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Morning Spice by
Ginger Remember the old saying that what goes up never comes down? Ginger feels it is not correct for many reasons. People who get fever, for instance, will, live with a high temperature all their lives. How is that for anti climax? In this instance Ginger is talking of prices. Will the honeymoon end? High prices and massive profits were the order of the day. Would some of the business houses have to cut down prices to keep their stocks moving? Ginger feels this is a strong possibility. When he watches TV he gets the impression that there is a bit of a lull in the consumer market for non essentials. He may be way off the mark but somehow he gets the impression that real incomes have got squeezed so badly that many a household does not have much left bare over for anything other than the essentials. There are hardly any ads of new products on TV today. Those days you would see quite a few launch ads but they seem to be getting less. Will the big concerns and super markets have to take a more realistic look at prices and profit margin or price themselves out of the market. The next six months is likely to be crucial for some concerns as the old choice of "guns or butter" comes into focus". Suicides in S. Korea The first three months of 1998 recorded a 36 per cent rise in suicides over the same period last year. Some 2300 people are supposed to have taken their own lives and of this number over 2200 had done so for economic reasons. Small wonder when over seven hundred thousand people are laid off in just three months. Breast is best Though there was an agreement in the eighties by the World Health Assembly that breast feeding substitutes should not be promoted directly to mothers they violate it by giving mothers free samples of formula, bottles or teats. What concerns observers is that once their free samples are over some mothers in Asia cannot afford the formula milk and by then mothers may have lost their ability to produce milk. One of the modernization plans Emirates has put forward for Airlanka is the change of logo. Perhaps Emirates doesn't know what this logo signifies. The coronet on top of the bird peacock denotes the 'Thripitaka' while the five feathers denote the five continents. The bird peacock has been chosen, as legend has that King Ravana of the isle Lanka kidnapped Princess Sita of India and brought her along in a vessel in the shape of a peacock which was called the 'Dandumonara'. Giving a new identity to Airlanka doesn't mean that the logo to be changed. Though nick named 'Usually Late' airline, we, Sri Lankan citizens, are proud of our national carrier. We cannot blame the airline for the sorry state it is in today, mainly due to the political bungling by successive governments throughout the 18 or so years. Airlanka has been in existence. I have travelled in many airlines but the homely, convivial atmosphere Airlanka creates in flight is yet to be experienced in any other airline. Privatization, we welcome (though amidst much controversy); but privatization doesn't mean that our national values have to be sold as well. I hope that saner counsel prevails and the Airlanka logo remains as it is. Concerned The doctors, paramedics, nurses and attendants take it in turns to strike every three months, at the Sri Jayawardenapura Hospital. The board of directors, give in to their demands, without a murmur. In fact, the opinion among the in-patients and those attending the clinics is that this hospital is administered, not by the board of directors but by the attendants, who are a law unto themselves. One would inevitably observe them parading the corridors ushering their relations and friends to the clinics, rendering the first come first serve system. Their favourite rendezvous is the dispensary where they congregrate around a dispenser who is encouraged by the fact that he has been assigned to a special counter intended to the staff only. And all the while the poor patients who report at the clinics as early as 6.00 a.m. wait in anguish until they are served. Today, with the trade unions holding the country to ransom, one is reminded of the days of S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, the father of the present President, when the standard joke was that the only thing that did not strike in the country was a safety match stick. S. Epasinghe We celebrated 50 years of Independence on February 4, 1998, from our colonial masters. Ceylon as it was then known, was pearl of the Indian Ocean, where Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims, Burghers and others lived in harmony, irrespective of caste, creed and colour. Hospitality of the Ceylonese were then known well to the outside world, people always with a smile. Never a moment was a finger pointed to each other that he was a Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim or Burgher. We lived as ''machans''. The English language helped the people to be united. Now for the last two decades the whole country is in turmoil, Innocent people men, women and children are gunned down daily by the terrorists, whether they may be Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslim or Burghers. Bombs are placed at vulnerable points, killing innocent people. Many are maimed for life. All these for what? It is good to go down memory lane in time of crisis, to find out when the rot started. Power hungry politicians whipped up communal feelings for short term gains to come to power since we gained Independence from our colonial masters in 1948. The political cry at that time was fifty fifty, Sinhala only, reasonable use of the Tamil Language, parity languages, free rice, 21 demands, rice from the moon, eight pounds cereals, employment for all unemployed graduates, unemployment allowances etc. were the slogans then. As usual the masses were gullible to these highly sensitive slogans preached by then politicians at election platforms, most of these politicians were not honest and not concerned of taking the country and its people forward for prosperity and make Sri Lanka a real paradise island. We were then far ahead of some countries in the South East Asia region. These politicians only wanted by hook or crook to come to power, having elected to form a government and subsequently they failed to deliver the goods and made a mess of everything they touched and ruined the economy of the country. All what these politicians want is power at any cost is the goal, they even will join the devil and devil's mother. People may die and the economy get ruined in the meantime, but all that is secondary to the main goal of winning power. Prior to Independence in 1948, politicians of that era spent all their own wealth fighting for Independence and upliftment of the masses and not to amass wealth in politics. All political parties that were known from post Independence up to the present day should take full responsibility for the chaos, tension and turmoil that is prevailing in our country. Many of the leaders who preached communal discord may be dead. Their bones may now be turning in their graves as to what their actions then have caused the present generation of people who have to suffer today. In addition the burden of the escalating cost of living due to the meaningless war in the North and East makes things worse. It may not be out of context to mention that Sri Lanka was one of the founding fathers of the Commonwealth, Non-Aligned Movement and SAARC the ethnic crisis has been escalating for a long time. What have these movements offered to solve in the cancerous problem that this country is facing today? Time is running out and it is up to all political parties now to rally round the democratically elected President to solve this ethnic problem once and for all for the present generation and generations to come, whether they be Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims, Burghers and others, to live peacefully again as brothers and sisters. Forget party differences in the interest of the country and win the hearts and minds of all Sri Lankans. It is only the Sri Lankans wherever they may be, all united, who can settle the ethnic crisis and preserve the sovereignty and unitary state of the country by pledging their support with the Government under the Leadership of the President. Why cannot the UNP join hands with the PA and bring about a settlement to these ethnic crisis and stop the meaningless killing of innocent people of Sri Lanka and the suffering of the displaced people in refugee camps in all parts of the country? The ethnic problem is the foremost question today in the minds of all people who love and want to live in peace in this beautiful country of Sri Lanka. F. A. Rodrigo Sathianathen, I am in the 56 area-code which on encompass the Malabe Hokandara area of Sri Lanka Telecom. This particular group of codes were relocated from the Fort exchange to the Kotte exchange between 10th and 14th March. During this brief period phones with IDD facilities with the electronic locking system were de-activated by SLT and the IDD subscribers were advised by telephone to re-activate after the transfer. During this brief period the phones were open for any insidious persons both indoors as well as from the exchange to commit a fraudulent act by making IDD calls to anywhere in the world at the expense of the telephone subscriber. I am such a victim and SLT does not want to know as they argue that I should have safeguarded by re-locking the phone. True to form SLT does not take responsibility for the lack of advance warning on this matter and for the particular fact that I was away from my residence and accordingly I was unable to receive the SLT warning and consequently no precautions could be instituted during this period. An unidentified person has taken a call on my telephone to New Zealand (6445769300) for 13.1 minutes on 14/03/98 at 0627 hours costing a total sum of Rs. 1,113.95. I am confident that the perpetrator of this fraud has done this to other subscribers as well, and if so, evidently with inside assistance. I am desirous of contacting such victims with the idea of grouping and making a valid claim from SLT and requesting them to institute an immediate criminal investigation at their expense to bring the offender to book. Anula Perera, |
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