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Morning Spice by Ginger In a country where human beings have become automations it is nice to hear that a human being here has made a robot that serves a very useful function. This individual according to a press report is supposed to have invented a robot that can climb coconut trees, select the ripe ones and pluck them. Now this would be quite a boon for the small holder as he does not have a regular work force and is exploited by the plucker. Besides he can't set the date for plucking as he wants. Now how much encouragement is this enterprising inventor going to get. Once the feasibility, efficiency and the cost as compared with engaging a plucker over a long period are ascertained who will help him to get the product patented if no identical robot has not been invented here. Are there any export possibilities where other coconut producing countries are concerned. In this country the failure to get many schemes off the ground is due to the fact that the inventor is squeezed out when it comes to equity. There should be a law passed that once a company is formed for the promotion of such projects no matter how big it gets and what its scope is that the inventor gets at least one third of the shares and shall be a director of the firm. Ulcers His telling you that you need not worry too much about ulcers is because a recent research has discovered that those who have duodenal ulcers near the stomach in the small intestines are fourty percent less likely to get stomach cancer than any one else. So make sure you get your ulcer only in the right place. Crime rise She was one of 41 girls who came to a sleepy coastline town in France. She was sharing a room with five other students when a man came into the room raped and then killed. The police did not take long to pick up the killer. Though there is no death penalty in France the residents of that village wished they were allowed to impose it themselves. This showed a collective attitude to crime. We need the same in-built repugnance to such crimes here as well. Muslim Congress is a political party I was taken by surprise by your editorial in ‘The Island’ of June 15. This follows the news item reporting minorities want the government to have peace talks with the LTTE. I cannot speak on behalf of the Tamil people but to include the Muslims into this is a serious error and can create unnecessary prejudice against the Muslims. Muslim Congress is not a Muslim Party but a Political Party. They cannot pretend to represent the Muslims as they had appointed a non-Muslim as nominated member to Parliament. Even Sinhalese were nominated to contest under the flag of the Muslim Congress. It is neither a national party nor a party representing the Muslims of Sri Lanka. Therefore, every time Muslim Congress utters any thing, the press reports it as representation by the Muslim Community. It is this type of reporting that has created incidents in places like Galagedera, Madige, Welimada, and Kadawatha. You are aware that the All Ceylon Muslim League throughout the sitting of the All Party Conference from 1984 and after have always stood for District Councils as the unit for devolution. We have submitted memorandums before all the parliamentary commissions. We have rejected any set up of Muslim council or establishment of any Sultanates. This fact must be placed before the Sinhala readers. We are well aware that Prabhakaran does not want any dialogue with the Muslims. If he wanted any dialogue he would not have sent away the Muslims from the Jaffna peninsula or Mannar. He would not have carried out the massacre at Kattankudy or Eravur inside the Mosque, when the Muslims were at prayer or even the shoot out at the Akkaraipattu Mosque. Any one who calls for dialogue with the LTTE and peace talks at this moment cannot be normal. It is far better to call back the army and send them home rather than make them targets. If the Tamil groups are confident that Prabhakaran is ready for peace, then let them call on him to lay down his arms and sit at the table. A. L. M. Hashim The Daily News editorial on the above subject published on 28th of May was outrageously insolent to the London Sri Lankans and their unrelenting and determined effort to get the LTTE banned as a terrorist outfit in the UK. It was not so long ago that an LTTE propagandist was found at the top of the Rupavahini and then booted out. It will not be a surprise to me, if the LTTE have succeeded in planting their propagandists within the Daily News. This will explain the apparent contradiction in first giving publicity to the London March, and then later denigrating it. It will also explain the editorial vituperation by The Daily News against the anti-LTTE expatriate Sri Lankans for the second time. One had also to laugh at the naivete of the editorial writer in calling our High Commissioner "to take punitive action against the miscreants", who dared to use the words "Tamil Terror". As others have already commented on this supposedly offensive words, I shall not pile on the agony. As I do know personally most of the organisers, I can tell this editorial writer that