Morning Spice by Ginger
A little bit of alertness

The other day something Ginger saw struck him as a bit strange though the chances are that Ginger was wrong and over suspicious. At least for once he hopes he was wrong. It was just a day after the police had informed the public that a new type of bomb was being transported to the city inside a cassette radio that gave a warning of the impending blast and asking the public to vacate the area if within its specified range. A blind gentleman with the white cane got in. He was carrying a knap sack like object that appeared to contain some object that was flat and rectangular.

That was not the main reason that worried Ginger. The passengers and the conductor very kindly found a seat for him and he made a request that he be dropped off at a certain point. When he was arriving at his destination he got up from his seat timing it all too well for instinct to have guided him. Then he walked up to the conductor and asked him how far he was from his halt. The conductor told him he was right there. The timing was just too good but Ginger could be terribly wrong. Anyway what I am trying to get at is that a little more alertness on the part of bus conductors and three wheeler drivers would do no harm.

General Nguyen
General or demented sadist. His dastardly act of course helped a photographer win the Pulitzer prize. General Nguyen Loan had shot a prisoner of war who was tied hand and foot at point blank range and had not shown the slightest bit of remorse. He passed away unmourned in his home in Washington.

Loan died of cancer and when he shot that prisoner he was the head of the national police in Vietnam. The short tempered General had said that he did it because his junior officers had flatly refused to carry out the execution. Naturally he had to flee Vietnam and seek refuge in America.

Drinking and western civilisation
They say the behaviour of a person who is drunk can shock those around that individual. Most people avoid even close friends who appear to have had one too many. Westerners in particular may not be too pleased to learn that they cannot afford to look down their noses at those who drink because a Professor of Medicine at Havard University has come to the conclusion that drinking has had much to do with the progress of Western civilisation over the centuries.

His conclusion was based more on surmise than recorded fact. He says that because of the lack of good drinking water in the bigger cities of Europe many of its more prominent thinkers and scientists drank alcohol and throughout western civilization drink would have influenced the normal state of mind of many thinkers.

Tea plantations - from frying pan to fire

This is a prime tea growing area of the country and at first Messrs C. I. C. were involved with the management of these estates in the Maturata valley of the Nuwara Eliya district.

Thereafter ETF, became owners of this plantation management company for which the ETF invested billions of rupees of public funds. As ETF had no clue to plantation management, they permitted the previous managing agent to continue.

In the meantime this managing agent appointed an accountant as the chief executive officer. Unlike many plantation management companies, which have accountants with plantation management experience as CEO's, this accountant's experience was confined to National Livestock Development Board.

The plantation management companies with proper management skills and back-ground are performing very well for they know what they are about, as compared to this plantation management company on the Maturata valley.

The NLDB Accountant/CEO therefore thought of helping his ex-boss at NLDB and gave him employment as manufacturing consultant, although his knowledge is confined to cattle manure and curd of the NLDB. Furthermore this NLDB chairman of yesteryear is well past his retiring age and mentally and physically not as good as his more than 'British Accent'.

It must be recorded his former NLDB Chairmen and NLDB Accountant who are running amok due to ignorance as plantation management were themselves shown the door at the NLDB for obvious reasons sometime ago.

The undermentioned are some of their achievements which were detrimental to the tea industry in Sri Lanka, whilst squandering ETF/Public funds due to their incompetency:

(a) Double standards/favouritism;

(b) No proper policies laid down-only policy circulars that also compiled from TRI circular for five years so far,

(c) Agricultural advisers and visiting agents reports not sent to the Superintendents of these estate visited for his personal perusal and necessary attention, as done by all plantation management companies;

(d) No Supdt's meetings held where all Superintendents are asked to be present, as the CEO is incompetent to answer queries raised, at such forums;

(e) The Superintendent of the highest profit making estate, is being forced to retire at 55 years, because his knowledge is more than that of the CEO and that of the former NLDB chairman, who is paid Rs. 50,000 a month for doing nothing, other than to bring in their failed methods of incompetency of NLDB to plantation company, by curtailing the enthusiasm of the working planter, and the planter who is capable;

(f) The internal auditor is a glorified accounts clerk with no accounting experience or qualifications and is permitted to resort to any irregularity with the knowledge and permission of this CEO. Furthermore he is the only internal auditor in the plantation management companies to be given a 4-wheel drive, although he lives and works in Colombo, mainly for illegal favours done to the CEO.

