Letters to the Editor

Questions for JHU from an old Jaffna man
I was born a Hindu and try to practise my religion. I am also an admirer of Lord Buddha and his teachings "Annichavata Sankara". What a brilliant and brief statement of an eternal truth. I have the book "Dhammapada" by Ven. Narada Thera, gifted to me by a Buddhist friend. Also, my second daughter married a Sinhala Buddhist, with the blessings of both families.

In 1956, the Buddha Jayanthi year, I had just graduated from the University of Ceylon and the Asia Foundation offered Rs. 500 to those who had held office in university societies for a tour of India. My elder brother gave me Rs. 500 and so with the princely sum of Rs. 1,000 we spent 45 days in India touring the entire country. But we planned our itinerary so that we would be in Buddha Gaya on Buddha Jayanthi Vesak Full Moon day. We spent the whole day there and we slept on mats under the sacred Bo tree.

I bought a statue of Lord Buddha, with a calm face radiating serenity and it is still sitting on a bookshelf in my Jaffna home, incidentally the only home we own. Our home has been occupied by the Indian Army and the Sri Lankan Army, but the statues and pictures of Lord Buddha and Hindu gods are intact.
I had to provide this information about myself to establish that I am not anti-Buddhist. But I would like to ask the Bhikkus of the Jathika Hela Urumaya some specific questions.

(1) Fasting unto Death: The first question is to Ven. Omalpe Sobitha Thera of the JHU (and Ven. Amila Thera of the JVP). When you undertake a 'fast unto death', is not your action a method of committing suicide — taking your own life. This is a crime in our Penal Code.

(2) Corruption: Why have you remained silent on this matter in signing an agreement with Mahinda Rajapakse?

(3) Housemaids: We boast of a 2,500-year civilization and being the centre of Theravada Buddhism. But our women are going abroad as maids, causing immense damage to their families. How many stories have emerged of fathers raping daughters, or taking another woman as a wife and so on? Have you considered this problem in our society and taken any step to solve it?

(4) Power sharing: What about members of the minority community holding high office? All heads of government since Independence have been Sinhala Buddhists. Will you allow a Sinhala Christian, a Tamil or a Muslim to become President or Prime Minister? After all, Sinhala Buddhists form 70% of the population and the minorities 30%. If all are treated equal, should not the head of government be from a minority community at least 25% of the time?
In our neighbour India where Hindus constitute 83%, Muslims 11%, Christians 3% and Sikhs 2% of the population, a Tamil-speaking Muslim is the President and a Sikh the Prime Minister.

(5) Etiquette: By mismanaging our country both politically and economically, we have become a beggar nation. Every year our Finance Minister has to beg before donors at the Aid Consortium meeting. At the Kandy aid meeting, Ven. Ratana Thera got up and spoke, when there was no slot provided for him. Is this the way a Buddhist bhikku should behave?

Regaining the GPO
An assurance was given from presidential election platforms to say that the President's official residence would be shifted from its present location. We hope a great extent of the current security measures prevailing in the area will be relaxed soon.

The new President can take a leaf from British Prime Minister Tony Blair. A news item on July 29, 1997 said: "Prime Minister Tony Blair sold his house for £615,000.00 which he bought for £375,000.00 in 1993, because the security measures needed at the Islington House would have made life too difficult for his neighbours.”

The shifting of the official residence is good news for the general public. The area surrounding President’s House has been forbidden for them and remains like a ghostland with roadblocks, closed shops and empty lanes. This news will be a great relief for owners of the properties too for they can resume their day-to-day business.

Above all, this is glad news for 23,000 postal employees for they can get their official headquarters, the General Post Office (GPO), back. They treat it as a sacred place. One has got to be a postal employee to realize this feeling. The GPO in any country is given the most prominent place among all the government offices, and this is no different in Sri Lanka. The GPO is located just in front of President’s House. Our GPO stands majestically in the prime area of the city.

Postal communities are in constant sorrow, for they have been deprived of the greatest asset that they were proud of. We, the postal employees, would be grateful to the next head of the nation if he would keep this pledge.

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