Wednesday 28th May, 2008 9
Towards a non
Kudos to US Ambassador, violent world
rotten tomatoes to Bruce Fein
I was happy to read that the US Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims have representing our country in the n’t want a counted vote anyway)
We are living in the world
of violence. When we turn to
Iraq, Palestine, Afghanistan,
death culture of war to satis-
fy their selfish ends. The
greatest hindrance is the cor-
Ambassador to Sri Lanka Robert lived together and continue to live most important posting in the trou- want an independent state – carved Darfur or our own country rupt politicians who are
Blake has asked the leader of the peacefully together. Tamils are liv- bled Sri Lanka. We have exchanged out of a small island country? The Sri Lanka, we observe that lured by the overtures of
LTTE, Velupillai Prabhakaran, to ing in Colombo peacefully with their e-mails since my return to Tamil population accounts for 12% solution is hard to come by arm dealers.
give up his demand for a separate Sinhalese and Muslim friends. So California. I was just about to send of the total, that means there are without resorting to vio- The teaching of human
Tamil state. He says he thinks that there is no ethnic conflict here. And him another one – congratulating 2,300,000 Tamils living in the South lence. dignity and moral values and
‘95% of them (Tamils) support a certainly the government is defend- him on his statement – when I saw (not counting the 100,000 in the When peace talks fail peo- the importance of nonvio-
solution within the framework of a ing itself against terrorism.” the retort written yesterday by North). Does he think all these peo- ple take up arms because lence and its significance
united Sri Lanka’. Mr. Blake says I would like to note for the record Attorney Bruce Fein, the ple are all going to leave their they are easily procurable should be inculcated in
giving up the idea of a separate state that the present mayor of Colombo Washington lobbyist employed by homes and businesses behind (they and there are countries wait- young minds and included in
would give Prabhakaran "lots of is a Muslim, and the Deputy Mayor Tamils for Justice (please read have been living peacefully in ing and willing to cash in on the educational curriculum
credibility to respond to lots of scep- a Tamil. There are also several “Front Organization for the Banned Colombo and elsewhere for cen- arm deals. These countries for the cause of posterity .
ticism here in the South that the members of the President’s cabinet LTTE Terrorists”). turies) and simply move up to have the tendency to pro- Many of us fight tooth
LTTE would never negotiate with who are Tamil (now, of course, there How can this Bruce Fein get a Eelam, the new motherland, mote war by creating tur- and nail for the cause of reli-
the government." He also says, "I are two less since Foreign Minister good night’s sleep doing and saying Prabhakaran’s Paradise on the moil and problems within gion, little realising the fact
always remind people who are visit- Kadiragamar and Highways what he does? I find his remarks to Peninsula? countries so that they could that religion exists to change
ing from the Minister Fernandopulle were brutal- be glib and arrogant to the extreme Get real, Bruce Fein; what do you as the saying goes, "fish in our life and moral values for
US that ly assassinated by the LTTE – one by (using stuck-up phrases for the know? You’ve never even been to troubled waters." the better. If it does not serve
a sniper, the other by a suicide Ambassador’s remarks, like “owlish Sri Lanka – all of your information It is high time the United the cause of humanity but
bomber). The newly-elected Chief certainty which earmarks the glit- is second or third-hand! Nobody’s Nations took adequate meas- leads to intolerance, lack of
Minister of the Eastern Province, terati” and “his opulent ambassado- going to move up north and give up ures to enact laws for the compassion and understand-
recently liberated from the LTTE, is rial milieu”). His suggestion that the everything they have just to live in sale and curtailment of arms ing, it has failed its main
also a Tamil. Ambassador hold a referendum to some fantasy Tamil-land. The refer- and to prevent them from purpose. Hence we should
I completely agree with Mr. prove his 95% figure is not only silly endum’s results in favour of a uni- falling into unlawful hands. not be morally blinded in our
Blake’s assessment of the conflict in but also irresponsible. fied Sri Lanka would not only The free availability of arms mind and heart by funda-
is a menace to civil society . mentalism, nationalism and
Sri Lanka, and I applaud him for Mr. Bruce Fein thinks Sri Lanka embarrass your clients, the LTTE
Over twenty million people militarism.
speaking with such practical, good should hold a referendum to deter- and Prabhakaran but it would be
in the world are under arms. The prevention of vio-
sense about a tragic, messy situation mine whether or not the Tamils downright patronizing of the intelli-
Just imagine what a colossal lence starts in our own
that simply needs to end – ASAP . want their an independent state. gent, highly-cultured Tamil citizens
amount of money is wasted minds which have to be
I met Mr. Blake during a trip to Does he think the 100,000 Tamils of the island who are “Sri Lankan”
for the manufacture of arms. trained in the right direc-
Sri Lanka last year. I paid a call on still living up in the LTTE-occupied first.
