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Morning Spice by
Ginger Ginger could be prejudiced when he comments on the subject. He likes his puff and his tot though he is in control of his tot. On the other hand, he is a pathetic slave to tobacco. That however is not the main issue. What concerns is the proposal to ban the advertising of alcohol products and cigarettes through the media from next year. Many other countries have adopted a similar policy. Will it work or will it be a risky gamble? Different countries have varying view points on the subject. Some are rather sanguine about the benefits of banning ads. They feel that the blurring of such ads from the mental vision of the product would lessen ones interest and so be less likely to want to buy it. In other words out of mind out of sight. The purpose behind advertising cigarettes is normally more as a competitive strategy than to induce more people to drink or smoke. Now Holland, for instance, is far more liberal about the sale of drugs because it feels that if you ban something and send it underground this can lead to more young ones taking to it just for kicks. This could increase the crime rate. Such decisions must be given very careful thought. After all you can take a horse to water but you can't make it drink as the old saying goes. Barbaric atrocity Dozens of letter bombs were being sent during the season by an extremist right wing group. A letter bomb was even sent to the step-mother of the Interior Minister who was inclined to be liberal minded on immigration matters. Fortunately the letter never reached her. It was sent back to the return address and the manager was suspicious about it so he sent for the police. An officer was slightly injured while trying to defuse it.. Radioactive hope What they do is to give a radio active injection into the breast. The advantage in this technique is that they can spot the first node that is likely to turn malignant and then remove only that node. If the node is benign then the others need not be touched. Public must know how their money is used A Sunday newspaper published an article spotlighting some straggering fraudulent practices done with donations to the Dalada Maligawa by foreigners and local Buddhist benefactors. The president had directed the Secretary to the Treasury to hold a broad-based inquiry. As a consequence, the Minister for Buddha Sasana Affairs, Lakshman Jayakody, had held a preliminary inquiry. The same newspaper reported later that the Minister's preliminary inquiry had revealed glaring irregularities and malpractices. The minister had sent the report to the President. The President is reported to have asked the minister to send copies of the inquiry findings to the Diyavadana Nilame and the two primates of Asgiriya and Malwatte. On receipt of their responses the President was to decide what legal steps should be taken. The B.B.C. Sinhala Service (Sandesaya), had also given wide publicity to the Ravaya report. They even gave the Diyawadana Nilame a chance to make his observations and comments on the same programme. The Diyawadana Nilame dismissed the allegations saying: "This is all mudslinging". Part of the Dalada Maligawa was devastated in a terrorist bomb attack. The Diyawadana Nilame called for public donations for reconstruction work. Several bank accounts were opened. Many thousands of rupees by way of public donations started pouring in. The President's fund and all types of public and private donations were activated to meet the expenses of the repairs. A railway security officer told me that a sum of Rs. 178 is being deducted from the paysheets of all railway officers and employees irrespective of their religion without obtaining their consent for the deduction. The recoveries are for donation to the Dalada Maligawa for repair work. Many Buddhist officers and employees in various government departments, and the private sector have sent in handsome cash donations. Some banks and similar bodies have donated large sums of money. Therefore it will be seen that when the public are called to finance the repairs to the Dalada Maligawa they have a right to know that their money will not be misused. Any newspaper anxious to see that public monies are not misused is perfectly justified in publishing the findings of the ministerial report on allegations of irregularities and fraudulence. The Mahanayakas as well as the Diyawadana Nilame should be anxious to show their honesty and clear any shadows of doubt. Therefore, they should welcome the probe as the best way of clearing their good name. But what do we find? The Mahanayakas who are also custodians of the temple have gone into a huff, and denounced the President for initiating a probe and allowing the findings to be published. They have also boycotted the sittings of the committee which directs, guides, and supervises the repair work. These tactics will fool no one. Before this they went into a huff over some imaginary greivances and boycotted the supreme advisory council of the B.M. ministry. That proved to be a damp squib. They threatend to withdraw support for the devolution package. It has not got them anywhere. They denounced the revival of the Bhikkuni Sasana and wrote to the President not to recognise it. They are the arch monopolists and casteists of the sasana. Anything that touches on their monopolies will bring awkward responses from them. They, as custodians