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Morning Spice by
Ginger There would be quite some concern over the revelation that an official of the Red Cross had been transferred from the North for allegedly transporting banned goods to uncleared areas in a SLRC van. It is all the more disconcerting to hear of such incidents as the SLRC is the only link between the government and the LTTE. Its humanitarian efforts would be sadly negated if more such reports reach the public. The acts of a few culprits could well smear the image of the whole organization and bring its bona fides into question. It is not a happy thought to know that an international organization that is held in such esteem could have within its fold, those who could stray so badly from the straight and narrow path. While there should be a little more screening of its members by the Red Cross, the government would lose little by delving into the credentials and antecedents of many of those in charge or working for some of our NGOs. What are their backgrounds. Who funds them, who are their working contacts and so forth. There is of course the frequent allegation that many of them misuse their funds. As for Ginger he wouldn’t mind it one bit if somebody is sucker enough to put money into wrong hands. That is his business but if that money goes directly or indirectly towards helping the LTTE then it is time to ask “How come?” No pleasure without pain Doctors however were not so sanguine that it would put an end to the problems of all and sundry. They discovered that these pills could be fatal in the case of those who took high nitrate based drugs. The picture worsens. Now they find that you should be cautious when taking antibiotics like Erythromicin and drugs given to bring down your pressure. All about Sriyani and Sugath I think the latter gave the correct answer when he said that for sheer class it was Aravinda but if Aravinda produced technique and authority Sanath was pure magic which other batsmen in the whole wide world could jump two feet off the ground and hit a ball over cover for six or flick it over the on side ropes without the bat moving more than a couple of inches. Not GL Jessop, Vir Richard or Weekes and they were some hitters. Reference your timely leader of 21st September 1998, on the above subject. Effective traffic control in Sri Lanka is not something that could be brought about overnight. Far-reaching changes would seem to be indicated in that respect, and, above all, road users — both vehicular and pedestrian — should be trained and disciplined in the first instance. Your suggestion that traffic policemen should be given the appropriate training for their task at the police training school seems most appropriate; the fact is that there does not seem to be an actual shortage of personnel strength in the force. It is rather a dearth of traffic-trained (I emphasise traffic-trained) personnel in the Traffic Division. In the past, it will be recalled, there used to be a course known as the IG’s Traffic Course for policemen drawn from various stations in the island. That was an intensive course, after successful completion of which a policeman was entitled to wear the Traffic Badge. Of late, however, traffic-trained policemen seem to have been replaced by scantily-trained, if not untrained, cadres in the Traffic Division and that accounts for much confusion on the highway. As regards traffic lights referred to by you, it may be pointed out that they are hardly the panacea for all traffic ills. As pointed out by the writer on an earlier occasion, indiscriminate installation of traffic lights causes more confusion on the road than orderliness. A glaring example is the Dehiwela Junction where traffic lights have been installed at the roundabout. The prohibition of heavy vehicles such as lorries and Container-Carriers at peak hours is important; but one could see them plying on the main road at those hours with impunity. In regard to the competence of drivers, it should be a conducive step if registered driving schools are standardised, to ensure that the training they offer to prospective drivers is uniform and consistent. To ensure that, instructors attached to the driving schools themselves should be tested before a licence is issued to a Driving School. Incidentally, it is presumed that there are foreign qualified officers, who used to instruct police drivers at the Police Training School, Katukurunda, who had presumably undergone special training. Their services could perhaps, be profitably availed of, to train driving instructors for the purpose of an instructor’s licence. Incidentally, the writer is personally aware of the case of a lady who, after a week of obtaining her licence, was unable to reverse the car for parking. Obviously, she had only been tested for driving forward. She did not seem to have even heard of the term “reverse-parking”. It is even doubtful whether she knew what was in the Highway Code. she did not seem to possess one either. C. S. A. Fernando Scouts job week is over. Another is far behind, and would so many others be followed by. Objectives of the scouts job week no doubt reflect the noble theme of