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Morning Spice by
Ginger Ginger was wondering what form of advertising was the most effective press, radio or TV I wonder whether the agencies here have made a real study of the response the advertiser has got as a result of advertising through all forms of media. One thing that must be said of press and radio advertising is that they seem less inane and abstruse than some of the TV ads. Many TV ads for some reason or other do not seem to carry any selling impact. In other words there is no hard sell in the ad. The essence of good advertising lies in driving a point home and this fact many agencies all over the world seem to have missed. Another blunder that sellers make here is not following up an ad with a proper distribution campaign. A classic case in point was the recent ad of a mosquito coil and the offer of two extra coils free with the purchase of every box. Ginger went to two places and was told that they would possibly get the new boxes once their existing stock was over. Now with an ad like that the seller should have withdrawn existing stock or given a separate coil to be given with every old box sold. A disappointed customer could well lose faith in the product and switch over to another brand in total disgust. Prostate ailments The later theory was that benign growths were best left alone if you had passed a certain age. Now there is a remedy that obviates the need for surgery or drugs if you are suffering from enlarged benign prostate. The latest technique is to zap the gland with microwaves to knock off extra tissue. Considerate motorists When calm prevails once again and rationality comes into your thinking you have to admit that all traffic must come to a standstill if they are not to splash the pedestrian. In other words 'the fault lies not with the driving but in the laying of the road.' The bricks that you want to hurl at the motorist would serve a better purpose if you toss them at those who repair road surfaces. UNP - Tiger talks -a treacherous act The UNP's insistence on unconditional talks with trrorists appears to be quite alarming. In this context, let me quote the first para of the headline news item on the front page of the Sunday Island of 13.9.98, rgarding talks with the LTTE: 'The UNP and TULF yesterday said that Friday's attack at Nallur, Jaffna, was a clear signal to the government that it should resume unconditional negotiations with the LTTE. Senior spokesmen for the UNP and TULF said that the attack clearly demonstrates there would not be any peace without bringing the LTTE back to negotiations''. One can understand the servility of the TULF inspite of most of their leaders being massacred (including the last two mayors of Jaffna) by the LTTE, the militant arm it created in the 1970s. The TULF sowed the wind and is now reaping the whirlwind. Its inability to condemn its own offspring is the height of spinelessness. It is sickening to say the least. But it is understandable in a sense, because they are all birds of a feather, all Eelamists. But, what is beyond comprehension is the attitude of the UNP. Its senior spokesman, Tyronne Fernando, says that: ''... the government must listen to reason before more people die in violence..'' (and have unconditional talks with the Tigers). What shocks the majority of people in this country and especially the Sinhalese, is this totally anti-social attitude of the UNP leadership. One wonders whether this is the same UNP that was led by great patriots of the calibre of D.S. and Dudley Senanayake and had in its fold, those honest and purposeful leaders like Gamani Jayasuriya and Lalith Athulathmudali. Those great leaders must be turning in their graves at the antics of the present set of spineless opportunists who are arrogant enough to imagine that they are destined to lead the country. Does the UNP leadership realise the idiocy of its demand for unconditional talks with a group of murderers who, amongst other things, have blasted the holiest of Buddhist shrines, the Sri Dalada Maligawa, and massacred thousands of innocent people as well as tens of thousands of members of the armed forces, who today, are sacrificing their precious lives to eliminate this scourge. Have they forgotten that several of their leaders too were blasted to bits by this gang of criminals? Who gave a mandate to the UNP leadership to talk to a bunch of killers? Certainly not the people of this country. Maybe they got a mandate from the British High Commission, Liam Fox, International Alert and the World Council of Churches. But then they should realise we are no longer under the colonial jackboot. The tophat and tailcoat era is long gone. Playing politics with terrorism is a dirty and traitorous game. The UNP should realise the gravity of such a diabolical demand. They should take a cue from President Bill Clinton, who acted emphatically in the face of terrorism against his country and his people. If the UNP thinks it can win elections by exploiting the suffering of the nation being torn apart by terrorists, it had better think twice. If it thinks it can ignore the aspirations of the Sinhala people and simply ride on support of the Western world, church backed NGOs and the cocktail circuit 'peace-mongers' as well as the minority vote, it had better say goodbye to politics. One cannot ignore the 75% Sinhalese in this country and get anywhere. And thankfully, the Sinhalese, at last, are awakening to their plight. The LTTE has to be militarily crushed and no political group or any other