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Morning Spice by
Ginger While share prices and interest rates kept dropping this last couple of years land prices in most parts of the city stayed firm, and in fact, in some suburbs they rose rather sharply. Recently however prime property in the city does not appear to have fared quite as well. The other day Ginger saw an ad where someone was selling his or her property in a very prestigious location in Havelock Town for eight lakhs a perch. That was about the price during the boom but putting the land on offer at eight lakhs meant that the seller would be willing to come down a bit, what does this convey? The fact that such blocks are not moving up at quite the rate they did and hovering around old prices and dipping slightly tells a story. For one thing the big businessmen have all built their homes and people now go for compact units on smaller extents. The other reason could be that many persons who had ad lib cash have less of the stuff to dump on property and many of the well-to-do who are not business types find it difficult to maintain past standards on the low interest rates paid today. So they are offering more land for sale upsetting the supply and demand rates for prime land. They are by doing so raising the value of suburban property which is the possible explanation for the prices of such property holding on or even rising marginally. Star TV India, of course, goes a little further or rather has already done so. He is being charged with broadcasting vulgar and obscene material on his Star TV. What is more, a warrant was issued on him for failing to appear in court. Of course, there is hardly any chance that it could be served unless he turns up in India. In the meantime Star TV will remain the most popular channel in the region. Roy Rogers rides no more Roy Rogers who died at the age of eighty-eight came into the limelight when he look over from Gene Autry in Under the Skies in 1938. His wife Dale Evans acted along with him. There was also his famous horse Trigger who died in 1965 and was mounted in the Rogers home. The couple switched over to TV in the fifties and were so successful that they built up a huge business empire. The scourge of terrorism defied Please permit me to salute your esteemed journal for its courageous editorial on the US retaliatory military strikes on suspected terrorist targets in Afghanistan and the Sudan. ('Sovereignty of states and international terrorism' The Island 24.08.98). In refusing to automatically condemn the USA and focusing on the very real scourge of state sponsored international terrorism you have dared to defy the dogma popular amongst our local communist and left wing nationalist that the West in General and the USA in particular can do no right and Third World extremist can do no wrong. The attacks that killed so many innocents in East Africa were only the last in a long series of brutal terrorist atrocities against US targets carried out by proved religious fanatics who dare to debase a great world faith whose very name means 'peace'. These rabid killers are helped financially militarily and morally by various UN savoury and undemocratic states in Africa and the Middle East. Without this overt and covert state aid these groups could never have become so deadly. Since covert aid to terrorist groups is very hard to prove in a legal sense these 'God Fathers' of international terrorism have been able to get away with murder. The Sudan has for the past decade or more been ruled by a military dictatorship which has tried to justify its brutal rule by taking cover behind a cloak of religious in tolerance. The Islamic Arab north which dominates the military has been trying to impose strict Islamic law on the black Christian south. It is hardly surprising that the south has rebelled under the leadership of once loyal Christian soldiers of the old Sudanese army. The dictatorship in Sudan has hosted many fundamentalist terror groups under the guise of supporting the Palestinian cause. Egyptian terrorists who have killed and wounded so many innocent Egyptians and foreign tourists have used Sudan as their main base much to the outrage of the Egyptian government. It should also be remembered that during the past 40 odd years massive US food and medical aid has saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of Sudanese (both Moslem and Christian) whose homeland is so often subject to harsh drought. Afghanistan is a sad nation that today lacks a proper government. In recent years the fanatical Taliban movement (which 'executes' TV sets VCR's and radios) has emerged as the dominant military force. They have allowed the Saudi born Bin Ladin for international terrorism to establish his terror groups HG and a 'college' for international terrorism in the area they now rule. The fact that these camps have been blasted can hardly be regarded as a great loss to humanity. It cannot be forgotten that it was the massive military, food and medical aid provided by the USA and it's allies that enabled the brave Afghan people to defeat the brutal Soviet Red Army and it's puppets. We in Sri Lanka know only too well that without state sponsorship terrorist movements cannot destroy democratic governments and nations. The foul aid that the Indian and Tamil Nadu governments provided to extremist forces in