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| Friday, 21 November 2003 |
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Letters | |
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Advertisements averse to children An advertisement is seen frequently in TV on behalf of a reputed Bank that the daughter is offering an item of food to the elderly father saying "Thattha menna oyata thaggak". The word "oyata" addressing an elderly is highly offensive and disrespectful. "Oya" is a colloquial term sometimes used on a subordinate or a person of equal rank. This form of address by a child on a parent or an elderly person is seldom heard in good homes. I am aware that many parents switch off their TVs when this particular advertisement appears, but the children who have seen it continue to address their parents as "oya" and "meya"and quote the TV for authenticity. Is there no regulatory body to grant approval for the show of advertisements in TV including the language used? I recall that consequent on several adverse comments made by TV viewers in the media regarding an advertisement on powdered milk showing a cow in a degrading position, the picture has since been slightly modified. May I also mention that the language used in some teledramas also leaves much to be desired. I refer to the word "bambuwa" often used in teledramas and most viewers detest this word and through anger switch off the TV. The use of slang and mixed language has eaten into the children's heads through the TV and it is therefore not an easy task to get them out of it. The remedy lies in the formation of a body to censor the pictures as well as the language used. W. Karunaweera - Nugegoda A circular letter dated 03.10. 2003 has been issued by the Commissioner of Buddhist Affairs with a view to conducting an examination purportedly for regularising the qualifications of Dhamma School teachers and for granting them certain privileges which are yet to be disclosed. It also has enumerated certain categories of Dhamma School teachers in service with certain qualifications to be exempted from the said examination. Accordingly, while graduate Dhamma teachers in service with qualifications in Pali are not eligible for exemption from the said examination even Dhamma teachers who have passed the GCE (O/L) Examination with a credit pass in Buddhism are considered eligible. While Dhamma teachers qualified in Pali are very much perturbed, it appears that provisions of this circular letter if implemented would eventually deny the services of qualified Pali teachers to Dhamma School students. Hence, it would be prudent if Dhamma School teachers in service with qualifications in Pali are exempted from this intended examination since imparting knowledge in Pali language is an essential requirement in Dhamma School education. P. WIJESEKERA - Padukka Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe leaving the so-called peace process, seem to be the easy way-out for him after throwing a sop to cerberus, as he has already done yielding to every demand of Prabhakaran even at the risk of giving over the North and East to him side-tracking the Muslim population as well. The world community is monitoring closely now as the ISGA will have 2/3 of the sea, commencing from Mannar round up to Trincomalee. As most Sri Lanka organisations from fifteen foreign countries are disturbed about the LTTE's subtle plans to quietly annex the North and East leaving only the North Western and the Western Province and the South to the Sovereign State of Sri Lanka. It is in this respect that the North and East should be de-merged. The President should use her prerogative to see that no part of Sri Lanka is the exclusive reserve for any single ethnic group and that the country as a whole is a common homeland for all races and groups to live in harmony. GOTHABHAYA HULLUGALLE - Colombo 5 Dr. E. S. Devasayagam's studied contribution, under the caption, "Road safety and discipline" (Nov. 11) is a subject that is often referred to in the media. Remedial measures are recommended, simultaneously, but it seems to be nobody's business; and the rate of accidents keep on escalating. There seem to be various concepts regarding the cause of accidents. Some attribute road accidents, involving motor vehicles, to road conditions, others to unroad worthy vehicles, while yet some others, to an interaction of those two and the driver. However, it has to be the driver-the human factor - that is the ultimate cause of accidents. It is difficult to expect one sector of the people to be disciplined when the majority of the population are undisciplined. Moreover, "it is not easy to teach old dogs new tricks", goes the popular saying and, if one is go down to grass-roots level, discipline has to be instilled in a person, right from childhood; for it is the child of today who will be the citizen of tomorrow. That is a concept that had been accepted many years ago, when the Ministry of Education, under an extended programme, went on to have a course of instruction and syllabus drawn up, with a view to introducing safety education as a subject in the class room in schools. Thanks to J. C. Kariyawasam, then Senior Education Officer, and her team of officers, they completed the task, the Ceylon Society for the Prevention of Accidents (CeSPA) too collaborating. Unfortunately, as it happens to almost all good things, nothing further seems to have happened, and the proposition seems to have died a natural death. If the children of that era were made safety-conscious, there would have been more disciplined road-users today and the situation would have certainly been different. Today, however, there are many who think, and possibly feel, that they are clever, if they get away with it after committing a traffic offence. The importance of safety education cannot be over-stressed, as will be illustrated by an incident in which the writer was involved. The writer, walking along York Street, Fort, once, saw a gentleman, who seemed to be from a village, waiting to cross the road, away from the pedestrian crossing, but without success, as none of the vehicles would stop for him. On approaching the old gentleman, the writer suggested that he should try taking the pedestrian crossing. The old gent's reply was that he had been a pedestrian from the day he started to walk but never had he used such a crossing and had he not lived. That was the writer's experience trying to teach old dogs new tricks. Safety education must start from childhood. C. S. A. FERNANDO Migrant workers and voting rights Amidst the ongoing political turmoil, a General Election seems to loom ahead. Every citizen, indisputably, has a right to cast his vote. Today, the country eulogises the contribution of a billion or more dollars from the migrant workers annually to keep the economy afloat and they number more than a million people. These funds seem considerable against the prospective four and a half billion dollars expected from the Tokyo Donor Conference. Now, excluding the votes of the migrant workers at Presidential or General Elections could never be considered justifiable when results are examined as the total vote count amounts to only close to nine million or so (roughly about 75 per cent on the electoral registers). These migrant voters are hardly interested in extremist politics and most likely would all put in their lot with the two major contending parties. Under the existing preferential voting system, moreover, if these votes are taken into account, minor parties are sure to suffer and the UNP and the SLFP would gain considerable advantage. For democracy to have been said to have functioned effectively, it is obvious that facilities must be provided to these migrant workers to exercise their inalienable voting rights in the countries of their location. R. J. N. JORDAN - Kotte The fact that a foreign lady was assaulted by some army officers since she refused to dance with them is a fact that should make all of us as Sri Lankans cringe in shame. It is true that our women get assaulted by army or otherwise - but this is a visitor to our country and that too an educated lady. According to her, the Security saw this coming but did not act fast enough to stop it. Now the excuse is that the officer was drunk - which makes it even more shameful. Police, Army and Navy are supposed to be guardians of law and if they behave like this, and the excuse is drunkenness, where can an ordinary man/woman go for justice and protection? Makes us all wonder what is happening to our country. Just musing about these matters won't bring any change. We have to rally round and demand that the guardians of the law cannot behave in this way. They have a responsibility far greater than an ordinary man. It is up to the seniors to make sure this sort of things never happen again. Dr. Denis Waitley, author and speaker said: "There are two primary choices in life: to accept conditions as they exist, or accept the responsibility for changing them." Are we taking the first - easy-choice always? Dr. MAREENA THAHA REFFAI - Dehiwela The practice of charging mobile phone users for incoming calls is, I think, illogical, irrational and perhaps illegal. To constitute a legally binding contract between a service provider and a service receiver, the intention to receive a service on the part of the service receiver must be there. But for each and every call received, there is no intention to receive a call, though the intention to receive a call maybe there is some instances. Therefore, the legality of the practice is I feel, questionable, and it is surprising to my mind the practice has so far gone on unchallenged legally. ROHAN AMARASEKERA - Panadura |
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