Letters to the Editor

Burning solution to burning problem
Proper disposal of garbage collected has become a nightmare to those responsible for this service to society. Dumping garbage in various properties is not a solution to this enormous problem due to the damage it causes to the environment, human health and ecology.

The Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources is only a name board and a building. It has so far not had any impact on public lives, livelihood or environment.

Is there a problem about burning garbage in a destructor like the one we used to have in Kirillapone? As done in developed countries, a sorting machine could remove metallic objects like cans or bottles before reducing the garbage to ash. Cans and bottles thus sorted could be sent for recycling. Even the ash could be added to fertilizer.

The possibility of making use of the energy generated by the heat of the burners for power generation could be explored. R. Norton
Nugegoda Dispelling fear of numbers
I have 19 years of experience as a teacher in Mathematics and have noticed certain reasons why students fail in this subject.

These are the common problems that need to be addressed. First students think the subject is difficult and this wrong opinion should be dispelled and they must be motivated to see it as an interesting subject. We must also teach them easy methods and easy ways to solve problems.

Students should also learn the multiplication table. If we think that giving them permission to use calculators at the examination will increase the percentage of passes we are mistaken. Unless the students understand the correct method of solving the problem, calculators will be of no use to them.

What a mess and still the best!
The ratepayers as well as all the residents of the Dehiwela-Mount Lavinia Municipal Limits were highly amused to read that the Dehiwela-Mount Lavinia Municipal Council was adjudged the best municipal council by the Ministry of Local Government! Perhaps it was the best of a very bad lot. Some say it is best perhaps for its "Sri Lankan values" and deserves a SLIM award.

The residents of the Dehiwela-Mount Lavinia Municipal area had their first shock soon after the tsunami when the Mayor went to Hambantota with his men and equipment to clear the tsunami debris even before ascertaining what needed to be done at Dehiwela, Mt. Lavinia and Ratmalana. Action T.V. programmes highlighted all this but our politicians have a thick hide.

The next rude shock the ratepayers got was when the Municipal Commissioner's official quarters were taken over by the Mayor. It is in the process of being converted into a Mayoral palace with luxurious fittings and a high parapet wall with peep-holes for the security officers.

There was much criticism of the new Municipal building (which was coloured blue - which was the appropriate hue at the time) where the staff opened their lunch parcels on the computer keyboards and requested the rate-prayers to wait till they had their fill.

The garbage is not collected for days and weeks. Wherever the drains are cleaned the rubbish is piled up on the road for the next shower of rain to wash it back to the drain. The residents of Dehiwela on the seaside of Galle Road have a tsunami experience with every shower as the medial drain is blocked under the culverts.

The Marine Drive project has gone into hibernation as hotels and condominiums have been approved for construction on the Marine Drive. It is said that if you know the right approach you may have a building approved for construction even on the Ceylon Government Railway line.

Ethics of journalism and public interest stories
Dr. Mark Amerasinghe's letter headlined ‘A kidney punch to professionalism’ (Sunday Times, May 15) argues that squabbles between members of a profession must be settled within the profession itself by professional boards.

They should never be aired in public by interested parties. This is excellent when these professional bodies have such boards which respond quickly and fairly when squabbles are reported to them.

However, when the professional squabble is about a matter of public interest and importance, as in the paediatric kidney surgery incident referred to by Dr. Amerasinghe, should not journalists report them to the public? In doing so, the journalists must take care to respect the professional rules of doctors.

The government Code of Ethics for Journalists of 1981 and the Code of Ethics for Journalists adopted by the Editors’ Guild in 2000 do not go into such details. I submit the following to be added as a rule to the Journalists' Code:

"When a journalist reports a matter of public interest involving professional persons, he/she shall include in the report an account of the professional internal official complaint(s) made on the matter by the professional persons (s) concerned, and the professional internal official decision thereon by the professional boards concerned, and the official action taken thereon."

A national trait: Pleasure at the pain of another
Some time or other every one of us is guilty of feeling a soupcon of pleasure at another person's misfortune. This is not an exclusively Sri Lankan trait though we are, I think, more given to it than most others. That it is well known in other societies can be inferred from the fact that the Germans have a special word for it - schadenfreude. It is defined as 'malicious pleasure felt at another's misfortune'.

Schadenfreude is by no means restricted to misfortunes suffered by one's enemies. It is felt just as often towards acquaintances and even friends. That is why most of us would be unwilling to admit, even to ourselves, that we have ever felt it.

I came across a classic case of it in connection with the recent headline in a sports article in a newspaper, to the effect that a highly respected sportsman had been 'sacked' by the governing body of the sport for chairing a Selection Committee that had chosen his son to represent the country.

What struck me was the readiness with which an intelligent friend of mine accepted unquestioningly the story that the sportsman concerned had been sacked for his transgression.

He had not read the subsequent correction published in the same newspaper by the governing body itself that made it clear that the eminent sportsman had not been sacked; nor had he been guilty of any offence. The published correction did not have the lurid headline of the article about the so-called 'sacking' and could therefore have passed unnoticed. This is a frequent dereliction of newspapers when they publish corrections of false stories that they have carried. They seldom give the correction the same prominence they gave the original article. They hardly ever apologise for the pain of mind they have caused.

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