Villagers fume at gum factory

By Chamintha Thilakarathna and Shane Seneviratne

Some 900 villagers of Pinnagolla in Talatuoya, off Kandy took to the streets last week protesting against the illegal operation of a gum factory in the area which has seriously afflicted 70 children and some 800 adults.

Ven. Hanguraketha Saddananda Thera, the chief incumbent of the Sri Saddharama Vihara in Talatuoya was among the victims. "I felt dizzy, my eyesight was weakening and I was having pains at the back of my head which doctors later told me was due to some nerve weakening," the Thera said.

After a few days at the Talatuoya hospital the Thera returned to the temple determined to put a stop to whatever was causing these mysterious illnesses. Doctors at the Talatuoya had told him that he was experiencing biological reactions to harmful chemicals.

It dawned on him later that the toxic fumes was emanating from the Talatuoya Pinnagolla Trade Link International (Pvt.)Ltd. factory which was on the land adjoining the temple. The factory which started operations on April 6 this year under the pretext of being a plywood factory has been found to be manufacturing gum urea paraformaldehyde using acid sodium bicarbonate methanol and polytonal alcohol. These chemicals are hazardous to the environment as well as to public health, according to the PHIs of the area.

The owners of the factory had not obtained approval from the relevant authorities to set up a plywood factory let alone a gum factory, official sources said.

Two months after the factory commenced operations 2,000 litres of chemical waste had seeped out causing environmental and health problems.

"The vegetation, wells, animals, birds and villagers were adversely affected," residents complained.

The cause of the illness afflicting the villagers baffled Puplic Health Inspectors (PHIs) at the outset. However, investigations revealed that toxic waste from the gum factory had been the cause of the strange illness.

This startling disclosure caused panic in the village. Students did not attend Dhamma classes to avoid inhaling the toxic fumes. The wells in the area were closed due to fear of contamination. The villagers now trudge three miles to get water for their daily needs.

According to Pradeshiya Sabha (PS) officials the factory has not been registered. The owner of the factory has been ordered to stop the manufacture of the gum as it has not been authorised by the Central Environmental Authority (CEA) and by the Pradeshiya Sabha.

The Patha Hewaheta Pradeshiya Sabha in a letter dated October 23 ordered the Director of Pinnagolla Trade Link International Pvt. Ltd., Ms. N. Marapana, to cease forthwith the manufacture of the urea paraformaldehyde gum. The letter signed by the Chairman of the PS, Sunny Daniel warned the company that legal action would be instituted under the 1987 Pradeshiya Sabha Act if the company failed to abide by the order.

A letter was sent to the factory officials on October 2 by the Director (Environmental Pollution Control) of the Central Environmental Authority It stressed that they must obtain a permit from the CEA to continue production of the plywood gum after the issue of an environmental protection report. It further stated that operation sans such authorisation is a violation of the Industries Act 47 of 1980 and is a punishable offence.

In addition, a case has also been filed at the Kandy Magistrate's Court by the Ven. Hanguraketha Saddhananda Thera. The CEA and factory officials have held discussions in this regard.

"They were asked to close the factory but so far nothing has happened," the Thera said.

Despite requests, warnings and protests by government officials and the public the company has not ceased production activities.

Residents of Pinnagolla allege that the factory has the backing of certain influential politicians of the area. They further allege that the factory owners had financed politicians during the last elections.

The right to live in a safe environment is being denied to the residents. Can the damage to their environment be undone? Will they ever regain good health again? These are some questions the relevant authorities should ask themselves. Will Pinnagolla turn out to be a mini Chernobyl?

Solheim: Western buccaneer in a priest's cassock?

Point of view

By Susantha Goonatilake 

Sri Lanka in its long history has had many visitors. Some were received enthusiastically whilst others thrust themselves on us.

In the category of the unwanted guests were various invaders, especially the marauding Portuguese, and less so the Dutch and British. The last invasion was the Indian experiment on destabilizing the country, presumably now abandoned.

We now have a visitor Erik Solheim from a small far away country Norway. Both our leading parties have embraced him as a saviour as have separatists of all hues, especially the LTTE. This list includes presumed ex-separatists like the TULF, the EPDP and the TELO-the latter two equally adept at handling guns and ensuring their "election". Our leaders, or for that matter our media, have said very little about this man Solheim. Is he a man of simple goodwill'? or is he a new missionary to convert and subvert our country, as did earlier westerners? ls he as the Portuguese put it for the "spiritual and temporal conquest" of our country? Erik the pirate? In other words, is he a Western buccaneer in a priest's cassock. In those bad days of the Portuguese, there was no difference between the two.

