New Zealand Politics

08-09-2019

New Zealand Politics

Are we at CROSSROADS?

1994 to 2014

I believe we are at crossroads.

The major mistake was done in 1977.

We are going to repeat this mistake after 40 years.

 

I am referring to politics.

 

The biggest mistake was that we give absolute power to mediocre politicians.

They do not know how to manage power and become megalomaniac.

We change a corrupt regime with another corrupt regime.

 

End result after 40 years is absolutely corrupt politicians in every nook and corner.

I have no idea how to resurrect or emerge out of this crisis but have one  

RESOLUTION.

Do not give absolute power to politicians.

 

Then we cannot take back, even the little freedom that existed before.

If we repeat this mistake again, we will be doomed as a nation.

 

Below, I reproduce from Wikipedia, what happened in New Zealand from 1994 to 1999.

 

Mind you they have elections every three years.

 

In 1993 they had the first hung parliament after 1931.

Then the labour leader resigned.

New labour leader Helen Clerk, made the wise decision to appoint one from her party as the speaker and offered one of labour members to National Party to have a working majority.

National party had 50 out of 99 seats (now they have 120 seats).

She said, we lost and we should stop bickering and give the National party a working majority, with reserving her right to oppose any policies she or her party may not agree.

 

Imagine what would have happened in Sri-Lanka.

 

She became the PM in 1999 and is currently heads the World (global) Environment Forum.

 

Now of course there are many parties and party swapping has become a norm, which was not intended at first.

There is only thin majority, but with “confidence and supply vote” making the parliament viable for three years.

The people have the say, if one is not good enough he or she is ousted in three years.

There are no places for cronies and corrupt politicians.

 

But the progress in governance in New Zealand is obvious but in ours it is always retrograde.

 

After referendum, they changed the FPP (First Past the Post) to MMP to mixed member proportional representation.

 

I hope Victor Ivan would study New Zealand electoral reforms in detail.

 

Yes an electoral revolution is necessary for Sri-Lanka.

An electoral revolution- New Zealand Style!

New Zealand Experience

MMP

In 1993 New Zealanders voted in a referendum to change their voting system from the traditional first past the post (FPP) method to mixed member proportional representation (MMP).

This was the most dramatic change to the country's electoral system since the introduction of women's suffrage exactly 100 years before.

 

How and why did this electoral revolution come about?

The origins of electoral reform lay in the gradual breakdown of public trust and confidence in politicians, Parliament and the simple certainties of the old two-party system.

This process began in the 1950s and 1960s and gathered momentum in the 1970s and 1980s, decades marked by economic uncertainty and the emergence of new social and political movements.

As critics pointed out, the FPP system tended to create Parliaments quite different in composition to those that the voters appeared to want.

The answer, some people argued, was a system of proportional representation in which each party's share of the seats in Parliament would be close to its share of the overall vote.

1993

Preliminary results based on election night counts saw the country facing its first hung parliament since 1931, with no party gaining the 50 seats required for a majority.

The National Party won 49 seats, a drop of 15 from before the election. and Labour had won 46 seats, with the balance of power held with the Alliance and New Zealand First, which won two seats each.

Official counts saw the seat of Waitaki swing from Labour to National, giving National 50 seats and Labour 45 seats.

This meant that National kept its majority by only a single seat.

The 1993-1996 parliamentary term would see a number of defections from both major parties, meaning that National would eventually be forced to make alliances to retain power.

1996

The 1996 election eventually saw a victory for the governing National Party, which won around a third of the vote. The opposition Labour Party won slightly less.

The election, however, was not decided by the comparative strengths of the major parties - rather, the smaller New Zealand First party, which won 17 seats, was placed in the position of "kingmaker", able to provide the necessary majority to whichever side it chose.

Although predicted by many to ally with Labour, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters eventually chose to form a coalition with National, thus preserving Prime Minister Jim Bolger's administration.

The 1996 election effectively showcased the difference made by the new electoral system. The Alliance and New Zealand First, both of which held two seats each in the old parliament, increased their representation to 13 and 17 seats, respectively, as a result of the change. The new ACT New Zealand also benefited, taking eight seats. The MMP system did not, however, save the United New Zealand party - United was virtually wiped out, retaining only a single seat. The Conservative Party fared even worse, failing to remain in parliament at all.

Also notable in the 1996 election campaign was the Christian Coalition, an alliance of the Christian Democrats and the Christian Heritage Party. Although the party had briefly crossed the 5% threshold in some polls, it gained only 4.33% at the election, and therefore did not qualify for parliamentary representation.