unlike the denizens within Lake House, those Londoners are no lapdogs of politicians or their appointees. They do not stand on ceremony nor fawn at the foot of politicians. They are independent minded persons determined to pursue the LTTE to the bitter end, no matter what government is in power in Colombo, and who mans our High Commission in London. It is the High Commissioner who needs their help and not the other way round. That is why the present perspective High Commissioner was complimentary towards the marchers. Could The Daily News editor tell us what punitive action he had in mind? Can I suggest to him the famous Tower of London. It is empty, and our Londoners would be happy to spend the summer months there. It will give them the unique opportunity to tell the thousands of tourists who visit that place about the naked terrorism of the LTTE in Sri Lanka. As for any other punishment, it is the poor High Commissioner who will get the marching orders to go and take a running jump in the Thames!! Where was this editorial writer when the LTTE has been telling the world that they and their Tamil subjects are being oppressed by the racist Sinhalese? Remember the words of our Tamil Foreign Minister when he took office? He had to publicly debunk this LTTE propaganda by saying that the Sinhalese were not racists to make the world take notice. The editor's effort to reverse this, is a dismal aberration deserving outright condemnation. Indeed, traitors, we do have them! The sole motivating force behind our men/women in London is simply the genuine feeling for their country. They will agree to a man the sentiments in Klange der Haimat, ihr weckt mir das Sehnen (Sounds of my Homeland, you fill me with yearning). Such genuine sentiments are perhaps unknown in the corridors of Lake House!! Durand Appuhamy, Devastation from nuclear explosions Our great neighbour, India, Home of the Buddha, the great Pacifist and savant of peace - has not only exploded experimentally a set of devastating nuclear devices but also consequently and quite unintentionally set off a global onrush of criticism, charges and counter charges along with some expressions of praise and appreciation too. The Western powers - the creators and perpetrators of nuclear explosives are thoroughly perturbed that a technologically lesser recognised Asian country has acquired nuclear capability and creative ability which they thought only they could acquire. The fact that, India is now pushing on for admittance to their exclusive nuclear club is not a pleasant prospect for those already in command of it. India, of course gives the excuse that her achievement is only for technological and defence purposes and not for any aggression - which may not hold water in the long run especially in relation to the developing - scenario of inter state pride and suspicion and conflict. It is a fact that inter state cameraderie and interaction is a mere superficiality in the context of their competitive rat race for economic and industrial supremacy and political hegemony. Whatever the assumptions and pronouncements are, for or against the Indian achievement, it is worthwhile pondering over a re-assessment of the first atomic devastation at Hiroshima/ Nagasaki and also of the after effects of the Chernobyl holocaust. In February 1988, I had the opportunity of perusing an article by Stephanie Cooke, the one time managing editor of "nucleomics week and nuclear fuel" - reproduced in the local media. As explained therein, one could easily visualise the vast and limitless holocaust that would - descend upon the world and humanity if and when the nuclear reactor - storage complexes are released purposely or even accidentally. Ms Cooke's well researched analysis throws ample light on the risk possibilities of a world holocaust that could be caused by the major world powers who possess the so called nuclear industries. Whatever political, economic or ethnic rifts and differences these particular powers have against each other, they are united among themselves in maintaining the secrecy of their nuclear industries, so much so, that it appears they have pledged themselves to conceal from the ordinary people, the magnitude of the destructive power of their nuclear instruments and devices of annihilation. The Buddha and other founders of religions have prophesied that those who take up arms will be annihilated by their own arms. That is why they preached the policy of moderation in everything, concerning life and the living and the ways and means of living. The technological and scientific skills misdirected and misused so long can yet be harnessed for the uplift and betterment of mankind. Otherwise, all of us - the founders and perpetrators of destruction and the large lot of the innocent people who have no truck whatsoever with such destructive warfare - would all perish enmasse, for the very air we breathe now has become poisonous because the majority of us have poison in our hearts and minds. That is why we should even now earnestly think of a return to the path of righteousness or - religion as they call it and thus eject the poison we have in us and amongst us. R. M. A. B.
