Letters to the Editor

Play the game with head held high
Much has been written on the now infamous Langer incident in the recently concluded Australian tour. But something, which has not been exposed, is a remark one of our own TV commentators made during the incident.

After all the hullabaloo and stoppage of play for replays to ascertain what really happened and when it become clear Justin Langer had been the culprit, he said something to the effect that it was in vain to have stopped play for this simple incident.

If this is not a clear case of bootlicking, what is? Of course, if, when Ponting and the clan appealed for hit wicket, Langer admitted to flicking the bails for the fun of it, it could have been considered somewhat simple. But knowing that the Aussies (as the cricket world knows) will resort to any antic in the name of strategy or psyching, it could be presumed deliberate.

But whether Langer was suffering from a disease causing involuntary movements or not, our man should have had the guts to speak for the nation. Just toeing the white colleague's line and adding spice to the same is not commentating. Being gentlemanly is one thing but when commentating to an international audience, one must be forthright, of course, within reasonable limits.

One must not believe that talking according to one's convictions and what one sees will lead to losing one's livelihood. I wonder what happened to that wonderful, innovative commentator Sidhu. The days when Sri Lanka was the second-class citizen of world cricket are long gone. We have won a World Cup and have stood equally against all cricketing nations.

We must thank Arjuna Ranatunga for changing attitudes and making the white man treat us with respect. Why should we go backwards even in commentating? If Arjuna is gathering strides in any other fields it is due to what he has done for Sri Lanka Cricket and most especially for standing by Murali. Let Sri Lanka Cricket walk with heads held high in all areas. Winning or losing is part of the game. But feeling inferior is not part of the game.

Time to put pledges into practice
We congratulate all those successful at winning representation in Parliament on our behalf. We exhort you to keep your election pledges - at the earliest opportunity.

Your pledges were to resolve the ethnic crisis, develop the economy and usher in a better tomorrow, among others. Guide us towards these common goals by your example -and not precept. We have suffered a surfeit of empty rhetoric and empty promises.

Your country's agenda is the only agenda you should have. The resources at your disposal are solely for this. You swore to be honest, transparent and to serve without fear or favour. We believe in you and have faith in you - do not destroy it. We trust that you will be approachable and down to earth (like you were during your campaign) and not 'susceptible' to obnoxious airs and graces.

We believe that you will not flaunt the power that we gave you in unnecessary ostentation or self-aggrandizement and self-importance-for example, by having oppressive security or disruptive motorcades. We believe that you will eschew cronyism, nepotism and partnership. We also believe that you will eschew the politics of expenditure.

Please remember that we chose you to represent us and we gave you our mandate because we were convinced that you were the person for the job. Remember also that you are accountable in our eyes, the eyes of the country, and in the eyes of God.

We gave you our mandate because we respect and admire you and we have confidence that the faith we repose in you will lead to the realization of our hopes.

Glorious sounds from the boys
"The Decade of Song", presented by the Peterite Chorale, on March 27 and 28, was a 'breath of fresh air', transporting listeners to happier times. It was obvious that the boys enjoyed their singing, under the expert 'baton' of Stephan Corera.

From their boisterous rendition of "Get Me to the church…" with the irrepressible Jerome de Silva, to the swinging "Ticket to ride", the boys imparted their 'joie de vivre', to the audience. Thank you for that welcome respite!

The guest appearance of the choir of Holy Family Convent, was an added bonus. They were a thoroughly professional outfit, from the moment of their entry to the rousing "Hallelujah Chorus" which they sang, together with the Peterites, as an encore.

This choir has grown from 'strength to strength' over the years, under that 'musical maestro', Soundarie David. The writer understands that they have been chosen for the prestigious Llangollan Eisteddfod.

Will it be from drought to floody hell?
It has been forecast that heavy rains are expected by mid-April or thereabouts. There has been a severe drought in almost all parts of the island with hardly any rain during the past four to six months.

This has resulted in warnings of power cuts and water cuts. Farmers are lamenting that their crops are devastated. Therefore everyone is anxiously waiting for the rains to come, but are we prepared for it?

