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There has been a lot of focus on the medical profession of late.
Specifically, the hoo-ha by some members of the Sri Lankan medical
profession with regard to foreign medical practitioners in our country.
I am fortunate in that I am able to write this letter today due to
the efforts of one such foreign medical practitioner. Hence, I am at a
loss as to why those charged with the health and welfare of the people
would stoop so low, as to bring to disrepute this hallowed profession.
While I have the means to go to a private hospital by no means can I
fly overseas for costly procedures.
Many who have no choice but to go to a government hospital, are
forced to wait in line until their number is called. For the suffering
multitude, this is often too late. I am therefore thankful that private
hospitals have thought it fit to bring down foreign professionals and
offer their services within a margin that is affordable.
I for one, am in favour of these services being available for those
who can afford them. After all, it is my choice and right to choose my
doctor, is it not? I wish to thank the many hospitals and their
administration for having the foresight to bring down these
professionals who provide an invaluable service, at a fraction of the
cost of what it is overseas, to the many patients who need their
services. Well done!
Hilary L
Wealth is deceitful. Greedy men are proud and restless – like death
itself they are never satisfied. That is why they conquer nation after
nation for themselves. The conquered people will taunt their conquerors
and show their scorn for them.
They will say, “You take what isn't yours, but you are doomed! How
long will you go on getting rich by forcing your debtors to pay up”. But
before you know it, you that have conquered others will be in debt
yourselves and be forced to pay interest.
Enemies will come and make you tremble. They will plunder you. You
have plundered the people of many nations, but now those who have
survived will plunder you because of the murders you have committed and
because of your violence against the people of the world and its cities.
You are doomed! You have made your family rich with what you took by
violence and have tried to make your own home safe from harm and danger.
But your schemes have brought shame on your family; by destroying many
nations you have only brought ruin on yourself. Even the stones of the
walls cry out against you, and the rafters echo the cry.
You are doomed! You founded a city on crime and built it up by
murder. The nations you conquered wore themselves out in useless labour,
and all they have built go up in flames. The Lord Almighty has done
this. But the earth will be as full of the knowledge of the Lord's glory
as the seas are full of water.
You are doomed! In your fury you humiliated and disgraced your
neighbours; you made them stagger as though they were drunk. You in turn
will be covered with shame instead of honour. You yourself will drink
your own cup of punishment and your honour will be turned to disgrace
(from the Book of Habakkuk (7th Century BC) Chapter 2.5 to 16).
Remember - What has happened before will happen again. What has been
done before will be done again. There is nothing new in the whole world.
“Look, they say here is something new. But no, it has all happened
before, long before we were born.” (Ecclesiates 1.9,10) and again it
states, “Whatever happens or can happen has already happened before. God
makes the same thing happen again and again” (Ecc 3.15).
“Change the way you are living and stop doing the things you are
dong.” (Jer 7.5) Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Never rely on
what you think you know. Remember the Lord in everything you do and He
will show you the way. Never let yourself think that you are wiser than
you are.
Simply obey the Lord and refuse to do wrong. (Proverbs 3.5,6,7).
Those who are wise will turn out to be fools and all their cleverness
will be useless (Is. 29.14). Turn back to me and I will turn to you (Mal
3.7).
Remember - “If the Lord does not protect the city, it is useless for
the sentries to stand guard”. King Solomon -Psalm 127.1.
Upatissa Attygalle Colombo 7.
It's an age old puzzle that has stumped generation after generation –
the Chicken or the Egg? If you believe in the Bible, the chicken came
first. (Genesis 1:19-20). If you belong to a different religion, you
might have a different belief about how the treasures of the earth came
to be. In the science of evolution, both chicken and eggs came before
man since both the bird and eggs were on earth first. Historians weren't
around to record which came first.
The mystery has been finally cracked by the British Scientist Dr.
Colin Freeman from Sheffield University, England. Dr. Collins who worked
with his counterparts in Warwick's University found that the formation
of egg shells relies on a protein found only in chicken ovaries.
