Internet superhighway and the Telecom road

By the hacker

Enter the information superhighway from Sri Lanka. Find out that the superhighway is actually a gravel road.

Despite all the hype that surrounded the privatization of the Telecommunications Department, and the making of a new logo to go with the slick corporate Sri Lanka Telecom image, the way the Telecom authorities maintain their Internet servers would want the old department hands want to blush.

Last week, for instance, users found it difficult to log on at all on the net, or even if they did they were disconnected within a short space of time because the "servers were down.''

This has caused immense difficulty to users, who rely on the information superhighway to dial up and download information fast and efficiently. The explanation of the telecom authorities about a fortnight ago was that " a new server was being created'' and that things will be normal sooner or later.

But, users of the superhighway find that they are still on the gravel road. Either the server is down, or users find it difficult to dial the telecom internet connection nurse in the first place.

Though the Minister of Telecommunications Mangala Samaraweera was apprised of this situation at the cabinet press briefing last week, and though he has promised to look into the matter, the users have found no appreciable improvement in the service.

There are several problems with this situation, the most obvious of which is that it makes a mockery of the concept of the "information superhighway.". But also, it is a fact that the customers pay a rental monthly for the service, for which they have a right to expect a fairly uninterrupted and consistent service in connecting to the Internet.

Can Sri Lanka Telecom, with all its new notions about efficient customer service, and its new broom, look at this problem and find a solution for customers, before they (the customers )are confirmed in the notion that Sri Lanka telecom has bitten off more than it can chew in promising to connect customers to the information superhighway, when the company in reality is still in a dark age as far as its efficiency is concerned.

Afterthought: dead men tell tales

The statue of NM Perera the former Finance Minister and leftist firebrand which has come up on the approach road to Parliament ( via Borella) has got Dr Perera's likeness quite accurately, but it is the gesture that the artist has the statue making that looks curious,. From a fair distance at least, it appears that Dr Perera is making some sort of obscene gesture. One could say that obscenity is in the eyes of the beholder, but then, certain gestures are customarily connoted with certain types of obscene suggestions whether we like it or not.

Certainly, this is not a politically partial observation (about the statue ) because this writer feels that even the Premadasa statue near Hulftsdorf appears to have been given a similar kind of obscene pose by the artist. The late Premadasa is shown having a finger raised.

No doubt the artistes are trying to evoke the personalities of these departed leaders, and the gestures are of course undoubtedly the artistes idea of conveying the fact that these men were charismatic , or that they were invested with considerable oratorical skills. But notwithstanding the idea, the fact remains that taken out of the context of a political backdrop, these statues can appear to be rather risqué, to use a word that is in fashion. It might be a better idea to let the dead be in peace than portray them as paedophiles or old men on the make. Worse still, it will be a supreme insult to make it appear as if these leaders are, in a final act of defiance or irreverence, showing their finger to the people!

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