Morning Spice by Ginger
Media support in IGP's way against crime

The Island editorial of Monday very rightly gave the newly appointed IGP his well deserved pat on the back for the recent war waged by his men against crime in the city and the provinces. It also said it was time to apply the brakes on reckless driving. Really it does not matter whether an individual is killed or injured by the mafia or an errant driver. The score remains the same. It is the casualty list that causes the concern. In fairness to the police it must be said that the proliferation of traffic has caused part of the problem. In other words there aren't enough cops to handle such a volume of traffic.

This fact however does not justify shrugging off the problem. Actually that is the very reason why there should be a greater effort to ensure that road rules should be enforced more strictly. With the number of vehicles on the road increasing so rapidly there is always the possibility that less efficient drivers and ones with the wrong temperament would be driving those vehicles. How then should the problem be handled. I had always suggested that the policeman making the detection should get a fair percentage of fine to minimise corruption. There should be discreet inquiries to ascertain whether police officers own or have shares in buses etc. and if so they should be told that their crews should follow the rules or better still persuade them to sell their interests and finally the Ministry itself could appoint flying squads that could hand over detections to the police for legal action.

'El Nino'
Remember 'El Nino' and the havoc it played on our systems. Ginger for instance was so life less that he could even walk to the top of the road. The heat wave in America in 1995 for instance killed more than one heat stroke victim as the study revealed. The medical belief is that, the utmost in the emergency room even may not help some who were effected by it.

One supposes that living in the tropics all our lives may help us to take it better than those living in the west. Doctors studied how over 50 nationals of the Chicago heat wave fared afterwards. The records show that half of them had died before a year had passed and those who did live had some permanent complication or other. So go get yourself checked by your doctor.

'The butcher is dead'
Many in Iran would say 'The butcher is dead. Long live the gunman who did it' Assa dollah Lajivardi was known as the butcher for good reason too. He was a former prison chief. He will long be remembered for being behind some horrible forms of torture inflicted on prisoners in his charge and his acts of sadism as prison chief.

He was gunned down by members of the rebel Mujahiddin in Tehran. This group claimed responsibility for the shooting. The Mujahiddin had chosen to carry out the killing to coincide with the tenth anniversary of the massacre of political prisoners ten years ago.

Mental health in Sri Lanka

Mental health derives more attention of the Government, N. G.Os and affluent class of our society. There is a National Advisory Board and Presidential Task Force which consists of deans of medical faculties, physici-sans, psychiatrists and social workers and N.G.Os who has taken much pain and devoted their worthy time for more than a decade holding workshops a long with W.H.O., prepared and submitted to the Government a memorandum on mental health for further development and it is anxiously awaited to see their proposals implemented early. I appeal to President and Minister of Health to take initiative to make the proposed plan a reality which is in the best interest of the poor mental patients of our nation.

The communications counter for mental health of 63/1, Thimbirigasyaya Road, Colombo 5. (Tel: 590610) along with other N.G.O Sahanaya, Dayamina etc., have several plans for the establishment of Mental Health Centres, half way homes with board and lodging facilities and Occupational Theraphy rehabilitation units. Their plans should be fully supported by the Government and the affluent people of our country and also foreign Aid should be found.

Every district base hospital should have a Psychiatric Clinic and a residential ward which will ease the congestion at Psychiatric Hospital of Angoda, Mulle-riyawa and Hendala.

Being a father of mentally sick - 26 years old son I am aware, how difficult to look after the mentally sick, at times even the own kith and kin, brothers, sisters, relatives and friends discard them, society fails to recognise and accept them. Public awareness should be made to eradicate such social stigmas.

I therefore appeal to the government render every assistance to the Mental Hospitals Rehabilitation Centrs specially the mentally sick individuals in any possible manner without bias to race, caste and religion. The present meagre amount of Rs. 200/= per month assistance doled out by the Ministry of Social Services should be increased to Rs. 2000/- per month at least, to the mentally sick or their kith and kin, for maintenance of such mentally sick patients.

I believe rendering assistance towards the cause of humanity is a greater merit than building places of worship. Charity should not be restricted to the particular race, caste, religion and one particular community. Charity should be broad based among all the poor sickly handicap fellow beings of our nations.

Kindly visit the Mental Hospitals of Angoda, Mulleriyawa and Hendala and make aware yourself of the needs of poor inmates, and for the development of the Hospitals.

Ibrahim Abdul Gani (J.P.).
Mattakkuliya.