The purpose of this letter is to bring to light, now some square pegs in round holes' are running the tea industry. The ETF Chairman and CIC Chairman appear to be mislead by this CEO or both are too blind to see. The golden shareholder is asleep as usual or not interested for obvious reasons.

As ETF funds are public funds, the President should appoint an impartial, unbiased body to probe the activities of this managing agent of Maturata Plantations, who are on temporary assignment at present.

Tea Planter

Death trap at Kadawatha

Kadawatha is a congested suburban town.

Everybody uses this narrow highway to attend to their day to day business. Buses and lorries especially intercity express buses try to pass this town at break neck speed. During the last few months there were frequent accidents including a death of a pedestrian who tried to cross the road.

Numerous school children in the early morning and afternoon find it rather difficult in crossing the road, since these yellow coloured crossings have been erased by the frequently passing traffic. As they are not visible many drivers use it as an excuse to speed up without caring for the pedestrians who try to cross the road. In the absence of crossing lines pedestrians use every inch of the road to cross from Kadawatha Police Station to the CTB Depot obstructing the passing traffic on both ways, especially during the busy hours.

Even the police find it difficult controlling the pedestrians crossing in the absence of crossing lines. Though the Road Development Authority drew the yellow strips upto Mahara from Colombo side after an accident caused the death of a young factory girl at Gala Junction, it has not taken any notice to beyond Mahara. May be waiting for another death, they are to mark the crossing lines in the town.

Earlier there were four crossings along this narrow stretch of road and now there aren't any.

May this letter draw the attention of our Minister Mr. A. H. M. Fowzie, who is in-charge of road development, to take action.

P. Q. S. Perera,
Kadawatha

A broken promise

About two years ago the owners of properties that were to be acquired for the construction of the 'Marine Drive' were given a solemn undertaking that compensation at the then current market value would be paid immediately, in cash, to enable the owners to re-construct the buildings and parapet walls damaged in carrying out the road building project.

The owners readily agreed, in the public interest, and none resorted to court action to delay the project, and most of the owners obtained Bank Loans to renovate the damaged buildings and parapet walls in the hope of repaying the said loans with the compensation received in cash.

But, alas, all their hopes have been dashed; as the compensation is to be paid in bonds, non-encashable for a period of 10 years.

In consequence most of the owners are in dire financial straits due to their inability to repay the loans.

In the circumstances the Government should in order to honour the undertaking given by notices published in the press, make provisions to enable the owners to encash their bonds, at a reasonable discount, with the Banks or in the alternative pay a higher percentage of cash in settlement of the compensation, so as to relieve the owners from financial embarassment.

A decade is a long time, in the life of a man, and it has been said, by an eminent economist, that in the long run we will all be dead, the owners of the lands acquired not excepted.

Pro-Bono-Publico

No-confidence motion and Tamil parties in Parliament

To any observer of present day politics the position taken by the Tamil political parties appear to be crafty. This letter is not written to challenge the stand taken at the time of voting.

As political parties observing democratic principles they had every right to oppose the motion of no-confidence. No person in his proper senses will try to decry their stand. What intrigues a person is. Why they opposed it.

Their speakers in Parliament did not speak on the allegations made against the Minister barring a passing reference by one of the speakers.

What the speakers stressed was that the Minister went out of his way to restore the telephone facilities in the Jaffna District spending lot of money and also took great pains in restoring the Jaffna Library.

These are normal duties of a Minister. If that be the case Ministers like General Ratwatte deserve more praise. The no confidence motion has nothing to do with the restoration of the telephone facilities in Jaffna.

