Don’t make us, law-abiding motorists seem foolish during peak hour traffic on Parliament Road

Does Maithripala Sirisena see himself primarily as the President of Sri Lanka or as the President of the SLFP? That is a question that many who voted for him in January 2015 ask today. And it is a question that I suggest his advisors put to him: the answer he gives will determine the fate of the present government and perhaps the future of democracy in Sri Lanka.

For consider: Mr. Sirisena was voted into power on the basis of two election pledges that he made. They were (1) A new Constitution that would eliminate the executive presidency, honour the rights of all citizens, and address the legitimate grievances that led to a bloody civil conflict that lasted over 30 years; (2) An end to the political culture of corruption, nepotism and intimidation that reached its zenith under the previous regime.

Mr. Sirisena is now under pressure from a group of SLFP ministers (all of whom were active supporters of the Rajapaksa regime) to renege on his promise of a new Constitution. Why he does not dismiss their demands in the same forcible way he championed the latter is a cause for some concern. If he vacillates on this, he will lose whatever goodwill he has hitherto earned internationally. More seriously, his credibility before the nation will be in shreds.

Regarding the second promise, the use of violence as a political tool has certainly receded in the two years of his office. But corruption is as rampant as ever in the higher echelons of the coalition government. The Code of Ethics for parliamentarians lacks any teeth. While Mr. Sirisena, from time to time, laments in the media over dishonesty and corruption, we as citizens are entitled to ask: If you as President cannot use your powers to expose and reduce such corruption in your own government, what can we ordinary citizens do? A President powerless to tackle corruption in high places should tender his resignation.

Soon after assuming office Mr. Sirisena also promised independent and impartial judicial investigations, including into alleged war crimes. The latter was promised, not only to the Sri Lankan citizenry, but also to the international community. Two years later, his government is still dragging its feet on the issue. Moreover, by protesting publicly against the Bribery Commission and accepting the subsequent resignation of its Director-General, he seems to have undermined many honest and hardworking people who voted for him because they cared about justice, transparency and truth.

If yahapalanaya continues to be an empty slogan, the cynicism that is already eroding Sri Lankan society will be impossible to eradicate. Dr. Vinoth Ramachandra

Colombo 3

Musing on times past and films of yore, I was struck by a strange coincidence. Quite a few good films were shot in ‘Ceylon’ in the 1950s. Strangely, not one of the female ‘stars’ ever appeared in any film again. Poor Vivien Leigh had a nervous breakdown while filming ‘Elephant Walk’. Win Min Than, the

I am writing as a concerned motorist who travels on Parliament Road during peak times on a daily basis and would like to impress upon the traffic police to take immediate remedial measures to better execute their practice of assigning an extra carriageway on the wrong side of Parliament Road to accommodate rush hour traffic.

This is a practice they often adopt even on other routes but it must be carefully managed to avoid head-on collisions.

As a motorist I strongly recommend that the traffic police consider the following when implementing this traffic arrangement. 1. Ensure that this traffic arrangement is permitted only when there are police personnel deployed to manage the arrangement. The police should note that Burmese beauty, who starred with Gregory Peck in a WW II film [Purple Plain] disappeared from the screen after that. So did that forgotten English actress who was William Holden’s love interest in ‘Bridge Over the River Kwai’. Also the lovely French Kerima who acted with Trevor Howard in ‘Outcast of the long before they arrive to manage this arrangement on Parliament Road, vehicles take it upon themselves to create this extra carriageway on the wrong side of the road from about 6 a.m. on week days, often narrowly escaping head on collisions at bends. 2. Vehicles should not be permitted under any circumstances to overtake on the extra carriageway as this would result in on-coming traffic not having any lane to drive on. 3. Ensure that cones are deployed not sporadically but continuously in a methodical manner to clearly demarcate the extra carriageway. 4. Deploy police to manage pedestrian crossings that are in the path of such extra carriageways. I also wish to implore the police to not turn a blind eye to traffic offences Islands’ –“vanished into the woodwork” after that.

Whatever happened to these beauties ? Was this hoodoo the reason that no major film was ever shot in this country ? T.D. Via email during peak time traffic as it makes the rest of us law-abiding motorists seem foolish – we feel foolish for sitting in our lane in traffic while the police ignore scores of cars overtaking on the wrong side of the road, over islands etc and cutting in front of the stream of traffic just to get ahead.

If the reason that offences are ignored during rush hour traffic is because it takes too long to write a ticket, then perhaps it’s better to simplify the process of issuing tickets – maybe have a colour coordinated mechanism for each type of offence where you just rip it off a book of tickets like a coupon booklet and hand it to the errant motorist. This would create little opportunity for debate and negotiation on the part of the errant motorist also. A.Perera Via email

Senior citizens are most grateful to the government for the 15% interest given to their Fixed Deposits upto Rs. 1 million. I am sure every such citizen will in return like to contribute to the nation building efforts undertaken by the government provided it does not affect their monthly income. Now that the government is offering payment for excess solar power-generated in households, all senior citizens will be happy to use their Fixed Deposit funds to instal solar panels in their households provided the income from excess solar energy is a guaranteed amount and preferably at least marginally more than the present 15%.

However, the following will have to be given consideration. Most senior citizens would have transferred their house ownership to their children preparing for the inevitable. Hence this offer will have to include houses owned by family members also. Moreover since senior citizens depend on this monthly income from deposits for their day-today living a system will have to be introduced to ensure guaranteed income. A good way to attract attention to this scheme would be by introducing a debit card which permits a fixed amount to be withdrawn monthly. LECO could regularly reimburse the account depending on excess solar energy generated. The government could even undertake the installation of quality solar panels through the Building Materials Corporation.Sri Lanka Army engineers could help with the installation.

I am sure that the above suggestion is worth exploring.I am a senior citizen and I would be happy to know that I would be contributing to the nation building effort while maintaining my present income levels.This scheme can be offered to other owners of fixed deposits too at a rate above the 12% interest rate available to Fixed Deposits.

I hope this letter catches the attention of the President, the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance. Maj Gen Ananda Sooriyabandara U.S.P.(retd) Via email