Dassanayake, Farewell gifts to retiring principals There is a circular letter written to the parent of every boy attending St. Thomas' College, Mt. Lavinia, requesting a donation towards a gift to the Warden of St. Thomas' on his retirement at the end of this month. The letter is signed by the sub-Warden and Head Master of the school, and as such ceases to be a request for a voluntary contribution. The letter says inter alia "Please give this request your best effort." Indeed the two signatories to the letter makes it a virtual order which the parent is compelled to respond, for fear that his son could be penalised if he does not adequately comply. This is highly immoral and irregular method of extraction of monies from parents who are faced today with rising costs of school fees, tuition fees and the general sky-rocketing cost of living. It would be pertinent to find out whether demands of this nature have the authority of the board of governors of this esteemed institution. If not, immediate steps should be taken to make it a rule and strictures should be imposed on them. I am reliably informed that the board of governors, headed by the Bishop of Colombo has amply compensated the Warden of St. Thomas' for his services in both cash and kind and there is no need for any further harassment of parents in this fashion. Indeed there is a strong case for the Department of Education to ban any similar demands made by any school authority in Sri Lanka from parents who have to fork out monies at the will and pleasure of school Principals. Equally, parents as a body should defy this sort of demand from whichever school it comes from. In an age when bribery and corruption are rampant, this circular to parents of the present day Thomians falls dangerously into the same category and should be condemned by one and all. S. L. de Soysa, In his article on politics and religion [‘The Island’ June 13] Stanley Jayaweera makes the profound discovery that politics and religion are poles apart. That, of course, is what every schoolboy knows. That eminent politician Disraeli, destined to become one of Britain's foremost statesman, had said that "in politics consistency is the virtue of fools" Jayaweera goes further. Says he "most of them were plain liars and hypocrites, interested only in power and that religion and politics were as far apart as Heaven was from the Earth." To sit in judgement over a person, whether a president, politician or ordinary citizen as to what extent his/her way of life is touched by religion is a task demanding a high degree of impartiality, integrity and virtue. This, sadly, is totally lacking in Jayaweera's vicious, personal, frontal attack on how much of a good Buddhist the President is. The subtle condemnation itself violates two noble cardinal features of Buddhism namely tolerance and compassion. It is significant that he does not say how much of a good Buddhist is Ranil, Leader of the Opposition. The omission, if it be not due to amnesia, reveals how much partisan politically tainted is Jayaweera's thinking. The reality is that by and large most persons wear religious labels and do not live the life that their religion demands. A sensible, relevant feature in his article is the reference to the noble Mahatma Gandhi who Jayaweera rightly says, did "demonstrate in his life the moral scruples which form the core of every religion". I am an ardent admirer of Mahatma Gandhi since my boyhood days. The fragrant memory of just getting a glimpse of this politician saint, at a special assembly at my alma mater Trinity College Kandy several decades ago still lingers in my mind. It is therefore, according to the fitness of things to conclude this brief statement with a quote of what the Mahatmaji wrote in ‘Young India’, September 24, 1925. It goes thus. "It is faith that steers us through stormy seas, faith that moves mountains and faith that jumps across the ocean. That faith is nothing but a living wide — awake consciousness of God within. He who has achieved that faith wants nothing". T. C. I. Ekanayake The birds they twitter and awaken the sleeping world. Marie J. O'Neil Bribery and corruption seems to
have no interruption. The leaned Don saw to the law
teeth, an uphill task A retired SC judge heads the august
commission Vacancy arisen with the demise of
Siva Selliah remains forever Sensing the trouble, the first lady
transferred her out What about the people charged with
bribery and corruption? When the man-made rules baffle the
rulers, it's a corrosion Can this august body be converted
to a platform S. T.Aleckman, |
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