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Thursday, 5 August 2010

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Counter-striking the bus strikers

Private Bus Operators (PBO) are bloodsuckers of the commuters and mudslingers to the government of the day. They inconvenience the workers, school children and others either by wild-cat strikes, when their crew is assaulted either by public or Police or by pre-planning them to increase their fares.

They have in them the courage to create problems both to the public and the State whenever they wished to do so. In many instances they announce of a 100 percent increase and after the intervention of authorities concerned they would be happy with a 50 percent increase.

Thus, they have been thriving well in their business. I remember, when Police wanted to nab speeding or reckless drivers waiting in mufti they opposed and it was dropped. No doubt, they have understood well that every government is sacred of them. Fortunately the incumbent Transport Minister seems to be bold enough to confront any threat or whatsoever of the PBO.

Therefore, in order to suppress their whims of inconveniencing the whole country I would suggest the following for the Minister to consider them.

1. When PBOs declare a strike the government should allow office workers of State institutions a grace period of one hour for their arrival and one hour early for their departure and request same from the Public Sector too.

2. At the sametime all State buses and trains should be put into operation, providing security if necessary in certain areas.

Only then will they learn a lesson of finding extremely difficult to pay for their finance companies. Thereby, with some excuses will resume their services.

Last but not the least, the PBOs should not be allowed to increase the fares of Rs six ticket under any circumstances.

Nazly Cassim - Colombo 13


UNP leader ‘Selection by election’

It is being reported that the reform committee headed by veteran Parliamentarian Joseph Michael Perera, after so much of deliberation and criticism has apparently given some thought to the importance of resorting to elections in choosing the key office bearers and the party leader.

Reportedly a strong section of the party has wanted the franchise to be extended down towards the grass roots and the leader Ranil Wickremesinghe is said to have promised to look into this without delay soon after he returns from India. This is necessarily a move in the right direction and a great move indeed as the UNP is said to be traditionally a Democratic party and also as it is a member of the International Democratic Union. But the party hierarchy in this venture had earlier deemed it fit to empower only the members of the executive committee and the UNP Parliamentarians with voting rights.

By this fool hardy decision, the people’s representatives at the grassroots who are more in touch with the common masses were considered to be less important and were conveniently ignored and deprived of their inalienable rights as stakeholders in choosing their leader. And thus understandably the Provincial Councillers and the members of the Local Government bodies of the party were up in arms against the undemocratic and ill- conceived decision of the sophisticated so called high rankers in the party.

As to the issue of empowering the UNP people’s representatives of the local government bodies and Provincial Councils with voting rights in choosing their leaders it should be necessarily viewed in the perspective of the massive majorities of preferential votes with which some of them were elected to office in previous elections and that too against heavy odds in the face of unbriddled government powers and goonery at the disposal of their opponents.

In this regard the magnificent performances of film actor turned politician Ranjan Ramanayaka and the late Brigadier Janaka Perera at the last PC elections is a case in point. There may be also many more of their calibre close to the hearts of the electors at the grass roots, who were returned with a large number of preferential votes in their last elections.

Then how could any one with an iota of sensibility deprive such down to earth peoples representatives of the party from executing their rights as stakeholders in selecting their leader. It would be certainly an unhealthy exercise of wrenching them of the authority vested in them by their voters in their respective constituencies.

In this regard it should be noted that even the preferential vote bank of Ranil Wickremesinghe in his own electorate is deplorably dwindling election after election over the years and his party is heavily defeated at his own stronghold Biyagama too and further ironically many people in the country do not know what his constituency is.

Thus the Provincial Councillers, members of the local government bodies and also the electoral organizers who are incidentally future Parliamentarians, should be definitely included in the electoral process of selecting the key office-bearers and particularly the leader of the party. And in the absence of such a step it is my belief that very soon the party will be reduced to smithereens and the possibility of seeing the biggest elephant shamelessly on the other side of the divide is any body’s guess.