of the Tooth Relic along with the Diyawadana Nilame were caught napping when security barriers were dismantled giving free access to terrorists to devastate the Dalada Maligawa. Where public donations are solicited and collected, the public have a right to know that their money is not misused. D. Amarasiri Weeraratne, I was at the bedside of my grandson, named Shehan, at the Kalutara, Nagoda General Hospital on June 10, when he breathe his last 90 long minutes after his admission at 4.35 p.m. with serious injuries. He had been knocked down by a reckless driver of a jeep, about 1/2 k.m. off Kalutara, around 4.15 p.m. When the boy was on his way for his tuition. Two young boys brought this message to us and my wife and I rushed to the hospital. We were there minutes after his admission. The boy, just 13 years old, lay on a bed just outside the accident ward of the hospital, being examined by a Junior House Officer. The boy appeared to be semi conscious and was making loud appeals for help "Uncle mawa beira ganda" was his repeated cry. The boy was in pain but no tangible effort was being made to ease his suffering. Why wasn't a senior officer or the surgeon summoned immediately to attend on the little suffering boy? Then I saw the boy being taken to the X-ray room. I walked up and enquired why he was being kept out for over 15 minutes. The answer was the X-ray technician was not available". The boy was brought back to the open space outside the accident ward without any X-ray taken. Aren't accident wards kept ready round the clock? The male nurse suggested immediate blood transfusion and transfer the boy to the ICU. My daughter volunteered to donate blood to save her only child. But the learned doctor just brushed aside the frantic appeals of the nurse, the mother and the suffering boy. After about 90 minutes the doctor decided to shift him to the ICU. And before the boy could be wheeled in to the ICU, he passed away. The agony of the parents did not end there. The hospital authorities said that the body could be released only the following morning after a post mortem examination and inquest. The body could not be taken to the mortuary as there was a nasty stench, probably emanating from dead bodies there as the refrigerator was not functioning. We had to bring in large bars of ice to cover the body fully lest decomposition sets in. The JMO was not available the next morning and we were asked to bring another from Panadura. Finally the body was released at noon the following day. A few months ago my son too had an accident off Beruwela, when the car he was driving crashed into to on a coconut tree. He was bleeding profusely and the police despatched him to the Beruwela Hospital. Considering the serious condition the patient was in he was immediately transferred to the same Kalutara, Nagoda General Hospital. His wife, mother and I followed the boy to the hospital. We found the boy lying in a pool of blood. His wife appealed to the doctor to do something to arrest the flow of blood. The learned doctor would not listen to her. The patient was screaming in pain, appealing to all those around him to look after his two children in his anxiety and fear of passing away. The pressure was dropping when the pressure was read. The doctor, despite all weeping and wailing, shouts of agony, said he would take the patient to the operating theatre at 9.30 p.m. almost four hours later. Convinced that his life was in danger we hired an ambulance and shifted him to a private hospital in Colombo, against medical advice, of course. An emergency operation was carried out there his life was saved. Wouldn't Nugoda have claimed yet another life had we not taken timely action to shift him? Let the authorities take immediate action to prevent further losses. We have lost our darling grandson. Let not other mothers suffer the same fate. F. R. Ragel A letter in 'The Island' on traffic congestion in Nugegoda mentions the local authority as the Kotte U.C. The Nugegoda junction towards Kohuwela and the Raymond Road area comes under the Dehiwela-Mt. Lavinia municipal authority. While supporting the views expressed by the writer I wish to touch upon certain salient points he has missed. I myself am a life long resident of the area not far away from the garage. I remember the days we vehemently objected to the setting up of a garage when we first saw signs of its erection. Writing and Telephone messages have fallen on deaf ears of corrupt officers. The result is a grave traffic problem in the area as the town has become a major commercial area. The writer has overlooked the fact that the garage is in operation on both road fronts. It has a permanent ramp on the High Level Road for fixing exhaust pipes by the garage manufacturers. Lorries and bus repairs are also done on the road side which is the pedestrians way. During rush hour period and school closing time, children and those leading them, have to go through thick traffic on the road, and parked vans. These school vans are on the road from 7.30 a.m. until schools close for the day. All what the police say is that they ease the traffic at each junction during rush period. They are yet to be seen taking decisive action to ease ever-congested traffic problems on the main highway. The Superintendent of Police, Nugegoda Division, should take account of the readers' views seriously as it appears that he has not kept in touch with the precarious