Make whipping mandatory for serious crimes

Despite the fact that Parliament has with one voice voted in favour of the reimplementation of the death penalty the President was yet to give her assent. While the death penalty remains in statute books planned murder and all other types of heinous crimes are on the increase, criminals sentenced to death remain in prison probably enjoying the special concessions given to those in the death row only to be released after a few years without in effect having undergone any punishment for crimes.

President's reluctance to give her assent may be due to humanitarian reasons or her conviction that this punishment is not a deterrent against crime. And if she has taken both these aspects into consideration the Govt., must find a suitable alternative.

A couple of months ago I read a letter in the Opinion column advocating whipping in place of the death penalty for premeditated murder and now I realise that this would be the best punishment for many crimes including murder. A criminal who is whipped in open court lives to remember the punishment and the humiliation which would definitely serve as a deterrent not only to him but also to other would be criminals.

Today the whole pattern of crime has undergone a vast change. Unlike a few decades ago we rarely hear of murder committed under sudden provocation. Today all murders are well organised and preplanned, criminals move about in high powered vehicles that have acquired status, use sophisticated weapons and are careful not to leave tell tale marks. The victim can be a big businessman, someone of standing, another big time criminal, employee of some institution carrying a lot of cash to pay employees' salaries, a woman displaying all her gold jewellery, a police officer who tried to enforce the law strictly etc. They go for high stakes aiming at millions in one night or day. A fairly a large number involved in the deed are well to do living in luxury having connections with politicians, high Govt. Officials or the police. Quite a number of soldiers, army deserters, police officers in service are also among the criminals. A proper analysis of the whole scenario calls for a careful study by experts.

In addition to murder the incidence of rape has seen a marked increase in recent times. The most unfortunate aspect here is that fathers rape daughters - this being particularly so where the mother is dead, has left the family or gone abroad for employment - teachers and principals their pupils, students their fellow students etc. The Minister of Justice announced, quite some time ago that more stringent laws to tackle the incidence of rape would be introduced soon but to my knowledge they have yet to see the light of day.

There is also the brutal treatment of children such as the one reported recently where a father had poured boiling water on a child after tying his hands behind. We have also read a number of cases of young poor children of school going age employed as servants in well to do houses being treated in the unkindest manner getting them to work over 16 hours a day without proper meals, clothing and being mercilessly assaulted, and burnt.

Brewing poisonous liquor, drug peddling, destruction of forests, ancient dagabas, temples and Buddha statues in search of treasures removal of valuable artefacts belonging to the state etc. are crimes against the country and religion, and society at large.

Extreme situations call for extreme measures, and the Govt. has to find very deterrent punishments for the type of crime mentioned. Since whipping for certain crimes is already in the statute book the Govt. should seriously consider - and without delay - making whipping mandatory for crimes mentioned above and any other such serious crimes. Unless immediate action is taken to punish the criminals in the most deterrent manner we are sure to score another first for crimes very soon.

S. Abeywickrama,
Nugegoda.

Norwegian interference

Norway it appears, has a special affinity for Tamil racists and an inbuilt distaste for Sinhalese in general and Buddhists (and Buddhist monks) in particular.

A Sunday newspaper carries last weak a news item highlighting the above trend by featuring an article written by Torkel Brekke, a Norwegian, supposedly a scholar attached to Oxford University in England. These so-called 'scholars' portray themselves as all-knowing pundits. The 'Norwegian-Oxford' label is supposed to impress us. After all, they are white-skinned Nordics hailing from the arctic-circle, while we poor souls are a set of dirty looking brown-skinned heathens who have just descend from the trees.

What is Norway's game, one wonders? Why this special interest in a tiny island near the equator, far removed from the arctic-circle. It certainy cannot be altruism but is it Christian charity?

I was curious enough to check the encyclopedia about Norway. I expected a modern, secular, multi-ethnic, multi-religious state, since after all, this is what Norway wants us to be. But imagine my surprise, when I found a constitutional monarchy (we got rid of feudalism long ago) officially called the Kingdom of Norway (Kongeriket Norge). And, surprisingly, the country is under a state church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church. The Christian cross appears boldly across its flag. So much for secularism. In addition, the King is nominal head of the church. Of course, they say that other religions are given full freedom, whatever that may mean. But of course, these same people do not like Sri Lanka being called a Sinhala-Buddhist country. They would like us to be strictly secular. One can imagine their chagrin if we elevate Buddhism to the position of state religion.

