Letters to the Editor

NE development and peace: The strategy to solve ethnic problem
Different people offer different solutions to the ethnic problem. My opinion is that we need to look at this issue from a different perspective.
There is no point in explaining the history of this problem as we have heard a lot about it. We are in this position because of many politicians and their policies such as the Sinhala Only Act.

Many say the LTTE is a terrorist organization, but the LTTE claims it has taken to arms to win the rights of the Tamil people. Before finding a lasting solution we need to understand where the LTTE's strength lies. Is it its military power? Many think it is, but my opinion is that it is the Tamil people who are its strength.

The LTTE has managed to convince most of the Tamil people that they are being discriminated against by the majority Sinhalese who do not care about the well-being of the Tamil people. The Tamils are led to believe that fighting for an independent homeland is the final solution. The actions of most of the Sinhalese politicians who failed to meet the basic needs of the people in the North and the East have helped LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran to brainwash the Tamil people to a great extent. So long as Tamil people in the North and the East lack basic needs, they will rally behind the LTTE.

The best solution is to address the issues faced by the people of the North and the East. How do we do that? Can we develop the North and the East while fighting with the LTTE? I don't think we can. So we need some sort of a ceasefire agreement with the LTTE. Then we need to start a dialogue with the LTTE on a permanent solution and how to develop the North and the East.

I would consider peace negotiations and the development of the North and East as two different projects. We should start the development process immediately with the participation of foreign and local donors. Transparency is of paramount importance and for this purpose, a website should be set up to show the progress and how the money is spent.

Peace negotiations for power-sharing on a permanent basis can go ahead parallel to the development project. The advantage in this method will be, even if the peace talks are suspended due to some reasons, the development process will go ahead. Prabhakaran may stop the peace talks, but the development project is something he will find difficult to stop as the Tamil people will not want it stopped.

With the war-ravaged North-East being gradually developed, the participation of donor nations in the process will increase. With more foreign investments flowing in, hotels, telecommunications, banking institutions, international schools, private companies and factories will be set up not only in the North-East but but also in the rest of the country. The North-East Tamil people will then feel a change in their life and not see a great need for a separate state although they may call for a power-sharing arrangement.

The peace talks can be focused towards a power-sharing mechanism which will recognise the sovereignty of Sri Lanka. Sinhalese hardliners may oppose any involvement of the LTTE in this North-East development process and the subsequent power sharing mechanism. The reality is that we need to agree to some sort of power sharing with the LTTE.

We all need to understand that this is a wound that has been festering for many years. We not only need to treat it with strong medicine, but also learn to bear the pain due to the strong medicine.

Confession of a Sunday Times reader
I am a regular reader of The Sunday Times and my reading sequence was sports, the Situation Report, the political commentary and the rest. On Nov. 27, 2005, The Sunday Times certainly changed my sequence of reading and top priority will be given to the political commentary in the future thanks to former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga.

Until that Sunday, though I read the political commentary with much interest I always thought that with 10 percent facts, the rest of the 90 percent was just the imagination of the commentator. I am sure most readers would have felt the same way.

But by responding to The Sunday Times, the former president confirmed all the commentaries in the past and added credibility to the commentaries to come in the future.

I cannot believe such a childish move by such a great personality. To prove that the writer was not writing the facts she went on to explain each and every matter the columnist wrote about and really got into a big mess by confirming that each and every thing he wrote was correct apart from a few adjustments.
I used to buy two copies of The Sunday Times, one for myself and the second for my friend who is a retired English lecturer.

One day I suggested to him that instead of buying two, I would buy one and that I wouldn’t be able to give him the Funday Times because my children were crazy about it. He replied me quietly, “Son that part too is important for me”. So I gave up the cost-cutting exercise and am buying two copies of The Sunday Times.

Spicy saga: The story behind cinnamon
In the article titled "Spicy Saga" (The Sunday Times of December 11, 2005), Gamini Punchihewa says "the Portuguese first planted cinnamon in 1505 AD". This cannot be, because it was only in that year that the Portuguese first set foot in Sri Lanka, having been brought here by accident through "the vagaries of wind and waves".

In the words of Dr. Colvin R. de Silva, it was "the lure of cinnamon that kept them in the Island". But they never planted cinnamon; they merely obtained it in the form of tribute from the King of Kotte, Don Juan Dharmapala, in exchange for protecting his kingdom from the assaults of Mayadunne and his son Rajasinha of Sitawaka. The spice was peeled from cinnamon trees growing wild in the jungles. The peeling of cinnamon was the rajakariya of the Salagama people.

To ensure that the Portuguese would continue to give their protection, Dharmapala even went to the extent of bequeathing his kingdom to the King of Portugal. And thus, after the death of Dharmapala, the Portuguese became the rulers of Kotte. Thereafter, to obtain cinnamon they virtually enslaved the peelers and subjected them to inhuman treatment.

It was the Dutch who actually first planted cinnamon. Wanting to break their dependence on "a phantastical Prince and the whimsicalities of his covetous courtiers" in the Kandyan Kingdom for their supplies, Governor Falck conceived the idea of establishing cinnamon plantations directly under Dutch control in and around Colombo itself. Accordingly, in 1771, the Hoofd (Dissava) of the Mahabadda, Daniel de Koke made the first experimental plantations in the Colombo marendahn (Grandpass area). The results were so encouraging that "under the encouragement of Governor Van der Graff cinnamon plantations spread rapidly in the Maritime Provinces".

The Dutch at first treated the peelers in the same manner as the Portuguese. But the peelers were a rebellious lot. To appease them, the Dutch offered them certain privileges not enjoyed by other services. Despite these privileges, the peelers continued to be "petulant and cussed to the utmost" as described by Governor van Gollensse. In somewhat similar vein, Brigadier General De Meuron in 1798 referred to them as being of "turbulent disposition" and "difficult to rule".
The Muslims and their pre-Islamic ancestors in contrast to the Portuguese, Dutch and British were unarmed traders. They had no territorial ambitions, and were content to handle the export trade of the Sinhala rulers. But it is doubtful whether they had any specific agreements on the matter with the kings. Neither did they attempt to spread Islam among the Buddhists whom they found were as abhorrent to alcohol as themselves.

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