4th October 1998

Talking about those 'little' Lankans

I am a Sri Lankan citizen living in the U.K. I always keep up with events in SL through the SL papers specifically The Sunday Times.

I was reading the interview with the new IGP by Hiranthi Fernando published in The Sunday Times of 6.9.98. To a question by the interviewer about corruption in the Police the new IGP answered that the percentage of corrupt officers is insignificant. This is rather strange as about two years ago the President who appointed the new IGP said publicly that eighty percent of those in the Police were corrupt. Therefore it would appear that in about two years eighty percent has become 'insignificant'.

About politicians interfering in the Police the new IGP has said they always try to do a fair job. It is not fair to blame the Police entirely for succumbing to political pressure. It is the politicians who have threatened and abused their powers and got police officers transferred and are responsible for the sorry state that the Police is in today.

The other matter I wish to comment on is the article by Rajpal Abeynayake in this same issue (6.09.98). This columnist finds fault with Sri Lanka lover Tony Greig for calling us 'little Sri Lankans'. I don't know whether this columnist realises that cricketers of the present generation are indeed physically little. Cricketers of the forties and fifties like Sargo Jayawickrema, C.I. Gunasekara, M. Satha-sivam and others were physically almost the match for Europeans. Today, apart from the cricketers, if one looks at the new recruits in the Police and Services it is clear how our stature is going down. In fact Sri Lanka has difficulty in finding good fast bowlers as height and good physique are essential for this. Nuwan Zoysa is an exception. Pakistan has no difficulty in this matter as they have a fair pool of tall sturdy youngsters. Probably this has something to do with a higher intake of milk and proteins in that country.

C. Fonseka
Basildon U.K.

A brilliant overall performance

I was horrified to read Mary Anne David & Louis Roberts critique of West Side Story titled The Music Matters in The Sunday Times of 13.9.98.

Although I may not have the expertise to use fancy technical jargon, I am obliged to comment as I feel it was exaggerated and unfair.

On the day that I viewed the show, there was hearty applause after every song and an ovation at the end of the performance which is adequate evidence of an appreciative audience.

Comparing the performance to the standard of a school musical is unfair. On the contrary, many of us left the show feeling that such a high standard of production needed wider recognition and appreciation.

Jehan Aloysius' overall performance was brilliant and was supported by an equally good cast to say the least. Dilup Gabadamudalige's interpretation of Bernstein's music was creative, and electrifying in its complementing the performance. Any shortcomings in musical interpretation, singing and acting, if at all, were negligible.

In fact, it is precisely the critique that was a feeble attempt to belittle Jerome de Silva's outstanding competence in producing one of his best musical performances in recent times which closely matches any international stage musical.

Ms. R.W. Jayaratne,
Colombo 4.

All about Sharia law and media hysteria

Kishali Pinto Jayawardane's article titled 'Coming Close to the Edge in Pakistan' (The Sunday Times September 27, 1998) is yet another badly disguised attempt at Islam bashing. Quoting political manoeuvres in Pakistan, the writer is feeding on the western media hysteria against Islam which they have 'demonised' with a view to project Islam as a bogey now that Communism or Marxism no longer serve as ideologies to be whipped.

The writer's subjectivity and bias against Islam is amply demonstrated when she feebly lumps Islam together with Nazism and Apartheid playing on the mental pictures of horror and terror that these two racist ideologies have perpetrated. Nazism and Apartheid were creations of Christian states not Muslim ones. Nowhere in the rich history of Islam will any objective reader find such a heinous racist ideology.

The writer is playing within the parameters of 'permissible discussions' created by Western Media Institutions. Within these parameters Pro-Western journalists are required to thrash Islam at all times. While subtly projecting Christianity or Westernisation as ideally suited for mankind. Judaism is placed on a higher pedestal than Christianity. This is 'permissible discussion' it is not permissible, however, to discuss that Zionism is racism and that 'democracy' practised in Israel is only a facade for institutionalised and divinely sanctioned racism. Yet it is true. Expressing much thoughts aside, one wonders whether one can think such thoughts in the first place. Such is the power of the indoctrination system designed by the Western Media.

Very few writers or secular fundamentalists care to read the Quran or books on Islam by Muslim scholars. Instead they depend mostly on Western sources. Sharia literally means 'clear-path'. In the Western Media and now the local, Sharia is distorted with a few to arouse fear and hostility among the gullible readers. We are told that the adoption of Sharia Law will take human kind back to the Dark Ages. Nothing could be further from the truth. Sharia Law is a progressive one. It was this law and its source, Islam, that dragged Europe out of the Dark Ages. Up until 1300 Arabic was the scientific language of Europe! Much of Western Law has been derived from the Sharia as Professor C.G. Weeramantry has often said. But Western scholarship has still to admit this.

How many know that Sharia Law stipulates that a certain amount of seats be reserved for minorities in the Majlis (Parliament)? The Muslim world was among the first to set up a mechanism for people's participation in the day to day affairs of the State Parliamentary set-up in Europe came much later and as a result of opposition to 'Churchocracy'.

The aspect of Democracy is the Freedom of Speech, which any objective reader will find enshrined in the Sharia Law. Two examples that come to mind are that of Hazrat Abu Baker, the first elected leader of the Muslim state, pleading with the people to correct him if he deviates from the Shariat. Another involves the second Caliph Hazrat Umar who was corrected by a woman when he made a ruling that was contrary to the Shariat. However, there is another side to the Sharia Law which protects people from 'Freedom From Speech' under the blasphemy act. This protects all religions from abuse and insult.

The sources quoted by the writer seem dubious. Since we in Sri Lanka are all too familiar with the antics of Missionary Organisations and foreign funded NGO's, along with their hidden agendas, we must take her sources with more than a pinch of salt.

Hameed Abdul Karim,
Wellawatte.

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