North Eastern Sri Lanka enabled a tiny group of 'Bicycle Terrorist' to bloat up into a vicious predator that was fated to inflict hideous damage on both the Sri Lankan and Indian nations. The paranoid and jealous Mrs. Ghandi simply could not tolerate the prospect or a free enterprise Sri Lanka becoming a 'super Hong Kong' or a 'super Singapore'. Such a glittering success story just 22 miles offshore of India would have exposed the hollowness of the ideal of 'Socialist self sufficiency' that her beloved father inflicted on India. Sadly the mishandling of our internal race relationships and the blind faith that our political leaders placed in the clay idol of non alignment left our once paradisical land wide open to subversion. On the other hand the southern extremist of Sri Lanka received no foreign (or very little) aid and on two occasions were defeated by the security forces. The fact that they were able to prolong the agony of southern Sri Lanka for over two years during their 'second coming' was because of the poor intelligence gathering capacity of the state security forces. You hit the nail right on the head when you painted out the gutless passive attitude that the international order has so far shown towards international Narco-Terrorism. Let us hope that now that the sole superpower has declared war on this hydra headed monster the democratic nations that now dominate the globe will unite and crush the life out of it. There is no longer a Soviet Union to stand in the way and China long ago gave up trying to export revolution. L. David. International terrorism - some hard truths A few days ago the entire world heard the news 'America Strikes Back' with out of reach high tech attacks on so called terrorists bases ignoring the sovereignty of Sudan and Afghanistan. While no one should condone acts of terrorism anywhere and from whatever quarter it may come, have the American people at any stage stopped to think why they and American property are being targeted? Speaking to many people and listening to eminent persons being interviewed on TV it appears that the primary reason is due to the 'double standards' being adopted by the Americans. Take for example the case of Iraq. Who supported and supplied material to Iraq to fight Iran - it was the USA. Why Iran? Because the Shau who was considered the Policeman of the Gulf was overthrown. Has the UN/US taken any military action or passed any resolutions over Israel's invasion of South Lebanon? In fact it is understood that the US vetoed resolutions against Israel as much as 37 times - Strange! Similarly what action has the UN/US taken against Turkey for invading North Iraq and Cyprus? Who supported, trained and supplied so called terrorists and the Mujahideen in Afghanistan to fight Russian (Soviet) troops? Does the US deny that American and Pakistani engineers helped in the construction of concrete bases or bunkers in remote Afghan mountains? On the other hand wasn't the bombing of Libya, where some of the ruling family were killed, the shooting down of a Iranian airbus with 300 passengers and the current wave of strikes on Sudan and Afghanistan acts of undiluted government terrorism? SHAME! Then take the case of the SANCTIONS - according to a recent TV interview the security advisor to the US President confirmed that HALF the world's population was under US sponsored sanctions, including India and Pakistan. The recent action also proves that the UN stands helpless with the US being the Judge and Jury in their taking arbitrary and despotic action. Today, when you watch TV or read the newspapers you feel that everything is going wrong in America. Children shooting their loved ones and classmates, the President bogged down in a sex scandal, which could cost him his Presidency. Unprecedented calamities - storms, earthquakes, twisters - where you find Americans like their counterparts in far away Iraq waiting in queues for food, clothing and medicines. Even the spy rocket 'Titan' costing billions and billions of US dollars and meant to carry out spy missions over the Middle East, India, Pakistan and China exploding in a ball fire seconds after it was launched. So it would appear that in the long run the 'Big Stick' policy alone won't suffice, no matter how long their memory is and how far they can reach, the US will have to re-think its attitude and approach and in the process shun 'double standards'. God help you America, as you have to be lucky always and the other side only but once. L. S. Talangama Sri Lanka cricket has improved in the last two years, by leaps and bounds. The cricket loving public look upto our cricketers as heroes. It may be opportune to sit and ponder on what more could be done - especially to achieve the object of being the Best Test Playing Country in the world by the year 2000. A few matters that come to mind are noted below. They are obviously not complete and those students of the game are invited to air their views. Physical fitness is a must. Our players should build up their stamina to play long innings. We have seen our batsmen on their haunches after 30-40 runs. Players like Tendulkar are an example in fitness. Even after a century he stands upright with hardly a sweat. Overweight cricketers should not have a place in our team. Their diets should be closely monitored and Mr. Kontouri should insist on correct weight