The resources available for tion. Violent reactions
him at his office in the Embassy and north (last census in 1984 said there Thank you, Ambassador Blake,
the manufacture of arms endorse a culture of violence
I found him to be a kind and knowl- were 600,000 registered, but an esti- for your distinguished service to
could easily be diverted to rather than a culture of dia-
edgeable gentleman. I felt proud mated 500,000 have either gone two countries. the solution of economic and logue, and it is easy to be
that we Americans had such a com- south or emigrated– an embarrass- Stephen Long
environmental problems fac- apathetic where violence is
mitted, compassionate individual ment for Prabhakaran, who would- Los Angeles, California ing humanity . endemic.
Blake
Many of the root causes of To build a non violent cul-
violence can be traced back ture we need first to move
to economic needs. If the away from dependence upon
Time to Madhu and the Bishop's decision
Government introduces poli- threats and the use of force.
cies which meet the basic The State should primarily
needs of the people many of take effective measures
forgive and
the problems could be sorted towards this direction.
out. Unfortunately what is
My first reaction was not to housed in a village far away in lacking is the will of eco- Harris Doll,
respond to Mr. R. B. M. remote place-say-Pachchathanni' in
forget
nomic and political leaders Nugegoda.
Senanayaka's letter of 21.5.08, the hill country, then it would have who continue to feed the
which had no worthwhile sub- to be called Our Lady of
stance to comment on. However, as 'Pachchathanni' and not Our Lady
The history of war is that of
man's inhumanity to fellow
he may run away with the idea that
his version is accepted by readers,
of Madhu. Thereby the sacredness,
holiness of the statue will be lost.
That UNHRC seat
man. The wasteful cost, in I changed my mind. If what he says is to be accepted, The LTTE leader V . under the impression that
terms of human life and pos- Mr. RBMS misquotes me by say- then why should the bishop of Prabhakaran, and the Eelam this move would serve as a
sessions, is the price paid. ing "He says that the site is there- Mannar and the Catholic Church lobby may have breathed a stepping stone for a human
Whether the strife be between fore sacred to Buddhists and want the Statue to be brought back sign of relief, when Sri rights monitoring mission in
nations, as in world wars, or Hindus". He should have read my to Madhu?
Lanka failed to retain a seat Sri Lanka, that’s a pipe
internal conflicts among com- letter very carefully and under- He also states 'But don't blame
on the UNHRC. It was no dream. Te GOSL would resist
munities within the country, stood the last para where it stated. the Bishop for taking the statue
such as has sadly prevailed in "Even today Madhu is not a Holy elsewhere, surely the statue is not surprise, the writing was on it to the hilt The silver lining
our own dear motherland for site exclusively for Catholics. It is sacred to the Buddhists and the wall, when one focus on was India’ firm support for
well nigh over twenty years, equally sacred to Buddhists, Hindus". Mr. RBMS should know the stance, adopted by the Sri Lanka at the human
the dawn of peace inspires Hindus and Muslims". Having clar- that national security is the NGO coalition, to the GOSL. rights council. Three Nobel
high hopes as did our ified the wrong impression in the responsibility of the government, They make a hue and cry laureates former US
Independence from foreign mind of RBMS, I now find that he and as a legally elected and consti- about violations of Human President Jimmy Carter,
rule in 1948. separates the Holy Statue of Our tuted government, it is its responsi-
Rights in Sri Lanka, but are South Africa’s Archbishop
Is a witness of both historic Lady of Madhu from the Madhu bility to be the legal custodian of
mum about the atrocities Desmond TuTu and Adolfo
occasions, my appeal, as a sen- Church building and the site and all the land and all what is thereon.
ior Sinhala Citizen, to both recommends the taking over of the Removing the statue to an committed by the LTTE, Perez Esquivel of Argentina
Sinhala and Tamil communi- site by the army. I wonder whether uncleared area, may be dangerous such as the killing of oppo- opted to throw a wet blanket,
ties, is to forgive and forget the the Catholic Church will accept as I said earlier, guns, missiles and nents, the brutal slaughter of over Sri Lanka's chance of
wrongs done by both sides, and this view. This senseless statement Bombs do not have eyes. Any dam- innocent civilians, and con- winning a seat in the
build a new strong firm foun- could spur action by some stricken country. If the Holy statue age to the Holy Statue will become scripting children. To them UNHRC, by voicing opinions
dation of unity and strength to Buddhist or Hindu Fanatics to is removed to another place, as the responsibility of the Bishop. these crimes do not come detrimental to the GOSL,
uplift our one Sovereign State rush to Madhu and place statue of RBMS suggests, it cannot be called
into the equation. To these and giving an impetus to the
of Sri Lanka. 'Pattini' and start another religious Our Lady of Madhu. For instance, G. A. D. Sirimal,
T. C. I. Ekanayaka, uprising, in this already tragedy if the statue is removed to and Boralesgamuwa. biased NGOs and INGO's, anti Sri Lanka Lobby who
Kotte. sauce for the goose is not are hand in glove with this
sauce for the gander. The ruthless terrorist outfit.
