Letters to the Editor

Bring back the hangman
Crime has escalated significantly since June 1976 when the death sentence imposed on criminals convicted by courts was commuted to life imprisonment. The last convict to be executed was Embilipitiya Chandradasa alias Hondapaupuwe on June 22, 1976, according to prison statistics.

The laxity of the law is such that we often see convicts walk out of the courts in the company of their lawyers, knowing that their chances of being hanged are remote.
History records that even during the times when Buddhism flourished in our country the death penalty had been in force. Under the present system, death sentences are sometimes even reduced to an insignificant seven to 10-year terms of imprisonment. Once these criminals are free they become a worse danger to society.

It is regrettable that there is pressure from certain parliamentarians and civil rights movements against the re-implementation of capital punishment, perhaps to safeguard criminals who at one time have been the henchmen of politicians. Why can't the representatives of the people (MPs) realise they are duty-bound to allow the law to deal with these criminals with appropriate punishment.

"Nobody fears prison as much as death,” said Earnest Van Den Haag, Professor of Jurisprudence and Public Policy of Fordham University. Hence, it is my humble view that capital punishment will be the most effective deterrent to crime. If justice is not meted out and these criminals not punished it would tantamount to a mockery of justice.

If our parliamentarians are unable to arrive at a unanimous decision to bring back the hangman, let this issue be put to the people at a referendum. It is likely there would be an overwhelming vote for the re-introduction of the death penalty. Let us hope the Justice Minister will re-focus his attention on this grave situation and take suitable action.

A therapy for crime?
We keep hearing of heinous crimes in our country. But we seem to have become immune to the dangers of living in such circumstances. Most religious minded people live modestly. Hardships are a part of life. Adversity can, therefore, be considered the best way of preventing the spread of evil.

What we need today is not power but a life of harmony. This can be achieved by adhering to the principles of equality and love, irrespective of caste, creed and religion.
It has to be stressed that mind is the master weaver for crime. Is there any way of suppressing crime by using some kind of pill, tranquilliser or hypnotic therapy? If there is, it will benefit the generations yet unborn.

About the Basiij
With reference to the article ‘Suicide bombing: Terror without borders’ (The Sunday Times, August 31), the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran wishes to make the following clarification.

The article reproduced from ABS-CBN Philippines makes reference to Iran thus: "It includes the Japanese Kamikaze, the Iranian Basiij and Black Tigers of Sri Lanka.” While strongly denying what has been attributed to Iran, the Embassy wishes to emphasize that the Iranian Basiij is a people's popular force, which presented itself in the war fronts of the Islamic Republic of Iran when Saddam Hussein's regime invaded a vast region of Iran on September 22, 1980.

Hence, Basiij is only a symbol of resistance of the Iranian people who proudly stood up against the aggressor and defended the Islamic motherland.

Don't throw pensioners to the wolves
In the guise of a free economy, the Central Bank has reduced interest rates on savings last year and the poor, retired pensioners and senior citizen had to forego a large portion of interest income from fixed deposits. This was like a drastic salary cut.
In 2002, my savings of Rs. 1,500,000 at 16% interest in a popular finance company brought me a monthly income of Rs. 20,000 which was just sufficient to meet the needs of my frugal existence.

In 2003, the Central Bank instructed finance companies to reduce the interest rates to 12%, which brought down my monthly income to Rs. 15,000, hardly sufficient to keep the wolves at bay. Had I invested in the National Savings Bank which gives 9.7% monthly to senior citizens only, my income would have been Rs. 12,125 per month.

Finance Minister K.N. Choksy says there will be a further reduction in interest rates shortly. This means that senior citizens will have to beg on the streets to meet their soaring medical and hospital bills, in addition to the skyrocketing cost of living.

The business pages of newspapers give wide coverage to the profits of billions made by banks mostly from savings deposits. Next year their income will be in the trillions, should interest rates be further reduced. The senior citizens plead with the Finance Minister to help us poor depositors by providing relief by:

* Requesting the National Savings Bank to increase the interest rates for senior citizens over 60, from 9.7% per annum to at least 12%. * Give tax relief by raising the tax-free income from Rs. 144,000 to Rs. 300,000. This will also benefit 'payee tax' payers who are also struggling to survive.

Bouquet for Batticaloa Air Force base
A recent visit to Batticaloa's Alayadicholai general cemetery brought a pleasant surprise. For years it had been a deserted snake- infested jungle. When my brother and sister-in-law came from Australia and were keen to visit the cemetery and pay their respects to our parents buried there I was reluctant to take them. But when we went there the transformation was amazing. The jungle had been cleaed and the cemetery maintained as a due resting place for the dead.

Who was responsible? The cemetery flanks the headquarters of the Sri Lanka Air Force and its airstrips. On his own initiative Co-ordinating Officer Wing Commander Nissanka assisted by Squadron Leader Dias had organised his men to clear the eyesore.

I still remember a comment by a former SLFP Cabinet Minister, the late C. Kumarasuriar whom I had invited as chief guest for the college prize giving. On the close proximity of the cemetery and Air Force base he said, “I am amused at the sense of humour of the people of Batticaloa, where in one place people go down to the bowels of the earth and lie buried, just opposite is the place where people go up in the air."

The people of Batticaloa should give a bouquet to Messrs. Nissanka and Dias and all those with them who have transformed a hell into a heaven.

Two vagabonds in Sansara
Arm in arm
With joy as hymn
Liberated with free rein
They roamed the boundless range
With no shackles to restrain
No bond to tie them
Escapees from the caged domesticity
Took flights to the realm of fantasy

One a clever Legal Eagle
Hailing from the central hills
Other a gifted healer
From the suburban capital
Products of elite ecoles with snob culture
You saw them on the Kandy Lake
Watching spreading circles
Bobbing fish create
When swallowing draughts of air

Perched on the Wace Park hill
They enjoyed a bird’s eye view
Of the isle on the lake
In the Botanical Garden
They dozed in the scented bower
Noon sun saw them
Dangling their feet in the river
In nonchalant abandon

They were seen on the Galle Face green
Watching the reddened sun shimmering
the lazy waves
And silhouetted ships cutting through its disc
Hampering their animated gaze

In the campus with staff friends
Glasses clicking and spirits soaring
One serenades ‘Hear my song Violita’
Other booms the hostel ditty
‘Dumbara mahageta avulu pandama
Kawda nivanne’

Not harassed by nagging spouses
Not hounded by heartless tax ogres
Ambition stilled, no aims to fulfil
Wayfarers drifted like wayward clouds
In the concrete jungle lurking
Beasts did not worry them
Arm in arm they staggered from a night pub
Singing 'Irene good night'

What mysterious forces
Brought them together
To dance the pantomime
Of unknown destiny
The idle vagabonds of Sansara

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