These are the so-called modernistic intellectuals who are trying to interfere with our affairs and theorizing on bringing about reconciliation between Sinhalese and Tamils, as if there is none at the moment. Torkel Brekke is concerned that we practice 'religious nationalism', meaning Sinhala-Buddhist consciousness. He criticises our Buddhist monks for their national conciousness. Aren't the Norwegians national minded about their country? Why worry about our's? Why shouldn't our Buddhist monks take the lead in condemning Tamil racism and terrorism and exhorting us to be proud of our history and our culture?

Brekke's whole article is anti-Buddhist and anti Buddhist clergy. He distorts history when referring to the post 1956 period - 'In response to the Sinhala chauvinism, Chelvanayagam's Federal Party was formed with the intention of achieving a separate state for Tamils in the island'.

Chelvanayagam had dreams of an eelam at least a decade before this. This kind of pro-Tamil racist propaganda is evident right through his article. This 'scholar' appears to have used the LTTE office in London as his research library.

Norway and these so-called Norwegian 'scholars' should mind their own business and, rather than criticizing Buddhists and Buddhist monks, concentrate on releasing their own country from the yoke of a feudalist church so as to make their country truly free and secular. They should remember that Buddhists have been the most tolerant people on earth. No bloody wars have been fought in the name of Buddhism, whereas the whole world has witnessed (and is yet witnessing) the atrocities committed in the name of Christianity and Islam. Whole nations and races of people have been wiped out in so-called 'Holy Wars'. The history of north and south America, Africa, Australia and even Asia has felt the effects of the Bible and the sword. Millions of Cherokee Indians, Aztecs, Incas and Australian aborigines were massacred by these so-called civilized conquerors.

Today, we poor heathens are supposed to go down our knees to these white masters and their krone, their krona, their dollar and their pound.

We in Sri Lanka can solve our own problems without the help of these 'holy war' specialists. There is no 'ethnic-war' here. The Sinhalese and Tamils have no problem with each other. The problem is with the Tamil racist leaders, terrorists and our politicians not to mention those foreign funded NGO 'peace-mongers' who are backed by the Norwegian krone.

Citizen - D
Kandy.

If you are a parent, you are a teacher

While relaxing after a hard day's work in office, once a father was engrossed in a book 'On all about Dinosaurs'. Suddenly, his son aged five sneaked a look at the book and asked what those curious animals in the book were. Unlike most of the other fathers, he did not abruptly say, 'They are colossal animals called Dinosaurs and now go and play without disturbing me'. This particular father took his son to his lap lovingly and gave a brief account of the now extinct Dinosaurs and promised to provide him with more details about the wonderful creatures that lived millions of years ago and how they were wiped out from the earth for good. Further, he supplied his son with colouring books, pictures of skeletons and fossils of those mammoth reptiles. The son being so much fascinated by the mysterious creature and wonders of nature wanted more and more literature on fauna and flora later. Thus, a child's inherent interest to acquire knowledge was stirred up by an intelligent and understanding parent. A child's new world is bright, wonderful and full of curiosity and potentiality. The wise parents, the first teacher of children are fully aware of it and exploit them up to the hilt.

Mozart, the Austrian composer of music (1756-91) was outstanding in his speciality. His father, a renowned musician, realized that his young son had the latent talent for music and taught him the rudiments of music. The boy picked them up and proceeded marvellously. To the surprise of all music lovers, he wrote sonatas at the age of seven and operas at the age of twelve. Apparently, Mozart's inspiration and guiding star was his intelligent father to whom he displayed his indebtedness always. Another shining example is Abraham Lincoln, the famous President of America (1809-1865) Lincoln's mother fell ill and died when he was very young. Thomas Lincoln, his father married Sarah Bush Johnson, a widow with three children. Although Abe's father, was an illiterate carpenter, his step-mother was a clever brainy woman. She insisted on sending Abe to school. With her coaching at home, Abe picked up the rule of 'three' and developed a voracious desire to read and write. Thus the foundation for Abram Lincoln's success in life was laid by his wise step mother. Later she revealed, Abe was the best son a woman could ever have. It is said, the man who went from the log cabin to the White House always remembered his step-mother with love, affection and devotion, for the moral support, backing in learning and moulding his character, when he was a child.

By teaching the rudiments of necessary subjects and habits, the parents, the primeval teachers of children, can build a solid foundation of relationship with them. In the most impressive age of their life, what children learn at the feet of their parents retain in their mind all the time. The sanitary routine of clearing of teeth, combing hair, washing, dressing, social graces, decent conversation and even fundamental a, b, c, of lessons could be instilled in the minds of their growing children.

L. V. Cabral
Kotte