ranting on effects of the bread subsidy, which in facts is hitting at the last slice of bread of the poor.
The price hikes continuously emanating from government controlled establishments are in fact not due to actual increases in cost of materials but often only to offset mismanagement, wastage etc. or to obtain the necessary funds to provide salaries and perks to political stooges packed into these institutions, such as the Petroleum Corporation, C.T.B., Railway, C.E.B. and so on.
It is a well known fact that even the highest personage in India will never travel in any other vehicle except in one made in his own country however gaunt and rugged it may be. That is nationalism at its best. But in Sri Lanka the politicians serve themselves the choicest of vehicles irrespective of cost, while a large number of luxury vehicles of the previous regime are lying out to disintegrate in the sun and rain in government car parks. The only return the people get is to endure the most inhuman and tortuous form of public transport which is not only physically harmful but causes intense mental trauma as well.
A person is paid a salary ostensibly to attend to his duties at his place of work. One wonders why a parliamentarian is paid a high salary with special pension rights when he is also paid a substantial allowance for every parliamentary session he attends. One cannot help recalling the vehement protests made by S.W.R.D. Bandaranike when there was a move to increase the allowances of the then members by stating that "we should not become paid hirelings of the people". In fact if this quantum of allowance is channelled to the forces, it will be possible to provide them with greater utilities than mere lip service.
The Shakespearean paradigm namely "the evil that men do liveth after them, the good is oft interred with their bones" is true even today. The U.N.P at present is being vividly subject to this eternal truth. Should it not be a chastening warning to others as well.
The people are eagerly waiting to see what sacrifices the upper echelons of this country will be called on to make. In fact this war has been a boon to many of them. The people will then no doubt know what decision to take.
I happened to read Gamani Jayasuriya's review of the book "Tigers, 'Moderates' and Pandora's Package" by S.L. Gunasekera in The Sunday Times of September 1, and found this most arresting and thought-provoking passage, quoted from the book, ".... that there are no different types of hunger called, "Sinhalese hunger", "Tamil hunger" or "Muslim hunger." That such problems must be tackled not as Sinhalese, Tamil or Muslim problems, but as national problems, according to a national plan..."
This one passage, contains the answer to the ethnic malaise that has mangled and mutilated Mother Lanka. Mr. Gunasekera's vision envisaged in that one paragraph contains the clue to the great divide. It follows therefore that there can be no "Sinhalese Dukka", "Tamil Dukka" or "Muslim Dukka" or "Sinhalese Anicca", "Tamil Anicca" or "Muslim Anicca".
A quick look at the 1978 Constitution of Sri Lanka confirms the vision of Mr. Gunasekera in that nowhere in the Constitution is there any reference to Sinhalese, Tamils or Muslims as racial groups. In fact, Chapter 5 of the Constitution clearly states, "There shall be one status of citizenship known as, 'the status of a Citizen of Sri Lanka.' Chapter II states that the foremost place shall be given to Buddhism.
In this context, reference is made to that remarkable UNESCO publication titled, "Buddhism and the Race Question" by Professors G.P. Malalasekera and K.N. Jayatilleke, wherein the authors state:
"If we contemplate the vastness of cosmic space and the seemingly endless number of worlds of which the human worlds form a very small part, the problems of race would appear in a different light and seem very trifling indeed." The authors go on to state, "It would thus appear that Buddhism is in accord with the findings of the modern biologists who exploded the doctrines of racism and would urge the biological unity of mankind in support of the concept of a common humanity. So when Buddhism asks us to treat all men, irrespective of race or caste, as our fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters or as one family, there seems to be a deeper truth in this statement than that of a mere ethical recommendation. Thus, according to Buddhism all men, irrespective of their caste or race, had equal rights and deserved equal opportunities for development as members of a single social order which embraced a common humanity."
