• A hollow argument

• Resuscitating the sick giant

• Water Bill Agency

• A proud and logical people

A hollow argument

I was amused watching the MTV Newsline when Mr. Kiriella was interviewed last week over the controversy on the date of the next presidential poll. To a question, as to what the UNF reaction would be to the president seeking an opinion from the Supreme Court on the year of the poll, he said that the UNF will not 'waste time in courts'.

According to his logic the people want a Presidential Poll in 2005 and not in 2006. He substantiates this statement and the wish of the people from the attendance at the 'Janabala Meheyuma' and the SMS messages that have been received. There are unkind remarks that many of those who attended the meheyuma were provided with incentives financial and otherwise. The truth or falsity may be verified.

One wonders whether Kiriella thought he was having illiterates as his audience. However even illiterates would have realised how hollow his argument was.

How naive could one be to depend on the head counts at these political marches. To assess the will of the people by crowds and the SMS messages is a new one for most of us. If this were so one does not need to have a poll or referendum to choose an option. The UNF, PA and JVP can have their separate meetings and Kiriella could place his counting agents at each of these meetings to obtain a headcount and make a decision. Having said this SMS messages can be despatched by all and sundry and to assess a decision on these option polls would be tantamount to a joke.

It is logical that in the event of two opposite versions on the interpretation of clauses in the Constitution it has to be arbitrated by a legally constituted body even though it would be a waste of time for the UNF.

Mr. K's political turn-around is well known. Before the 2001 elections when he was sports minister in the PA government he crossed over to the UNF after the dissolution of Parliament.

There were several who did likewise. Some walked across the aisle of the house, others ran, some hurdled, others performed the high jump and the pole vault. How Mr. K did his acrobatics one is not certain but he has to justify his entry into the UNF.

ARAVINDA GAUTAMADASA - Nawala

Resuscitating the sick giant

Minister of Health Nimal Siripala de Silva deserves to be congratulated on the bold attempts he has made during the past few months to improve the health care services in the country. The promulgation of the National Medicinal Drugs Authority is one such attempt which we hope will be presented to the Parliament very soon. As the consensus of enlightened medical opinion is that the criteria of quality, safety and efficacy alone are not sufficient to prevent import of all types of branded and generic drugs, we hope that the recommendations on cost and need too would be taken into account as criteria for selecting imports.

His idea of eliminating the pernicious practice of government officers working in the private sector during normal working hours is another highly commendable one. In most private institutions - especially star class Nursing Homes - specialist doctors and grade medical officers officially attached to government hospitals, are seen practising as if they are permanent employees in these institutions.

The practice of having one leg in each sector is being abused to such and extent that drastic action is warranted to curb this obnoxious practice by targeting both the errant officers and the establishments that blatantly employ them. In the provinces many doctors manning the OPDs, and many working indoors are seen running private clinics during normal working hours. In small hospitals the MOOs not only see patients in their quarters but also stock the hospital drugs in the quarters and dispense them for a fee.

Even University dons and lecturers break these rules with impunity probably because they do not come under the administrative authority of the Director of the hospital. Often their work is relegated to junior colleagues who are not competent to be in charge of undergraduates; this often leads to indiscipline and lack of respect to the senior dons. All these activities should be condemned and the law breakers summarily punished whatever their status. This has not happened so far and making new laws to punish the miscreants as well as the institutions is the only remedy. Law abiding citizens and the gentlemen in the profession will all support the Minister in this regard.

As the public sector is almost saturated with specialists and MOOs the private sector should encourage them to come over to the private sector as fulltime officers. If the Minister of Health wields the big stick and compels the errant doctors to resign most will fall in line and only those with a real sense of service to the poor non paying patients will remain in government service. They will be the pride of the nation in years to come.

DR. G. NANDIMITHRA - Nawala

Water Bill Agency

There is only one Agent in Nugegoda Super Market complex to accept water bill payments. There was one at 7th mile post on the High Level Road. Due to the vacation order of the courts initiated by the landlord this Agency too was wound up.