With the exception of the Maori Ratana movement, this is the closest that an overtly religious party has come to winning representation in parliament.

Voters were prepared with MMP to vote for minor party candidates with their electorate vote, hence in a number of electorates won by National or Labour the other major party candidate came third or even fourth; previously the two top polling candidates were almost always National and Labour.

1999

As most people expected, Labour was victorious.

It did not, however, receive an absolute majority, gaining only 52 seats (eight seats short of the half-way mark). Labour's former coalition partner, the Alliance (which had splintered shortly before the election), was not returned to parliament. However, the new Progressive Coalition (now the Progressive Party) started by former Alliance leader Jim Anderton won two seats, and remained allied with Labour. The Greens, who were now distanced from Labour over the genetic engineering controversy, gained nine seats (an increase of two).

In general, it was a bad election for the parties of the right. The National Party, once referred to as "the natural party of government", suffered its worst-ever electoral defeat, gaining only 21% of the vote. ACT New Zealand, National's more right-wing neighbour, failed to capitalize on the exodus of National supporters, retaining the same number of seats as before.

Instead, the most notable gains among opposition parties were made by two centrist parties. One of these was Winston Peters's New Zealand First party, a radical centrist and nationalist party opposed to immigration.

Strong campaigning by Peters allowed the party to recover from its serious losses in the 1999 election. The other was United Future New Zealand party, a centrist party based on a merger of the United Party and the Future New Zealand party - primarily due to the performance of leader Peter Dunne, the party shot from having one seat to having eight seats.

Once the final distribution of seats was determined, it was clear that Labour would be at the centre of the government, and that it would be allied with the Progressives. However, this still left Labour needing support in matters of confidence and supply, as the two parties together fell short of an absolute majority. Labour expressed a preference for an "agreement" rather than a full coalition, hoping to establish an arrangement similar to the one that existed with the Greens prior to the election. Three realistic choices existed for a partner - the Greens, United Future, and New Zealand

First. Labour had repeatedly ruled out deals with New Zealand First during the election campaign, and reaffirmed this soon after the election, leaving just the Greens and United Future as candidates. After a period of negotiation, Labour opted to ally with United Future, being unwilling to change their genetic engineering policies to secure the Green Party's support.

Labour and the Progressives remained in power, with support in confidence and supply votes from United Future.

2011

Following the 2011 general election, the National Party entered into confidence and supply agreements with ACT, the Māori Party and United Future to continue the Fifth National Government.

These arrangements give the National-led government a majority of seven seats, with 64 on confidence-and-supply in the 121-seat Parliament (note that there is an additional member Peter Dunne).

The Labour, Green, New Zealand First and Mana parties are all in opposition, but only the Labour Party constitutes the formal Opposition.

At the 2011 election, the National Party gained 59 seats, the Labour Party 34 seats, the Green Party 14 seats, New Zealand First eight seats, Māori three seats, and Mana, ACT, and United Future gained one seat each.

As of January 2013, two changes to the allocation have occurred.

In 2012, Brendan Horan was expelled from the NZ First caucus, meaning he now sits as an Independent and NZ First now only has seven caucus MPs.

On 31 May 2013, the Electoral Commission de-registered United Future after it could not prove it had the 500 financial members required for registration.

The party successfully re-registered on 13 August 2013, but in the interim its sole MP, Peter Dunne, sat in the house as an independent.

That means current parliament have one excess than the nominated seats of 120.

From Durodasa to Dealdasa

From Durodasa to Dealdasa

Under Sirima Durodasa was on top.

He had multi-shops at Borella, Kollupitia and Kalaniya, Dalugama.

Premadsa came, then Sangadasa and Dharmadasa were on top with contracts for cement,iron and wood.

Trees were decimated in a short time.

Durodasa disappeared during Premadasa and Dharmadasa.

Gaminie came with Mahaveli and there were no Dasas but with massive contracts and successful completion of Mahaveli Project.

Chandrika came and she could not prevent the decimation of entire exco of UNP.

There were Wijedasa and Pakaralingham doing shoddy deals with LTTE.

JVP and LTTE were beneficiaries.

The latest manifestation is Dealdasa.

Come to think about it all were Dealdasas.

Tactical Retreat

Tactical Retreat

The gap between reality and perception is widening.

The conceptual model for political wisdom is failing.

