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| Sunday, 22 February 2004 |
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Letters |  |
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Responding to M. T. A. Fernando on a "Holidays Galore" (SO/Dec. 14) Ariyadasa Ratnasinghe (SO/Feb. 1) starts off with, "There is no other country in the whole world where the number of holidays in a year is so high". But then there could be no other country which would accommodate different stripes, and different colours on their national flag or allow the national anthem to be sung in any other language to accommodate whims and fancies of different communities. The stars and stripes in the American flag do not stand for the English, Scot, Welsh, Irish, German, French, Italian, Corsican, Negroes, Red Indians and any other nationals that made the American nation. So is the English flag. The Union Jack does not denote the various European Nationalities that invaded, occupied and ruled and still have a right to the throne. Let it be. There are three kinds of lies. Lies, absolute lies and statistics. A. R. is depending on statistics to prove a point by dragging the weekend holidays, short leave and maternity leave as points of contention.As for mention of maternity leave. Is it an effort to have that too reduced or dissuade employing females, unless they practise birth control? Or calling to cut off the Poya holidays? These are not stated. A look around the temples in all parts of the country would reveal the hundreds of thousands observing Sil every Poya Day. Of course the numbers have to increase. That is a different matter. Lest it is misunderstood, the main problem to it is the shortcomings in the school education which compel patronising tuition classes. AR says, "too many holidays is a colossal waste of money, with no return". An analysis of the declared holidays reveal there are actually only (taking off two days for Vesak from the Poya list) eight out of 12 poya holidays falling on weekdays, six out of 9 Mercantile holidays on weekdays and 10 out of 14 Government holidays on weekdays. That is altogether 18 holidays out of weekdays for State employees. Most employees consider leave not taken within the year as a waste. It is so even with short leave. There are two reasons for this. Unnecessary rigidity and non-motivation at work places. When this writer (then an employee of this newspaper company) made a suggestion on 8th May, 1985 that unutilized casual, annual and medical leave be encashed it was readily accepted by the most practical, very exuberant and appreciative Director (Operations) the Lake House ever had, Lanka de Silva. Over the years it stood out as the most successful administrative exercise of corporate governance enticing good attendance. This arrangement should be extended to all Government and Mercantile establishments. This is the most effective way of promoting regular attendance, curtail overtime on weekends and increasing productivity. The encashment should be at 1 1/2 rate of the day's pay which is the normal overtime rate for best results. This is a good opportunity to address the real aspect of "colossal waste of money, with no return" from the point of view of the worker. This writer spends two hours to get to the workplace at Borella which could be completed in 45 minutes if the roads are in good condition and the bus service is satisfactory. After that exhausting 1 1/4 hours of excessive travel on uneven pot-holed roads it will take another 15 to 20 minutes to relax and be presentable. What else can we do but make a plea to the politicians. Do not rob a rupee of what is allocated for the repairs to roads. There is a good example on show at Mattegoda. A month ago some roads were resurfaced (after 5 years) here and there. Now banners are displayed proclaiming that a sum of Rs. 8 lakhs were spent from money allocated by a respected Provincial Councillor. It is suggested anybody interested and know anything about road repairs come and study and estimate how much of that Rs. 8 lakhs went to the roads and pockets of individuals. Metthananda Wijekulasuriya, School curriculum without history or geography ! It is a great pity that educationists dispensed with the study of history and geography about 30 years ago. It is hoped that these subjects would be included in the school curriculum next year. At Nonagama junction, which is about 10 miles before reaching Hambantota, stands the statue of a well-known poetess Gajaman Nona (Cornelia Isabella). The popular Court Jester Andarey's statue is situated very close to Tissamaharama junction. How many are aware of the history relating to the majestic statue of Vihara Maha Devi at Kirinde ? This beautiful statue was sculptured in Italy on the initiative of Siridattha Jayakody nee Amarasinghe. How many are aware of Leonard Sidney Woolf (1880 - 1964) English administrator, publisher and writer lived in Hambantota ? He is best known in Sri Lanka for his administration as a civil servant. His book "The village in the jungle' was very popular indeed. He was Assistant Govt. Agent of Hambantota for several years. When he paid his periodical visits to outlandish areas, he used to call at Welipitiya Walauwwa, Middeniya. It was Chetwin Wirasinha who befriended him. His brother too was associated with him. These two were able to converse with him because they were English educated. Utensils like cups and saucers, jugs, plates etc. imported from England for Woolf's use were in the custody of Hamilton