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Morning Spice by Ginger The police, according to a weekend newspaper, had conducted some lightning raids in Borella and taken some 30 suspects into custody. Now places in Colombo north provide the best Tiger hunting grounds other than Colombo 6. But the Tiger tends to shift ground once it senses someone is on its trail, it looks for safe places where the hunter would never imagine he would be hiding. So there may be a shift of terrorists from places like Kotahena or rather 'Kotihena', as one of Ginger's colleagues aptly called it, to suburbs like Nugegoda, Maharagama or even places in the city like Kirulapone and other parts of Colombo 5, where there are tenants and small homes. We, unfortunately, have countrymen who will sell their souls for a mess of pottage. The other day Ginger read of a soldier selling a hand grenade to a terrorist for a mere Rs. 1,500. Perhaps this was one of the most reprehensible acts of treason to come to light in recent times. In the meantime, reports of transformers being blown up and other acts of sabotage are getting a little too frequent for comfort. It also shows that our intelligence network needs bolstering. Perhaps this is one section of the police that may have to recruit more personnel if the south is to be spared the horrors of terrorism in the near future. Aspirin and strokes Doctors feel that chances of recovery are much greater if you can get to hospital within three hours of developing symptoms of stroke. They are 1) Sudden and severe headaches without reason, 2) Loss of vision in one eye. Difficulty in articulation, dizzyness or sudden loss of balance and lastly, the numbness on one side of the face or a limb or one side of the body. Nike's exploitation The consumers of California are claiming compensation from Nike. They have taken objection to the fact that Nike has not revealed the time conditions of employment for the thousands of Asian workers associated with Nike. They claim that almost 450,000 workers toil in unsavoury and hazardous conditions and that they have bought products which they would not have had they known the conditions that prevailed in the places that made them. Some wag had read GST to stand for 'gona saha thanakola'. It seems rather appropriate if 'gona' should represent the consumer and 'thanakola' his food. The theme behind the introduction of GST was that it should represent a tax on the consumption of goods and services and hence the consumer has to be targeted. Indeed, there should have been a proper appreciation and distinction made between vulgar consumerism/consumption and consumption to keep one's heart beating without having to anxiously watch the bill ticking! Prices soaring on man's basic and essential need for existence, namely a square meal, is the last straw! If the GST is to restrain and restrict man on spending on his basic need to inhale and exhale, the exercise is counter-productive. The designers of this scheme do not appear to have examined the broader issues, its implications, its intricacies and the possible fall-out on an already harassed consumer. If as claimed, GST has replaced the turn-over tax, why is it that those establishments that has not charged TT earlier now include GST? For instance a leading vegetarian restaurant in Colombo had a flat-rate of Rs. 40/ for a meal of rice and curry earlier. Their other products on sale like cordials also did not qualify for TT although GST is charged now. With the introduction of GST, it had taken the opportunity of jacking up its meal price to Rs. 45/ but the bill does not indicate GST although the increase was ostensibly for that purpose. Now, this meal is nothing extra-ordinary and only serves to satisfy the hunger of a middle-class person. The price actually should have reflected reduction considering that the items which go with it such as rice, coconuts, dhal, potato and onions etc are all exempt from GST. The situation could be quite different in a star class hotel or other elitist place where TT was always charged. What has happened presumably is that this particular vegetarian restaurant is caught up in another condition in the scheme where its total value of the annual turn-over exceeds Rs. 1.8 million rupees. If that be so, to say that GST is a replacement of TT would be a contradiction in terms. So, to find a place for his meals which is exempt from GST, the average man has to "switch loyalties" and perhaps contend with an unhygienic, smelly place for his meals or, in respect of other commodities, go to 'poky' boutiques disregarding any guarantee of quality or freshness. Sound advice if it will not lead to health problems necessitating medication and drugs with GST added or a second visit elsewhere for a better quality to replace the junk already purchased. The limit of Rs. 1.8 million a year turnover for application of GST means a turnover of Rs. 150,000/ per month. Any grocery or pharmacy worth talking about will have this volume of business and GST will invariably be charged. Where then does the consumer stand in all this tangle? Whereas a lens implant (eye) cost Rs. 3000/ earlier, it now costs Rs. 3375/. A poor man who