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| Sunday, 27 January 2002 |
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Letters |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Was Jesus really born on Dec. 25 - a reply Mr. A. Abdul Aziz of Negombo had written a letter "Was Jesus really born on December 25" in last Sundays Observer. He wrote that Jesus was born in August-September. So what? The present calendar was the result of the work of Pope Gregory who fixed the birth of Christ on the 25th of December AD 1. After that the years were reckoned as AD 2, AD 3 etc. The year 2002 Ad is considered as 2002 years after the birth of Jesus. The years before the birth of Jesus are reckoned as 1 BC, 2 BC, 3 BC etc and goes back to the year when the Earth was born. Nobody knows, of course when that year was! As no one knows the exact date when Jesus was born the date has been fixed arbitrarily as the 25th of December. This is for convenience sake. It has no bearing on the teaching of Jesus who Christians firmly believe as the Son of God. He died after living 33 years on Earth. He rose after three days and thus saved us from the fires of Hell. He was seen to rise from the Earth and go to Heaven. All these happenings were witnessed by several and is documented in the Bible. The origin of time no one knows, so let us stick to what we know and not squabble over things no one can put right. Eugene M. de Silva Just 50 years ago, Sri Lanka was the most economically advanced country in the Asian region. Today, it has changed sides and we are one of the most backward. But can we not resuscitate ourselves? Fifty years ago, Thailand was one of the most backward countries in this region, to cite an example. In the year 1999, they targeted to attract ten million foreign tourists to the country through an aggressive tourist promotion campaign. And mind you, they succeeded in their attempt and that number of tourists from mostly the western countries visited that country in that year. Believe it or not, this is almost half the population of entire Sri Lanka. It may sound astonishing but yet true that in the following year, i.e. 2000, their target of fifteen million foreign tourists was achieved, too. All this means money in foreign exchange and economic benefit. But what do they have to offer to foreign visitor? Hardly anything when we look at the matter from a Sri Lankan point of view. Tourists are given a sense of security and hotel facilities are provided at their best. You can walk even in a drunken stupor in a street in Bangkok, Phuket or Chiangmai or elsewhere without any threat of theft or fracas. Yes. This is a factually correct statement although it may sound strange to us here in our country. I say so only after having visited those parts and cities over there. Mark it, Thailand is about fifteen times larger than Sri Lanka. The standard of living of those people is seven times higher than that of our people. All trains there, for example, have air conditioned compartments. You can book a seat beforehand from any station with a ticket issued on the computer since they have such a computerised network like they have it on airlines. But what is it that tourists are shown and their attention attracted? Only monkeys, jungles, crocodiles, elephants, Theravada Buddhist meditation centres and snakes and snake farms! Of course, there are villages of tribal people like our Veddahs and their handicrafts. Comparatively, how much more we in Sri Lanka can offer to the foreign tourist? Over there, you do not have hilly terrain or tea estates as we find in our hill country of salubrious climatic conditions, for example. The message that I am trying to convey to our present day rulers is that we have a great potential in the tourism industry for the economic betterment of the country. The father of tourism in Sri Lanka, the late President J. R. Jayewardene, sensed it long years ago and he organised the industry in a sustainable fashion when he was the minister in charge of the subject during the premiership of Dudley Senanayake. Unfortunately, today, it has been overlooked. May the present day rulers have the sense and awareness to address their minds on this vital economic potentiality. Yes, Sirs, your late leader J. R. has already laid the foundation and you only have to construct upon it. DHARMAPALA SENARATNE Astrologers and predictions - a reply In his letter under the caption: "Astrologers and Predictions" in the Sunday Observer (Jan 8) reader K.A.W. Anuglugaha queried how come the panel of learned astrologers, who appeared on TV, made a prediction that did not come to pass. Of course, without waiting for an answer from those concerned, he ventured to point out that he had two options viz. either astrology was not an exact