Wirasinha, Chetwin's son. After the demise of Perlyn, Hamilton's wife, these articles were sent elsewhere for safe keeping. At the time Woolf was AGA at Hambantota, a German national who had been shipwrecked at Yala, lived within the Yala confines. His association with a Sihala woman produced a child. This man Engelbert was in no mood to accept paternity. This case came up before the AGA, Woolf, at Hambantota. Woolf wanted the child to be produced in court. The child was as fair as milk ! Woolf told him "there are only two white men in this area ... You and me. What do you say?" Guilty, my Lord. Another anectode connected with Woolf. A certain lawyer was behaving in an unusual manner in court. Woolf asked him why he was behaving like a lion. Pat came the reply "Because a wolf is presiding"! There is another interesting episode connected with the AGA, but it will be reserved for another occasion. Edmund Dissanayake, Enfranchisement of Indian Tamils I am extremely happy that an important segment of our population, namely Tamils of recent Indian origin, that were deprived of their citizenship rights by the government of D.S. Senanayake in 1949 have been given their rights, in a bill presented to Parliament recently and passed with the support of all political parties and all members of Parliament. As far as I know, there were two reasons why the UNP government of D.S. Senanayake disenfranchised the Indian Tamils. One was that they were Indian Tamils. The other was that at the general election of 1947, when the Indian Tamils had the vote, they returned seven members to Parliament of whom almost all were leftists. I don't claim to be a leftist and certainly not a Marxist, partly because I would like to be considered a good Buddhist (with due regards to PA MP Ven. Baddegama Samithra Thera, whom I hold in the highest esteem), but I must admit that of all the political parties we now have in Sri Lanka, only two can be considered civilized, namely the Lanka Sama Samaja Party and the Ceylon Communist Party. If we had listened to these two parties long ago, we would not have had these ethnic and separatist problems, we now have. I certainly hope that the Tamils of recent Indian origin, now all enfranchised, will not clamour for a separate state Malai Nadu or some such cry. All too often one hears a Thondaman or other such politician talking of how backward the Indian Tamils have been and are, whether it be in the sphere of education, health, government employment, professional jobs etc etc. But I feel that there are two other segments of our population, which for years have been and are even now, definitely more backward than the Indian Tamils. The two segments I refer to are the Kandyan Sinhalese peasants, and the poor fisherfolk living along the western and south-western coasts of our country. I sincerely hope that the UNP-UNF government, the PA Opposition and all others in Parliament will get together and do something for these two groups as well. Dr. M.H.V. Cooray, Two main reasons for the people to abstain from eating meat are firstly, that many in Sri Lanka become vegetarians out of compassion to animals who do not deserve to die in pain by the human knife. The second reason is human health, far overweighs the first. By eating meat and animal products, one shows no compassion to the body. It is a well-known fact that saturated animal fats and sulfa based amino acids (Methionine, Homocysteine) could bring stress to the cardiovascular system. But the hundred million question is, if the vegetarian diets are safe, how safe are they? There has been many disturbing news in the media during the past few years. The increased utilization of pesticides, weedicides, fungicides and many other organophosposphates, at an alarming rate, is a matter of concern. While most nutritional and health experts are concerned about the growing population getting used to non vegetarian diet such as meat, chicken and eggs and the usage of antibiotics and other growth promoters used in meat industry, they fail to recognize that most vegetarians are also exposed to the dangerous level of slow poisoning by the residual effects of pesticides used in the vegetables and fruits. Daily news on 29th october 2003 flashed a front page headline "Banned pesticides used in Sri Lanka". It was shocking to learn that a small country like Sri Lanka using 61,200 tons of pesticides in the year of 2000, out of which half of them are banned in developing countries. Living in the hill country I have my own experience in seeing, how pesticides, fungicides are used indiscriminately on vegetables like potatoes, leeks, carrot, beet and many others. It is understood that most dietary exposure to pesticides are through spraying pesticides to the vegetables and fruits. Most of these vegetables produced in Sri Lanka are never checked for the residues. They are straight dispatched to the consumer market. Pesticide residues have been positively identified in many countries. In Britain potatoes were found to contain aldicarb above safe levels. Aldicarb is a carbamate insecticide which works on the nervous system, it is highly toxic and is classified by the WHO as "extremely hazardous". Most fruits, vegetables grown in UK had residues such as Dicofol, imazalil, lindane and many more. In India where 50% of the population are vegetarians who consider milk as an important part of their diet, when 2205 samples from all over the country was tested 85% of the samples contained HCH isomers above the tolerant limits. In 