Letters to the Editor

UPFA: A cart wheel with unstable spokes and broken rim
Coalition - an alliance between two parties. That's how the dictionary defines it. This has since been taken beyond believable limits by political parties hunting aimlessly for power.

History has already shown the outcome of this patch-work experiment which has failed very badly in many a country. These political parties have gone to the ground quicker than it takes to say the word "coalition".
The President now has to meet up with time and fate.

I am reluctantly compelled to point out that the UPFA coalition can be compared to a broken cart wheel with unstable spokes and a broken rim.
The government has run this contraption with many breakdowns in performance but trying very hard to patch up and get moving again. The carter trying to run on a broken, defective wheel certainly will not go very far.

In the same manner let me request the democratic leadership of the UNP, a strong party, not to depend on or pick useless politicians to form a government if put in the saddle again. Those who change parties for their own gain should be kicked out for they are above all, opportunists.

Our pavements: For hawkers or walkers?
It is a common sight today to see makeshift shops or vendors selling various items on our pavements.

There is hardly any room for pedestrians to walk and women, children and elderly people are forced to walk on the traffic-congested roads.

Most of these pavement shops are put up by people known to politicians.
Can’t anything be done to keep pavements for the exclusive use of pedestrians? One solution may be to allocate some areas of the pavement to hawkers.

Crematorium politics adds to cost of dying
The Ambalangoda cemetery’s crematorium, which was damaged in the tsunami disaster, has not been repaired yet. It appears that the party that controls the Urban Council does not want to repair the crematorium because it was built by a rival party when it controlled the council.

The UC charged Rs. 3000 for a cremation but now residents have to spend around Rs. 15,000 to cremate a body in a pyre made of coconut trunks.
This is a heavy financial burden on the family of the bereaved family which also has to spend on the coffin, coffee and other items.

If the UC has no money, it can appeal to a donor country which might help us to repair the crematorium. Will the Chairman of the Ambalangoda Urban Council please look into this matter?

Some feather their nests, while others have nothing to call their nest
It would have been much appreciated by most Sri Lankans, if Minister Dinesh Gunawardena had proposed to give one and a half acres of his ancestral property as a gift to the President.

But to suggest giving so much of prime land to someone who already owns acres and acres, especially at a time when most tsunami victims are still in refugee camps without an inch of land to call their own, shows downright callousness and indifference.

It epitomizes the mindset of our politicians who, come what may, just want to feather their own nests. That is the tragedy which has plagued this country from the time of independence.

The argument that the President had decided to forego all emoluments and take only the land does not carry much weight because in this thrice blessed land of ours anything is possible!

For instance, we saw how the Public Trustee had invested public funds in a private bank and had allegedly obtained a huge commission.
The list is endless, politicians being the worst culprits.

I sincerely hope that the President will re-think her decision and not accept this ‘gift’ so that the suffering masses of this country, especially the tsunami victims will not think of her as just another selfish politician.

Congratulations and hearty cheers, dear Sanath
On your success in Ten Thousand runs
It's no mean feat and you deserve it right
And brought honour to Sri Lankan cricket

You have joined the elite group
Of Inzi - Guli - and Tendulkar
To your fans in Sri Lanka
You are the brightest star

Thirty runs in a single over
Fastest fifty in a one dayer
Oh! my gosh what a player
Was Sanath on song or breathing fire?

Lusty hitter, pinch hitter
Matara Mauler and Master Blaster
Oh yes, these are all yours
Your patent rights
Amply used by all with delight

Fastest bowler or slow spinner
It's rice and curry for Jayasuriya
Cutting, hooking and pulling with gusto
It's a treat to see this maestro

Sanath Jayasuriya is loved by all
Cricket fans here and abroad
We wish you the best of health and vigour
With the World Cup drawing near.

A humble tribute to a great son of Lanka
It was after reaching the Brisbane Airport on the morning of August 13 that I came to know about the tragic death of our Foreign Minister, Lakshman Kadirgamar. I was dismayed but not surprised. For, didn't we all know that he had been a prime target of the LTTE for over a decade and they had to succeed only once to achieve their target?

I went to Brisbane to attend an international conference and I had submitted a paper on 'Engagement of Communities in Crisis: Post-Tsunami -the Case of Sri Lanka’.

It so happened that I had included a passage from the late Foreign Minister's speech at the tsunami conference held in Jakarta in January, in my paper.
Making use of this, in the presentation of the paper on August 17, I dedicated it to the memory of Lakshman Kadirgamar and placed the responsibility for this dastardly act squarely on the LTTE, which I described as "twin brother or first cousin of Al Quaeda". I also observed a few seconds' silence in honour of the late minister.This was my humble tribute to a great son of our soil.

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