Then the question arises what was the stand taken by the Jaffna MPs actual reason for their stand in the No-confidence motion?

To an impartial observer there was a hidden reason for this. It will be recalled that when the Sinhala Commission published its interim report he was the one and only Cabinet Minister who openly said that the report deserved to be dumped in the Dust Bin. The Minister was also a champion of the Sudu Nelum Movement. These are the only reasons why the Tamil MPs unhesitatingly opposed the motion. Now the Tamil MPs could go to Jaffna even without security.

The Tamil MPs should realise that by accepting Minister's statement regarding the Sinhala Commission Report they have indirectly contributed to driving the last nail into the Package coffin.

Not a political humbug
Matale.

Answer to peace process

I read with considerable interest and sometimes with fear the contributions made by war correspondents and those who exclusively describe the disturbing situations in the North and East. They are very descriptive with facts and figures, but with constant digs at the government and the defence authorities they disturb the morale of the sons and daughters of Sri Lanka who are bravely defending the country and its people.

What I wish to suggest is that these gentlemen get together, share their knowledge and experience and present to the govt. and the defence services their plan for a negotiated settlement or an alternative. I think it's futile being incessantly critical and continuously attacking without positive objectives.

With the volumes they have written over these many years they should have collected adequate information and experience to set up a proposal that will bring peace to our motherland.

Another area I wish to stretch into connects with all the Tamil people who are not involved in the war in the North and East. My appeal to them is to collectively submit an appeal to Velupillai Prabhakaran to desist from bombing and destroying sacred places of worship, public and private property and killing innocent civilians which include women and children,

These destructive bomb blasts have been going on regularly in various parts of the country to include the Anuradhapura sacred area and its devotees, the Central Bank, the Galadari and Hilton hotels and Twin Towers, train travellers, pedestrians in crowded bazaars and the Dalada Maligawa to name a few.

These Tamil people, much loved citizens of Sri Lanka, must realise the seriousness of these escalating massacres of people and property and get moving fast with an appeal to cease this carnage.

My fear and many share this fear with me is that a backlash will erupt one day very soon, and then hell will be let loose with large scale bloodshed in a direct Tamil and Sinhala clash among civilians.

We do not want all this to happen - we want sanity to prevail for our peace and peace for our children.

Wake up you fine gentlemen and ladies and hasten your appeal to Prabhakaran and his people to spare the places of worship and the innocent civilians and children.

Senior Citizen,
Dehiwela.

The long-awaited Hospital Sweep

I motivated the inauguration of the above sweep in my first letter to the press under the caption "A sweep to help Kydney patients" and was published in your daily on 3/9/1996, and was glad to read in the news that the new Minister of Health, Nimal Siripala de Silva got cracking and requested the National Lotteries Board, to include this sweep in their weekly Lotteries.

This was started just two weeks ago and the first ticket was sold to the President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumara-tunga, the daughter of S. W. R. D. Bandara-naike who in 1956 when he was swept into power, focusing his heart and soul for the benefit of the masses, started this Hospital Sweep. At that time it was only 50 cents. But sad to say that after his assassination, this also died a natural death.

Now that this sweep is in operation, I would like to make an appeal to the Minister to open up a special ward in the National Hospital and with the weekly income accruing from the sale of sweeps, which a percentage is set aside for the hospitals, import all the necessary surgical equipment so that all the kydney and heart transplant patients get the required treatment here, instead of begging for relief to go abroad. We have reputed surgeons who will go all out to perform these operations here, and save the lives of these patients.

Cutty Felsinger,
Dehiwela.

Democracy and P C Election

Political leaders and others have condemned that postponing Provincial Council election is a gross violation of democracy. In theory it may be so but not in practice because there is no democracy in Sri Lanka.

All the government institutions are full of corruption and completely defunct. If Provincial Council election is held it will not make any difference other than new members and sitting members would be elected.

Provincial Councils are a big burden to the country. It is a white elephant. They are a pest thrown upon people and serve no useful purpose at all other than paving the way to squander public funds.

