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| Thursday, 16 January 2003 |
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Letters | |
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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.
A lot has been said is being said about the number of holidays in addition to the weekend and the loss of productivity and the loss of working hours etc. Serious consideration should be given to make Saturday a half day (four hours of work) and to have a forty four hour working week, where as in most countries it is a fifty one hour working week. There should be only SEVEN National Holidays, namely (1) Thai Pongal Day (2) National Day (3) Sinhala and Tamil New Year Day (4) May Day (5) Prophet's Birthday (6) Vesak Day and (7) Christmas Day, which should be Public, Bank and Mercantile Holidays. The rest of the eighteen holidays as per present calendar should be termed 'Religious' holidays, (Some of these are only Public and Bank holidays and are not Mercantile Holidays). All new entrants after the effective date that this scheme is promulgated to be entitled to seven of these Religious holidays irrespective of Race or Religion. No prior notice will be required by the employee as to which seven Religious he intends taking. Those in service at the time the promulgation is made should be given two years to fall in line. During the interim period those old entrants who work on the Religious holidays should be given lieu leave or an additional allowance. Thus in the interim period and thereafter an Office or work place will always be manned and business will be as usual as of now when a few are any way on annual, sick, casual or maternity leave. Let us have the views of readers on the above suggestion which should be implemented at least in mid 2003. L. C. Gunaratne, History repeating itself in this beloved land of ours where we fought like brutes for nineteen years. Now we have sat down at one table to talk peace, without a single bullet being fired thereafter. We have displayed to the world that we Sri Lankans have behind us a culture dating back to over 2500 years. The international communities have taken note of it and are literally applauding this performance. Let us all hope and pray that we will eventually derive peace. It will not be a surprise if Ranil and Prabha are jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in the year 2003. G. P. DHANATUNGA, Where is the Rambukkana train crash Committee Report? I think it is one year since the 'Intercity' train running from Kandy to Colombo Fort ran off the rails near Rambukkana station while descending a hilly area. If I remember correct, it went off the rails and ended up in a paddy field dislodging four passenger coaches completely, killing about 15 commuters and also injuring some hundred odd passengers. This was considered as the worst train disaster in recent times in Sri Lanka. During that time there was a big hue and cry, blaming the railway department. The print and the electronic media gave wide publicity over the incident for a number of days, and the government appointed a Committee to investigate the cause and submit its report to the Hon. Minister of Transport within a stipulated time. I think it was also mentioned after some time, that an 'Interim' Report was submitted to the Minister. The public were informed by the Ministry that they would be informed of the findings of the report once it was handed over to the Minister. We, the general public who patronise this mode of transport often are anxious to know from the Ministry what the findings of this public Committee were, and whether this report was made known to the public as promised earlier. We also are aware that a 'Major Board' enquiry was conducted by the railway management immediately after this serious train crash. Was it due to excessive speeding by the Loco. Driver who worked this "Fast Express", or was it due to an inherent defect in the coaches or the track? L. LEKAMWASAM LEANAGE, 'Wanted a shoulder to lean on' I was perturbed by the above article (Jan 6) and would like to make a few important comments on it, especially as it quotes me. 1. The picture of the three unfortunate women dominating the article has no relationship to the contents, and worse, it subscribes to the common false belief that a person who is emotionally distressed and suicidal is mentally ill. 2. Publishing a picture of three vulnerable unfortunate human beings who are in an untenable situation through no fault of their own, is not only a violation of human rights but also a violation of their privacy and human dignity. 3. The Sumithrayo volunteer Befrienders are carefully selected and trained to respond with compassion and empathy, and show non-judgementality and complete acceptance of people from all walks of society, who are under emotional stress and may even be suicidal. They help them to cope better with their situation, whatever it may be, and work towards an acceptable solution if any. They are not professionals or trained counsellors though some may be in their own private capacity. While appreciating the efforts made by the young journalist, with all good intentions to make the public aware of the need for more efforts to be made in the field of suicide prevention, and also for making people aware of the Sumithrayo services, I wish to state that irrelevant attention drawing illustrations and inaccurate information, though innocently given with no malice towards anyone could cause more damage than good to an organisation that has thrived very hard over the past 28 years to support the lonely, depressed and despairing of this country. Lakshmi Ratnayeke, Coordinator, English teachers from overseas I have read with much interest the letter on English teachers from overseas (DN Jan. 1). I hasten to add that this proposal of the Education Minister to recruit English teachers from overseas will turn out to be a wild-cat scheme which will deprofessionalize the English teachers of this country. Answers to the following questions should be sought. 1. Has the system got enough English teachers? If not what immediate plans has the ministry made to supply them to schools? 2. What are the professional and academic standards achieved by English teachers teaching in primary, junior and senior secondary grades in schools? 