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Burning boats

While the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress seems to have burnt its boats, with the Ashraff faction led by former UNF Deputy Minister A. L. M. Athaulla pledging its troth with the Freedom Alliance, the Government according to reports is not only bothered but it is also bewildered.

The Rauff Hakeem led SLMC has only itself to blame for its disintegration. In fact, the writing was on the wall for quite some time that the Muslim Congress was tottering precariously, what with the Muslims in the East being badgered and bullied by the LTTE even after the ceasefire was declared, while the leadership in its inaptitude, twiddled its thumbs as their brethren continued to be victims of hundreds of murders, extortion, assault, robbery and chased out of their homes and villages.

Although, Mr. Hakeem signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the LTTE and was even a member of the Government delegation at the abandoned peace talks, nothing was done to alleviate the suffering of the Muslims in the East who carry deep scars of LTTE barbarism.

That Eastern Muslims had trust and confidence in President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga was evidenced from the fact that the founder of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress that late A. H. M. Ashraff was a senior member of the People's Alliance Cabinet of Ministers and stood stoic by it in those days of turbulence, caused by the sabotaging of the devolution proposals by the UNP.

At a news conference last Friday, called to announce the Agreement, which was signed in the presence of none other than President Kumaratunga, former UNF Deputy Minister A. L. M. Athaulla was quoted saying that his group would be contesting Batticaloa, Digamadulla, Wanni and Trincomalee Districts on the UPFA ticket.

While this alignment would put paid to the hope in some Muslim circles of forming what is called a grand Muslim alliance to contest the April 2 poll, what has prompted the Athaulla faction's decision should be taken into account. First and foremost among these is the visible failure of the UNF regime to secure vital Muslim interests in particularly the North-East, despite launching the peace process and having had a series of talks with the LTTE. For instance, the violation of Muslim rights in the East and the continuous harassment of Muslim civilians at the hands of the LTTE, have been continuously glossed over or have been ignored by the main parties to the talks.

Those several rounds of peace talks were, of course, attended by the SLMC leader and Minister Rauff Hakeem, but apparently, no effort had been made to promote the Muslim cause. It is this visible failure to address the issue of Muslim rights which triggered the demand among Muslims for a separate Muslim delegation at the peace talks. There is some substance in this demand because we have had a case of a "minority" turning oppressor against the other Tamil-speaking minorities in the East in particular. Separate SLMC-LTTE agreements have failed to produce any results.

The sad truth is that the Government failed to secure the cooperation of the LTTE to safeguard the Muslims and their interests. In fact, this is one of the reasons which prompted the President to take over the Defence Ministry. Justice needed to be meted out to the Muslims, they have to be protected, but the Government was not prepared to rein-in the LTTE.

Our hope is that a bolder course of action would now be launched to secure the interests of all Muslims.

Garbage into gold

Walk into the smallest grocery store in the remotest part of the country, buy virtually anything and you can be sure it will come in a shiny, see-through plastic bag. These ubiquitous plastic wrappers, called 'Sili-Sili' bags, are convenient, cheap, waterproof and weight resistant. They have become an indispensable part of our life.

But there's a catch: Almost 99 per cent of the plastic bags are non-biodegradable. In other words, they do not decay even after they are thrown away or buried. Biodegradable bags have just come to the market, but they will not gain mass circulation immediately.

In the meantime, we must come to grips with the 'Sili-Sili' issue, considering that most of our garbage is wrapped in, and actually consists of, non-decaying polythene. Using your plastic bags again and again is the simplest solution - tell the 'mudalali' or the supermarket assistant that you already have a bag. The other solution is commercial recycling.

We only have to look across the Palk Strait for a fine example of plastic recycling. Soiled plastic bags are being transformed into fashion accessories and household goods under a bold recycling scheme in New Delhi. The project, run by the Conserve environmental group, churns out handbags, file folders, shoe-racks, storage boxes, table mats and coasters.

It combines effective waste management and employment generation for a win-win solution to the plastics problem. Six hundred to 800 bags are needed to make one kilo of the raw material and a machine fuses them into plastic sheets which are turned into various products.

Environmental and local authorities in Sri Lanka must study this venture to explore the possibility of implementing a similar programme here. It will facilitate the disposal of plastic bags in an environmental-friendly manner while giving our youth a chance to earn a substantial income. The export potential of recycled products must also not be under-estimated. Other options for waste disposal such as making biomass fuel and fertiliser should also be considered.

Landfills and incinerators will not be able to cope with the rising garbage load in the future. We need more environmentally sound technologies to make better use of garbage and minimise the impact on the environment.

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