Letters to the Editor

• The JVP and the confessional
• Vandals want to be leaders
• They make it; then they break it
• Will it curb the crime rate?
• We Sri Lankans are a gifted lot
• Tough luck Captain 
• God save us

The JVP and the confessional

The leaders on the podium look down upon those in front of them. Those who look up towards the podium see that symbol that speaks of an unforgettable past. The symbol of a large, red question-mark that drips blood!

Today, the people of this country, the majority of them, are fed up to their scalps with both major political parties. 

Those who have made a plaything of this country, tossing it from one to the other in a game, where the ball has been torn to shreds; in a welter of corruption; densely opaque tender procedures; huge sums earned as commissions in arms deals- often of arms of poor quality- the encouragement of sycophancy among public officers by the protection of those who are prepared to bend the laws of the land or ignore them altogether and the intimidation of those who do not toe the official line; election rigging, violence, arson, murder and mayhem; subversion of the system of justice; the criminal politicization of every sphere of public life culminating in the most grievous crime of all, namely, the extension of political patronage and protection to a gun-toting underworld.

Now, the JVP had quite rightly come out against all this, particularly the chequered past of both leading parties, who vie with each other in calling the other blacker and claiming to be the 'fairest of them all'. But has the JVP forgotten what others have not? 

Have they forgotten the slaughter of the innocents? Among well known figures, Professor Stanley Wijeysundera, Dr. Rex de Costa and an Assistant Registrar in the University of Peradeniya, just to mention a few. 

There were many in the rural areas that we have not heard of. 

What about the intimidation of students in the Universities by JVP student leaders? 

I was a University teacher during those terrible times of terror and counter-terror. Many of us were aware of what was happening, and stood by helpless, both in the presence of the terror and the equally vicious if not more vicious counter-terror. What about the intimidatory notices that sprang up everywhere, overnight, the deliberately induced fear psychosis? 

Don't move out of your homes! Put out your lights! Don't go to work! and all on 'pain of death.' Have the leaders forgotten the dehumanizing funeral ritual the relatives of innocent victims were compelled to follow? Have, those who talk of the rule of law and of justice and fairplay forgotten the 'kangaroo court' and the summary executions? There is no excuse for the amnesia of the JVP leaders. 

Their hands are as bloodstained as those of the others they condemn. It will take a long, long time for the people to forget, even if the JVP has a short memory.

Is there no reprieve for a murderer then? I do not believe that there isn't. But, for reprieve, there must be recognition of the stark truth; there must be genuine repentance.

To bury your head in the sand and pretend that nothing ever happened, and that while other hands dripped with blood, your hands were lily-white, just won't do. At least, even at this late hour, let the leaders stand in the confessional of the people and speak the harsh and unpleasant truth; i.e. if they wish to be taken seriously. Have they even expressed regret to the relatives of their victims?

The people in this country know only too well, how, at each election, an opposition party came into power by stridently condemning the violation of human rights, the subversion of justice, the denial of the basic freedoms by the ruling party, and then once in power, proceeded to carry on the 'good' work of their predecessors with increasing ferocity and clinical efficiency.

To the leaders of the JVP, I commend a telling sentence I came across in a book of one of Sri Lanka's leading anthropologists; "There are no good or bad guys in the deadly game of contemporary political violence; those who champion the cause of the oppressed can be as brutal as their oppressors."

Mark Amerasinghe,
Kandy

Vandals want to be leaders

Apart from this we have seen state buses being plastered with posters, mainly of ruling party politicians. Sometimes even on newly painted buses or new buses.

Is this not vandalism apart from being an election offence? It is public money that would have to be spent to scrape these posters off and repaint the buses.

The politicians have not even spared the name boards of streets and lanes and road sign boards. 

Some Government institutions, which should be above party politics, are decorated with election posters advertising the politicians who have been controlling these institutions.

With the law enforcement officers rendered helpless, the public should teach these politicians a lesson by not giving their preferential vote to those who damage and misuse public property.

There have been several instances of Government property and personnel being used for electioneering, all at public expense. Public spirited citizens should, irrespective of party politics say "No" to this wanton misuse of public property by shunning politicians who misuse them.

Anthony Fernando
Colombo 4

They make it; then they break it

The only way to stop this, is to enforce mandatory jail sentences on all officers who neglect enforcement of the prohibition laws, on politicians advertised in posters, banners, cutouts etc., on printers and manufacturers of these prohibited items and on those involved in pasting and erecting them. 

It is a disgrace to see the grinning faces of the law makers, the highest in the land downwards on these advertisements contravening the very laws made by them, disfiguring public and private property and causing expenditure of public funds for cleaning up! They should be made to foot the bill for damage caused so far.

The other source of violence is public political meetings and processions which are unnecessary in view of the available media for airing of policies and views and for public debate before the public on a scale never possible by meetings and processions. 

The danger to the lives of our political leaders from rival factions, especially from terrorists, should be enough to convince all parties of the futility of these public appearances.

Let us hope that even at this late stage the political leaders will have the good sense to protect their own and other people's life and property by discontinuing these outdated campaigning methods.

Lincoln Wijesinghe
Dehiwela

Will it curb the crime rate?

The reason given for this complete insanity is the high rate of crime using bogus number plates and stolen vehicles. 

During the late Eighties some bigwig wanted to have the rear number plates of vehicles in luminous yellow using paint imported from USA to curb the violence. Some hurriedly formed companies made an easy million or two. 

Now someone has come up with a bright idea of replacing the present number-plates with Government Issue! This is ridiculous!

Will the crimes committed using vehicles be reduced? 

More importantly, can the RMV cope with this work? 

Mr. Commissioner, don't you see the thousands who lament near your office waiting for their licence or transfer papers? 

Please attend to these first. We know you are entrusted with a difficult task as it is. 

Sarath Karunawardene
Panadura

We Sri Lankans are a gifted lot

They were charged in the British Courts under the Prevention of Corruption Act and had pleaded that 'there's a practice in Sri Lanka of giving such gifts". They were warned by the magistrate, ordered to perform community service for 80 hours and in addition pay costs. They had narrowly missed jail sentence.

When these two persons said that there's a practice back home of giving such gifts, they did not exaggerate or say something that is untrue. 

Giving 'gifts' has become a way of life in Sri Lanka and it does not appear that the authorities are concerned about this, as it is happening right down the line. 

How many of our politicians can stand up and say that they have not received gifts?

Under such conditions is there a reasonable chance of ending the North East War? How much can a constitution, any constitution, change the present situation, unless first there is a way of changing the pattern of life and putting down with a firm hand the giving or receiving of gifts. 

Even sophisticated modern armaments will not help, with bribery and corruption taking firm root. Our priority should be to eliminate the number one enemy, B and C. 

Therefore, voters of Sri Lanka in the forthcoming election should first look for men of integrity. It does not matter to what party they belong. In fact, as I have stated before, it is a pity that the voter is tied down to selecting the party first and then the three candidates. 

It would have been better, if the names of all the candidates with their symbols are shown in the ballot paper, so that the voter can select three persons of his choice and his first preference can go as the party vote. 

When the second preference is counted, then the second preference can go as the party vote, similarly the third preference.

S.Thambyrajah
Colombo 3

Tough luck Captain 

Dr. T. Ajith Fernando 
Colombo 5.

God save us

Mohammed Dangra, 
Colombo 6

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