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Put peace above partisan politics

The morale of most Sri Lankans is likely to rise on hearing President Kumaratunga reiterate that the government is committed to working out a negotiated peace settlement. She also said in Moneragala where she made this pronouncement, that she was pledged to this course "even at the cost of her life."

We need to remember while reflecting on these things that the President has risked her life in the cause of peace long before this. The LTTE considered her commitment to peace some years ago as a serious threat to their agenda of exercising authoritarian control and overwhelming power over the Tamil people. This accounted for the LTTE's attempt on the President's life on the eve of the 1999 Presidential poll, which brought grave harm to one of her eyes.

The country needs to take heart from this self-sacrificial act of the President. It is a measure of how committed she is to resolving the conflict by peaceful means besides epitomising her courage in the face of challenges.

We urge the President to continue in this spirit of self-sacrifice and courage to bring peace to our wounded land. As the President observed, the majority of Lankans are on the side of peace. Accordingly, she will have the fullest support of the people in her onward march to peace. It is most unfortunate that the UNP should back out of the peace effort at this juncture, but we urge it to reconsider its decision and join the President in working out a peaceful settlement.

We also urge the UNP to consider the fact that it is putting back the hands of time and substantially undermining the gains made so far in the peace exercise. The donor community is not going to wait indefinitely while Lanka's politicians remain mired in their habitual squabbling and mutual undermining. Time is of the essence. We need to give concrete proof of our commitment to peace.

It seems as if decades of pain and suffering are yet to bring wisdom and insight to some of our politicians. They have seen how partisan politics have aggravated the ethnic conflict and prolonged Lanka's suffering. Yet, they refuse to understand and learn. Why can't the opposition comprehend what is so crystal clear? We call on the UNP to put the future of Lanka above partisan political gain.

An eye for beauty

Beauty, they say, is in the eye of the beholder. Someone who is deemed beautiful by one individual may appear ugly to another. Now, there are so many contests that purport to select the most beautiful woman from a given number of women. They are held country-wise, regionally and internationally.

Women are not alone. The beauty stakes have spread to the other sex as well, the objective being selecting the most handsome man from a given group.

Beauty contests like Miss World have long been ridiculed and attacked as degrading, especially by women's groups. Some argue that Western-style beauty contests with swimsuit parades et al demean women and reduce them to mere showpieces. They say beauty pageants are immoral and indecent.

On the other hand, some are inclined to argue that it reinforces the radiant beauty of women and allows them to shine on the (world) stage. Even in a culturally conscious country like ours, beauty pageants are a regular fixture at Avurudu festivals though they go by the name of "Panchakalyani" contests. The idea is choosing the 'complete woman' who has the longest hair, the most beautiful eyes, the most attractive face etc.

We pen these lines after reading an agency report from China, where beauty contests are reported to have become a new symbol of freedom and openness. Even before China officially lifted a ban on beauty contests last year, they took place in disguised forms. Since the official endorsement, a pageant craze has swept the country.

China is hosting Miss World and other competitions are mushrooming: ranging from Miss Health and Beauty and the New Silk Road model pageant to more bizarre ones like Miss Ugly and Miss Plastic Surgery.

China's rulers earlier saw beauty contests as bourgeois and decadent. Now people regard their return as another sign of the country's loosening of social controls and waning political interference.

Most Chinese view beauty pageants as harmless entertainment, but some argue that their popularisation is in fact curtailing women's fight for equality. One researcher has concluded that Chinese people were increasingly preoccupied with women's looks.

This generally holds true for other countries as well. Women's groups often complain that beautiful women are used in advertisements in a degrading manner. They see frequent beauty contests as an extension of this trend. The emphasis on physical perfection could reinforce sexism and those who do not consider themselves pretty could suffer from lower self-esteem. In any case, we will not be able to resist the temptation of turning on the telly to watch the latest beauty contest from some corner of the globe. Who can deny that we have "eye for beauty" in our very genes?

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