the scouts movement. But how far has the scouts job week been able to envisage the noble profile of the scouts movement? This was displayed to me personally during the scouts job week which was just over, when a group of scouts of about thirteen years of age, from a leading boys’ national school in Kandy visited our house in search of jobs. It was a group of six scouts, to whom I asked, providing them with two ekle brooms, to sweep the small compound each taking his turn. To my astonishment, only one of them got into the assigned task, others remained reluctant to be involved in one wishing the other might join the former. A little while later, another scout seemingly having no other alternative, joined the former with the other ekle broom still lying aside ignored by the group. As they were small and I thought them better be guided by, I asked the rest to pick up the dead leaves and waste papers in the patch of grass in the compound that would make the cleaning task easier and quicker, and went inside the house to watch what was happening there. Reluctant boys who had no care of their duty were chatting and laughing, looking up trees. After a few strokes of sweep, those two involved in the task, put the ekle brooms aside as an announcement that their job was over. I came out to see the compound looked more unswept than swept. I recalled the newspaper advertisement I had read, “help the scouts with a job and pay them generously”. Wondering how to respond to the advertisement favourably with regard to this type of negligent scouts, I offered them a small gratuity expressing my dissatisfaction with their work. Spiritless polished boys, Is this the scouting? The word “scout” creates a picture in our minds of a boy with a sturdy character; full of commitments and readiness, taking challenges and helping others in times of need, maintaining unity among his peers. “Be prepared”, the motto of the scouts movement is being defamed and degraded by this kind of scouts who only wish to bear the badge and be involved in activities of social status like fun-making, mountaineering and camping, while laws of scouting; loyalty, consideration and unity, which help to build the total personality of a scout are less regarded. Scouts job week needs more attention and be operated in such a way that the work of each participant could be assessed and valued for their next promotion in scouts rank. Present job card given to the scouts seems to be incomplete having no column to write the names in, of the genuine participants of the job done. It is a defaulty through which the scouts can escape uninvolved in jobs misleading their master in charge and getting credit for themselves. Some parents have the habit of offering scouts money on sympathy; for no work just for they are school boys. This kind of precepts may possibly have bad consequences of discouraging scouts being inactive as was in the account given earlier. This should also be discouraged to avoid recurrence of mischiefs and errors possible by undutiful scouts. There is another point, which is not an inefficiency of the movement but worth of consideration to avoid instances scouts being misused by some ignorant parents by giving them hard and risky jobs like plucking coconuts. Indra Warnasooriya Madihe Pannaseeha thera has issued through the Dhamma Vijaya Foundation,a statement tracing the history of Sasana Mandala ( SM) and giving an account of its services. He has not said whether he proposes to revive SM or whether it is a reminder to the government to do so in order to achieve the aims listed. I have myself stressed in an earlierletter the need for the holding of a sanghayana collectively by monks of all nikayas ‘because 1 feel that this is the most effective way of finding solutions to the many problems and shortcomings that we laymen and the monks are faced with. The thera claims that both the clergy and the laity were pleased with the achievements of the Buddhist Council (BC) appointed in 1954-56 which conducted its affairs most efficiently although this SM failed to evolve into a permanent institution because of the defeat of the then government. However it would have been most illuminating if at least some of the achievements of the BC had been listed. The Buddhist. Commission appointed by the ACBC has made its recommendations with guidelines under which an Act of Parliament should be drafted but this has not become a reality for the last forty years. Whether this was due to the indifference and lethargy of the Buddhist hierarchy or of successive governments,is not known. Two questions arise from these facts viz, why didn’t the ACBC or more importantly the ma-hanayakas of the three sects or the MSPS take up with the governments from 1959 to date the question of presenting an Act of Parliament as recommended by the BC appointed by the ACBC and why did the monks allow the MSPS established by the monks themselves to die a natural death for there is no mention of any services rendered by the MSPS. The Ministry of Cultural Affairs established by the late PM S.W.R.D Bandaranaike was at first in charge of all Buddhist affairs as well.President Premadasa went a step further to