It has a gaping hole.

No consensus but compromise is overriding the core values.

Confusion is the inherent danger.

Perfect ground condition for anarchy.

This is all after a draft constitution was formulated and presented to the parliament. well before anarchy took its roots.

It is shelved by all three parties in the parliament.

Why?

Is it a tactical retreat?

There is no room for tactical retreat due to internal conflicts and power struggle.

Presidential poll won’t solve any of our political ailments but it only compounds the already existing anarchy.

Parliament election won’t bring new ideas but usher new boys and girls in different garbs.

This is where out of the box thinking is necessary.

Professor De Bono has a phrase for it.

What we need is not top down thinking.

Side step a little.

Avoid the trapping of anarchy and start thinking laterally or creatively.

Are we ready?

Not at all.

Procrastination is the name of the game.

Ordinary term for this is time wasting.

Political Options and Voting Options

Political Options and Voting Options

 

Presently there is generally political anarchy in this country.

There is no streamlining of options.

Any fool from any political party can pretend to be a candidate and may start campaign soliciting (a formal bribe).

In other words asking for bribes.

Anybody who contributes to these guys is a fool.

I do not intend to educate fools.

Here is a point the Election Commissioner and his team should solve for the average voter to make proper voting options.

 

I request all to come for voting.

 

Abstaining from voting at this juncture is almost a criminal offense, if not, individual responsibility being wasted when offered free.

 

One cannot claim foul play, if one has not used his/her option judiciously.

 

My consideration here is how the option is counted after polling is declared closed.

 

Point number one is all the valid votes should be given equal validity and weight.

 

Selecting only the first three candidates polling top is rejecting a vast majority who opposed the top three.

 

Let me dissect it which no candidate seems to be willing to explain to the voter.

 

My assumption is nobody will get the 50% clearance.

 

In that scenario, if one takes the top three voting as 40%, 35% and 10% and using the second option of 10% to decide the winner is a total aberration and third candidate is voted out by default.

 

Of course second option of the 15% left out (say 8% and 5% and 2% ext;) is not taken into consideration.

 

My suggestion is the second option of the top two should be counted and should be added to the third as an option, instead of voting out the third by arbitrary default option.

It is very unlikely that the top two will get 50% even if the third candidates option is equally shared (becomes 45% and 40%).

If the second option of the first and second is equally shared with the third, the third candidate might even get more than 45% (or even fifty but very unlikely) which is more than the first past the post counting.

 

This is a mockery of political justice.

 

When this happens one or a few fools will go to courts for redress.

 

My bone of contention is that court should be free of arbitrary political justice.

 

There is a window of opportunity as in Zimbabwe for a military dictator to step in.

 

So my suggestion is for the election commissioner to take legal advice and declare the election null and void and have a reelection for the first three (only those three are eligible) candidates.

 

There should be no second option and whoever who tops irrespective of the 50% margin should be declared winner.

 

The third option has theoretically 25% at his/her stake or disposal and the top two also could be vying for a portion of that 25%.

Finally first past the vote wins and second option is discounted by default.

Why our parliament can sit down and have a contingency plan to avoid military insinuation (there were attempts in the past from Felix Dias Bandaranayike to current day) is open to question and avoiding political anarchy (not theoretical but given the ground situation it is really possible) is of paramount importance?

Right for Life

Right for Life

Introduction is lengthy but latter part is spicy.

My philosophy is masterly inactivity as far as the mother nature is concerned.

Another idea that springs out of that philosophy is, every life form has the right to live its entire life cycle without hindrance.

Unlike in Buddhism I have extended it to the plant family taking a cue from Darwin.

So killing life (not plants) for food, I abhor.

This has nothing to do with religion and like human rights there should be animal rights not only for cats and dogs (what about chickens, almost flightless bird).

Now with the rain coming in and not enough sunlight shining down catastrophe was about to hit my guppy fish population.

I have had enough past experience.

I lost almost entire population of Green Swordtails.

My first interest is not fish keeping but looking after water plants which has extended to water lilies.

I keep fish to control mosquitoes.

That has given me lot of problems.

When they start dying, they die in large numbers, since they do not have a powerful immune response.

So, I decided to use the air compressor for two fish tanks (instead of one) using a T connector but that piece of Chinese T connector (unlike coming from the West) did not work even for a week and the fish start showing signs of ill health.

Sure enough they started dying.

Immediately removed the ill functioning T connector and used a spare air compressor to pump air to the second tank.