I fear we will have to engage in flood relief work no sooner the rains arrive. Most of the drains in Colombo, its suburbs and almost everywhere are overgrown with shrubs.

Shopping bags, polythene wrappers and disposable empty bottles that have been accumulating in the drains lie unattended. Therefore this appeal is to all local government institutions and other relevant authorities to give priority to cleaning the drains and allow for the easy flow of rain water.

If not, the resulting floods will prove more catastrophic than the drought itself. Let us not be caught unawares!

Is this the end for multi- party democracy?
The big loser in the 2004 elections was the UNP led UNF. And the big winners were the JVP and the JHU. The SLFP-led Peoples’ Alliance also lost seats but this was hidden by the overall gain of the PA-JVP combined UPFA who contested as a single entity.

The winners i.e. the JVP and the JHU have never been a part of a government before. The major campaign plank of the winning parties was the corruption and mismanagement of successive governments.

The JHU only came into existence a few weeks before the elections and its candidature comprised entirely Buddhist monks.

It had no manifesto except the pledge to protect the rights of the majority Sinhala Buddhists and to restore morality to the decaying political process. Yet it won an astounding 9 seats.

On the other hand, either the UNP or the SLFP have been the major partner in every government since independence. They are the party of the right and the party of the left in a two party system. They are the parties of the establishment and they both lost seats.

This can only be seen as a vote in protest against the long term moral decline of the political establishment. It is strange then that some of the candidates seen to be relatively well behaved and honest had difficulty in winning preference votes while those with more unseemly reputations had no such problems.

Could it be that the electorate is divided between the younger educated voters with no strong allegiance to any party who are demanding a political clean up and the older set who grew up in a culture of political patronage who still want to elect the men who will do them favours?

Can the UNF and the PA reform themselves and align with the new political order or are they too enmeshed in the vicious circle of politicians dealing out favours to get votes and voters electing politicians who do them favours right or wrong?

If the PA fails to reform, the JVP will simply take over as the party of the left. Perhaps they already have. But what of the right? The JHU cannot inherit. Its MPs have already renounced government and say they have no long-term ambitions of power.

So if the UNF fails to reform, we will slide from a multi party democracy into a one- party state. Those of us, who value a multi-party democracy, now have our backs against the wall.

Don’t forget your GP’s valuable advice
You notice a red rash around your ankles and dab a bit of skin ointment over it. It disappears ! Your delight is short-lived, as it reappears and thereafter all home remedies fail.

So you go to a skin specialist - why waste time on general practitioners?
The rash reacts angrily to the skin specialist’s treatment, developing lesions, holes and whatever makes it unbearable to look at.

You persist with your skin specialist round and practically exhaust the available lot, inside hospitals and out. You dump all the medication into a drawer, enough to start a mini-pharmacy, including all the antibiotics you could not take except for two to three pills, being widely allergic. The rash goes, as if in disdain, and then comes back with a vengeance.

Your friends say, "Aha! Vicious thoughts in the subconscious breaking out"! You have now descended to picking your ointment for the day, as none of them works anyway.

When you open the drawer, the homeopathy cream goes crashing to the floor and the ayurvedic "patthu" get stuck in the hinges!

One morning, after about 2½ years, it dawns on you that "this is not skin", and you scurry round the corner to the family doctor, who has been there all the time. He takes one look and says, "varicose veins!" He tells you which doctor to consult. You are sent for a scan, which proves his diagnosis is correct.

Do not remain glued to the organ that seems faulty. It could be just a pointer that the body is frantically employing to show that its underlying tissues or neighbouring organs, too deep to expose themselves, are, in the words of the scan, becoming "incompetent". No specialist's treatment should ever deter you from dropping in on your general practitioner for his own valuable opinion.

'Letters to the Editor' should be brief and to the point.
Address them to:
'Letters to the Editor,
The Sunday Times,
P.O.Box 1136, Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Or e-mail to
editor@sundaytimes.wnl.lk or
features@sundaytimes.wnl.lk
Please note that letters cannot be acknowledged or returned.