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| Sunday, 18 August 2002 |
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Letters |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Please forward your letters to [email protected] in plain text format within the e-mail message, since as a policy we do not open any attachments.
Medical examination of driving offenders In the wake of an unprecedented spate of road accidents in Sri Lanka in recent times, the article, titled "Drug crash link in road accidents" by Carol Aloysius featured in The Sunday Observer of July 7 would seem to be most timely. It will be recalled that, for the first time in Sri Lanka, that aspect of driving was tackled by Dr. Gamini Karunanayake, then Chief Medical Officer of the Ceylon Transport Board, which transformed a set of worst-known drivers to be the best in Sri Lanka, if not in the world. Unfortunately, at that time, Dr. Karunanayake's efforts had to be mostly restricted to drivers of the CTB and, perhaps, a few others. We now understand that Dr. Karunanayake has been recently appointed Chairman of the Transport Medical Council, which means, presumably, that he has been vested with wider authority. If so, responsibility without authority, and the necessary infrastructure, cannot produce the desired results. It is, therefore, hoped that the new Chairman will be provided with the requisite facilities in the interest of stemming the rot in the local driving scene. Incidentally, in an article he had published in the media, recently, he had pointed out that the exercise should start at the police investigations into road accidents; hitherto, the police have been in the practice of referring a driver before a medical officer only if he is smelling of liquor, and that is very rarely, because the police take time to arrive at the scene of an accident. Apart from consumption of alcohol or drugs, a driver could have other handicaps. Drivers involved in all serious accidents should be subjected to a medical check, as a rule, as the police confine themselves to examining the vehicle for any defects, as usual. C. S. A. Fernando, R.S. Dias asks ('Letters', 4th August) what the correct chronology of Alexander, the Great and Asoka is. His perplexity is due to the Buddhist Era being counted from 544 BC. According to Geiger, it seems that the Buddhist Era should be counted from 483 BC, which is the date that historians have got using the Mahawamsa, which is the most accurate record of subcontinental chronology we have for the period. In this case, the consecration of Emperor Asoka would have taken place 218 years after the Buddha's demise, in 265 BC. This date is of vital importance, as Chandragupta Mauraya, Asoka's grandfather, was consecrated 56 years before Asoka. This date has been established as 321 BC from other sources. The error appears to have occurred around about the time that the Culawamsa was being written. An extra six decades got interpolated somehow, about the time of the great Chola invasions of the turn of the first millennium AD. Now, according to the Mahawamsa, the year of the Buddha's demise coincided with the arrival of Vijaya in Thambapanni. Siran Deraniyagala dated the first Brahmi script fragments available (at Anurdahaprua) to about 480 BC. So there seems to be some kind of synchornity between the Mahawamsa date for Vijaya's arrival and the advent of Prakrit Brahmi in the island. This seems to be added evidence for Geiger's view. Thus, the Great Renunciation must have taken place on Esala Full Moon Day 533 BC, not 594 BC. So, in actual fact, the Buddha Jayanthi should not have been celebrated in 1956, but should be in the future, in 2017. Vinod Moonesinghe Your esteemed journal and, indeed all newspapers without exception are full of readers' views and opinions of well-known political commentators regarding the peace negotiations initiated by our Prime Minister and brokered by the Oslo Govt. It is fervently hoped by all concerned citizens of the country and particularly by those who have lost their loved ones in the battle front, that, peace will be a reality and that Sri Lanka and Sri Lankans can once again hold their heads high, and have pride in their country as a true paradise. An objective study of their situation will clearly reveal that the mobility of the Jaffna man (a collective term) has been drastically curtailed; his/her movements being controlled by both the legitimate forces as well as the now internationally condemned terrorists, the LTTE. While it is not possible for these unwitting victims of their own zealotry to traverse freely in their (?) domain it is both time and money consuming for them to see the rest of the country including those areas claimed by their self acclaimed saviours as 'traditional homelands'. Yet, with all this the standard of living over there is much lower than that in the less affluent areas in the rest of the island after the advent of the LTTE in the previous millennium. It is very necessary that all these facts are placed before the LTTE, and the Scandinavian Moderators at the Peace Talk table. We require peace. this was the wish of a preponderant majority as evidenced at the recent local elections. We must however achieve this with honour and dignity preserving the total sovereignty of Sri Lanka our beloved country. We must not lose sight of the wood for the trees, by giving too much importance to the alleged violations of the MoU, but instead concentrate on the larger vision, that of maintaining our territorial integrity. In this respect it should be the common prayer of all patriotic Sri Lankans that our Prime Minister, Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe succeeds in this endeavour, with or without those critics both in and outside the Parliament. We cannot afford to lose any more lives and destruction of property, with yet another bomb in Colombo or elsewhere. B.J. KARUNATILEKA, Lament of a school dental nurse A grave injustice is being done to the children in our country now. There is a move to bring down the status and cadre of the School dental therapists previously known as School Dental Nurses. School and preschool children are successfully given regular dental treatment and care by this category of health personnel for the past nearly 50 years. A survey done some years ago indicated a marked improvement in the oral health of schoolchildren. The clinics islandwide where these Dental Therapists work are situated in the schools so that parents don't have to wait for long hours in queues to obtain dental treatment for their children. They are made dentally fit at the school itself and their oral health maintained thereafter. Children in schools without clinics are