Letters to the Editor

• Ban those palm oil imports
• Phone rates are high in Lanka
• Death penalty is a deterrent
• Will these ever come to light?
• Electricity Board: Priorities mixed up
• Dhamma can never be sectarian

Ban those palm oil imports

The consumer cannot be subsidized by the farmer.

The govt. has to find other ways of doing it. The farmer should be told that no imports of agricultural produce, including coconuts, that can be grown here would be allowed. 

Coconut is no more a viable industry and is dying a slow death.

The desiccated coconut miller has a field day and the consumer a cheap dietary supplement at the expense of the coconut producer. Palm oil of inferior quality is being imported and mixed with coconut oil produced only from DC mill discards and byproducts of coconut parings which are often dried under unhygienic conditions. 

The DC miller is able to earn massive profits whatever the world price because oil mills are closed and there is no competition.

The Coconut Research Institute and nutritionists have now declared that coconut is a life-giver and not harmful. We have been under a delusion and conditioned to believe the canard advertised by the palm oil lobby that coconut increases cholesterol. Coconut is now known to be a germ killer and antihistamine which is necessary to overcome the harmful effects of weedicides, pesticides and artificial fertilizers used on our vegetables and rice.

However, our way of eating coconut is not right. We use only the flavour and throw away the good part. Indians don't do that but use the whole kernel.

The need of the hour is to ban palm oil imports or impose a permanent restrictive tax. Thus, the govt. will save a lot of foreign exchange.

Denzil Pietersz
Wennappuwa

Phone rates are high in Lanka

Our neighbour, India, does not charge for incoming calls and outgoing calls are much cheaper than in Sri Lanka.

Meanwhile, Indian Telecom charges rates five times lower than ours even on land phones. A five-minute call costs only 60 paisa, whereas in Sri Lanka, Telecom and other land phone companies charge in the range of Rs. 3 to 5 per minute.

Adam Bawa
Colombo 10

Death penalty is a deterrent

"That was several years ago. Murderers are routinely hanged; drug traffickers are also hanged and severe penalties imposed for armed robbery and other crimes of violence. 

Who said that the death penalty is not a deterrent to murder?

Norman Jansz
Moratuwa

Will these ever come to light?

Some of these films win awards at international festivals, but the local filmgoer is ignored. Even if we have the good fortune of viewing one or two of these movies, the passage of time would have rendered them irrelevant.

It is my understanding that about 15 good films have been on line for the last eight to 10 years, but are yet to hit the local cinemas. 

When inquiries are made, Film Corporation officials are quick to blame producers and directors for withholding their release for assorted reasons such as auspicious times, bad weather etc. 

Meanwhile, trash put out by third rate producers/directors beat the queue all the time. The tragedy is that we are given rave reviews about good films years before we will ever see them.

A solution by way of a separate circuit for good films remains only a distant dream due to the limited number of cinemas available.

R. Wickramasinghe
Nugegoda

Electricity Board: Priorities mixed up

I, as a retired electrical engineer would like to ask the CEB what they are doing about conserving electricity and also promoting and rewarding those who do?

There were newspaper reports that an Indian expert has come here to educate us on how to conserve electricity. Why do we need Indian advice when the CEB does not even believe in the word 'conservation' or 'cutting waste'?

Can the CEB boast of its achievement in assisting in power saving in Sri Lanka other than having a gala show at a five-star hotel and giving away only certificates and a few trophies? Who will invest money and do research on power conservation when the reward is only a trophy?

There were also reports that a local company has made a system to save 65 -75% of electricity and it is to produce power in India. If what is said is correct, we are more advanced than India. 

Then why do we need Indian experts? 

It seems as if the CEB has got its priorities mixed up. It should not be lamenting the high cost of generation, but looking at ways of bringing it down.

R.S. Warusawitharana
Ratmalana

Dhamma can never be sectarian

All must live a moral life, without harming any being. Nor can the mastery of the mind (samadhi) and keeping it pure and free from all negatives be a monopoly of any religion. So Buddha's teaching is universal.

Sects divide, Dhamma unifies. When beautiful dhamma turns into a sect, it becomes poisonous and fanatical, with the essence being lost. Dhamma is the law of nature which governs the universe, both animate and inanimate. 

If one understands the laws of nature and live accordingly, then one leads a good and prosperous life. Dhamma tells us not to kill, not to steal, not to lie, not to engage in sexual misconduct and not to get intoxicated. At surface level these are actually laws of society, rather than laws of nature, because they contribute to peace and harmony.

When we practise Vipassana meditation (purification of mind through insight into the physical and mental structure), we know whenever we break any of these precepts.

It makes one miserable. So Sila is practised not just to please society, but for one's own sake, to be at peace.

In the practise of Samadhi there is no verbalisation, no recitation, no visualisation of gods, only the breath coming in and going out.

If the essence of Dhamma is lost, then every teaching degenerates into sectarian belief. 

But if one understands what the essence of dhamma is, then there is no difference between one religion and another. The teaching of Vipassana is to observe the truth of suffering within oneself and observe it objectively. Otherwise the cause of suffering appears to be outside. it teaches one to observe things as they are. If one is miserable one just observes misery. Then it becomes clear.

The primary facts in Vipassana are impermanence (anicca) and no self (anatta).

Douglas Alahackone
Gampaha

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