Sun God presumes Sri Their action smacks of a
This is how Stock Markets work
Lanka's inability to secure a hidden agenda. As for the
seat on the UNHRC is a plus Sun God’s vision that the
point for him and his international community
It was autumn and the Red But also being a practical leader, A week later he called the going to be very cold?”
Indians on the remote reservation after several days he got an idea. Weather Bureau again. “Is it going “Absolutely,” the man replied. cohorts, in the eyes of the will give him a life line for
asked their New Chief if the win- He went to the phone booth, called to be a very cold winter?” “Yes”, “It’s going to be one of the coldest international community . survival, that too is a pipe
ter was going to be cold or mild. the Weather Bureau and asked, “Is the man replied, “it’s definitely winters ever.” But this only wishful think- dream. With India playing
Since he was a Red Indian chief in the coming winter going to be going to be a very cold winter.” “How can you be so sure?” the ing. This move will in no the main role, the interna-
a modern society, he couldn’t tell cold?” The Chief again went back to Chief asked.
way stall the successful mili- tional community I presume
what the weather was going to be. “It looks like this winter is going his people and ordered them to col- The weatherman replied, “The
Nevertheless, to be on the safe side, to be quite cold indeed.” the mete- lect every scrap of wood they could Red Indians are collecting wood tary campaign to crush the will keep clear of this issue.
he replied to his tribe that the win- orologist responded. find. like crazy.” world’s most ruthless terror-
ter was indeed going to be cold and So the chief went back to his Two weeks later, he called the This is how the stock markets ist outfit. The forces are on Rex Wijewardene,
that the members of the village people and told them to collect even weather bureau again. “Are you work! Zulkifli Nazim the right track to achieve
should collect wood to be prepared. more wood. absolutely sure that the winter is Colombo 06. Dehiwela
this goal. If the sun god is
The in-law
Volunteers in times of distress instinct?
I came across a news item in We as Citizens do not go turns in manning these posts bilities and solicited their help the society or any responsible
A regular reader of the ISLAND in
the newspapers recently, that deeply in to the crisis taking to collect and pass information so far. If a proper awareness organization or the government London phoned me the other day to
the Police is unable to provide place currently in the country to the relevant departments, of program is conducted through can muster their support for find out if he could share the follow-
a satisfactory service over the and always are quick to put the incoming emergency alerts. the public media about the voluntary work, most of these ing anecdote with his fellow readers.
Emergency Telephone Lines blame on the Police service, They need not possess the opportunities available for sen- persons would come forward to The darling son of a loving mother
118 and 119 due to scarcity of Army or Navy for any lapses experience of a Police Officer ior citizens to offer such servic- .
help the society These persons had to entertain five girl friends at
officers to man the post for 24 on their part. But have we for a to do this type of work such as es, there will certainly be a very should be rewarded with certifi- home. One of them was the girl he was
cates in appreciation of their secretly devoted to.
hours. moment thought about alter- entertaining telephone calls good response from senior citi-
When the girls had gone away the
Obviously we can under- nate ways of countering this from persons who want to pass zens in coming forward and services to enable them to com-
son confessed to the mother that he
stand this situation knowing problem. useful information for security offer such help to the society . pete over others when job was going to marry one of them and
the pressure put on the Police We as duty conscious citi- and direct them to the appro- Perhaps I feel that the society opportunities are available. asked her to make a guess.
Service to provide security to zens of Sri Lanka should come priate departments or persons. has underestimated and ignored Finally I request the "What is there to guess my dear,
all parts of the Island through- forward to help the Security There are a lot of senior citi- the capabilities of senior citi- Government to explore the pos- she was the girl in the red blouse."
out day and night. Recruitment Services at this crucial situa- zens retired and languishing in zens to get their help in times of sibility of getting senior citi- "Oh, how clever of you mother, I
zens and unemployed youth to thought you'd never know!"
to the Police Service was not tion to minimize the negative their homes without being distress.
"Instinct my dear, instinct. The
programmed so far, to face effects of shortage of security made use of, for the society It is
. Also there are lots of unem- help in countering terrorism at
moment I saw her entering my home,
unlimited emergency situa- personnel to man important not that they are unwilling to ployed graduates who just while no cost to public funds. my blood began to boil!"
tions taking place during the posts. For example, retired offer such help but no organiza- away their useful time brooding P. Mutukumarana,
current times. senior citizens could take tion has recognized their capa- in anticipation of jobs that may Thimbirigasyaya Jayatissa Perera
not be immediately available. If Bambalapitiya