1996 researches found 40% of British milk, cheese and butter had residues over the permitted levels. Even the world's best Vanilla Ice Cream BEN & JERRY'S, when tested had 200 times greater levels of dioxin than the virtually daily safe dose. Apples, oranges, peaches grown in America, Australia and many other countries contained residues of methyl parathion. Excessive usage of pesticides not only have an effect on the edible products, but also contaminate the ground water, streams, lakes and the wells. It was estimated that in Australia approximately 70% of rural drinking water wells contained Atrazine which is used as a weedicide. Atrazine is classified as a possible or likely carcinogen. Dioxin, Atrazine, Simazine Chlordane, Heptachlor are some of the dangerous pesticide residues found in most of the vegetables and fruits. Nitrates and nitrites from excess use of fertilizers also could produce harmful effects. Most of these pesticides are linked with cancer of the breast and uterus, birth defects, Parkinson's disease and endocrine disturbance. A report in 1999, Doctors who examined 8000 baby boys whose mothers were vegetarians were far more likely to have a certain birth defect than those whose mothers who ate meat. Though the research done by the University of Bristol is sill to be published it is believed that eating vegetables and fruits with high levels of pesticides could be a possible reason. "We are what we eat" is an old adage familiar to everyone, but today this becoming even more important as we must understand what is good and what is bad. We all are appalled by the cocktail of risky pesticides in very good foods which should be a healthy choice such as vegetables and fruits. It is particularly shocking that some of these pesticides are above recognized safety levels of kids. In the past pesticide residues have been seen in baby foods and fresh milk, bread and many other products which every one consume daily. There could be no scientific justification for allowing levels of pesticides in food that put people at a risk every day.In USA the Food Safety & Inspection Service (FSIS) is the responsible body for ensuring that meat, poultry, eggs and other plant products like vegetables and fruits are safe and wholesome. It also takes the responsibility to check these products before it reaches the consumer and also sees that these products are properly labelled. In Sri Lanka we have the Sri Lanka Standard Institute, Food Advisory Committee of the Health Department, The Government Analysts Department who are responsible for this. Hope these organizations would provide the public with pesticide free foods in the future. Health experts should come forward to enlighten the public on how to avoid producing and avoid buying vegetables which could contain high percentage of pesticide residues. Dr. A. Nandakumar, It is becoming too difficult to live in one's own house in this day and age because of the ever growing nuisance of unwelcome visitors; just to name a few among them (bogus or genuine) beggars, yellow clothed beggars (mind you ! - I mean, not the genuine Buddhist priests), mobile salesmen and traders of fancy goods, insurance agents, match makers, strangers in search of addresses, culprits spying for future robberies, thieves and criminals in disguise or posing as white-clad saints, elderly men and women asking for donations, well-dressed males and females claiming to be the authorized representatives of reputed social services or charity organizations, orphanages, homes for the senior citizens; supporters canvassing for political parties etc even with proof of their identity, thundering loudspeakers parked at the door step with vociferous collectors of donations for so-called costly medical treatments of relatives or the neighbours. All of these trouble-makers appear at your doorstep not to give you anything but to grab your remaining coins out of the purse. What is your reaction if one or some of these unwelcome people visit your house ? There you are ! Unfortunately you have no alternative but to give them something they ask for. You try to explain that you are living from hand-to-mouth; you pay big sums of instalments to banks in settlement of housing loans, vehicle loans, distress loans or medical loans; you depend on the nearby grocery for your monthly necessities; that you are hard up until the next salary day; you have to take your parents to a clinic and so on but they take things for granted. Some of the cunning types may lecture or preach to you for hours. You are then helpless and compelled to surrender to them offering your hard earned pittance you have kept for an emergency. This is an easy means of living for the unscrupulously cunning and corrupted. The prevalence of this menace poses two dangers; one concerns the family budget while the other concerns the security of the family. Working or non-working, about one forth of the family budget of most families is drained off by this leech-like, parasitic operation of the groups listed above. Under the pressures of the rising cost of living and bound by various family and social obligations, one cannot afford to surrender to forced begging by underserving and unworthy individuals at one's own door-step. However, this situation is beyond control by the concerned parties or the state as it occurs in an ad hoc style. The matter of security of the family from the strangers should concern everybody in the society. There are frequent reports or crimes committed by strangers entering the