COPE, UNP AND “ALI BABAS”

It was rather distressing to hear of attempts made by the UNP members in the  Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) to protect the main culprits involved in the recent BOND scam.

Disgusting, indeed, is the news that the UNP members in the committee were attempting to draft a new report to protect the corrupt officials while the majority of thee COPE members had agreed to accept the report headed by the Chairman, Sunil Handunetti. To make matters worse, the UNP members are alleged to have made attempts to force the Auditor General to change his report as well, which is even more disgusting.

From the foregoing it is obvious that there are moves to protect the main culprit of the Bond scam, ex-Governor of the Central Bank, Arjuna Mahendran and his son in law, who had made an unprecedented fortune in the Bond issue, purely for political reasons. 

It is rather funny that the UNP leaders who vigorously campaigned for elimination of corruption in the country which was rampant under the previous Rajapakse regime are themselves taking part in corrupt activities to safeguard their friends.  It appears that whilst the Rajapakse rule was doomed because of family rule, the current UNP rulers are asking for trouble if they try to safeguard their friends at high places.

The JVP should not even think of giving up the good work they have been doing so far to expose the corrupt elements in the previous regime as well as in the current administration.  Whatever the provocations, Sunil Handunetti should have stuck to his chair rather than walkout in the face of tantrums by the UNP members, which obviously was one of their tactics to change the course of the deliberations and the final report.

Everyone involved in these investigations should take a vow to punish the “Ali Babas” on both sides of the divide and never allow these corrupt elements to raise their heads again, since the country needs to be rid of such elements if it is to prosper. 

The two main political parties who ruled the country taking turns have now got together to usher in so called “Yahapalanaya” which already has become a joke in the country, prompting the famous JVP saying “Unuth Ekai, Munuth Ekai”. 

The JVP has a very significant role to play in the political field as a third force and it is fervently hoped that they will prove to be worthy of that onerous responsibility, rather than end up with another slogan “Unuth Ekai, Munuth Ekai, Arunuth Ekai”

THE SOUND OF NUISANCE

Appropos letters in Sunday Times “Making a noise: Vendors are comparatively innocent” by Irritated Citizen and “ Let the sound of peace and solace prevail” by Concerned Buddhist, Rajagiriya.

I am a real victim of blaring sounds through loud speakers from a Buddhist temple which is in front of our house on each and every holiday – Poya, Saturday and Sunday – thus denying me the opportunity to have a peaceful day after working hard on the week-days.  On a Poya day, we are forced to get up at 5 in the morning and then suffer the nuisance of blaring sound from the temple for almost the whole day upto about 9 – 10 pm.  The consequences of this noise is that we are unable to answer a phone call, watch TV, listen to music, read a newspaper and even take a small nap, which I consider to be cruelty to humanity.  It is very pathetic that the Buddhist monks who preach “Siyalu satywayo niduk wewa. Nirogi wewa” (Let all human beings be happy and healthy), openly breach their preaching by way of this noise pollution towards its neighbours whatever religion they may belong to.

One wonders if laws such as Public Nuisance Ordinance and environmental pollution do not apply to these temples  and whether there are any avenues for redress to the suffering public on account of these encroachments into their private lives, on the pretext of religious freedom.

Although, the BBS made a hue and cry about the Call for Prayers from mosques some time back, as a person who has lived in the Middle East for quite a considerable time, I can safely say that such calls in those countries and in this country do not amount to such disturbances as they are short lived at a time unlike the sounds blared through loud speakers by the Buddhist temples in the vicinity lasting a full day.  In actual fact most of what is blared through are CDs containing viridu, kavi Bana, patriotic songs etc. and not much of real Bana anyway. 

I wonder why can’t these temples be considerate enough to follow the practices of other religions such as Christianity, Hinduism etc. and confine their preachings to those attending their services inside the Temples rather than disturb the neighbourhood.

As Brig. Neville Fernando mentioned in his letter “Police deaf to blaring bus horns”; noise pollution is injurious to health and a three second exposure to loud noise could cause severe damage to the cochlear of the human ear. 

