Recent news reports state that issuing of dual citizenship has been temporarily suspended.
I am a Sri Lankan (Sinhalese) who migrated along with my family to the UK in the early 1970's at barely 19 years of age. Later I married a Sri Lankan (also Sinhalese) in the UK and we had two children. As I worked most of my life for the British Government, I obtained British citizenship.
Though British citizens and educated in the UK, our children have visited Sri Lanka almost every year and in their hearts they are true Sri Lankans. The elder son is now 31 and will shortly be married to a Sri Lankan, and wishes to live and work in Sri Lanka - if possible.
My wife and I have retired and wish to make some investments in Sri Lanka from my pension and savings and possibly start a business venture. Hence we applied for dual citizenship for our family. This was almost a year ago. We paid the required Rs. 250,000 and were told that our application was approved and now it was a matter of collecting our dual citizenship certificate. Then we were told that the issuance of Dual Citizenship is to be "reviewed" and our applications are now on hold.
In the meantime we are on visitor visas. Of course as ‘ex’-Sri Lankans we are able to renew our visitor visas at the rate of Rs 10,000 per year. However, the visitor visa prohibits us from working in Sri Lanka - even as volunteers (paid or unpaid employment is prohibited)!
We think that this is grossly unfair as we have done no wrong, and we have completely legally applied for dual citizenship according to the laws that exist in this country. We are told (by the staff at the Department of Immigration) that around 600 families are in the same predicament as we are. A simple calculation will show that this translates to around Rs. 150,000,000 that the Government of Sri Lanka has charged these applicants, and is subjecting them to further expenses such as visa fees and not even granting the basic benefits of citizenship such as being able to do a job of work, leave alone giving what was promised.
There are indeed many thousands of ex Sri Lankans who have worked most of their lives in other countries and would like to come and live in Sri Lanka in their retirement. These people will not be a burden to this country. In fact in most cases they would like to bring all their life's savings and invest in this country - if only the authorities could get their act together.
Default Dual Citizen,
Via e mail
In a nutshell: Reasons for our apathy
Sunday after Sunday, I read with admiration your columnist Kishali Pinto Jayawardena's brave, balanced and knowledgable exposures of the present sorry state of our once-blessed isle.
Whether it makes a dent in the minds of the powers-that- be is a moot point, but Kishali herself has sometimes referred to the seeming indifference of civil society and the continuing silence of the majority of the reading public on matters that are of vital concern to us all. It puzzled me, too, until I recently found that the Burmese icon, Aung San Suu Kyi, has provided the answer in a nutshell.
I quote: "It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it, and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it."
Anne Abayasekara,
Via e mail
Making her mark at the
Ratmalana School for Deaf too
I refer to the letter titled ‘this is the calibre of principals that schools need’, by Priyanthi de Silva in the Sunday Times edition of July 17.
Ms De Silva will be happy to hear that Mrs Bibile is now doing a wonderful job among differently abled children as the principal of the School for the Deaf Ratmalana.
As a member of the Board of Trustees of the school I echo the sentiments of the Board in stating that her care for the deaf children, her relationships with the staff, and her administrative skills are excellent. The school has shown a welcome transformation during the short period she has been with the institution.
Unfortunately, she will be with the school only till the end of the year as she will be moving to a more responsible position. I fully endorse the view that this is the calibre of principals our schools need.
Nimal Bhareti,
Via e mail
Public transport-users forgotten
in latest one-way sham
With reference to an informative article by Prof. Amal Kumarage
(Business Times July 3) on traffic management in the cities of Colombo and Kandy, it is surprising that the latest one way system introduced on Galle Road in Colombo has failed to learn lessons from our professionals or from other cities in the world.
Apart from shifting stifling traffic snarls to new centres and forcing public transport users to waste more time on their journeys and depriving them of the use of the inter-connections at Bambalapitiya and Kollupitiya junctions, the new system has helped only the private transport users on a few selected roads in Colombo.
One cannot understand the logic of redirecting for example the route no 154 buses to turn right way past the main Bambalapitya junction and take them on a sightseeing tour past the University, Royal College etc. The responsible authority should provide statistical data within a reasonable period to prove the cost/ benefit to the transport sector without using the travelling public as a guinea pig.
Dr. Kumarage in his article has commented how commuters in cities such as New Delhi and Beijing have faced adverse health problems by wasting time on city roads.
We cannot forget that Sri Lanka is a developing country and we have to give priority to public transport to help the mobility of the masses.
No traffic system will survive by following the elusive dream of dumping private vehicles and introducing methods to protect the uneconomical use of road space. Professional transport bodies and individuals should be given ear to before Colombo and Kandy choke to death due to crawling vehicles.
Ranjith Soysa,
Colombo
This is service for you!
Now that we have every conceivable mode of communication available under the planet, the age-old system of sending a telegram is rarely made use of today.
Recently, I sought its services in a Sri Lanka Telecom and the charges were unbelievably cheap, at least that is what I thought. Through curiosity I read the lettering on the tear-away receipt and realized why good things don’t come cheap. It says – “The accuracy of a telegram is not guaranteed. Sri Lanka Telecom PLC does not bear any liability what soever for the non delivery, errors or delays of a telegram” and it goes on, “Attach this receipt when making a complaint.”
Dewage D. Gunasiri,
Pokunuwita. |
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