family premises under the pretext of begging, searching for addresses, or canvassing for political parties. Very often such intruders enter homes either by force or pretended innocence when the working people are out of the house and only when the servants or elderly people are left. If this trend is allowed to continue to spread the family security is at stake. Therefore the police should take action to alert the unsuspecting general public about this emerging trend and to take precautions for future safety. Madduma Bandara Navarathne, Peak hour traffic mayhem in Colombo Second February morning "Peak hour" saw Greater Colombo traffic at a stand-still from 8.00 am to 11.00 am from all points of the city, suburbs inwards. The Independence Day parade rehearsal was on ! This was a Mercantile Working Day 'bullish' and 'bearish' implications notwithstanding. Buses were mostly static when 'panic stricken' commuters realized there was some calamity on (Probably the eagles had landed they thought) and started hurriedly 'bailing out' from their trapped situation for whatever the walk was involved. Private vehicle owners were doomed - they had no way of abandoning their vehicles whatever the walk. My late appointment with a doctor, herself late at 10.45 am, a demure lady at most times, coming into the clinic flustered, mumbling "imagine also being sidelined onto a cul de sac" with no escape at all. Some passengers were in wrath and simply queried to no-one in particular, of course, why all this couldn't have been staged as methodically without any hindrance to anyone on the previous Sunday afternoon, the day always being 'non-rush' and serene. The authorities or the powers that be who appointed this working day for the rehearsal probably, with all due respect may have not had any options whatever. The hard work of the traffic police of monitoring normal duties plus: (A) Religious processions, (B) School walks (recently a school walk kept me trapped between Bambalapitiya and Wellawatte during the peak hour)/big match bicycle races, (c) Union/political marches, (D) Cultural pageants/floats/bicycle races, (E) Dignitaries and VIPs (local and foreign) motorcades becomes so much more thankless. Most times dagger stares from motorists/any blockage of traffic and you can be sure (a cop must be in the middle of the melee) and to see and realize that his counterparts in many foreign countries are treated with more respect and understanding and on special day inundated with all the goodies imaginable like cigarettes, liquor and cakes etc. Here's wishing for better traffic facilities and smoother running in the future. W. Meadows, Pray let me not be born a dog in Sri Lanka One of the oldest discovered messages left by our ancestors, twenty thousand years ago or more, shows a four legged animal, a dog, alongside human figures, an image painted on the surface of a cave in Europe in the dawn of human life on earth. There are other similar images in Africa. Perhaps in Sri Lanka too, yet to be found. The images speak to us, why else would they have been made ? When human life was what would seem to us today merely a savage struggle for survival, a human being from then took time for something other, a voice, a reflection, a record, to speak for ever of what they knew. And what story does the image tell us ? That when humankind was fighting to survive, the dog was the helper, the fellow hunter, the ally, to pursue and outdistance, corner and capture the prey, and bring home the catch. Without the heightened senses of the dog, its acute sense of hearing, of smell, of sight, its speed and obedience, the hunt would have rarely succeeded. Our ancestor acknowledged this in his picture by placing the dog alongside himself. We owe the dog an incalculable debt. Without him we may not have come through. And now ? What of him now ? Now we no longer have to take to the hunt. Now an exchange of money in shops gets us our needs. Now the dog is abandoned, often left as an outcast on the streets to die of hunger or some hideous disease. Another betrayal. Unless of course the dog is a fancy breed import to be sold for rich profit and homed as a status symbol. I do not need to be told that it is not only in Sri Lanka that many dogs have appalling lives. I know that. But at present I am here and my eyes see daily the wretched condition of street dogs. I also come across loving kindness too. I think of sweet Sushila whom I found in Kandy taking puppies off the street to have them spayed or sterilised to halt the multiplication but then she has to return the puppies to where she found them because often she cannot find them homes.There are several animal welfare organisations here trying to cope with the problems. I have eight dogs and twelve cats all rescued and all now beautiful creatures. With the help of everyone there would be no wretched dogs on the streets. Dogs need people because we once so needed them. All dogs, especially native dogs, deserve our love, gratitude and care. There should be no stray dogs in Sri Lanka. All should have a home where they belong, loved and cared for by the descendants of those hunters with whom they once ran. Our ancestors were not helped by rats but by dogs, yet now they are often treated as if they were rats, vermin to be disposed of. We owe them better. If every household in Sri Lanka took in one dog then justice would be done and we could read those messages from our past without shame. G. Barber, |
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