Can't you just do "apt-get remove modest" or "apt-get purge modest"? Or dpkg -r/-P modest?

Modest, I suspect, doesn't need to be uninstalled, but I'm all for people having the ability to remove the programs preinstalled on their device.

I've been contemplating this myself. I wouldn't mind uninstalling Modest and replacing it with one of the mail clients available in the repos. I personally don't feel that strongly about it, but people who do may as well be given the ability.