science, which it claims to be or that those astrologers were politically motivated to beguile the masses to cast their votes in favour of a particular political party at the hustings. Now, we were left with the simple expedient that the later proposition was more to his point. We are told that these erudite astrologers selected for the discussion, dwelt at length, on the existing planetary positions indicated as they often do, "the stars above us govern our conditions"; and, therefore, by which fact, they had come to a foregone conclusion. The polls conducted earlier too had a similar result. Perhaps was it a case of great minds jump together! Regarding the former premis that astrology in itself lacks trustworthiness - KAW's own word being "humbug" - he is at liberty to hold on to his own prejudice for an opinion can be contradicted but a prejudice never. Nevertheless, so much depends on the interpretation by the astrologers themselves. Take the celebrated case of Prince Siddhartha Gauthama, who was heir apparent to the throne of Maghada. When the Prince was born the King summoned five of his erudite astrologers to the royal palace to foretell of the Child's future. The king wanted to know whether the Son will, in due time, ascend the throne. Four of the royal astrologers, after due consideration, confirmed that He will be King. But, it was the youngest among them who claimed the Prince was destined to become a hermit! This astrologer's dissenting opinion was expressed after observation of the significant birth marks on the Infant's soles. The most imposing factor was the single lock of a curly hair, turned to the right, on the Baby's forehead. It will be of interest to readers presumably to know that when the world famous Austrian psychologist, Sigmund Freud, was born, a nurse attending on the mother to deliver the baby observed a curly hair, turned to the left, on the forehead of the new born baby. She remarked with ecstasy that the baby will be a great man! It is common knowledge that he was indeed so great a figure in the world. This story was culled by this writer from a complete biography of Sigmund Freud. Sir Isaac Newton, the world famous English mathematician, who invented the method of fluxions and began to theorize on gravitation, was also imbibed in astrology. His numerous works dealt not only with physics but also with prophecy. He once castigated a person, who debunked astrology in his presence, saying succinctly: "I know the subject, you do not!" Stanley Geevaratne , Dehiwala A panel of eminent Professors demonstrated via Rupavahini on 09.01.2002 the introduction of the new selection criterion for University admissions, namely, "the Z Score" method. This method will take effect from year 2002/2003 batch. The background and the publicity given in switching over to the new system was explained with examples. Yet, the justification of introducing this method, this time is somewhat controversial. It is to the credit of the panel that they adequately enlightened the viewers, the background under which and in the context in which the" Z Score" method emerged as the selection criterion for University Admissions. It seems with little doubt, that this method of selections by far, is the most suitable one, of course with its minor infirmities. True; no method of this nature is 100% perfect. This is no exception. The panel brought to light that the "Z score" method had been made the subject of prolonged deliberations at various forums since 1999. Nevertheless, one wonders whether or not this message went across to the most vital members concerned, the A/Level students, who sat the Exam in August 2001. Surely, these students were little aware of this fact before the examination. Hence, this method of selection is somewhat unjustifiable to be put into practice this time. The students had the right to be aware, in advance, the method according to which they will be selected to Universities. Some students have already highlighted to the Minister concerned, that students some of whom who have obtained 3A passes will be dropped while some others with lower gradings will be qualified. In this scenario, It is up to the Minister concerned and the selectors to intervene, in this regard, to see that justice is meted out to the students who have obtained 3A passes in particular at least for this year. S.S.J Fernando , Dehiwala Well played, Kumar Sangakkara! There is absolutely no doubt that with consistent performances young talented dynamic wicketkeeper/batsman Kumar Sangakkara has cemented a permanent place in both Sri Lanka's Test and one-day teams. His past performances have been praised, hailed, acclaimed and applauded by all international commentators viz..., Ravi Shasthri, Tony Greig, Martin Crow, Ramiz Raja, Barry