group has a mandate to think otherwise. Today, the PA government, in spite of its infamous 'package', is thankfully going ahead with its military operations to crush the Tiger, and the people fully support the forces and Gen. Anuruddha Ratwatte in their valiant endeavour in the Wanni. Granted, there are many setbacks, bombs and landmines on this tortuous road to success. But the whole country is hopeful that our valiant troops will win the war and crush the criminals. Any conditional or unconditional 'peace-talks' will only help stymie the military operations. It will demoralise the forces and help resurrect the enemy. It will, more than anything else, legitimize the enemy, who are nothing but criminals. In every country, murderers are convicted and executed. They don't hold peace talks with them. Only traitors will want to dabble with and resurrect the enemy. It is quite apparent to the general public that the UNP is playing politics and trying to fish in troubled waters. It is the height of opportunism and a betrayel of the country, in general, and the Sinhalese in particular. The people are sick of such opportunists. We are sick of spineless jokers who are only interested in power, money, Pajeros, BMWs and sending their offspring abroad, and who think this country is their grandfathers' property. When will we get an honest, dignified and far-seeing leader, who will lead this nation to peace and prosperity? 'Citizen - D' Try commuting with a few fellow travellers along the Peradeniya-Gampola road and you are sure to experience a steady flow of blasphemous curses, imprecations, profanities or just simply foul language emanating in undertones and lip-mutterings against the dilapidated condition of the road and those who have undertaken to construct it. A huge yellow board at the Peradeniya entrance to this road reads in bold letters that the Asian Development Bank woud be financing the road construction project due to be completed by July 31, 1998. July 31, 1998 has come and gone and the road is in a worse condition that it ever was. Besides, to my surprise, I found that some practical joker had changed the construction termination date to July 31 1999 with a simple stroke of a brush and some black paint. Quite amusing indeed! However, I woud like to ask the Minister Fowzie whether he is aware of the demoniacal condition of the Peradeniya-Gampola road, whether he really agreed to shift the final date for work completion from July 31 1998 to July 31 1999; whether any legal action is being contemplated by the state against the private company that defaulted on the completion of the task and wasted public funds; and who pays the additional expenses needed for another full year to complete the road - the Asian Development Bank or the public? A credible reply in these columns at least by some responsible person in the Ministry of Transport and Highways will be greatly appreciated by the helpless commuters who live along the Peradeniya-Gampola road. Fr. Oswald B. Firth Miracles - The Shadow of Doubt Recently miracles, a phenomenon, beyond the compression and understanding of man, have been reported, one from Negombo and the other from Ratmalana Catholic churches. The Church itself has not declared these as miracles as yet. One is supposed to be bleeding from a statue of Our Lady, and the other is a shadow. Mr. E. A. K. Caspersz in his letter under the caption 'The Shadow of Doubt' which appeared in your publication of Sept. 8 says. 'We Catholics accept the fact that a miracle can occur but we do so only after the Pope or his representative, after inquiry, proclaims it to be so'. I wonder whether Mr. Caspersz is aware that a pope during the period 1473-1543 excommunicated the astronomer Copernicus for saying that the earth is round and it revolves when the Church preached and held the view that the earth was flat. Subsequently the Church accepted the findings and his excommunication from the Church was withdrawn, posthumously. I refrain from further explanation. If all the miracles of God are meant to bring peace on this earth and make man to follow God, one fails to see how it could have any effect when these appear before innocent, ignorant fanatics who are brainwashed from infancy, whose faith causes hallucinations, imaginations and optical illusions. Instead of these miracles being performed before innocent people, it would have been better and more meaningful if they appear before the culprits, terrorist leaders, Mafia organisations is etc. to make them realise and believe in God. Conflicts on this earth will aggravate as population increases, when natural resources are tapped to a point of extinction for the sustenance of mankind. Land will be scarce for cultivation, so will be water and pollution of the environment. This is the prophecy every individual must accept. Unless and until firm measures, even against religious beliefs, are taken by man to curb the growth in population to a sustainable level, no miracle could work to bring peace on earth. In this respect the Catholic Church must change its stand on birth control. That's the miracle anyone could perform to bring peace and contentment. Religion is a way of disciplined life which should be followed intelligently, casting away grandmothers' beliefs and observances. Felix gui potuit rerum cognoscere causas - (happy is who have been able to understand the causes of things) - Gergil Geong 11-490. G. A. D. Sirimal Much has been written and said about the wild boar menace. Thousands of acres are not cultivated, and what is cultivated