"Deconstructing Solheim"

Searching for Solhe-im's name on the Internet gives many entries. (Surprising thou-gh, fewer entries than when I put "Goona-tilake".) The entries unfortunately, were in Norwegian and my smattering of the language that I picked up when I taught in a Norwegian university was insufficient. I had to get a full-blooded Norwegian native to act as a translator.

One prominent series of Internet sites had the title "Deconstructing Erik Solheim". These were unsavory exposures of the man that I asked my native guide to skip. I asked him to concentrate on the more respectable sites such as newspaper reports.

And these public reports say some interesting things about our saviour. He belongs to the small Sosialistik Vens-treparti ("Socialist Left Party"). He admits that his party together with other parties inflates the number of its members, so as to get extra subsidies from the government. This would be like a public servant in Sri Lanka planting higher figures in a travel claim to illegally get extra money. This is an act that in Sri Lanka would bring in punishment, including dismissal. Solheim's expertise in manipulating figures would undoubtedly qualify him as an ideal election watcher in a future election. The LTTE under his guidance should then win even in Hambantota.

Solheim has supported the bombing of Serbia by NATO to help eliminate the dictator Slobodan Milosevic guilty of ethnic cleansing among other things. He advocates a far more severe military solution for Serbia than Sri Lanka has adopted in its civil war. But Milosevic' s cruelties do not match those of Prabhakaran. No attacks on ancient religious institutions, no terrorist bombings like those of the Central Bank, no recruitment of child soldiers and no use of suicide bombers. But Solheim wants the elimination of Milos-evic, while he embraces Prabhakaran in the jungle. Solheim has also publicly called former American Secretary of State Kissinger a terrorist for his actions in Chile and Vietnam. Solheim says Kissinger should be charged as a war criminal at The Hague. But Kissinger's role in Chile led to the death of only a few in comparison with the larger number of deaths due to Prabhakaran. Prabhakaran was guilty of far more horrendous crimes than Pinochet's in Chile.

Solheim instead should be suing the LTTE for two easily provable crimes against humanity. They are the ethnic cleansing of Jaffna of all Muslims and Sinhalese and the killing of the 600 policemen who surrendered to them as well as the killing of all the armed personnel at Mullaitivu. In addition, the Australian wife of Balasingham by recruiting child soldiers is guilty of child abuse. Crimes against humanity have no statute of limitations. 

Solheim bemoans that membership of political parties is coming down in Norway and that this is bad for democracy. But in Sri Lanka his government supports blatant brain washing of our population to believe in separatist falsehoods with his government's NG0 money. This is a sneaky attack against both truth as well as democracy. When the journalist Frederica Jansz was dismissed from the Norwegian sponsored International Alert (IA) for telling the truth on Tiger fund raising in Norway, the pressure for her dismissal had come from not only the LTTE but also the Norwegian government. Transparency is apparently only for Norwegians. Only fiction is good for us. The result is that a tin pot country like Norway now arrogates to itself imperial ambitions.

Solheim has also been against Norway joining the European Union (EU). He campaigned heavily against Norwegian entry when a referendum was held on it. But the EU today backs this political enemy of the European Union in his intervention in Sri Lanka. They consider him their representative. Apparently it is not his ideas that count for EU support but like the colonialists of yore, him being European. Europe uber alles, Hitler might have echoed. 

But the real window to his mind is his recent autobiography. It gives an insight into this modern neocolonialist. The Norwegian embassy should translate this book into Sinhalese. It is the biggest aid they could give us.

This book describes his escapades with pretty girls on his trips to Czechoslovakia. But these are his private doings and should not concern us. But more interestingly he says, he used his own children in the media as part of his political image building. This is in contrast to politicians like Clinton who have gone to great lengths to hide their children from the public eye. The use of his own family for profit does not stop there. He has also gone through a divorce, again his private affair. But he had sold sordid details of his divorce to the gutter press. In Sri Lanka, the practice of sensationalist press does not exist. So Sri Lankans might not fully understand this act of prostitution.

But his misuse of others extends beyond his immediate family. His fellow parliamentarians and his own party men have reacted angrily to the one-sided distortions in his book. Members of his own party wanted the party chairman to correct the distortions. The Chairman diplomatically refused to comment. This book's severe failings, it was suggested would prevent him getting nominated for parliament again.