establish a Ministry of Buddha Sasana. These two ministries have been quite rightly brought under one minister once again because Buddhism and culture are two inseparable ministries in Sri Lanka. The present government is said to have spent over Rs 1800 m. so far for the welfare of the sasana . But we laymen, probably blinded by delusion do not see any improvement in any sphere. On the contrary we have witnessed only a deterioration in the overall situation. The government. may have been mindful of the failure of the SM and the MSPS when it established the Supreme Buddhist Advisory Council (SBAC) that probably had the same or wider powers, functions and responsibilities. But what did some members of the council do? They mixed up their priorities and resigned their memberships in the council over some political issue. Thus they cut the nose to spite the face. Since then we have not heard of any meetings of the Council or any action taken by it. According to the statement the creation of unity amongst the Budd-hist public is one of the aims. But is there any disunity or conflict at all amongst the Buddhist laity on religious matters? I have yet to hear of any instance when one group of Buddhists fought against another. They go to any temple belonging to any nikaya, offer alms to any monks, would not mind monks of which nikaya come for their bana preaching, alms giving, pirith ceremony or to accept pansukula. Buddhist laity is certainly not caste conscious in religious matters. Can the same be said of the monks as well? There are a large number of temples that have extensive landed property that brings huge incomes, undisclosed amounts as donations and till collections whereas there are many temples where monks do not get even proper meals. I feel certain that if these incomes are pooled on an island wide provincial/district basis, all temples can be easily maintained without any funds from the government and other sources. A SM should look into all these aspects without limiting its writ only to a very few relatively insignificant aspects. This can be done only if the senior monks of all nikayas collectively hold a sanghayana with a broad outlook and honest intention of bringing about a true change in the present deteriorated state of the religion. Limiting the functions of the SM only to the aims listed in the statement will serve no purpose and amount only to side-stepping of all important issues. S. Abeywickraam I wish to thank you for giving your readers the pleasure of reading the very perceptive article written by Dr. Nalin de Silva in The Island of September 23 and to congratulate Dr. de Silva for the extremely relevant thoughts expressed in the article. People have been wondering why the Leader of the Opposition, Ranil Wickremesinghe, made their proposal that the Government should begin unconditional talks with the LTTE terrorists. Dr. Nalin de Silva explains the reasons very cogently. Mr. Wiskremesinghe is obviously dancing to the tune of the British and seems to be confident in coming to power by undercutting the Chandrika government with the help of the British and the numerous NGOs which are throwing a lot of money in the country with a view to destabilising it. The patriotic and national forces in this country should indeed take note of what is happening and foil the designs of these anti-national forces. All strength to people like Nalin de Silva for having the courage to expose the schemes of the subversive foreign forces and the “quisling” in our midst. K. Chandra Comment on the war against crime It is with great earnestness and high seriousness that I would venture a few brief comments in reference to those of your columnist, Ginger, on 14.9.98 on the subject of waging war against crime — as the first task of the new I.G.P. This also relates to the banner headline, “Tough legislation to combat terrorism”, and another in lower key to say, “Special Police team to stem crime increase in SP”, appearing on front page of your issue of 24.9.98. Indeed, the rising tide of crime is a recurrent theme in the national press —but everybody seems too muddle-headed to be able to offer a solution: not certainly to eliminate crime altogether, a consummation not to be attained this side of heaven or heaven or hell, but to contain it within reasonable proportions. Although Ginger’s remarks would suggest that the greater part of the blame lies with the Police, very respectfully I beg to differ. As a lawyer of some 20 years’ standing, though now confining himself mainly to the civil side, and having thought on these things from first principles for a long, long time, I am prepared to hang my black coat on the line to put the blame for the prevailing Stagflation in Crime firmly on the LAW! It would be interesting to recount here just two incidents of crime and punishment as related to me by a young acquaintance of mine from personal knowledge upon a sojourn in Kuwait a few years ago. Incident 1: Four men in broad daylight set upon a person emerging from a bank with a large withdrawal of cash, and escaped with the loot. Kuwait Police tracked down the robbers, who were taken before Court, charged, convicted, and hanged (now, hold