Thus, against the backdrop of the doctrines of Anicca, Dukka and Anatta, how absurd and meaningless is the present conflict between the ethnic groups. The cardinal doctrines of Buddhism apply to all communities as well as to the whole world, and suffer you must, decay you must whether you are a Sinhalese or a Tamil, and still more, there is no enduring, ever-lasting substantial ego which can be labelled as a Sinhalese or a Tamil. In fact it is nothingness, the great void that we strive to fill with names and labels which really have no meaning or significance. But the tragedy is, that for a mere name or label, man is prepared to kill, to burn, to pillage and to plunder. He wants to maintain an exclusiveness and an identity which in reality does not exist. As the famous British Philosopher, Bertrand Russell observed, all racial conflicts are absurd and meaningless like sailors quarrelling over six pence when their ship is sinking.
Let the Sinhalese and Tamils shed all pretenses to separateness and purity of racial stock. Let us all realise that we are the children of Mother Lanka, that we are the inheritors of a beautiful Island home. Let us not mutilate and mangle this enchanted land, for have we not heard the lacerated heart of Mother Lanka weep and wail aloud at the tragedy that has befallen her?
What shall we, her sons and daughters do to bring joy and happiness to our Mother Lanka? What shall we do to heal her grievous wounds? Let us give each other love and liberty, dignity and decency. Let there be kindness and tenderness in our dealings. Let there be no rancour or bitterness. Let us live so that the others may also live without fear or suspicion. Let us live and let live.
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing," says Edmund Burke. The time has come for all men of goodwill to share the vision of Mr. Gunasekera of a United Sri Lanka and work towards this goal.
The letter titled 'Outdated method of teaching English' in The Sunday Times of August 18, has compelled me to question the validity of the statements contained in the letter under reference.
The writer has mentioned about the 'Inefficiency of the In-Service Advisors in English' and the validity of their selection for recruitment as In-Service Advisors. As the Asst. Director of Education (English) of the Batticaloa District which includes Kallar where the writer seems to hail from, I am tempted to enlist my observations in this regard as follows:
(1) As an officer monitoring the official activities of the In-Service Advisors in English of the Batticaloa District, I would emphatically testify to the quality, efficiency and competence of the In-Service Advisors in English who are themselves specialist teachers of English with further specialised training in ELT Methodology at the NIE English Dept. and even in U.K.
(2) Specially, the In-Service Advisor in English for the area including Kallar, in addition to his Teacher Training as a Specialist English Trained Teacher has the following further qualifications:
(i) A three-month course of training in ELT Teaching Materials and Techniques of the then Higher Institute of English Education which has now become the Department of English Education of the National Institute of Education at Maharagama.
(ii) One-year full time course of training in ELT Methodology at the NIE English Department of English Education.
(iii) A British Council sponsored course of training at the University of Lancaster, United Kingdom on 'Testing and Evaluation in ELT'.
The foregoing information would amply testify to the fact that the selection of In-Service Advisors for the Batticaloa District had been done based on the justified criteria of educational and professional qualifications and seniority and not merely on the recommendations and the whims and fancies of the High Officials of the Department of Education, as the writer falsely accuses in the letter.
The writer should know the fact that the Communicative Methodology too has its disadvantages and the teacher in the remote school in Sri Lanka should resort to the technique of adapting the eclectic method which is a judicious amalgamation of various methods depending on the needs of the students in the ELT classroom.
As the facts remain so, I would like to challenge the statement that the In-Service Advisors in English are ignorant of what RP is. I presume that the writer would have done so through his utter ignorance about matters concerning English education in the Batticaloa District.
In-Service Advisors in English of the Batticaloa District have conducted Teachers' Seminars and workshops and coached the teachers of English to enhance the level of their performance in schools. Due to such an endeavour of theirs, quite a number of students have scored awards at the national level English Day Competitions in 1995 having emerged as the Provincial Level champions at the North Eastern Provincial Level English Day Competitions during the year. Could this be possible with the incompetent in-Service Advisors working in this District?
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