for our cricketers. When spectators laugh at an overweight fielder it is time he hung up his boots. Azahrudeen is said to be a fitness fanatic. May be our players should have a chat with him and be guided by his advise. A few years ago, Sri Lanka were said to be the best fielding side in the world - but today, we have slipped and lost our reputation. Long hair does not help in any way; it would rather hinder his vision and add to the discomfort of a hard days work. Nobody need be singled out - they are all there to see. When one gets untidy in one's turnout, automatically his performance will become shabby. After every match, players are interviewed and are heard throughout the world. Players should stick to their mother tongue when so interviewed and use an interpreter, if they are not fluent in English. There are three or four players in the team who are regularly interviewed and the Board will do well to put them through a crash course in English with emphasis on cricket. A bad impression might otherwise be created. We are the World Champions and will remain so until the next World Cup contest in May 1999. There is no reason why we should not retain this title, with our leading players performing as they are. Our best wishes go out to all concerned. 'Jaybee' Mr. Sivasiththamparam in his response to Mr. Nalin De Silva's recent article ''Vajpayee smiled'' in your midweek review of 05/08/98 asserts that it is customary for the opposition to meet visiting heads of state during international conferences and therefore the TULF meeting with the Indian PM does not warrant the comments of Mr. Nalin De Silva. He goes on to sight international examples including the Northern Ireland crisis where third party mediation has been successful. Mr. Sivasiththamparam is only a leader of a communal party that have advocated communal politics from 1945 and separatism from 1949. The Tamils having lost their privileged status that they enjoyed under the colonial masters always considered the Sinhalese majority to be 'too small'' to govern the advanced Tamil community. Due to a deficiency in the previous 'past the post' election system Mr. Sivasiththamparam's predecessor Mr. Amirthalingam, became the leader of he opposition in 1977. The period following became the most unfortunate period in the history of communal politics in Sri Lanka for Mr. Amirthalingam used his position as the leader of the opposition to promote the so-called Tamil cause in the international community and particularly in India. This resulted in India intervening in Sri Lankan affairs without understanding the different ramifications of the communal problem. The subsequent events leading to the assassination of Mr. Rajiv Gandhi is now a part of the history of Indo-Lanka relations. The present leader of the opposition is Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe and as such Mr. Sivasiththamparam has no right to represent the opposition only by virtue of him being the leader of the TULF without the blessings of Mr. Wickramasingha, Mr. S. has to realize that the good old ''Amirthalingam days'' and the ''starry eyed'' Indian diplomats who were influenced by Tamil propaganda of the 80's is a thing of the past. Mr. S. further states that 'Mr. De Silva is more revealing of his bigotry and intolerance in his refusal to accord political equality to the collective formations of the Tamils and Muslims'. The TULF leader should realize that 50% of Tamils in the North and East and only 15% of the Muslims in the East is hardly a collective formation for their 'homeland'. For Mr. S & the like minded people who advocate extreme solutions there is no political equality without carving out a 'homeland'. The interesting feature however is that Mr. S. is now dragging the Muslims too on to his side. The TULF has no right to talk on behalf of Muslims as they never gave representation to Muslims in their party whereas the UNP and the SLFP have given representation to Muslims not only in Muslim areas but also in Sinhala majority areas. The other day the SLMC MP Mr. Suhair in his interview with TNL made it very clear that their demand for the Muslim regional council in the east emanated as a necessary condition from the 13th amendment which proposed to create a Tamil homeland amalgamating the North and the East. Hence, up to the point of the 13th amendment Muslims had no need to think in terms of equality or inequality living among the Sinhalese. The 13th amendment which was practically enforced thrust upon Sri Lanka by India at the behest of Tamil politicians created more problems and this homeland concept will not stop with Muslims but may get extended to Malayanadu, low country, up country, catholic etc. One Mr. Felsinghe writing to these columns in early August suggested that the Burghers are entitled to Kollupitiya and Havelock Town as their homeland and that it should be called the ''Lunceeland'. Do the majority in this country wish this island to be fragmented on the grounds of ethnicity, religion, caste etc. and degenerate to the position of another Bosnia because of a few racists who consider themselves to be of superior racial stock. The President recently granted a homeland to the 'wanniyale aththo' because they wanted to cut themselves out from the changing civilization and practice their traditional livelihood. Is the TULF advocating a similar