 

This Chinese made air copressor had two outlets but only one would work after six months.

Even the death of fish touches my heart (I go into overdrive).

That is the entry point for the spicy stuff.

While I was attending to the fish tank, wife came and showed me a photograph of the garden created at the site of Bogambara Prison Complex.

This was built by the British, and I hated it from my school days and I voiced an opinion that it should be removed forthright (a prime land in the center of the City).

Nobody cared to remove it for over 65 years.

It was an eyesore.

I visited this place with the first opportunity I had.

One of my friends became the Prison doctor who had to certify the death of the prisoner (he hated the job within few months- he wanted to stay in Kandy) after execution.

If I remember right Somara (not sure) and Maru Sira were executed there.

It was an appalling site to wonder around.

I told my wife just imagine the plight of the prisoner there waiting for execution.

Can a true Buddhist watch an execution?

Our current (probably future presidents,too) can do that without revulsion.

I will never visit this park and I do bypass this track if I have to visit the hospital.

It reminds me of the painful past at first site which no one can erase with rose buds on plant beds.

Nobody has the right to kill any living being.

It is bordering psychopathy.

Tactical Voting

Tactical Voting

One who can beat or outfox-z Henry Kissinger, Robert McNamara and Christian Laggard is one who can be considered a tactical expert.

I have to pen this since, Donald Trump and Macron in France failed to capitalize on their popular vote (not the main stream base) base they reawakened.

It was true for Ceylon, too.

A better example is a guy who tactically bet at a casino table and come out a winner against the statistical odds.

The casino is structured in such a way that the gambler always loses the big bet (he wins the smaller ones) and returns his winning to the table in one go.

In voting cycle the voter is always the loser and the only chance he/she has is wasted invariably.

This piece is to educate the intelligent voter to outfox his opponents or candidates in style.

Kumar David, Sarath Wijesuriya and Victor Ivan should expand on this strategy, since I am going to go into total hibernation, the moment election is declared open for nominations.

I am only worried about the size of the ballot paper, with so many candidates vying for the post.

I wish it to look like a rolled up toilet paper: if the Commissioner wishes how to design it, I may consider helping him.

We have a device that voter can use for his tactical (whims and fancies) voting.

It is called the second vote or the second or third option.

In my case, I have always used the rejection strategy politically correctly when change was the desired option.

I never voted for but always against the sitting political power. 

It was a protest vote. 

Now this time round that strategy is a dangerous option.

That is where the tactical voting comes into operation.

I am addressing this mainly to the local Tamil brethren, not the diaspora.

His/her first option is for his or her own choice.

Let the guy/girl be happy when the first option count is over to have a drink.

Nobody will get 50% of the vote in first count.

The second option should be used to outmaneuver the first option default by voting for a random guys in the list (not JVP) of candidates.

We had a strategy to get a non political third force (ousting JVP) but unfortunately that petered away.

That is why we have to use the Tactical Strategy, till time is right for political landscape to change (it might take a decade or two) course.

If we can make random guys (third and fourth) to beat the first and second choice and come out winners (again less than 50% of the total vote), we are forced to go for a third option count.

Third and fourth guy can now have to sip a soft drink and wait till the third option is counted.

When this counting is nearing completion, a few of the election counting officers would be having heart attacks (or at least pain) and the voter is having a snooze after the next day mid meal and has totally lost the interest of the final outcome.

The point I am driving at is that the whole system is a mockery of democracy.

Second and Third Options can outdo selecting of the best out of the bad lot choice and a bad one will be selected at the end of the third count, somebody like Nagananda.

The tactical strategy proposed should be used to outsmart the bad system.

Can our voter do it?

I guess not at all.

Abolition of the post of presidency and total overall of the political system is the need of the day.

Debian 10.0.0 is smooth

Debian 10.0.0 is smoothI have installed Debian 10.0.0 in my laptop and it is sleek and running smoothly.
I had Windows in this laptop and it did not (EFI configuration) let me dual boot Linux along with Windows (having configured partitions for Linux).

I erased Windows and the boot image was reserved for Windows, it won't let any other alternate installation.

Debian 9.9.0 could not figure out how to bypass Windows.
I used BSD and erased the boot record with BSD's ESP tool (but like windows it took over the entire disk).
With some fiddling I managed to boot two separate copies of Debian 9.0.

In the latest installation, Debian 10.0.0 had figured out how to deal with EFI record and it installed it along with already installed Debian 9.0.0.