are being devastated beyond unimaginable proportions. I own fifty acres of land between Ingiriya and Bulathsinghala and have not been able to do any cultivation's profitably due to wild boar. For the last three years, two and a half acres of paddy land remain uncultivated. Last month I planted twelve acres with high quality rubber plants costing over Rs. 85,000- with borrowed money expecting to claim from the government the subsidy. But within one week 90% of it has been destroyed by wild boar and porcupines. This type of loss to the farmer is unbearable. It will be selfish only to mention about mine, but there are hundreds and thousands who have been affected, and thousands of acres of paddy and other important crops abandoned depriving the country of much needed food, while driving the helpless farmers towards bankruptcy and suicide. I contacted the Department of Wild Life last weekend though I spoke to two out of three deputy directors no one seems to give a solution to this problem. What they said was wild boar was not protected and could be shot or destroyed, but it was better for me to get clarification from the director himself. So I spoke to Mr. Jayasekera, Director of Wilf Life who was friendly and even he said the wild boar could be shot. But there are many 'buts'. 1. It's illegal to shoot in the night. I can't see any logic in what the director said because: The wild boar is a menace and a nocturnal animal and the maximum destruction is done at night, so the killing of the wild boar can be effectively done only during the night. Wild boar is not an animal which weighs a couple of ounces, but grows over 100kg, so it is a crime for the carcass to be left to rot and By selling the flesh the farmer will at least be compensated for his losses and the flesh which is delicacy is very much preferred to beef. I don't blame the director as these laws were drafted long before his tenure, and he's only a bureaucrat, pardon me if I'm wrong. I told the director that I do not own a weapon and that I could get the help of friends and relations who own weapons, but I do not want to get into a legal tangle over it. People have lodged complains at the various police stations but the depleted police forces at these stations have more important issues than controlling wild boar. I was told in the recent past, complaints were made to the Ministry of Defence, and the Chief of the Home Guards dispatched teams to counter the problem. If the wild boar problem is to be at least controlled effectively the restrictions and the disposal of this animal should be relaxed. The laws that are applicable to other animals should not apply to the boar, otherwise very soon we shall have a plague similar to that what happened in Australia with the rabbit. I'm neither a conservationist, hunter nor a wild life expert but a land owner, not a capitalist but a victim. With a little bit of common sense one should realize that there can't be restrictions if a problem of this sort is to be solved. Conservation is a must, but it should be realistic and done on some basis. Even the developed countries where conservation is at its best have legal hunting and controlling the number of animals for the benefit of humans. I hope the Ministry of Agriculture and the Department of Wild Life will take necessary steps without delay to stem this problem and show compassion to the poor farmer too, as much as to the animals. Farmer (the endangered species) A sinister group has begun a new subterfuge. A person calling himself G. A. D. Sirimal of Boralesgamuwa, has been writing quite often to 'The Island' over the past few months. He has a pet theme, that of bashing Buddhist monks. According to him, Buddhism is being destroyed by the clergy and he has taken upon himself the holy crusade of exposing monks to continuous bashing. He tries to disguise this strange but compulsive behaviour through much rhetoric on the need to protect Buddhism from such 'reactionary' forces. He ignores the fact that it were the Buddhist clergy who protected the rligion and kept it alive for 2500 years. One does not have to read between the lines to realise the kind of game he is playing. But alas, his slip is showing badly. One should never cry 'wolf'' more than once. Sirimal is so concerned about the downfall of Buddhism and all because of the Buddhist monks, according to him. In his latest soul-searching piece on the theft of archaeological treasures and destruction of monuments (''Historical sites under threat''-The Island, 11.9.98), Sirimal spins the repeating groove of his hackneyed record quite stridently. According to him, the Buddhist monks (men in yellow robes) are responsible. One wonders whether this is the latest tactic of agents of non-Buddhist institutions. This species along with those treacherous lackeys of international NGOs, are up to their tricks once again, a new approach this time. Sirimal, an obvious supporter of the 'package' is worried about the ''militant monks'' who are actually doing yeoman service to protect our country. By first bashing them, these diabolical elements may be hoping to destroy the religion itself in time. The colonials tried it for 443 years. They even executed some Buddhist monks. We somehow survived. Today's 'colonials' are trying a slightly different approach. People are getting wise to these tactics and can easily read between the lines. We do not need NGO agents to protect Buddhism, and they have no business to criticize our clergy. 'Citizen - D' |
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