Letters

Electronic timers to control street lights

Experts have warned that Sri Lanka is in the throes of an energy crisis and that if steps are not taken to conserve electricity we would have to face power cuts and also suffer serious consequences. 

   There are instances where street lights have been found to be burning during day-light hours.  That is because either these lights have not been turned off by the person responsible for doing so, or the switching off device was defective.

This problem could be overcome if electronic timers to control the operation of street lights are installed. These digital timers can be programmed for the entire year with the time of sunrise and sunset and can eliminate manual operation and contribute in a big way to conserve electricity.

Some parts of the country which have not been connected to the national grid have streetlights operating on the solar cell system. These too could be converted to be operated with the use of electronic timers which would save energy as well as human labour.

There is a big advertising campaign by the government through the electronic and print media to save electricity by switching off unnecessary lights as an energy crisis is expected in the very near future. 

The Minister of Power and Energy should seriously consider installing the electronic timer divices throughout the entire country to mitigate the effects of the energy crisis.

V.K.B. Ramanayake
Maharagama

Nation's tragedy lies in the use of languages

The  National Anti-War Front (NAWF) has gone public defending their stand on the recently slain MP Nadaraja Raviraj.  In their statement given publicity by the media, they say "Raviraj was a special friend of the NAWF."

What caught my eye in that response was the words "He was a friend of the Sinhalese.  He was one of the few Tamil politicians who made the effort to learn the Sinhala language."

My response to that would be 'How many Sinhala politicians know the Tamil language?'  Herein I see the nation's tragedy.

The minorities in our island- home learn the Sinhala language - not vice versa. This is because of social factors.  A person very close to me who taught English at Peradeniya used to tell me that the Tamil and Muslim students all wanted to learn English and Sinhala - but not the Sinhalese students. I presume that is the psychology of the majority!

A person no longer in the land of the living had to retire prematurely because he could not work in the official language of the land - Sinhala. How many public servants learn Tamil?

A public servant is a servant of the public.  How can he/she work with the public and serve them without knowing the language of the people?  Only today, after 50 years or so, a token attempt is being made to implement the official language policy of the state.

It is my considered opinion that we in Sri Lanka do not have the political will to settle our problem.  We are all talking about the war.  That is necessary,  but that is like attempting to change the cream when the cake is bad.  The cake of the national problem is bad.  All of us must be, if not trilingual, at least bilingual.

Attempts are being made by our educators to do this.  Unless and until all of us from the north to the south see the need to celebrate our languages, we will still be doing anti-war work.

Over to all those who want genuine peace in our land.

Sydney Knight
Rajagiriya

Pension anomalies and payment of arrears

Much has been written regarding the payment of arrears to pensioners who retired prior to 1997.  But apparently the Director of Pensions does not respond to correspondence.

I inquired from the Divisional Secretary, Kandy (Gangawata Korale) regarding the payment of the arrears and was informed that the arrears were being personally prepared by the accountant attached to the Pensions Branch (Gangawata Korale).  On inquiry from him I was informed that according to my pension number, it would take about another month.

When I inquired after about a month I was informed that a certain female clerical officer was handling the subject and that she was on leave.

What baffles me is that a single officer is detailed to prepare the arrears of around 4000 pensioners.  How could this accountant attend to this volume of work in addition to his routine work?

The latest I understand is that the earlier calculation of arrears done in this office is incorrect and that most of the pensioners have been fooled, and underpaid.

I shall thank you to publish this letter so that the Director of Pensions will at least act in response to a letter published in the press.

 Regret I do not wish to reveal my name, for if I do I may not receive any arrears or perhaps even my meagre pension.

An Aggrieved Pensioner
Kandy

Endless queues to buy dry rations in Jaffna

The suffering the Tamil speaking people of Jaffna undergo to purchase dry rations as well as to obtain clearance to travel to Vavuniya , Colombo and other places is unbearable.