lifeline and a homeland away from the world civilization for the Tamils. Situation in the Northern Ireland has little relevance to Sri Lanka because the British Government refused to negotiate with the IRA and the IRA had to form a political wing called the ''Sinnfien'' to negotiate with the British Government. Here the Sri Lankan government had no such conditions to negotiate with the Tamil rebel groups. In fact the Sri Lankan Government had bent over backwards to bring about a negotiated settlement to the Tamil problem and we have even allowed intervention of third parties in the form of India. The IRA may use violence as a means to achieve their ends but for the LTTE means have become the end in itself. The TULF and the LTTE may never change because they have a mindset goal of an Eelam but India and the international community have realized the truth about the so called Tamil problem with unfolding events. Mr. Vajpayee is too wise a man to fall for such tricks. Palitha Senanayake, Galle's reputation has to be intact Although Galle has often been referred to as 'a sleepy, old town', citizens should not be reticent and thus give reason for confirmation of this opinion. I therefore wish to refer to a few instances of neglect which need immediate attention for the sake of the reputation of this beloved town. I had occasion to go to the Fort post office housed in the former main post office building recently. It is an old Dutch building, no doubt, but that is no reason as to why it should not be repaired and maintained. A shower of rain came down when I was on the premises and I had to take shelter under the umbrella of a lady who had to use her umbrella inside the building as the roof was leaking so badly that she had no alternative but to do so. Sounds absurd, but the story is true! A quarter mile away down Baladhaksha Mawatha, formerly Customs Road, is the Boy Scout headquarters. The spacious garden is over grown with weeds and bushes growing wild and nobody seems to care! It is indeed ironical in this case as scouts and scout-masters should consider it one of their duties to keep premises clean, neat and tidy. I might also refer to the fact that scouts from a number of schools in Galle have meetings here regularly. Also within the Fort, almost opposite the new-gate entrance is the abandoned Public Services Club building which is now in a dilapidated condition and almost on the verge of collapse. It has been in this state for quite some time in spite of the fact that attention was drawn to this through the media by myself and others months ago. If the club cannot be revived and re-organized, the Government Agent under whose purview this matter comes, should lease the building out to some persons or an institution that will repair it and use it purposefully. A casual walk round the Fort will suffice to see for oneself the garbage littered streets. Rubble left over from demolished buildings is also dumped at street corners and even by the rampart wall. Who should take the responsibility to prevent some individuals with no civic sense from flouting the law with impunity? Although other instances of neglect could be pointed out, I wish to refer to just one more case-the disgraceful condition of the 'Butterfly Bridge' which is supposed to be a landmark in the town. Rumour has it that some councillors are averse to constructing the bridging concrete once and for all as the wooden bridge which is open to the elements needs repairs once in two or three years and the councillor concerned gets his cut out of the cost of repairs. It is also said that some even quicken the process of dilapidation by promoting urchins to topple the planks into the canal and to collect them somewhere further down as they are carried by the flowing water. Carrying them straight off the bridge would be taking the risk of being apprehended by the police. I hope that this exposure will open the eyes of those concerned and that steps will be taken to uphold the reputation of the town which has endeared itself not only to its own citizens but also the casual visitors to Galle who have been charmed by it. P. W. J. Seresinghe Ombudsman The residents of Thimbirigasyaya are most anxious in seeking your initiative for the widening of the remaining section of the above mentioned Road from Jawatta Junction to Torrington Avenue as a first stage. Thereafter in the second stage up to Elvitigala Mawatha to join the 100'-0' Proposed Road. As a result of the fast development in Narahenpita, Nawala, Nugegoda and Kotte area, recently there is a very heavy traffic flowing into Colombo along Kirula Road, Fife road and falling into Thimbirigasyaya Road. Three bus routes No. 173,135,198 go through these road from Jawatta to Torrington. As there are many VIP's living in this area there are many vehicles belonging to the Security Forces and V.I.Ps use this section of the Road. There is a heavy stream of traffic flowing into the road , this being a short cut avoiding main junctions. All the heavy traffic has made this section a deadly bottom neck for all users, particularly to the pedestrian as there are no pavements, drains etc. You will appreciate that all residents in the area and users of these roads are wholeheartedly supporting the urgent necessity of widening this road. T.P. Werasinghe |
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