Debian 10 has over 500 new files and after giving root password and user password it installed the GRUB boot record without asking for any PROMPT from me (whereas Debian 9.0 needed some manual help).
Thank YOU. Debian guys and girls for doing a wonderful update.

Look Back on Premadasa Time

Look Back on Premadasa

Look back on what happened to Prema Keerthie De Alwis and Richard De Zoyza (they were killed in their PRIME) by political agents.

What a loss?

TUX

 Tux, the penguin, is the generally accepted official logo for the Linux operating system. Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux, chose Larry Ewing's design simply because he likes penguins. 
It is said that the name Tux was the winning entry in the "Let's Name The Penguin While Linus Is Away Contest" with the "T" standing for Torvalds and the "U" and "X" for Linux.

I am disturbed by the use of TuX in Stuxnet and this Simple Linux Guy (S.M.G) whom I adore. 

His girls are Penny and Gown.

Tux is a penguin character and the official Mascot of the Linux kernel. Originally created as an entry to a Linux logo competition, Tux is the most commonly used icon for Linux, although different Linux Distributions depict Tux in various styles. 

In video games featuring the character, female counterparts, named Penny and Gown, accompany him. 

The character is used in many other Linux programs and as a general symbol of Linux.

STUX, D.E.F.T, M.A.D and C.W.F (Cyberwarfare), Cyberparanoia and Stuxnet

Tux, STUX, D.E.F.T, M.A.D and C.W.F (Cyberwarfare), Cyberparanoia and Stuxnet

New vocabulary is entering general use with cyber attacks  becoming preemptive at international stage. I am not going to be expressive here  since hackers (they) might think my IP address is some defence attaché and attack with D.O.S (Denial of Service Attack).

Cyber space is free but it is not is not a fair play ground for a simple academic like me to engage in, who is nearer to the grave by natural causes and  do not need any interference to my intellectual exercises unless of incapacitated by natural illness or loss of memory.

I am disturbed by the use of TuX in Stuxnet and this Simple Linux Guy (S.M.G) whom I adore. His girls are Penny and Gown.

Stuxnet is the Virtual attack that was directed at Iran’s nuclear reactors.

Tux is a penguin character and the official Mascot of the Linux kernel. Originally created as an entry to a Linux logo competition, Tux is the most commonly used icon for Linux, although different Linux Distributions depict.

Tux in various styles. In video games featuring the character, female counterparts, named Penny and Gown, accompany him. The character is used in many other Linux programs and as a general symbol of Linux.

STUX

STUX is a bootable CD with a collection of software, automatic hardware detection, and support for many graphics cards, sound cards, SCSI and U.S.B devices and other peripherals.

STUX also contains an installation wizard on the Live CD for putting the distribution on a Pendrive and thereby booting from it. However, a 1GB pen drive is required to do this which is far larger than other U.S.B Linux distributions.

DEFT is a Linux distribution with Digital Evidence and Forensic Investigations tools attached. It is not at military level bu at simple desktop or server leve.

I was trying to download (point to point) it and I have failed in 5 attempts now due to abrupt termination of service.

MAD is Mutually assured Destruction

Mutual Assured Destruction is a doctrine of military strategy and National Security Policy in which a full-scale use of high-yield Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) by two opposing sides would effectively result in the complete, utter and irrevocable annihilation of both the attacker and the defender^. becoming thus a war that has no victory nor any armistice but only effective reciprocal destruction.

C.W.F is Cyberwarfare.

There are very interesting articles and one who interested in can browse but suffice is to say even an innocent device like Play Station can be used for an attack.

Other interesting point is that proprietary operating system with the O.E.M guys can use a device to send secret message to the company or the country’s National security for spying on your web activities.

This is why I am strongly against Windows 8 attempt to invade and intrusion of One’s Freedom of Use (O.F.U).

Cyberparanoia is the word I coin today to describe this phenomenon from a doctors point of view.

That is my contribution to the jargon and vocabulary.

Pigs are our closer cousins please adore them!

Pigs are our closer cousins please adore them!

These are little things that will be prohibited to teach in schools in Ceylon, soon.

Pigs are very similar to humans in genome study.

They are communal species ( not like in pig farms).

They look after their young in the wild.

There is hierarchy dominated by mums like in the elephant family.

They are not ferocious as depicted in the wild boar clan.

They keep clean if left to their own devises.

Pig’s diseases are similar to human diseases especially cardiovascular risks.