Rcihards, Novjot Sidhu, Bruce Yardley. He possess correct technique, ideal temperament, aggressive instinct, equisite timing with strokes all around the wicket. Bruce Yardley, a former Sri Lankan coach and a past Australian cricketer when commentating has said repeatedly he loves to see Kumar Sangakkar bat. He says he is all the time exciting, trying to pile runs, penetrates the fielders and extremely stylish and is a treat to watch. His wicket keeping too has improved tremendously by heaps and bounds. Since his inclusion in our team his numerous substantial contributions made with the bat have been enormous. He has delivered when seniors failed. His present batting average is 46.17 which is increasing with each game (only Mahela Jayawardene averages slightly above him). He always scores speedily. When quick runs were needed for early declarations he has set the pace and proved his mettle. I feel that for a youngster with talent in abundance his morale has to be boosted through the local media. But it has not been the exact case. Kumar made a century by coming in at No. 3 during a Test match against India in Galle International Stadium. While wickets were falling at regular intervals at the opposite end, he held his end like a rock scoring runs as well. When he was in the eighties No. 11 walked in. Without been anxious and nervous allowed No. 11 to face even Srinath. When he got the strike he hoisted two lofty straight drives for boundaries off Srinath to complete a well deserved century. With the help of his century we were able to win the Test match. Unfortunately he was not named 'Man of the Match'. This tremendous performance was not adequately highlighted in the local newspapers, which is indeed a pity. I feel justice was not meted out to him on this instance as well. In spite of all his valuable contributions to our team, I was amazed and shocked to read a sentence from an article in a recent Sunday Observer sports feature page which had referred to Kumar Sangakkara as 'Off Colour Kumar Sangakkara'. I just cannot imagine what he had really meant. If you could kindly clarify, I would be greatly relieved. Nevertheless all cricketing public appreciate his marvellous performances and are proud of this talented cricketer who has proved his capabilities beyond any doubt. Well played Kumar Sangakkara. You are an asset to our national side. Our blessings are with you to further blossom your cricketing talents to make our country a great cricketing nation. Sunil Thenabadu, Mt. Lavinia We thank Mr. Rauff Hakeem as the Minister for Muslim Religious Affairs for over-ruling the decision of the Grand Mosque Committee to hold the Eid Festival on Monday even though the moon was sighted on Saturday and the festival should have been on Sunday. We muslims are fed up with the attitude of the members of the Grand Mosque Committee. It seems these committee members are more bent on making a show of their importance than follow Islam correctly. They drag the announcement of the correct festival date even though they receive information (and vouched by the area Ulemas) that the new moon has been sighted. Since this high-handed attitude by the Grand Mosque Committee will continue. we muslims request Mr. Hakeem to arrange for the announcement of the festival by his Ministry also. This he could do by appointing a committee of Ulemas (responsible to the Ministry) during the last few days of Ramazan to decide on the sighting of the new moon. The general public could also be requested to inform this committee when the new moon is sighted. Mr. Hakeem we do look forward to your serious consideration to this suggestion. MOHAMED AZAM, Rajagiriya. It was wonderful to read that the Colombo city will soon get a modernised abattoir equipment with the support of a foreign consultancy in Netherlands (Sunday Observer December 16, 2002). We laud the Mayor of Colombo for taking this decision. Enough has been written on the suffering of poor hapless creatures who undergo unspeakable agony in order to give their flesh for human consumption. Any religious leader would have prohibited the consumption of meat of animals slaughtered in such a pitiful manner. Lets hope that this will be a step in the right direction in realising that animals have much right to live and die in dignity as humans. We also appeal from the authorities to seal the slaughterhouses by the roadside and next to bus stops. (such as the one opposite Liberty Plaza, Colpetty and at Pettah and Slave Island). Please spare the bus travellers who have to watch lorry loads of chicken pulled out from their cages in dozens with their legs tied cruelly by a wire, and then dragged along the ground to the slaughter house. AHIMSA, Kelaniya. |
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