What a convenient time, one would say, for Solheim to announce that he will not be going for re-election as he has done, and say that he will now devote his life to .Sri Lanka's problem. This man who has misused his own children, makes money out of his divorce, lies about his own party members and is mistrusted by them is now to be entrusted with our future.

Some development projects especially in areas like Hambantota have been helped by aid that Norway has given. 

But Norway has also hindered development by supporting the enemy. Money that could have been used for productive development has been diverted to destruction of lives and property. This is the direct result of Norwegian sponsorship of the LTTE. They have given artificial life both literally and metaphorically to the LTTE.

The Norwegian constitution demands that all its officials know the Norwegian language and forbids their citizens from changing their religion from Lutheranism. Its government restricts the economic rights of the Saami people. Sri Lanka has no equivalent for these discriminatory acts but now Norway wants to interfere in our country. For our good they say, in their missionary zeal. "White man, he talks with forked tongue".

Missionaries have come on other occasions to our country with self acclaimed good hearts. The excuse was the supposed betterment of humanity. But this was the same motivation of Quisling, Hitler and Stalin. It was also the Pope's motivation when he divided the world in 1492 and allowed for the genocidal crimes of the Spanish and the Portuguese.

In the two World Wars, there were signs everywhere in Western countries to look out for spies and to be careful of what they might hear. There are many Norwegians working in the country, many in the aid business. Some of them genuinely love this country. But in their misguided goodness, they might be working for the enemy; in the same manner that old missionaries were trying to "help" us by supporting the Portuguese Dutch and the British conquerers. 

Till this war is won, every Norwegian has to be viewed as a potential spy. We must treat them politely, but look at them with suspicion as suspiciously as we should look at the latter day Viking interloper, Erik Solheim.

Villagers fume at gum factory

By Chamintha Thilakarathna and Shane Seneviratne

Some 900 villagers of Pinnagolla in Talatuoya, off Kandy took to the streets last week protesting against the illegal operation of a gum factory in the area which has seriously afflicted 70 children and some 800 adults.

Ven. Hanguraketha Saddananda Thera, the chief incumbent of the Sri Saddharama Vihara in Talatuoya was among the victims. "I felt dizzy, my eyesight was weakening and I was having pains at the back of my head which doctors later told me was due to some nerve weakening," the Thera said.

After a few days at the Talatuoya hospital the Thera returned to the temple determined to put a stop to whatever was causing these mysterious illnesses. Doctors at the Talatuoya had told him that he was experiencing biological reactions to harmful chemicals.

It dawned on him later that the toxic fumes was emanating from the Talatuoya Pinnagolla Trade Link International (Pvt.)Ltd. factory which was on the land adjoining the temple. The factory which started operations on April 6 this year under the pretext of being a plywood factory has been found to be manufacturing gum urea paraformaldehyde using acid sodium bicarbonate methanol and polytonal alcohol. These chemicals are hazardous to the environment as well as to public health, according to the PHIs of the area.

The owners of the factory had not obtained approval from the relevant authorities to set up a plywood factory let alone a gum factory, official sources said.

Two months after the factory commenced operations 2,000 litres of chemical waste had seeped out causing environmental and health problems.

"The vegetation, wells, animals, birds and villagers were adversely affected," residents complained.

The cause of the illness afflicting the villagers baffled Puplic Health Inspectors (PHIs) at the outset. However, investigations revealed that toxic waste from the gum factory had been the cause of the strange illness.

This startling disclosure caused panic in the village. Students did not attend Dhamma classes to avoid inhaling the toxic fumes. The wells in the area were closed due to fear of contamination. The villagers now trudge three miles to get water for their daily needs.

According to Pradeshiya Sabha (PS) officials the factory has not been registered. The owner of the factory has been ordered to stop the manufacture of the gum as it has not been authorised by the Central Environmental Authority (CEA) and by the Pradeshiya Sabha.

The Patha Hewaheta Pradeshiya Sabha in a letter dated October 23 ordered the Director of Pinnagolla Trade Link International Pvt. Ltd., Ms. N. Marapana, to cease forthwith the manufacture of the urea paraformaldehyde gum. The letter signed by the Chairman of the PS, Sunny Daniel warned the company that legal action would be instituted under the 1987 Pradeshiya Sabha Act if the company failed to abide by the order.

