I was amused to read in the Opinion page of "The Island" of October 9 that, as President Chandrika Kumaratunga had the trauma of seeing her father assassinated when she was a child, and then her husband assassinated as a wife and herself escaped death miraculously in an LTTE suicidal bomb attack, people could decide as to who had sacrificed most for the sake of the nation...

The Oxford Dictionary gives the meaning of the word sacrifice as "l a. the act of giving up something valued for the sake of something else more important or worthy, b.a thing given up in this way; 2 a. the slaughter of an animal or person or the surrender of a possession as an offering to a deity...."

Thus, it is quite clear that, although she must have had to undergo great pain of mind over the incidents mentioned, by no means did she "give up something for the sake of something more important" to qualify for "having sacrificed most for the sake of the nation".

Some of the things she did "sacrifice" for the sake of the nation are 1. building a multimillion swimming pool in Temple Trees, 2. refurbishing the President’s House which cost the nation over fifty million rupees, 3. going ahead with the building of palace for the President reported to cost over six hundred million rupees, and.

From this, it will be clear as to who made the sacrifice - the President or the nation?
W. R. de Silva
Dehiwela