Letters
View(s):Back to basics: Cricket telecast and product advertising
Channel operators and advertising agencies need to learn a few lessons on viewer preferences and adverse psychological effects on their brands due to erratic positioning of commercials during live cricket telecast.
A serious lover of the game would like to take a look at the field placing, before the bowler returns to his mark.
The run-up, rhythm, feet-and-arm action and delivery are vital features of a delivery, but sports channels deprive the viewer of these steps.
After placing several advertisements between the overs, often we are shown the start of a new over at the point of the bowler releasing the ball. This disappoints cricket fans.
True, the rule says an over has only six legal deliveries. But not knowing that an over gets extended if there are no-balls or wides, incompetent people who man the controls at TV channels insert the advertisements at the end of the sixth delivery.
Product marketers or agents must tell the channel not to pop-up their adverts immediately after a disaster — a loss of a ‘big wicket’ when the home team is batting. It will do more harm than good to the product image as the viewer looks at it with a negative mind set. Similarly, when a batsman hits a boundary, the viewer awaits a replay to savour the shot, but the placement of an advertisement immediately after the boundary makes the viewer curse the channel and the product which denied them the opportunity to watch the re-play. This creates a negative image of the product in the mind of the viewer. Why should the advertisers pay and get a bad brand image for their products?
If extremes are avoided, sponsors will get the value for their money; fans will be happy and the channel could become more popular. After all, a sports channel, unlike others, has to be sporty.
K. K. S. Perera
A few facts regarding the article on Dr. Muthukrishna Sathanandan
It was with great interest that I read the article ‘Miracle birth of a sibling set him on his future course’ in the Sunday Times of August 31, by Kumudini Hettiarachchi. I am extremely happy to learn that Sri Lankans are going to benefit from a well experienced fertility specialist of the calibre of Dr. Muthukrishna Sathanandan.
However, I could not agree with the following section of the article.
“Considering himself to be extremely lucky” Dr. Sathanandan believes that he is the first Sri Lankan clinician to be trained in this field from 1985-89 and only Sri Lankan to have worked with two winners of the “Nobel Prize for Medicine-Dr. Patrick Steptoe and Prof. Robert Edwards”.
Until I read the article I too was under the same impression that I was the only Sri Lankan doctor (fully qualified with M.R.C.O.G.-Gt. Brit. and “extremely lucky”) to work with the two Nobel Prize winners from 1976 onwards, when they were in the actual process of producing the first “Test Tube Baby-Louise Brown”.
I was physically involved in some of the procedures. I returned to my post in Sri Lankan Health Service in 1979 and continued to practise my speciality until 2012.The first separate Infertility Clinic was started at Castle Street Hospital for Women (Teaching) during my tenure of office.
Dr. P.M. Liyanage
Lest we forget the likes of Vaikunthavasam and Damiel Gonsalkorala
The Sunday Times of September 7 was full of praise for the veteran trade unionist Bala Tempoe who richly deserved it. As an old reader I faintly remember the time when the General Clerical Service Union (GCSU) with I.J. Wickrama at the helm of affairs thundered at discussions even before the then Prime Minister.
Names like Vaikunthavasam and Damiel Gonsalkorala come to my mind. All of them did their bit and have come and gone. I wonder who sang praises for them. May be that our media was not as colourful as now. Let me record this as best as I remember as a tribute to them, even at this late stage.
V.K. Wijeratna
Makola
Witness Protection Bill: Let it become law soon and strengthen our court system
With the JMO passing an open verdict on the death of the main witness in the famous ‘teacher kneeling case’ involving a ruling party PC member, serious concerns are being raised yet again on the safety and protection of witnesses in court proceedings, especially in politically sensitive cases.
That the Sri Lankan justice system is lopsided in ensuring the rights and entitlements of the accused in comparison to the victim as well as the witness, is beyond argument. Legal scholars, lawyers and rights activists have harped on the need to address this issue by bringing in a witness protection programme, where witnesses and victims, too, are afforded an equal protection and entitlement in court proceedings.
The draft under the short title “Bill on Assistance and Protection to Victims of Crime and Witnesses” (APVCW) saw daylight in 2007 and subsequently amendments were recommended by the Supreme Court by its Special Determination — 01/2008 (SCM 04/02/2008) — following which it was redone. Although the general public have heard very little of it, the Bill was presented to parliament on Wednesday, September 10.
The Justice Minister has pledged that the bill will be statutory law of the land soon. It is unclear whether all the recommendations of the Supreme Court have made it to the bill in its present form. Some of the criticism that the bill received in its initial form concerns certain key areas such as the definition of the term ‘witness’, granting of immunity to perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity when they subsequently become witnesses, placement of the witness protection unit under the police as it could seriously jeopardise the safety of a witness in the context of a corrupt and politicised police force and the lack of measures to safe guard court officials including judges and lawyers. These and many other points have been highlighted as areas requiring improvement to make this much anticipated piece of legislation on par with international standards.
We recollect the spirit of a letter sent by the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) to the Justice Minister in 2012 touching on these concerns as well as the need to allow a public discourse on the draft bill involving all stake holders, given the profound nature of the bill and the crucial significance it bears on the fundamental rights of citizens who come in to contact with law, not through their own delinquency, in the case of victims and witnesses.