3. What arrangements have been made to improve the quality of teaching English especially in village schools? 4. What methods are planned to develop the quality of teacher training? These questions were addressed properly by the Curriculum Development Centre of the Ministry in the mid-eighties when the present Prime Minister was in charge of Education. He introduced far reaching reforms in English materials development, teacher recruitment and teacher training. There were foreign specialists then but they were only consultants selected by the CDC. The local specialists did all the hardwork. S. EKANAYAKE, Rubber Research Institute is clean In numerous occasions during the recent past news articles were published in the newspapers regarding alleged misappropriation of Rs. 541 million at the Rubber Research Institute. Since this misinterpretation adversely affect the reputation of the Institute, the media personnel should be more concerned with such reports. The Rubber Research Institute which functions with limited Treasury allocations and subjected to the Auditor General's annual audit free from all the said allegations. Dr. L. M. K. Tillakeratne, This has reference to the letter by Walter Wijenayake (Jan 8) under the above heading. His contention that the birth of Jesus Christ is the epoch universally adopted in modern times is infact not the true position. Jesus Christ was born in 6 B.C., started his mission at the age of 30 years and was crucified on 1st April 28 A.D., his Ministry lasting 3 1/2 years. The Julian Calendar, originally introduced by Julius Caesar in 46 B.C. was modified by Augustus (born as Octavius), grand nephew of Julius Caesar, by which an ordinary year was to have 365 days and every fourth (leap) year was to have 366 days, thus breaking away from the calendar that existed beginning on the day of the new moon or the day after which coincided with the lunar month. The Gregorian Calendar introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 was again a modification of the Julian Calendar, meant to fall in line with astronomical data after Christianity came to believe in astronomy. The modified Gregorian Calendar, introduced in England in 1752, came to be used throughout the Christian world. It has now spread to the non-Christian world as well. However, the original Julian Calendar or the modified Gregorian Calendar have no link to the birth of Christ or his death though the years are referred to as B.C. (Before Christ) and A.D. (Anno Domini - in the year of Christ Era). If the Birth of Christ is reckoned this is year 2009 whilst if reckoned on the year of his death this is year 1975. The Old Testament, the first Christian Documentary, covering the spread of Christianity during the period 30 - 60 A.D., was written by St. Luke in 63 A.D. but this aspect is not dealt with in his writings. The Birth of Christ is not mentioned anywhere in the Gospel. Mr. Wijenayake has failed to mention the existence of a Buddhist Era too. Upali S. Jayasekera, I full endorse reader T. Wickremasinghe's letter in the DN of the 8th instant under the above caption. However, I am apt to think that apart from wastage of precious water, expensive electricity and animal welfare, there are many other important obligations of the Municipality to ratepayers. Some of these are avoidable health hazards and preventing unauthorised building constructions. Legitimate builders within Colombo know how time consuming and frustrating it is to get a building plan passed. At the same time there are others who construct buildings on old and outdated plans of previous owners with modifications to suit their needs, at the expense of inconvenience to neighbours. Complaints with valid reasons to the Planning Division of the CMC get no attention. There are also others who carry out business activities within the CMC without registration of such activities. These cause loss of income to the CMC and cause annoyance to those in the vicinity. I hope the new mayor with much experience as a senior officer in the UDA will take corrective action, at least on complaints made to him. M S R, The common people of Sri Lanka, whatever their ethnicities may be, whatever their political persuasions may be, aspire for peace; for absolute, untrammelled peace. They are not prepared to be molested by the purported guardians of the state, in the name of safeguarding the territorial integrity of the country, or by their military antagonists, in the name of liberation. The prevailing atmosphere of peace, however tenuous it may seem to be, has saved hundreds of lives being snuffed away in a ghastly ogre, and thousands of others from being painfully maimed for life. If the Tigers can opt for a federal form of Govt. I see no reason, why certain politicians and their parties should publicly demonstrate their vacuous intransigence. Some are born with an Iconoclastic mentality. Most politicians are no exception. The HSZ's and the VOT machinery seem to gnaw the sinews of the present Govt. Had the Tigers wanted, they would have easily smuggled in all the equipment without anyone much noticing them. Their bringing them in under the supervision of the Govt. should be congratulated. Why the myopic mafia are agog with punishing statements against the Govt. And the Norwegians baffles me. If the Army is of the view that the so called HSZ's are 'No Go Areas' for the rightful occupants of those areas then let the Govt. pay suitable and sufficient compensations to the affected people to relocate. If tens of thousands of houses and the most fertile lands in the North have to be sacrificed in the name of permanent peace-so be it. But, let not the world be given the picture of a second Palestine scenario, replete with the rolling war machines and the blasting of homes etc. Mind boggling sums of monies would be needed to pay even part of the compensations to such people. The empty coffers that the Chandrika Govt. bequeathed to the present holders of office makes thing worse. It is instructive to note, that when people like me, who lost everything in 1983, under JR's 5 star dispensation of Justice, have not been paid a copper as compensation, how the others would fare. Let pettiness and bickering cease. Dr. E. S. MAHENDRARAJAH, |
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