traffic situation in the Nugegoda area and some of the problems that cause traffic hold-ups. A. Gunasekera, Can PVC food wrappers cause cancer? It is indeed gratifying to note that there is at least one head of department in the country who has the sense of duty and responsibility to respond to the concerns of the public. By this I mean the response by the Director General of the Sri-Lanka Standards Institute in the form of a letter written by him to The Island, published on 9/5/98 on the subject of food wrappers made of PVC. The public concern is due to the fact that PVC is a carcinogenic (a substance that produces cancer in humans) in spite of which wrappers made of this material are used not used not only to wrap food like cakes in supermarkets but also bags made out of a thinner material are used to pour hot curries into at the innumerable takeout places throughout the country. The so called lunch sheet on to which the vendors blow exhaled air from their mouth before placing food like rice and curry is also made of the same thin material. The pungent smell of some plastic shopping bags may indicate that they do not conform to any specifications written by the Standards Bureau or that no such standards are available making it a field day for the manufacturers. In addition to the above concerns I have expressed, I have four questions to ask the Director General of the Sri-Lanka Standards Institution arising out of his letter in The Island dated 9/5/98. (1) According to the Director General of the Sri-Lanka Standards Institute, a restriction of 1 mg. of vinyl chloride monomer per kg. of material used for packaging of food is imposed but the British standards have imposed a further restriction that the material must not transfer to foods with which it may come in contact any quantity of vinyl chloride exceeding 0.01 mg. per kg. of food. Why has this further restriction not been imposed by the Sri-Lanka Standards Institute? (2) Why is it that plasticized film type wraps are exempt from the above restrictions when they are used very extensively in this country to contain food including liquid food in bags made out of this plastic? (3) Are all these plastics biodegradable meaning that they will disintegrate in about six months time while in contact with earth? (4) Has the Standards Institute made sure that the manufacturers of these plastics comply with the Sri Lanka Standards? L. Jayasooriya, Introducing capital punishment I fully endorse all what Capt. L. P. Juriansz has said in his letter to The Island of 18/5/98. The time is most opportune to press home the introduction of capital punishment. Minister of Education, Richard Pathirana, too, has fearlessly stood up for this urgent cause when precious lives, who could be the next leaders of our country are done to death for no apparent reason. It may be of value if a letter of mine published in "The Island", 11 years ago (20/5/87) dealing with this very burning subject be republished throwing light at the utter callousness of our law makers who have turned a deaf ear since then. Customs Intelligence Chief W. D. Amarapala's cold-blooded murder will soon be a by gone story as several such crimes are committed almost daily in Sri Lanka. I wonder whether the punishment meted out to criminals of this diabolic nature fit the crime. Not until S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike's assassination did the previous government think of reintroducing the death penalty. But merely introducing laws serves no purpose unless it is followed to the hilt. Death penalty to the criminal is a big joke now, and we too are well aware that cold-blooded murderers when sentenced to death never faced capital punishment since 1977. Instead, they are commuted to life imprisonment and that too is reduced from time to time for various reasons until they are released from prison after a short period. And now, the worst form of crime has raised its ugly head and soon this 'demi-paradise' will turn into a paradise for criminals where peace loving and law abiding citizen will have to grin and bear. For the general good of all, let's hope that the government will introduce stringent laws for the kidnapping of little children, rape and for premeditated murders of the type we have just witnessed. If there is a dearth of hangmen why not abolish this prmitive method and introduce the electric chair? D. Weerasooriya, We have not yet seen any public statement from G. G. Ponnambalam (Jnr.), condemning the dastardly act of the murder of Mrs. S. Yogeswaran, the first lady major of Jaffna. Being a person who is well known for expressing views on matters affecting the welfare of the Tamil community, he ought to indicate without delay which side he is on - the side of the cowardly killers or the side of the peace-loving ordinary citizens. In one of the statements attributed to a spokesman of a Tamil political party, the assassins of Mrs. Yogeswaran have been referred to as the 'boys'. Is it considered a playful prank by the 'boys'? Or does the spokesman consider Mrs. Yogeswaran as a collaborator of the enemies of the Tamils. Doesn't the spokesman agree that basic standards of civilized society demand that no one has a right to kill other people for engaging in politics? Therefore in the statement, shouldn't the spokesman have appealed to all citizens in Jaffna in particular, to help the law enforcement agencies to round up the assassins? It