A W M Aiyoob - Galle


Martin Wickramasinghe

Martin Wickramasinghe fans have begun to sing their hosannas for their favourite author. This is the ideal season for the exercise. It is indeed very welcome. However it is pertinent for the uncommitted reader to examine the veracity of the evaluations expressed of the literary performance of this author. Else these evaluations could mislead the reader.

These Wickramasinghe admirers quote non-Buddhist foreigners who have praised his knowledge of Buddhism and comparative religion. But they fail to comment on what the local Buddhist scholars credited with indepth study of Buddhism, Prof W S Karunaratne of Peradeniya University, in his Denuma Saha Dekuma, Ven Yakkaduwe Pragnanrama, Vice Chancellor of Kelaniya University in his Bavatarana Vibhagaya and Ven Pundit Kannimahara Sumangala in Nivan Muhunuvara Saha Bamunu Ditthiya have expressed about Wickramasinghe’s knowledge of Buddhist Philosophy. Prof Needham a non-Buddhist foreigner may have been delighted by Wickramasinghe’s cockeyed view of Buddhism. Of his knowledge of comparative religion let competent scholars decide.

Martin Wickramasinghe’s much extolled Sinhala Saityaye Negeema has been torn to shreds by Richard de Silva’s Hela Poth Vimasuma for Wickramasinghe’s erroneous judgments due to his baneful misunderstanding of the texts. On several occasions Munidasa Cumaratunga, Jayanta Wirasekera and Raipiel Tennakoon have highlighted Wickramasinghe’s errors of criticism. Wickramasinghe just makes critical statements without establishing them with textual evidence. He is also fond of labelling literary works in the manner of Guttila Geetaya, Banakataa Sahityaya etc. Kukavi Vaada, Gira Sandesa Vaada and Upahasa Vaada clearly display Wickramasinghe’s inadequacy of literary criticism. His falsifications are glaring in many instances.

Martin Wickramasinghe is well known as a short story writer and novelist. How dull and stodgy they are revealed by L M A Silva’s Vichara Vivaranaya, Vansanatha Deshabandu’s Sahitya Kollaya and Prof Alawattagoda Pemadasa’s Nudutu Gamperaliya. By the way Nudutu Gamperaliya is the only analytical study of this novel available.

D PARANAMANA - Wellawatte


Punish all responsible for recent floods

The Government should have an inquiry to keep the public informed of the reasons for the recent floods in Colombo and other areas and punish all those who are responsible by confiscation of the properties and jail terms.

Many innocent lives and valuable property has been lost due to this deluge. For the floods in Colombo the responsibility has to be shared by the Mayors (City Fathers) who held office in recent times - Sirisena Cooray, Karu Jayasuriya, Omar Kamil, the council members, the Municipal Engineers, contractors, Road Development Authority, the supervisors and labourers of the CMC and Abans (Garbage cleaning contract company) and all persons responsible for filling up low lying water retention areas.

Several years ago when Sirisena Cooray was the Mayor I saw contractors doing the roads all over Colombo fixing very small outlet lines to the manholes.

CMC workers report for work sign in pay their supervisor a bribe and go off for private work. The same is with the CMC tractors who do private work by removing building debris, cut trees etc. I am a resident of Fife Road Colombo 5. This road was a perfect and excellent road. Recently the CMC Road Development Department re-laid this road with a new tar surface. Now several areas of this road have water which does not flow out and remains stagnant. Several manholes are blocked and not being cleaned. Someone made big money on this unwanted redoing of a good road.

Abans workers do not clear the dirt and garbage on a daily basis, the CMC workers do not remove immediately the sand and dirt taken out of manholes.

The sand is left behind on the pavement and it goes back into the manholes;

CMC engineers are never available on the phone and cannot be contacted. All day long they are supposed to be at meetings. The public who pay their salaries should be able to contact them on their mobiles. The peons who answer the phones on behalf of their engineers are rude. Something should be done to provide a better service to the public without allowing the engineers to play truant.

As the war is over it would be useful to the Government to consider having intelligent Army officials stationed at all important offices and locations of the CMC to keep a check on this truant engineers and labourers.

Chandra Jayasinghe - Colombo 5

 

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