Therefore an egg can exist, only if it has been inside a chicken. The
protection called Ovocledidin 17 or OC-17 acts as a catalyst to speed up
the development inside. The scientist was able to zoom the formation of
the egg with a computer called 'Hector' and revelled that OC-17 is
crucial in kick-starting crystallization – the early stage of the
creation of a shell. Though the riddle that 'The chicken came first' is
over, a chicken cannot be born without an egg and an egg can not be laid
without the chicken. So both chicken and eggs are important.
Dr Allagamuthu Nandakumar
Edward Joseph of Mount Lavinia who wrote to the Citizens' Mail column
on the above, deserves the appreciation of all users of the residential
telephone directory.
I was an employee of the Post and Telecommunications Department for
40 years from 1950. During that period the residential telephone
directory was issued regularly along with a small Yellow Page Directory
which carried the names of business establishments.
The Business Telephone Directory issued now contains 894 pages and is
cumbersome to use.
An enormous amount has to be spent by the Telecommunication
Department in printing this, which of course is the rate-payers money. I
trust that the Minister of Telecommunication and Information Technology
will take notice of the above observation and issue a Residential
Telephone Directory from year 2013.
G. Wilfred Dissanayake - Etul Kotte
An Army Major, according to news published in the print media, had
complained to the Police that two sons of politicians assaulted him and
robbed the gold chain that he was wearing, in the dead of the night
within the premises of a night club in Colombo.
As a result of the complaint the two sons of the politicians, were
taken into custody by the police with a certain amount of hesitation and
delay, produced in courts and remanded. The complainant Major,
subsequently went back on his complaint and through a sworn affidavit
declared that the two sons of the politicians did not assault him and
that his gold chain was found in the safety of his home.
Produced in Court thereafter, the two accused through their lawyers
claimed that they had to go to America for studies and were bailed out
and permitted to go abroad for studies.
At that stage I felt that the two young men had a lot of things to
learn, especially in the field of functional education and behaviour in
society and as such it was necessary that they should go abroad for
studies without mingling with the locals.
However, it has now transpired that they have gone on holiday and not
for studies. Thus, the Army Major had falsely implicated the two
youngsters in a charge of assault and robbing a gold chain whilst the
two accused youngsters had misled Court declaring that they want to go
abroad for studies. The authority of the Judiciary should not be allowed
to be devalued. Hence the attempt to mislead the Court should be viewed
seriously and action taken accordingly.
Upali S. Jayasekera / Nawala.
The Advanced Level examination is the main hurdle in terms of laying
the foundation for the future of education, thereby providing the base
for the best higher education platform which decides the future of a
student.
English Literature is a subject that most of the students who sit for
the Advanced Level exam would not go for, not only just because of the
depth of the subject but also because of the hesitation to take on
something regarded as 'Very Difficult'.
For the few who select English Literature, the fate depends on the
examiners. But the question on our minds is that, 'Are they qualified
enough to decide our fate?' Here are some points that need to be figured
out.
*What is the level of competency of Marking Examiners considering the
disparity in quality of qualifications which have proliferated in recent
times?
*Are the universities directly involved in the examination process?
After all the universities are fed from the schools after the A/Levels.
So it should be mandatory that they are involved.
*It is today's experience that despite the mediocrity of the average
student, we are still thankful to have a handful of creative,
imaginative, quality students.
*As a marking examiner, what is the level of study and understanding
required of all 10 texts four plays, four novels, collections of poetry
and short stories – is a general reading of same sufficient or is a
close study of all absolutely essential?
*From what knowledge we have of the teaching of A/Level Literature in
some schools, language usage and interpretative ability of teachers is
quite appalling.
*How are marking examiners selected? What is the criteria used,
required and expected?
*What preparations (other than mass seminars) have been made to find
out whether these examiners are really able to do their job successfully
before unleashing them on answer scripts of hapless students, equipped
with model answers and a marking scheme?
*The frequent use of tags, labels, jargon and verbosity seem to be
approved as good English and a necessity. How many examiners pay
attention to allusions, subtleties of language and nuances specially in
contacts? Authors include these in texts as they are relevant and we
make sense of them.
*Re-correction is not adding up of marks a second time but
necessities a re-marking of scripts a second time by a second person and
may be a compromise effected.
This cap does not fit everybody absolutely, but if it does even to
some degree, question your integrity. After all this is education - and
of all things Literature.
Victimized students email.
