Now comes the news of two western provincial ministers who have been found guilty of fraud, forgery and smuggling people, and yet they are being retained in their posts without any disciplinary action.

Everybody knows of a deputy minister with a doctorate, in the central government brandishing a pistol and threatening those who come in his way. He allegedly has also threatened the judiciary, but is reigning supreme.

A minister who had used obscene language in parliament is being allowed to carry on without even as much as a word of caution by the Speaker for bringing the august assembly into disrepute.

The latest is that a sum of Rs. 30,000 is to be paid monthly to ministers’ staff as travelling allowance to avoid the use of government vehicles by them. It is anyone’s guess, whether this suggestion is practicable. The personal staff of ministers are henchmen most of whom could not have found employment anywhere. They are paid salaries and provided vehicles for their travel purely for rendering ‘services’ to ministers.

This appears to be a new political culture ushered in by a President with a Chinthanaya which is the cause of all the ills that have beset this country.

I hope this letter will catch the eye of our President and act as a catalyst to bring some sort of order to a country which resembles a circus with clowns galore.

R. Ranchagoda
Homagama

Job generation and promoting local products

Some Sri Lankans take pride in talking about their passionate desire to buy imported products. Buying locally made products is not something ingrained into their ‘cultured’ minds. They think everything made abroad is superior to what is made locally which is not always true.

Household marketing involves the purchase of quality products at a reasonable price, but within the buying power of the family. The shopping attitude of the customer is egoistic, and he does not, even fleetingly, ponder to think that the men and women involved in the manufacturing process of an imported product are all foreigners and by purchasing such items we are, in a way solving the problem of unemployment in a foreign country instead of giving a thought for the unemployed in our country

It is nothing but prudent to purchase locally made goods in the national interest because purchasing locally made items will help to provide employment to our unemployed brethren and will help nurture our local manufacturing industries.

Chambers of industries and organisations of local industrialists should strive to create a national consciousness among our people to give preference to purchase locally manufactured products. One way of doing this would be to produce good quality items at a reasonable price.

With the introduction of the open economy, businessmen motivated by profit maximisation started importing items to be sold locally without making an attempt to produce them in the country. It is they who taught the local population to give preference to imported items over the locally made ones.

The government cannot provide employment to everyone in the country. It should therefore promote the creation of self-employment projects and also promote employment-generating industries to solve the problem of unemployment.

The supermarket shelves in this country are loaded with local as well as imported items. But any discerning housewife will tell you that in most instances locally made items are better in quality than the imported ones.

Items like biscuits, chocolates, toothpaste, shoes — particularly ladies foot wear— shirts, electrical appliances, water-pumps and many other local products, are on par or even better in quality than the imported ones. Imported glassware, cutlery, crockery and other items are purchased as wedding gifts, while local ceramic ware and handicraft gift items which are equally good in quality are available in plenty.

Fishing boats and sailing vessels are fabricated and exported to other countries. Instead of the traditional tea exports, special grades of Sri Lankan tea elegantly packed in ceramic ware are exported. Cars are locally assembled.

All these show that the private sector will respond to the call of the government only if the government provides protection to local products by imposing a tariff on imported products and also the necessary incentives and concessions for importing raw material and machinery.

If the government sets the stage for development the country is sure to develop as some of our South East Asian neighbours have done in a relatively short time. These countries have developed because their leaders have been honest, genuine and consistent.

Politicians and their brains

A story relating to the sale of thambili appeared in an English daily of October 27. It was really shocking. In the days gone by politicos served the people, but now some of them assiduously supported by their sons are resorting to various nefarious activities detrimental to the people.

No one can deny the nutritious value of thambili as against drinks prepared with various extracts and preservatives. In this instance a politico’s son has objected to the sale of thambili on the grounds that the empty shell (komba) promotes the breeding of mosquitoes. If that is the problem there is an easy remedy.

It should be mandatory on the part of the thambili seller to have the empty shell chopped into thin slices, not only in Colombo and its suburbs but also all over the country, so that breeding of mosquitoes could be prevented. That would be very much better than denying the public of a drink they have been accustomed to over the years and also denying the thambili seller of his livelihood.

Today some politicians leave no stones unturned to make a fast buck at any cost. For some, the airport calamity may be a blessing in disguise and plans may already be afoot to negotiate the purchase of new aircraft at prices beneficial to them rather than to the country.

What were our airmen doing when the enemy attacked the planes? What were the MiGs doing? Couldn’t they have been sent up to attack the enemy aircraft? One of the explanations given for not sending the MiGs to attack the enemy was that these were not suitable to attack aircrafts in flight. Moreover it is said that MiGs are ‘grandfathers’ because they are over 25 years old, and cannot keep up with their ‘grandsons’ who are of newer vintage.

The situation reminds one of the Sinhala adage "Yuddeta nethi kaduwa kos kotannada?"

Excessive presidential powers need to be curtailed

Sri Lanka is a small island rich with resources. We have a multi-ethnic and multi-religious society governed under a democratic parliamentary system since independence where all citizens are equal under the law.