To placate the international community the President says "I am not against the Tamil people."  The army says "We are not against the unarmed people."  But the real truth is that these lofty statements have not improved the lot of the Tamil people of Jaffna even a wee bit.

Earlier, people who wished to travel from Colombo to Jaffna and vice versa paid the fare at the office of the travel operator and were picked up from their homes either in Colombo or Jaffna and taken to their destinations.  They also did not have to stand in a queue to purchase food items as at present.  'Might is right' is the motto at the queues to purchase food items now.

To obtain clearance for travel an application has to be made to the army. But since the application does not specifically state what documents are to be attached, and the number of copies to be included, the ordeal has become very cumbersome.  In addition people have to wait in a queue for a long time as only two officers have been assigned to process these documents.

I suggest that the army should work round the clock to process the documents - may be in shifts - to avoid harassing these hapless citizens.

S.A. Masilamany
Colombo 10

No difference between Saddam and the Western rulers

FORMER Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was convicted and sentenced to hang by the Iraqi High Court Tribunal for crimes against humanity and killing of 148 people during the period of his regime. At the time of  writing he has once again been brought to court for a second trial in connection with a military campaign against the kurds in Northern Iraq in the late 1980s.

I am not going to speak much about Saddam Hussein nor the predetermined judgment given to him by the kangaroo court, which was established by American authorities and later came to be known as the Iraqi High Tribunal, but just want to write something about the democracy and dictatorship in the world by considering this judgment as an example.

Some media reports and articles published in the Western countries branded Saddam Hussein  as 'Butcher of Baghdad' and also as one of the great murderous tyrant of the 20thcentury. US President George W. Bush and his main allies including the king of kangaroo kingdom welcome this judgment saying that Saddam Hussein should be given this punishment for the murders and human rights violations he has committed on his own people.

But what can we say about the other two people 'Uncle Sam' and his main ally Tony Blair who are the leaders of the world's largest democracies where many organisations have been established to protect the human rights violations in other countries? They invaded Iraq to re-establish  democracy by killing thousands of people which figure may sometimes be more than the figure that Saddam Hussein is said to have  killed in Iraq.

Due to this illegal invasion, which was done by Western countries under UN licence, 100,000 Iraqi people were displaced, and thousands of children have lost their parents and are also permanently disabled. Before bombing  Iraq the US President said "I am sorry for the Iraqi children, but this is the only thing I have to do for the interest of our nation."

Numerous horrendous crimes  are being carried out by them even in  Afghanistan in the name of democracy. There is no difference between democracy and the dictator as  has been clearly proven by these leaders and  their invasion of Iraq.

While the dictator executed these killings directly the so-called democratic leaders appear to do the same thing indirectly or sitting behind  legitimised power. What is justice? And what is the real truth in Iraq? Who should be really punished? These are some of the questions flashing  in our minds today.

W.G. Chandrapala

Excellent service to patients

Recently I was warded at the Bandaranaike memorial ward of the National Hospital, Colombo for a minor operation in the throat.

I had also earlier gone to the ENT clinic at the OPD as I was having some noises in my left ear.  There I was diagnosed as having a cyst in my throat.

At these two places I found the doctors, nurses and attendants courteous and kind to the patients and I was happy that the service at the National Hospital had improved.

After the operation I was in the ward only for four days and during that time I saw the doctor-in-charge coming on his rounds with the house officer, nurses and medical students.  He read the medical reports of the patients and gave instructions to the doctor and the medical staff.  He also had a word with each patient whether the ailment was severe or mild, which I am sure the patients felt consoling.

I believe the service in the other wards is also similar.

Having been in hospital before and experienced the treatment meted out, I can vouch for the fact that the standard of service in this hospital has improved tremendously. If this standard of service is maintained and improved upon, I am sure it will outshine the service given to patients when nursing nuns were in charge of running hospitals in Sri Lanka many, many years ago.

Arul 
Colombo 13