had received a donation and was awaiting an operation in early June, is now faced with the prospect of begging for the additional Rs. 375/. In all these schemes, is there no compunction for the poor man? Can he find such items in a small shop the annual turnover of which is less than Rs. 1.8 million a year? All schemes are bound to fail if implementational aspects are not properly in place. There is no organised consumer resistance in this country and it would be most unfair to expect people to find solutions themselves. Indeed, it would be wishful thinking if traders are expected to play ball even in passing the benefit of the reduction from 18 percent to 12,5 percent in respect of some commodities. No amount of press publicity is going to solve this problem for the exploited consumer. Government institutions such as the Department of Inland Revenue, the Department of Internal Trade, the Prices Commission and other relevant bodies should get together and evolve a method to monitor and streamline the implementational aspects and to bring to book errant traders. To expect consumers to call for GST Vouchers, question traders and get into problems is definitely not the answer. Such gratuitous advice only serves to pass the buck and do nothing! To come back to the 'gona' - while the 'gona' is tied firmly to the post, the 'thanakola' bundle is made to recede further and further from its reach and the eventual fate of the 'gona' can be best imagined than described. The advice and solutions offered have the effect of rubbing salt on a festering wound. I. P. C. Mendis Perched on the horn and picking the ear Some members of the LSSP should take a lesson or two from the BJP government in India which despite its extreme views on some aspects and unambiguous declarations in its manifesto, is consciously deviating from avowed intentions in a bid to keep the government together and satisfy the electorate generally, in a situation of a coalition government. The situation is similar in Sri Lanka. A one-seat majority for the PA government cannot be considered a mandate for the full manifesto to be implemented. There is no doubt that the PA government is being sustained by minority parties. One of the main pledges in the manifesto was to abolish the Executive Presidency. Yet, despite the hue and cry to keep the pledge, can it be done? - unless, of course, the PA consciously takes a suicidal course. President Kumaratunga is able to carry the government with her precisely due to the Executive Presidency. If it was abolished, the government would have fallen long ago, and that was precisely the motive behind the UNP offering a two-third majority to do so. As at present, even if the government falls, an alternative government will have to work under a PA President with strong executive powers. One is entitled to ask - was there an unequivocal mandate to abolish the Executive Presidency or to implement the PA manifesto? There was no popular will of the people as claimed. The populace that voted the PA into power even with a wafer-thin majority is entitled to ask of those rebelling inside the PA openly - was there a mandate for you to shake the very edifice that was built by the ballot? The answer is an emphatic No! The pledges in the PA manifesto have to be adjusted in terms of the given situation. What is the percentage vote which the LSSP or the Left/collectively contributed to the PA victory for it to coerce the government to do it their way? 'Deconstruction and Reconstruction' of government is being talked about. What are the new faces proposed to be brought in? President Kumara-tunga as others before her faces the same problems of capacity and may be corruption. Hence, can she be blamed for taking the reins and acting on her perceptions? Things have to move fast and results shown. Certain elements within the PA say the President must go. Can they name someone as charismatic to take over? In the same breadth it is contended that thay do not want the people to lose to the UNP and therefore, the LSSP will contest the provincial elections under the PA 'but be outspoken that the government at the top is corrupt.' Indeed, the surest way of losing to the UNP. There is no need to do it at the provincial elections. The damage has already been done even to the extent of expressing views to inimical forces. About the July strikers - one can understand the plight some of them are in as the prime movers of that abortive and most unfortunate strike which misled workers in a suicidal mission and even led some of them to manifest the character of the mission in committing suicide. There were types in the LSSP who by their very actions embarrassed and contributed to the down-fall of the 1956 government of Prime Minister SWRDB, the 1960 government of Mrs. Bandaranaike, the coalition of 1964 and the coalition of 1970 (prior to the break-up) only to eventually bring the UNP back to power and terrorise the coalition supporters. The LSSP Hierarchy was helpless with hot-heads. One is reminded of the way the UNP through its JSS gave full and unstinted support to the general strike of 1977 to bring down the government of Mrs. Bandaranaike. History is repeating itself - the UNP cannot hope for a better ally and the anti-UNP forces a worse enemy in some members of the LSSP. An apt description of the situation would be to use a Sinhala epithet - Perched on the horn and picking the ear. Of course, not all in the LSSP can be branded as such. I. P. C. Mendis Declare Assets before the electorate It should be possible to purge from the main political power areas the dishonesty, corruption and other malpractices, which have been rampant and caused social and economic havoc in our country for a long time. It is too expensive for the public purse and also time consuming to get once in a way a big "fish" caught and exposed while good many suspected persons escape in the judicial or quasi-judicial processing adopted in inquiries where in the shields of fundamental, human and other rights are available to accused persons. Therefore, it is necessary to adopt some stern and preventive measures by means of the necessary legislation. What is now required is for the public to initiate a campaign to get through laws, which will enable the shutting out, at the very entry stage itself to our legislative assemblies, unscrupulous and mischievous persons, who will make hay while the sun shines and thereby meet their selfish desires. While we hold in high esteem some politicians who were really committed to the well-being of the population at large, the curse of the nation has been due to the underhand operations of some political adventurers, who have manoeuvred themselves to positions of pomp and power to feather their nests and those of their relations and cronies. In the circumstances, it is hereby proposed that there should be a mandatory requirement for every candidate seeking nomination to parliament and provincial and local government Councils to declare in some summary form the assets of the candidate and those of his/her family members. The Returning officer should be required to publish the data in the summary form when he publishes the nomination lists. Further, every member should be able with impunity to exercise his/her vote in the assembly concerned in accord with his/her conscience and not be bound his/ her party fiat. Such procedure will be disincentive to political parties to oppose proposals for the overall public good or to adopt obstructive and dilatory tactics. It has to be emphasised that unless the above measures, or other suitably stern and preventive provisions are adopted, the people of Sri Lanka will never secure, in adequate numbers, the desired quality parliamentarians and councillors for the other legislative assemblies, who will be so dedicated as to subordinate their private interests to the interests of the nation as a whole. The writer submits the proposals above for the cogitation of all straight thinking people. In this regard it would be desirable that there should not be any procrastination. Which would result in the continuation of the agony of the people. The challenge has to be faced now itself. The independent media are kindly solicited to give the necessary publicity constantly and also offer observations with a view to having the enabling legislation passed before the nominations in respect of the next elections. D. Kuruneru, The postal dispute and the Postmaster General The trade union action launched by the postal workers led by the UPTO, which dragged on for over six weeks, was forced to be abandoned, through the use of Emergency Regulations, declaring Post and Telecommunication as Essential Services. The Minister of Labour, in a press release, after P and T were declared essential services has stated that the PMG cannot be removed merely on the demand of a trade union, but if the union forwards any complaints against the PMG, they will be investigated into. The Minister's statement-apparently had the concurrence of the cabinet of ministers. It is, however, surprising that the Presidential Secretariat and the Ministry of Posts, Telecom and the Media, had failed to inform the cabinet secretary, that there were complaints against the PMG over discrimination, favouritism, mismanagement, inefficiency and corrupt practices lying in cold storage without being investigated into. It is understood that the UPTO had forwarded charges against the PMG. In fact I have forwarded several complaints the receipt of which have been duly acknowledged by the Presidential Secretariat and the Ministry of Posts, some of them dating over a year back, which complaints have not been inquired into up-to-date. If any one of those allegations are proved it would be enough to move out the PMG. There, are at least two instances where PMG were moved out in the past, one complaints made by the UPTO. The complaints were not made public and no union agitation became necessary as the ministry of P and T acted promptly. The PMG being a public servant, complaints against her should be inquired into, as complaints against other public servants are inquired into and necessary actions should be taken if found guilty. On the other hand, since the PMG is in a transferable service, moving her out of the post is not a problem. Upali S. Jayasekera, |
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