Residents of Delkanda and Nugegoda are inconvenienced since the Nugegoda Agency is not sufficient to cater to the public. A water bill payer has to wait for hours in the Nugegoda queue. Some people bring 5 to 10 bills for payment putting the person who brings one bill to pay in jeopardy and only one staff member is there at the agency to receive payments.

Further this agent accepts water bills and electricity bills payment as well and the public are compelled to wait for hours in this queue. Of course you can pay through banks but many people are illiterate and they prefer to pay through the Agent. Hence we kindly appeal to the Water and Drainage Board to appoint few more agents to receive payments in Nugegoda and at least one outlet at Delkanda.

K. SIVALINGAM - via email

A proud and logical people

We Sri Lankans by any reckoning are not the most intelligent tribe among the Homo sapiens currently enjoying dominance over other living creatures on this small planet. A walk down any Colombo road will provide all the proof you need on this. No intelligent life form could have created our traffic system.

Where else in the world do the companions (cleaner) of the lorry drivers give driving signals? Often when the cleaner indicates a left turn from the passenger seat the driver turns right. Three wheelers go about it the way one would walk inside his own house, any which way. Our cyclists while peddling furiously seem to change their direction and destination every minute. A few weeks back in Alawwa about fifty people fell victim to this irrationality. But it goes on.

However, when it comes to logic we are something else. We may not be over-flowing with intelligence, but in the art of logical argument we get top marks. If arguments based on syllogisms are considered logical Sri Lankans are masters at it. Our Cricket Board for instance, will be on their feet cheering the proposition; "all men are good cricket administrators, Sunil is a man, and therefore Sunil must be in the Cricket Board".

But sometimes our cocksure logicians advance arguments, which leaves one more than a little uneasy. For example we hear arguments like the following when Sri Lankans get together to discuss men and matters, naturally, over a glass of black label whiskey. "We need capable men. Gamini is a man. Therefore we need Gamini". The puritan logician may point out that in this proposition the predicate and the subject are confused. But surely, a little confusion can be overlooked in paradise!

My neighbour, Mrs. Weeraweda's house was broken into last week. While complaining bitterly to me about this violation she gave me a logical analysis of the reasons why our slow-witted police force simply cannot catch their thieves. The intruder had entered her house by removing the wooden grill covering the ventilation hole above a window. After the police had concluded their investigations, she decided wisely to replace her easily removed wooden grills with ones made of iron. The neighbourhood blacksmith who was quite happy at the boost to his business had even enlightened her that many households in the area have converted to the idea of iron grills.

Mrs. Weeraweda needed no further evidence. Don't they say the best way to solve a crime was to look for the person who benefits from it? The blacksmith who obviously stood to gain financially from the rising demand for iron grills has to be the culprit. He was the fiendish mastermind behind all these cowardly crimes. She despaired why the police could not follow such an elementary logical process.

Her blunt and irregular features may not denote a sensitive temperament or a developed moral perception. But Mrs.Weeraweda's small shrewd eyes betrayed a mind grappling with intricate syllogisms even when she was busy mixing a hot sambol. "Sambol is good for you. Gotukola Kenda is even better for you. Sambol eaten with Gotukola Kenda will make you almost bionic", says Mrs. Weeraweda with mouth-watering logic.

It beats me why the impressive logicians inhabiting our little island are having such difficulties in keeping up with the fast developing world. Every time I have to sweat it out at a traffic jam created by a thoughtlessly parked vehicle or a three wheeler cutting right across the moving traffic, it reminds me that brains do not necessarily guarantee the well-being of other fellow citizens. The brainy driver who parks his car obstructing the flow of traffic while waiting for his wife who has run in to the hair dressing salon has a clear idea of his immediate needs and obviously wants them attended to. Who cares for the other motorists? Besides, would a traffic cop dare to book a first cousin of a Superintendent of Police and a son-in-law of a parliamentarian? It is simple logic!

But here Mrs. Weeraweda's kind of logic helps. She would say with a sigh "True, the treatment at the embassies may not be quite dignifying. But then it is to escape this indignity that you are leaving. Once armed with a European passport we can revert to our proud selves," she would say with her typical passive wisdom. Obviously we have our own brand of logic and pride.

RAVI PERERA - Colombo