‘Preaching to SL on internal unity’

Please allow me some space to make a brief response to S A R’s comments, published in The Island on the 5th May 2021. There was a time when initials were so well known, that it was possible to identify the person from his/her initials. JR and DS come to mind.

1″ From the content and tone of the article I can easily guess on whose behalf he wrote it”

Remarkable intuition!!

Let me assure S A R that I am not a foreign agent or spy or whatever. I am proudly Sri Lankan. I was born here. My parents were born here. My children were born here.

Is the spirit of altruism so dead that one must be doing something, as an agent for another party, presumably with a financial or other reward in view? No, my dear S A R, I was moved to write because I, like many others in this country, am distressed with the way things are being done in the seats of power, and elsewhere, and feel duty bound to voice my views.

2 “Too many innocent people are being convicted of crimes which they never committed

I heartily agree. This should never happen.

However, I wonder whether this is more heinous than convicted criminals, even on death row, being set free, to say nothing of the criminals in high places who never seem to be brought to justice.

3 “We know this country is certainly not without sin to claim the right to throw the first stone”

I am not sure which country is meant by the description “this country”. No country is without sin or an abundance of sinners.

If my house is in need of a good clean up, it is pretty futile for me to point to my neighbours’ houses and say they are much worse than mine Let the cleanup start with me. It was indeed the same person who questioned whether anyone was sinless enough to cast first stone, who also said, “You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye”

Tony Whitham

tonywhitham@gmail.com