A letter was sent to the factory officials on October 2 by the Director (Environmental Pollution Control) of the Central Environmental Authority It stressed that they must obtain a permit from the CEA to continue production of the plywood gum after the issue of an environmental protection report. It further stated that operation sans such authorisation is a violation of the Industries Act 47 of 1980 and is a punishable offence.

In addition, a case has also been filed at the Kandy Magistrate's Court by the Ven. Hanguraketha Saddhananda Thera. The CEA and factory officials have held discussions in this regard.

"They were asked to close the factory but so far nothing has happened," the Thera said.

Despite requests, warnings and protests by government officials and the public the company has not ceased production activities.

Residents of Pinnagolla allege that the factory has the backing of certain influential politicians of the area. They further allege that the factory owners had financed politicians during the last elections.

The right to live in a safe environment is being denied to the residents. Can the damage to their environment be undone? Will they ever regain good health again? These are some questions the relevant authorities should ask themselves. Will Pinnagolla turn out to be a mini Chernobyl?

Confessions of two housemaid killers

Jailed Saudi mistresses speak about how they tortured and killed female domestic helpers

Income from housemaids working in West Asia is a key factor that props up Sri Lanka's economy. Yet, once these women leave the country, they are largely forgotten. The only thing we are interested in is the dinars, riyals and dirhams they sent in. Stories of cruelty to housemaids are either read and forgotten or dismissed as exaggeration as we fill our coffers with foreign exchange that is soaked in sweat and blood.

Recently a Saudi Arabian Arabic language daily, Al-Riyadh, for the first time in the history of the Saudi media, carried a report highlighting the stories of female prisoners in the Kingdom's jails. Among them were two murderesses, who were serving sentences for killing housemaids. 

The Sunday Times today publishes excerpts of the article reproduced in Arab News, Saudi Arabia, to expose the hell the housemaids have to go through.

RIYADH- An investigation by the Arabic daily, Al-Riyadh, has revealed the inhuman ways in which some housemaids are being treated by their employers, particularly their mistresses, in the Kingdom. 

The report also revealed the depth of remorse felt by Saudi women convicted of manslaughter who are in jail awaiting a court decision releasing them after they have paid the heirs of the murdered servants. On the other hand, the prisoners have no complaint about the treatment of the prison officials and the general conditions there. 

The prisoners were thankful to the authorities for looking after them in the prison, providing them with good food, medical care and facilities for visits and pursuing education, training and studying the Holy Qur'an and receiving religious instruction.

Al-Riyadh discussed the prisoners' problems with the prison officials. The newspaper further declared that it meant no harm or damage or sensationalism when it decided to report about the Kingdom's women prisoners for the first time in the history of the Saudi media. 

The objective was to enlighten people on the risks involved in murdering helpless maids who are under their employers' total control and for whom the employers are responsible. The report also stresses the role of the media in helping to prevent such criminal, though not premeditated, acts.

The first Saudi who volunteered to discuss her crime was a university graduate who was employed in a government hospital. She was studying for her master's degree before she was arrested and she is married with three children, the oldest of whom is only five. She told her story: "I had an expat housemaid who spent a year with me. She was polite, obedient and the best maid we had ever had. One day I noticed a surprising change in her behaviour.

I was also shocked to see her at the door of my house talking to a strange man of her own nationality. I was seized by an uncontrollable rage and I snatched a broomstick and threatened her as I questioned her about the man. I went on asking her if she would talk to the man when I was away and she was taking care of my children. I was angered further by her refusal to reply to my questions. I started beating her with the stick and I did not spare an inch of her body. The punishment was so violent that she did not come to the kitchen next day nor could get up from her bed. I did not concern myself with her condition. She remained in bed for 10 days and then, to my shock, she died. The postmortem revealed she died of internal bleeding caused by the beating.

They also discovered large burn scars which I had earlier inflicted on her."

She continued: "I never intended to kill her and I tried to undo my mistakes in every way I could. I paid SR200,000 to her relatives who waived their rights. There remains only the public rights and I am now awaiting the court's verdict. I fully repent of what happened." She said she had spent her time in jail memorizing the Holy Qur'an and praying regularly. She also hoped to complete her education and her children's.

The newspaper spoke to another Saudi woman who had beaten a housemaid to death. She said, "My problem is that I am obsessed with cleanliness. I want to keep my house spotlessly clean and arrange things in perfect order. I was fed up with the maidservant whom I tried to train according to my standards of cleanliness and order. She seemed to pay no attention to my instructions. She stayed with me only a month and even that was not continuous; during that time, she often went to my mother's house for several days.