After a very long time I went to the Nagoda Hospital at Kalutara as I
had to admit my son who had an abdominal pain to Ward 3 (Male ward).As I
entered the hospital I noticed that everything had been surprisingly and
unbelievably changed.
The first thing that I noticed was that the entire ward as well as
the hospital was hygienically clean and maintained very well. The
Doctors, the nurses as well as the other medical staff were friendly and
kind. There was no delay in admitting my son to the ward where he was
promptly attended to. I noticed that all the in-ward patients were being
well treated and cared for by the responsible individuals.
The attendants who had at one time been rough on patients had changed
to a positive attitude. They too were friendly. Their pleasant, kind
words and treatment should be greatly appreciated. Ward 3 at the
Kalutara Nagoda hospital is really very good. I wish to offer my
compliments to the entire staff at the hospital.
H.L. Suni Shantha Kalutara
With deep regret I remember the 31st of August 40 years ago. I was a
GCE AL failure, one of the several guinea-pigs of Swabhasa education,
out of school and in employment for just over two years. However, we
were permanent employees of an esteemed foreign owned financial
institution. The seniors at the Bank were brain-washing us with regard
to workers’ rights, trade unionism etc.
The Collective Agreement between the bank managements and the Ceylon
Bank Employees’ Union had expired and renewal was past due. Discussions
during the past several months had ended in a deadlock – the difference
was two increments of Rs. 6 each totalling a salary increase of Rs. 12
per month (from Rs. 118 to Rs. 130 for a new entrant).
Meanwhile, in May 1970 the General Elections brought in a 'People's
government' with two thirds majority in Parliament. It was supposed to
be a United Left Front and pro-worker government.
However, when no solution was found to the demands of the Ceylon Bank
Employees’ Union it was decided to take strike action. At the stroke of
midnight on August 31, 1972 all employees of banks in Sri Lanka adhered
to the unanimous decision of the CBEU general membership, which was
taken at a meeting held a few days previously.
I still remember arranging all month-end statements in alphabetical
order together with the adrema-machine-addressed envelopes kept
separately in the same order (made ready for postal dispatch after the
signature of the Manager), switching off all NCR ledger-posting machines
and waking-out as the clock struck 12 mid-night. At that time, we were
the most junior staff in the Bank and were working an afternoon shift as
Statement Operators (Assistants to Ledger-keepers). Little did we know
that it was going to be a historic record-breaking strike, which would
ultimately end in failure.
The government of the day, where the Finance Minister was earlier one
of the strongest trade unionists of the era, decided to bring in the
Essential Services Order and to treat the strike illegal. It is with
deep regret that I recall that none of the other trade unions, including
the Ceylon Mercantile Union which was very close in relationship with
CBEU supported our 'worthy' cause and thus after 111 days (the
longest-ever strike in Sri Lanka) the CBEU accepted defeat. We had to
walk back to our desks as new entrants and serve another six months
probationary period prior to permanency. This event was the 'Beginning
of the End'.
The following month saw the national daily newspaper Obituary Notice
announcing the death of D.E.M. O'Cracy. From this time onwards bank
managements were holding the upper hand. The strength of the Ceylon Bank
Employees’ Union was dwindling day by day.
What was the end-result or end-of-the-end? True it happened several
years later. Somewhere in 1999/2000 over 100 permanent pensionable
employees of an international Bank in Sri Lanka were ousted from their
seats overnight.
The next morning the Bank premises were made out-of-bounds by an
order of the Labour Courts of Sri Lanka. This Order was upheld by both
the Appeal Court and the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka in their
judgments/verdicts of subsequent Appeals by the Ceylon Bank Employees'
Union. Pensions were gone with the wind! It was the most unforgettable
experience worse than that of a tsunami. Presently, most of these
ex-employees are out of job, without a decent income and starving. Isn't
this yet another type of slavery?
Although a majority of citizens in Sri Lanka are ignorant and unaware
of the present plight of these victimized ex-employees, it is pertinent
to question why all the courts of Sri Lanka upheld a decision in favour
of a foreign employer and against over 100 of its local citizenry who
were legally pensionable permanent employees, and furthermore approved
the cancellation of their Right-to-Pension.
Rights-Less Bank employee
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