can attend a neighbouring school clinic. Although our child population has benefited from this scheme for at almost 50 years, the training of school dental therapists has been stopped completely for the past couple of years. Many who are now adults would recall the benefits of the treatment and care they received by School Dental Therapists. The latter were not only trained to fill, extract and clean teeth but also to impart education in home care and in preventing dental disease, as well as in the psychology of handling and managing children and recognising malformations for referral. Since then the New Zealand Government poured in assistance under the Colombo Plan financially and in kind and also provided further training in their country for promoted School Dental Sisters in management methodology. Sri Lankan Dental Surgeons were offered study programs as well to familiarise them with this New Zealand scheme. In what position is our Sri Lankan School Dental Service now? Dental Therapists laboriously use treadle engines in school clinics as yet. these promotions of School Dental Therapists are limited and remain at 18 since 1977 past 50 years, after thousands have been trained so far. LILY M. WEERASINGHE, Vagaries of advertising and publicity Things are definitely getting out of hand with advertisers in this country. With no regulatory board or censorship, the hyperbole, un-truths, scams and other forms of cheating in order to sell a message is a menace. It is not possible to listen to a radio program, teledrama or even the news without having to take a dose of advertising. But I have to share with readers some of the many howlers that pass as messages on banners, posters and billboards. Take for instance the agency that says it produces "benners" or that window of a barber I spied saying he was a "hair dressir" - yes sir, I almost collapsed with apoplexy seeing the board at a hotel saying they had prawns that were "dewelled" and another that took pride in serving "pride rice". Whilst another guy had "develd" food that must have put the devil himself to shame. A very interesting banner at Maharagama announced a stage play called "bovine king" by which was meant to say "bovine" king (Vrishaba Raja). Another hairdresser was adept in doing "ladis" hair and I was intrigued at a banner that said of the location of a new shopping center - "we are now at here". Take for instance the landscaper whose signboard says, "We create by waterfalls, landscapes and foliage". Now there is that spare parts dealer who deals in "windscreens and bedings" and a furniture shop owner who is a "dealer of best furnisher". Another gem of a sign I spotted down Thalawatugoda road where this sign reads "cool's pot" I wondered just whose pot it was, while another fast food restaurant down Nugegoda has its sign "pestry shop". Now I would like readers to know that I have lived and worked abroad for many years and during this time I have had, as always, a morbid interest in reading signboards and hoardings. Here are a few of the best howlers I had come across. A repairer of radiators - "you wait, I fix" (meaning instant service) a road sign at an excavation - "working digging" at a jewellers - "sale the gold, holesale and retil". "Customers who bring their own designs will be promptly executed" apart from the humour, the state of advertising is now reaching incorrigible proportions. Those large billboards at junctions and roundabouts, all those posters and banners and cutouts are causing much hazards on our roads. How much can a public stand those non-stop doses of advertising on television that bombard us with those unbelievable exercise machines, or those non-stick pans. Oh, those dreadful spots for soap, biscuits, lottery tickets. Maybe one can see the dreadful level that the TV stations have sunk to in the newscasters now who have an empty mug of a malt beverage placed strategically with the logo pointing the viewer's way. Dear Minister of Cultural Affairs it is time you took rein of all this rubbish that goes as advertising. Why can't these advertisers utilize even half of their budgets towards charity or reconstruction or helping the many homes of the needy around the country? Let me end this tale with what I call the epitome of the advertising world that is in the hands of poorly educated publicity people. A local publicity agency has this inscription - "your attraction we make". And that I say is the sad state of advertising "sharks" out for a quick buck. Brian Jansz , St. John's fishmarket - a hell hole The public buying fish at the St. John's Fishmarket, Pettah would like to see his Lordship the mayor of Colombo, visit this place early in the morning as it is under his purview and observe for himself the filthy state the market is in. The market is open around 5 a.m. Anyone coming to the market between 5 and 7 a.m. could see the confusion. The floor is covered with pot holes 1 to 2 feet in diameter, filled with dirty stinking water ankle deep with pieces of rotten fish in them. Due to the crowd and men carrying boxes of fish on their heads and shouting at you, 'Yanawa Oohi" if you are in their path, it is impossible to take a step forward or backward without stepping into another puddle. There is no supervision in the market. Vendors place their fish boxes and fish on the ground as they please with hardly any room to walk. This is to make the people move at snails pace, look at their fish boxes and buy their fish. At this hour there are no Municipal/Sanitary Inspectors to supervise and put things in order. You will be lucky to see one before 8 a.m. There is a Police Post attached to the Market but the cops sit tight in their cubicle. The weighing scales placed in the market for the public to check the weight of the fish they purchase have been damaged by the vendors and withdrawn by the Municipality but not replaced. The vendors scales are adjusted to give them an advantage of 50 to 100 gms. Anyone could notice that in most scales when the empty tray is placed, the needle has moved from 50 to 100 gms. This is in addition to other tricks the vendors are up to when weighing fish. The deteriorating state of this fish market is due to the immediate past Mayor and their officers who have not ensured proper supervision and maintenance of this premier fish market in the country. Will the present Mayor see that things are put to right immediately, firstly by getting the entire floor cemented with a proper drainage system so that the public could walk on it with out falling and breaking their bones. Further we just cannot afford to buy fish from Air Conditioned Supermarkets with tiled floors. L. Weeramen, |
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