It is important, in a technical sense, to uphold the status of witness and victim in our criminal justice system, based on the adversarial court procedure. A gamut of legislation safeguards the accused in every step of proceedings from first information of a crime to arrest through to the final verdict. But it assumes yet further and poignant importance in a context of a culture of impunity and politicisation in all aspects of social life, legal process not excluded.
If not, it would be an utter folly to seek to champion the rule of law and expect ordinary citizens to come forward and give evidence in cases concerning serious crimes, especially when they are pitted against political strongmen. The recently concluded trial on the Khurram Sheikh murder and the gang rape of his girlfriend is a classic example of the immense pressure exerted on witnesses — legally, by way of severe and hostile cross examination and illegally, through intimidation and threats.
The timely introduction of this legislation assumes much more significance, with much talk of investigations, inquiries, panels and commissions over what happened during the the final phases of the war. The international community has been persistent in demanding a credible mechanism to shed light on alleged war crimes and human right violations. Even the LLRC which concluded its inquiries in many parts of the country including the North and the East held many sessions in camera, due to the witnesses being reluctant to testify in the open and cross paths with the authorities. In fact, it was one of the most significant recommendations of the LLRC that a comprehensive witness protection mechanism be introduced to our legal system if the rule of law is to be effectively upheld. This has been reiterated by UNHR Commissioner Navi Pillay, the US and many other countries which play an active role in the rebuilding and resettlement process as well as civil rights groups and academics.
We boast of a professional and a well-entrenched court system, consisting of an independent judiciary and an activist bar, a claim, to their credit, is not far from the truth. But both these institutions become ineffective and inefficacious by and large, if people are reluctant to come before courts of law and testify according to their conscience in cases, especially of a serious nature. Therefore it is not only important but imperative that the witness protection bill makes its way into the law book without further ado.
Sanjeewa Fernando
Via email
Don’t look the other way; stand up for our rights
Sri Lanka is known to be a country with hospitable and friendly people who care about each other. Yet, do you believe that we strongly stand up for our rights and the rights of others?
When a girl is sexually harassed in a bus does society stand up to speak on her behalf? Or do we just ignore it due to the fear that the man who harassed her will embarrass us?
When a drunken man verbally harasses a woman on the street, do we stand up for her? Or do we look the other way thinking that it is not my problem?
When the dreadful neighbour beats his wife and children late at night, do we call the relevant authorities? Or do we go back to sleep considering the long day at office next day? When a stranger hits a stray dog, do we stand up for the rights of the animal? Or do we run to catch a taxi because we are late for the most happening cocktail party?
Is this the state of affairs in Sri Lanka? Have we become selfish with time? Or has this been the situation for generations?
Shouldn’t we take action to change this situation? Shouldn’t we speak up for our own rights? Shouldn’t we speak up for the rights of another regardless of gender, race, colour, nationality, sexual orientation, age and religion?
Isn’t it time to prevent any form of harassment, abuse and discrimination in society? Isn’t it time that we become a good example for the generations to come? We must be the change we want to see. We must stand up for the rights of each other. We must be one collective society. This I believe should be the true spirit of a Sri Lankan. This I believe should be the true spirit of a human being. This I believe is the way to protect humanity.
Chamari Jayani Wijayawardane
Via email
Our liabilities and vulnerability for the next decade
In the Sunday Times of August 17 Nimal Sandaratne’s informative article, “Imperatives for Economic Development” quotes Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy as stating that the External Vulnerability Index is “flashing amber light” as the liabilities of the country over the next 12 months are125% of our reserves.
However, one would expect the relevant authorities to look at least a decade ahead in national financial planning.
With massive loans obtained at commercial term for mega-development projects and the increase in reserves no way matching the payback disbursements of capital and interest on the loans, it would be of public interest to learn how the liabilities would match the reserves in the next decade.
V.N. Costa, Kandana
The CB governor talks economic jargon while we suffer
Many letters have been published in the media on the plight of pensioners. While the cost of living is soaring daily, the interest rates in banks have shown a sharp reduction. The interest rates of savings accounts of senior citizens in the Seylan Bank where I have invested some meagre savings, which currently stood at 11.5 per cent has, with the renewal this year, been reduced to 7.25 per cent. I understand that the rates in other banks are even lower.
The Central Bank Governor in a lengthy statement, using economic jargon which means nothing to a pensioner, tried to justify the sharp reduction in interest rates. As far as the pensioners are concerned, the plain and simple fact is that while the cost of living is soaring daily, their income, apart from their pension, through their meagre savings in savings accounts, is coming down every year and they are unable to make ends meet. Large income earners can as an alternative invest their savings in the stock market which pensioners are unable to do. They are therefore compelled to invest in unreliable Finance Companies and lose all their savings as happened to depositors in the Golden Key Company.
Meanwhile those who retired before 2006 still receive a much lower pension than those who retired subsequent to this date, despite a pledge given by the President before the last elections that the pensions will be equated. It is hoped that this pledge will be fulfilled at least with this year’s budget before the next Presidential elections. It is also hoped that the whole Opposition will take up the plight of the pensioners before the budget.
N.B.