People curse the man who embraced this virulent pestilence and forcefully communicated to people. The person concerned was none other than one of  he former President i.e. J. R. Jayewardene. He too embraced this pest through fear and under preasure of Indian government which directly supported Tamil Tigers i.e. LTTE.

It is most strange and ironical that the so called political leaders who opposed Provincial Council system at the time this pest was communicated to this country, are now have solemnly embraced the curse. This is nothing but hypocrisy.

Democracy is delivered not through Provincial Councils or other local bodies but by the state institutions or government departments. Today all these institutions are completely defunct and full of corruption.

Hence there is no violation of democracy caused by postponing Provincial Council election and it would not cause any damage or disadvantage to people.

Actually the time has come to abolish not only Provincial Councils but also other local bodies such as Municipal Councils, Urban Councils, Pradeseeya Sabhas and even the Parliament. This is evident from what is happening in such institutions. They have ruined the whole country during the past 42 years of independence.

The need of the hour is too a national hero who would deliver the nation from the hands of those who are in power today and those who are struggling to capture power.

H. B. Herath,
Kandy.

Uplift poor Buddhists instead of erecting Ran Veta

I don't know how and when this practice of erecting 'Ran Veta' encircling bo trees in temple premises came to be. But one thing clear, that it has caught up and every temple that can collect the necessary funds would certainly like to erect one. Today one could find ran veta more in temples that attract crowds due to the presence of devalas of various gods to whom people pray for favours, protection etc.

Archaeological finds prove that ancient kings have made golden statues of the Buddha. Late President Premadasa covered the roof of the Dalada Maligawa with copper tiles and the Mahanayaka of Malwatta donated a golden tray worth about Rs. 500,000 to the Maligawa. All this is said to be done due to sadha, the faith in the religion, but in practical terms, how much closer do we get to nibbana by making such offerings.

Today it is not difficult to find the funds to erect ran veta because there are enough people who have amassed wealth through illegal means such as drug peddling, illicit liquor etc. who only want to earn a name as social workers or as danapathi.

According to a news report plans are afoot to erect a ran veta in a temple in Polonnaruwa or Polonmaruwa.

When the chief monk of a temple makes the suggestion dayakas have no alternative but to cough out the money because they need the services of the monk and would not like to displease him and because they have been made to believe that such donations will make their life more prosperous and happy in their next birth.

I believe that it is high time that our monks and all Buddhists stopped this practice of erecting ran veta or wasting money in any other way in the name of Buddhism and did something more lasting and constructive with such moneys in view of the economic situation of the country and the life led by thousands throughout the country.

To all those monks who wish to erect ran veta in their temple premises or spend colossal amounts on other building projects and the chief monks of temples with large annual incomes from various sources I would humbly make the following appeal for their earnest consideration.

Our monks often accuse certain Christian/Catholics groups of converting poor Buddhists in remote economically backward villages by offering money and various other gifts.

The stark truth is that for these poor people finding solutions to their immediate problems such as feeding themselves and their children, finding shelter and clothing, educating their children etc. are more important than offering flowers and incense at a temple or attaining nibbana some innumerable kalpas hence.

So they are easily tempted to accept whatever worthy gifts they get and would not mind being converted to any religion because to the poor existing below poverty line what religion they follow and who provides their needs are immaterial. To them the religion is a mere label and it makes no difference whether they wear the cross or the navaguna vala.

To my knowledge no monk who laments about these conversions has so far done anything to contain the trend. Hence I appeal to them to utilise the vast amounts needed for erecting ran veta or for other projects and/or part of the annual income of the temples to provide relief to the poor Buddhists and save them and their children from being proselytised.

This is a challenge that monks should take up if they are really interested in poor Buddhists and in Buddhism itself.

This, I believe, is in keeping with the Buddha's advice to the monks, ''Caratha bhikkhave carikan bahujana hitaya bahujana sukhaya'' etc.

S. Abeywickrama
Nugegoda.