So, isn’t it time that some authority came down hard on these offending temples and save the public from becoming deaf – sooner than later.

PRESIDENT’S OUTBURST : IS IT THE END OF “YAHAPALANAYA”

Indeed, as your Editorial of 18.10.16 rightly says, the people deserve a clear cut explanation from the President with regard to his remarks concerning the CID, FCID, Bribery and other Independent Commissions.

The establishment of Independent commissions and a vigorous anti-corruption drive including strict actions against the corrupt elements of the previous government were in fact election pledges of the government where the President himself played a pivotal role.  Having now established the independent commissions, it is rather strange that the President himself is expressing doubts about the independent functioning of these commissions.

The matters have now come to a stage where the Director General of the Bribery Commission, who had done an excellent job of going after the culprits of the previous administration, has in frustration submitted her resignation and it is speculated that the other 3 members of the Commission too would follow suit.  This is exactly what the corrupt Joint Opposition were campaigning and praying for with even going to the extent of coconut-dashing.  Sadly, it looks like the President has himself given into these demands, having been on public record that no one is above the law and strict action should be taken against those corrupt elements.

The President’s outburst has in fact sent shock-waves across the entire anti-corruption mechanism with information coming in of some high ranking officials of the sector contemplating stepping down thus rendering the whole exercise of “catching the thieves” coming to a nought.  This indeed is a golden opportunity for the likes of Ali Baba and forty thieves to make a come- back and tell the people “we told you so”.

The entire scenario is summed up in a cartoon appearing in DM of 18.10.16 where Wimal Weerawansa is shown welcoming the President with a red “saatakaya” .

One sincerely hopes that the President, for whatever political reasons, does not turn the tide against the popular mandate given to him and the government to investigate and punish  the corrupt elements of the previous government as pledged by him. 

Anything lesser than that would sadly be the stepping stone for an end to the much talked-about “Yahapaalanaya”.

SOWING THE SEEDS OF RACISM

The Chief Minister of Northern Provincial Council, Wigneswaran, has done it again.  It appears that in spite of his educational achievements and the high judicial position he had held, he seems not to be learning any lessons from the past. 

It is obvious that his intentions are to capture the power of the TNA by deposing its leader – who interestingly brought Vigneswaran to the fore and promoted him to be the Chief Minister – in fact, a case of biting the fingers which fed him.  If that is his real intention, then there are other ways and means of doing so, rather than ignite the fires of racism and bring misery to his people who have just recovered from a thirty year old war, which was again due to the intransigence of another Megolomaniac called Prabhakaran.

It is downright stupidity to make public statements to the effect that Sinhalese and Muslims should not be relocated to where they originally belonged to in the North until they were banished from the area by the Tigers.  Just like the Tamils who had lived in the North for ages, these Sinhalese and Muslims too owned land and property and it is nothing but right to restore their status-quo.  If one takes that argument further, what will happen if another crazy Vigneswaran from the South comes up with the same theory that Tamils must leave the areas where they had lived for ages and go back to the North. Such stupidity and ignorance!  The Constitution guarantees every citizen to live in any part of the country and being an ex-Judge, it is rather strange that Vigneswaran seems to be unaware of that legal right. His other demands too are very childish indeed, such as the one not to erect Buddha  statues in the North whilst there are statues and religious places of other religions all over the South for his people to worship.

Another of his ridiculous demands is the re-merger of the Northern and Eastern provinces which again, if he has a good memory, he should have known that the two provinces were demerged on a court order and the people of this country would never allow a re-merger. 

With such a irresponsible and racist Chief Minister at the helm, even to think of granting Police and Land powers to the Council should not be a subject one should even deliberate because it smacks of real danger to the country.

If history has a knack for repeating itself, then the authorities should seriously consider removing the current Chief Minister from his position or even dissolve the Northern Provincial Council and hold fresh elections after declaring Vigneswaran persona non grata – just like the fate that befell one time Chief Minister Varadharaja Perumal who grew too big for his shoes and declared a unilateral independence to the North.

“Racism is man's gravest threat to man - the maximum of hatred for a minimum of reason”. Abraham Joshua Heschel