"One day I was preparing for a big party in my house. I was supervising her work as she was painfully slow and untidy. I flew into a rage when I found her toilet in a mess. I took a long hose and began beating her. My husband heard my angry words and asked me to lower my voice. He handed me a metal object to hit her with. She took all my blows and hits with resignation and did not try to defend herself but kept saying "I am not good; you are good. I cannot see properly; I am blind." 

Earlier I had rebuked her by saying, "Why haven't you cleaned this? Can't you see it is dirty? Are you blind?" After I beat her, she did not come for her lunch. I called her a number of times and insisted that she eat. She finally came and ate something but with difficulty in swallowing. Suspecting that she was trying to upset me, I ordered her to leave the kitchen. When she stood up, I was horrified to see blood on the chair where she had been sitting. 

I thought it was because of her negligence of personal hygiene. After cleaning the chair, I want to make sure she was cleaning herself. I ordered her to change her clothes but she just sat there in her filth, saying all her clothes were dirty. I was filled with uncontrollable rage. I grabbed her by the hair and dragged her to the bathroom and started beating her, not caring how hard I struck her nor where. I shouted at her to wash all her clothes. Then I went back to my room cursing my fate at having to put up with such a filthy housemaid. 

The next morning my husband woke me with the news that the maidservant was dead. I went up to find her in the state I had left her, bent over the wash basin in the midst of her dirty clothes with the water still running. Immediately we called the police". The medical report said she died of internal bleeding caused by beating. It also noted that she had serious visual impairment and was suffering from acute diabetes. Then only did I understand why her cleaning was so bad. Also I remembered her once saying she could not see properly and that she had worn glasses in her country. The labour department in her country, however, took away her glasses on the grounds that poor sight would make her unacceptable to work as a housemaid in the Kingdom."

The woman continued, "I am sorry for what I did to all the maids who worked with me. I thought they would forgive me for my cruelties if I gave them sweets and other gifts. I wish my stay in jail could be an expiation for my cruel behaviour. If only my friends had stopped my cruelty instead of provoking me to be harsh on maidservants."

With tears rolling down her cheeks, she continued: "It never occurred to me that I would be jailed nor did I know what the word jail meant. I maintain good relations with other prisoners here. Once I was respected by all my friends and acquaintances, now I have brought shame to my husband and my family. My husband's physical and mental health is deteriorating because of me. My father has developed high blood pressure and diabetes, unable to bear the shock of my being here. I observe all my regular prayers and have memorized: a good portion of Holy Qur'an. I am awaiting the court's decision. I have vowed that I will never ask for a maidservant again and will do all my housework myself." She added that she had paid SR85,000 to the maidservant's relatives.

Black Magic

A 37-year-old Saudi woman, mother of seven children, narrated the circumstances which had landed her in prison. "I offered to help a school teacher to bewitch her husband so that she could be sure of his faithfulness on condition that she pay me SR95,000. I accomplished this by black magic, however, when I completed my part of the deal, the schoolteacher did not pay me. She said she did not have the money and asked me to be patient. I waited for four months and still she did not give me the money. 

Unable to wait any longer, I went to her school, beat her up and took what money she had with her. The police came for me after she complained to them. When the police discovered my involvement in black magic, they put me in jail. I have been here for four months awaiting a decision and I have an eight-month-old baby at home." She said she had repented and now spent most of her time in the jail library. She had been forced to practice black magic because of her poverty.

No Saudi prisoner is released from jail unless her legal guardian is present. Expatriates are released with orders for deportation. The unwillingness of some guardians to accept the prisoners back in the family is a serious problem faced by several Saudi prisoners at the end of their jail terms. Relatives come with great reluctance and then after much pressure and counselling. 

The charges against most of the female prisoners, according to Dina Al-Judi, a social scientist, who has been working in the jail for the last three years, are moral, illegal money-making or violations of the Iqama regulations. A special jail near the airport is recommended for Iqama violators where the processing of their papers can be quickly completed. Their deportation without delay would save the government a considerable sum of money.

Al-Judi stressed the significance of the prisoners' maintaining their relations with relatives. Support from families is a decisive factor in the rehabilitation of a released prisoner who has repented and reformed. The family is the individual's only link with the outside world and remains a strong force for right and good.

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