Suranganie Fernando, who wrote to the Editor (DN April 17) under the caption ‘Selling paradise isle dream’ and drew attention of the Chairman Tourist Board, Renton de Alwis, about Oogling at females by male population inside Sri Lankan resorts, which she highlighted as “quite offensive, unsettling and threatening”, can at least be happy now that her valiant point through the Daily News has gained good ground.
It is evident that her suggestion has gone via the Chairman of the Tourist Board to the heights that matter and consequently the Minister of Tourism and Minister of Defence have taken swift and remedial action to re-establish the New Tourist Police Division under the theme ‘Prevent, protect and delight’.
The initial establishment of a Tourist Police in Sri Lanka was the brainchild of the late President R. Premadasa during his tenure a Prime Minister at a time when whole flood of foreign tourists swamped the golden beaches of down South of Sri Lanka. It was a phase when female, white, shapely bodies started sunbathing in the nude inside star hotel compounds and walked in G-string bikinis along the Galle Road, particularly in the Hikkaduwa area, while the odd white male muscular pieces of humanity started to scout for boys for sexual pleasure, which in turn enticed the some of the young and local folks’ eyes and turned the whole act into a pied piper scenario.
With the passage of time, the Tourist Police activities seemed to have subsided for unknown reasons. However, the latest move by the Minister of Tourism and Minister of Defence is highly commendable and certainly a step in the right direction not only to safeguard foreign tourists from unacceptable behaviour by the local men folk, but equally to preserve Sri Lankan values by ensuring that ‘white’ men and women tourists are not allowed to behave reprehensively or expose themselves indecently, for a few foreign exchange they bring to the country, which would affect our centuries old cultural and traditional values drastically. |