is clear from reports published in the media that this particular killing has earned the wrath of most Tamils, particularly those living in Jaffna. Their innocent hopes of making a fresh start in civilian administration have been dashed by this bunch of gun-toting criminals. The LTTE has apparently come the full circle. They started their shameful violent career by killing the then major Alfred Duraiappa. One genuinely hopes that Mrs. Yogeswaran's death was not in vain, and this will be the last such killing, and that this act will prove to be a suicidal step for the so called liberators. P. B. Dolawatta, Commendable service by sports club youth There were buses running between Maharagama and Sikuradapola (route No. 296), in the past, this route was later extended upto Kottawa and the buses from Kottawa to Maharagama via Sikuradapola and Rathmaldeniya were operated to the satisfaction of all concerned for sometime. We observed how the number of buses gradually increased during election time including a Kotahena bound bus as well. All of a sudden, they vanished one by one, letting the large number of passengers who used to travel in these buses fall from the frying pan into the fire. For a period of six months there was no bus (private or public) for the benefit of the people in this area. Many people walked a long distance up to a main junction. In the meantime, the private bus owner's complaint was that their buses were running at a loss, through this route. However, in the very recent past, a group of youngsters who are the active numbers of a sports club (Gemunu Sports Club) collected contributions from the people in the area and purchased a bus. This bus now runs from Moraketiya to Sikuradapola covering a distance of about 4 km because it is the people of the area who are inconvenienced due to lack of transport. There is no conductor for this bus but the passengers are willingly putting their bus-fare (some, even more that that) into the charity box in the bus. I think the youngsters in this sports club have proved their mettle by setting an example to unscrupulous bus owners whose grievances were that their buses ran at a loss, in the past. At a time like this, when money has, become "be all and end all" of life, the peoples' contributions towards public welfare is very commendable. It is a tragedy that the politicians have neglected this route where there are a large number of passengers. R. Somasiri, When art is in abstract form the grasping of its meaning could be difficult at times, and it is he, who creates such an art who knows best what each stroke of colour means. Also, the possibility is there for 10 viewers to see the same thing in 10 different ways. What one may see as worthless may have a significant meaning for another. The same is true with Chanda Kinnarie which is being currently run on the 5th circuit. In a recent TV interview, the director of this movie, who has to his credit another two unusual television dramas in the past, has explained that Chanda Kinnarie is based on a common social struggle which he tries to tell in abstract form. However, it seems that the message he strives to give out with much obscurity throughout the film has been explicitly unfolded in its first few frames, leaving no room for intrigue as intended by him. What ensues after that seems an incoherent rambling, to end up in an uneasy cautioning by the actress that the whole audience is watching their next move-a fitting finale indeed. However, if one is disappointed that their money's worth is not there, the rare chance of seeing the naked backside of Hemasiri Liyanage is apt to compensate it —Rs. 50 is not a dear price for that! Manil Gunawardene, In this letter I would like to turn the spotlight on how these buses are used and the ruses adopted to cheat the public as far as the fare is concerned. I make pointed reference to the semi-luxury buses starting from the Pettah bus stand bound for Negombo. There are unusual things happening at this place. Firstly, when commuters have been waiting in a long queue for more than an hour, semi-luxury buses are sent one after another without using ordinary buses. The time-keepers expect to clear the long queue of tired commuters in this manner. Secondly, the semi-luxury buses come to this stand at times already crowded. The conductor/ driver take in passengers "on the way". The taking in of passengers should start at the bus stand. At times these buses come alongside the queue fully or partly crowded. Pandemonium breaks out: there is running and racing. I do not see anything connected with luxury in this type of tearing hurry. Some fall headlong with their bag and baggage and it is possible that some others, could miss the bus, forever! Another important point I would like to bring up for the urgent attention of the authorities responsible is the fact that the fare chargeable to places in between (the termini) varies from one conductor to another, some conductors are careful to refer to a chart and the fare is charged accordingly. Some others charge the same fare as upto the terminus. This is downright fraud. They turn rude when the error is pointed out. I would therefore like to make this public plea that someone in the higher echelons of the SLTB should look into these irregularities and take urgent remedial action for the benefit of the commuters. Reggie Perera, |
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