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| Tuesday, 3 February 2004 |
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Compounding errors Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha I received last week from the Press Commission a copy of a letter from yet another of those magnificent men in their flying machines who work for Tyronne. This was his Coordinating Secretary, Namique Hussain, who had complained to the Chairman of the Commission about my article of 16th January, which was largely about Tyronne's travel allocations. The complaint was to the statement that 'Tyronne has been allocated 25 Billion for travel' and Mr Hussain goes on to say 'By multiplying the actual figure by 10 fold, he displays callous regard to the truth'. Given that accuracy is vital, and that there might be a few people who would have thought 25 million a mere bagatelle, but have roundly criticized Tyronne had he indeed been allocated 25 billion, I would have felt very bad about this. However, the Editor of the Daily News had, on January 17th itself, issued a correction to say that 'The travel allocation of Foreign Affairs Minister was Rs 25 million and not Rs 25 billion as stated in our colum...This is a typographical error. We regret it.' I should note too that most readers would have understood this since the article twice refers to the figure as 25 million - but even so I too apologize to the Foreign Minister and the Finance Minister and Mr Hussain, and any readers who might have been misled, for the error. I should add that I begin to understand however how this sort of massive inflation takes place. I had thought that budgets were prepared by people who can count and add and perhaps multiply at least a little bit. But if the Coordinating Secretary to the Foreign Minister believes that ten times 25 million is 25 billion, it is not surprising that figures get inflated, both the excessive amounts given to favourites and the massive cuts that poor Ministers like Karunasena Kodituwakku and Jayawickrema Perera have to suffer. I suppose I am generous in assuming simply that Mr Hussain is not very good at arithmetic, instead of attributing to him callous disregard to the truth. But then, as readers of this column would have realized by now, I am the soul of generosity, a man in whose veins the milk of human kindness runs, as Henry Higgins might have said. And so it is that I would also not dream of accusing him of callous disregard for poor Tyronne by showing up his handpicked officials so badly, or of abusing Tyronne's position as Foreign Minister. Unfortunately Mr Hussain is not so charitable. The Chairman of the Press Commission happens to be my father, which certainly should not preclude complaints about my articles. But I think Mr Hussain is perhaps juding others by himself - not, I hope, by his master - in writing to the Chairman that 'You will note that your son is abusing your position as the Chairman of the Press Complaints Commission of Sri Lanka .... He also shows callous disregard for your position.' This shows a dangerous ignorance with regard to language that is perhaps even more reprehensible in a Coordinating Secretary than arithmetical incompetence. People abuse other people's positions by doing things in their name, or using their names to obtain undue advantages. This is not something I have ever done, nor would I ever dream of doing it. Conversely, if other people refrain from complaining about me because my father is the Chairman of the Press Commission, that is not my problem. And it is not something I would ever seek, amusing though it might be to ask the Editor of the Daily News that he blazon the names of all my relations round my articles. Indeed, if Mr. Hussain's indignant letter is anything to go by, it would not have any deterrent effect. Finally, my father would be abusing his position if he tried to shelter me from such complaints. But this is not the sort of thing he would do, indeed he sent me the letter for response. Fortunately I was able to show him the Editor's correction, and the other references in the article to 25 million. All this however begs the real question, which is why Tyronne was given such a vast travel allowance. A second question is why he permitted his Media Secretary to issue an idiotic statement to the effect that he had saved the country 11 million, when he had in fact spent 14 million, which was more than he had done in the previous year. Now there is a third, why he permits his Coordinating Secretary to write careless vituperative letters. These people, unlike the Chairman of the Press Council, are paid out of public funds. Is there a case for asking them to at least sit the Common General Paper which is now compulsory for University Entrance, before they are elevated to responsible public positions? |
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