Unfortunately the excessive power vested with the President by the constitution has dealt a death blow to democratic principles and rights of the people.

The people exercise their franchise to elect members to the legislature where laws are formulated to make society a happy place for people to live in.

The biggest flaw in the constitution is the granting of immunity to the President while in office, and allowing the representatives elected by the people to cross over to the government or opposition for self-gain without obtaining a fresh mandate.

The President has grossly abused his powers by entertaining the opposition MPs who crossed over to the government especially to escape legal action for the misdemeanours committed by them while in power even without a ‘by your leave’ from the people who elected them. These crossers over have treacherously defaulted on the trust placed on them by the people. Most of the parliamentarians in the opposition today were elected for their stance for a settlement of the ethnic conflict by negotiation and not for a settlement by war.

More than half of the voting population in Sri Lanka is against death and devastation, waste of public funds by the President for his globe trotting with family and friends while the people struggle for a living without even a slice of bread or the lowly pol sambol for dinner.

The election of the President to office itself is shrouded in controversy. Allegations have also been levelled against him with regard to the handling of tsunami funds and bribing the LTTE to come to power.

Thousands of innocents have died due to an unwinable war. Thousands of service personnel have been maimed for life. Billions upon billions worth of national assets have been wasted because of an egoistic President and his infamous brothers. Thousands of mothers weep over their sons lost to the war. Widows mourn the death of their husbands and children mourn the death of their fathers. All this is because of the greed of one person to sit on the throne come what may.

At every election since independence the Tamils in the north east cast their vote in favour of devolution of power in a democratic manner, and every time it has been denied to them by the Sinhala Buddhist majority government in the south.

Since coming to power the President has prosecuted the war to satisfy his ego. It is time the people showed him the door.

Concerned citizen
Wattala

It was with great sadness that we learnt of the passing away of one of our favourite teachers of the Peradeniya Medical School. Professor Kirthi Sinha or ‘Kiththa’ as he was fondly known to the students was the most quoted teacher at Peradeniya, with the possible exception of the irrepressible H.D.W Jansz.

The first two batches at Peradeniya (there was only three months difference between the two) had just started clinical training when he arrived. Most of our teachers at the time were ‘leased’ from the ‘other place’— the faculty in Colombo. We were still part of the then University of Ceylon.

We were used to the old fashioned method of taking down notes (whatever we could gather!). To this milieu Professor Kirthi-Sinha brought in a breath of fresh air. Young, handsome and dressed in an immaculate white suit with a belt at his waist and a somewhat mischievous smile, he seemed to us most unprofessor like. At his first lecture as we took out our notebooks, he shouted "throw away your notebooks and your Bailey and Love — one is dead and the other is with one foot in the grave."

Later on, he relented and said, "Ok you can use loose paper to copy down what you don’t find in books. You can string them together with shoe lace." Even if we did not copy down anything else, we copied his famous sayings, which are repeated even today, so many years later. Whenever Peradeniya doctors meet, some of them come to mind.

1) Any fool can learn Surgery

2) Common things are common

3) What are x-rays? Shadows taken in a dark room! He used to dig into us the importance of a clinical examination rather than depend on too many investigations.

4) When surgeons do heroic surgery the patient is the hero.

I used to often ponder on this last truism as I worked with my surgical colleagues over the years.

He was no great admirer or advocate of private practice. His cryptic quote "Many a Rolls Royce moves on a lily white appendix," sums up his opinion more that adequately.

One day as he came to the lecture he wrote on the board ‘KKT for ADT’ (Ko Katath Thailaya for Any Damned Thing — the Sri Lankan habit of using oils for various ailments!)

All this did not detract from the fact, that by then he had already earned his reputation as a teacher of excellence. Invited by the reputed publishers, Churchill - Livingstone, he authored the Pocket Book Of Surgery. The companion volumes in Medicine and in Obstetrics and Gynecology were authored by the then Professor of Medicine, University of Oxford, John Clayton, later president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. No greater compliment could have been paid to his pedigree as a teacher.

In these early days as the two faculties, Colombo and Peradeniya were affiliated to the University of Ceylon, exams were common and so were the examiners. I remember the Colombo students had reams and reams of notes in Surgery. We had only Kiththa’s ‘sayings’ in our note books! However, we did equally well at the final exam. He actually organised a picnic for his students at the Peradeniya Gardens at the weekend before the final exam.

We, his former students now in retirement, scattered in all parts of the globe, never fail to recall his ‘quotes’ whenever we meet. We have never forgotten the principles of surgery he taught us, which has been our strength throughout our medical careers. He was such a unique personality. He showed us a new way of looking at things. I would say that he, more than anyone else, represented the fresh spirit of the Peradeniya Medical School.

I remember when a group of us went up to him to get permission to attend the funeral of the father of one of the students. He tried his best to dissuade us and then finally gave his consent, only on condition that we would never attend his funeral. By strange irony we were compelled to comply with this request by default, as he passed away in England and we were unable to be there.

Our thoughts go out to his family in England.

Good Bye Sir.