your breath!) WITHIN 24 HOURS! Incident 2: Two young men abducted a little girl while she was at play among her mates — subjecting her to abuse. Police in this case took a little longer duration of time tracking down the culprits — 4 days — on the final day they were taken to Court, charged, convicted, and upon the punishment awarded, EXECUTED BY STONING, BROADCAST LIVE ON TELEVISION! A lady Court officer here in Sri Lanka with a like spell of life in a Middle Eastern country recently, ventured on the estimate according to her impressions gathered there that the crime rate in that part of the world was about 20% of what it is in Sri Lanka. Obviously, the severity of the punishment, and the very swiftness with which it is applied, makes it too hot for the criminal — unlike the never, never plan according to which justice for the criminal offender is administered in this country. It is said that at this very day, the Attorney-General is finding himself driven to makeshift arrangements with the recruitment of temporary state lawyers to deal with an arrear of as many as 4,000 non-summary cases! In such sunshine conditions, no wonder criminals find they can make hay! Suffice it to say that our Police themselves are second to none in the detection and discovery of crime: it is the legal establishment, in the sense of both our substantive law and legal procedures designed to complement police services in applying the deterrence of punishment, that lets the side down. The revelation that a Member of he House of Commons made in 1994 is frightening. He pointed out that of 15 million crimes recorded in 1991, only 335,000 were successfully prosecuted for conviction. This signifies a “success” rate in the punishment of crime in the very home of the English law of 2%. Can there be a more damning indictment on its inefficiency one might well ask. In my earnest view, the existing scheme of things in the criminal law must be entirely shattered, and remoulded nearer the heart’s desire, if the heightened endeavours of the Police in fighting crime are to come to aught. I would urge the Inspector General of Police, therefore, to seek the sagacious advice of the president at the very outset in his endeavours to combat the rising tide of crime. If as I have humbly ventured to point out above, the existing legal structures do not sufficiently support Police investigations of crime by enabling conviction being brought home to the guilty. S. Costa, Why no sidewalks on Borupana Road? As everyone knows the above road is used frequently by the schoolchildren, factory workers residents and most importantly by the deaf and blind school children. Whoever planned the development of this road has made a big blunder by not availing provisions for side walks. Presently people face great risks of being knockdown by highspeed motorists as they are compelled to walk between the edge of the road and the deep drain. The bylanes of Borupana Road particularly the 7th lane where manyimportant foreign investors visit their factories have to undergo an unpleasantbumpy ride, because of the so dilapidated state of the road. Although these areas are High Security Zones the street lighting systems are far from satisfactory. So we hope that the relevant authorities will attend to these shortcomings and rectify them. M. Z. M. Hilmy Appreciation It will be one year on the 2nd of October this year since our heart’s love, our beloved father, Anton Kurukulasuriya unwillingly moved away from us. The speeding away of this year on its agile wings, raises the superficial, thin layer of the ashes of mundane activity in it’s trail, thereby rekindling anew the embers of intense sorrow hidden beneath it. Throughout this past year, loving, longing memories and myriad recollections of him have incessantly entered our minds and each time inevitably with stinging pain. In this context, one tends to question the utility of life and existence. Life in itself seems to be a derelict chateau with the cold north wind, howling through it. On the other hand, optimistically looking at these three hundred and sixty five days gone by, I feel consoled that it is one year closer to our meeting, someday. On this heart wringing first anniversary of his departure, I as his child, who has known him for the longest period, cannot but help speaking of his qualities which made him a perfect father. It is said that no man is perfect, but regarding his paternal qualities, I disagree on this point for he was indeed A PERFECT FATHER. A bosom friend, a source of inspiration and guidance, someone you could confide to and have confidence in, that he would stand by you in thick and thin, in good times and in adverse ones. Hence, it is impossible for a father of such calibre to quit this world and be simply forgotten. A father like him IS immortal. In my opinion he has only shifted away from us and that too with the benign, large hearted motive of constructing a peaceful abode where all of us could be together, children once again basking in his inordinate love. Hoping against hope that this would not be mere wishful thinking. G. K. F. Kurukulasuriya |
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