Pigs become chubby like our politicians.

They are an intelligent species to tolerate (not the pig eaters) humans and their survival in a increasingly hostile planet where elephants with big brain fail is a dilemma.

Their intelligence and brain size are similar to the comparison of dolphins to humans.

Pigs diverted from wild boar probably million years ago.

Why god created pigs and hate ham is open to question for some religions.

The miniature Wuzhishan pig is extensively inbred and individuals are genetically similar.

Its small size makes it easy to handle and useful for medical research. The team looked at genes and protein domains that pigs and humans share. These are important targets for drugs. The researchers found the physiology of the two is 84 per cent similar at the genetic level.

The studies identified 112 positions in the genome where pig protein has the same amino acid that is implicated in a human disease.

This supports the use of pig in studies on human diseases. Some of the protein aberrations that pigs share with humans are associated with obesity, diabetes, dyslexia, Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease.

This understanding of the genetic origins of modern pigs is important for their breeding and to find new ways to deal with old and emerging diseases.

Quality in Action

Quality in Action

This one is for our Commissioner of Elections and his cohorts!

I give a background of my entry into Quality in action.

From selection to execution it has to be perfect.

In other words Total Quality Management (TQM) of elections without fear psychosis (especially for Tamils and Muslims).

We do not won’t extraordinary measures but strict laid down (written instructions form declaration of intent to final closure and 10 days afterward) procedures (especially for police and I do not fear the armed forces).

If he has to shoot on the head (not below knee as stated) and eliminate them, be that so, we need to wean out bad genes before procreation and repetition for future generations to suffer.

Let me start with one of my school teachers (I was instrument in chasing him out from our school). 

He ended up in politics and cut a sorry figure. 

He published, university intellectual property belonged to the university as of his own.

Thanks to JRJ who demolished English department and Pali department, this guy became famous. 

This guy was recording the committee stage discussions of over 50 guys’ and girls’ intellectual property and he took the written notes home (never acknowledged as co-authors, which is a standard procedure in the universities) and published them as his own.

Stealing intellectual property at the highest level (not an offense in this country).

He ended up in quality control unit of the government and when I visited this institute many years after his retirement there was not a single balance (quality assured) in that unit (I verified personally).

Then to nepotism in style.

I was interested in becoming a reserved air force officer (seconded officer) as a young guy.

I loved flying or be with the flying guys, including drones and dragon flies.

I applied with few others and followed the papers to its final destination for selections.

I had all the qualifications including sports, cadeting, the height, the chest and the rest.

Sometime later, I heard a guy who was six inches shorter was selected (that to state that I am not a short guy and could clear a good distance in long jump; once I bettered the university (not national) champion’s jump by a few inches).

I did not pursue this any further and left this country in the first opportunity I had (but never to return home was in the back of my mind).

Many moons later, I met this guy who had retired as a brigadier but never served in combat zone (thank god they have to retire at 55 years).

I ended up as a flying doctor (that the level of my perseverance) in New Zealand. 

 

I chose the remotest hospital in there where local guys hate to serve with a good air strip and an annual air show.

 

New Zealand has over 20 off shore islands.

 

They may be bad in cricket but excellent in haka and flying small air crafts.

I joined a leading private hospital in Colombo (before my sojourn abroad) and took over the laboratory performing badly in techniques and performance. 

I told the management that the hospital should enter the National Quality Award and I will train them with the help of a quality guy (recruited by me and paid him hefty) and I need three months of training myself. 

I entered for a seminar organized by a lady, through a paper advertisement (forget from where she came, not from the standard bureau, I visited personally) by shear chance occurrence.

 

This where I got a chance to have a head on clash with air force guys who followed the same course.

They had just won the quality award.

The same year they lost all but one aircraft in combat with LTTE in Jaffna.

 

I told them you don’t practice what you preach and surely you should practice quality (never to lose one), at least with foreign aid.

They did improve drastically some years later.

I was happy then, that I never got a officer batch to adorn, myself.

I took a little bite at the expense of the trainees.

Suffice is to say they became pals.

My teacher did not have quality.

The air force did not have quality approach and probably army in the distant past (used to kill JVP guys) did not.

The standard bureau did not.

The private hospital did not.

University did not.

Within three months I transformed the Unit to be the best in Colombo overtaking the rival laboratory run by a guy (not a doc) from Kandy.

I checked quality procedures with a Singapore institute.

A guy would go to Singapore every Friday (chemical tests) fly back on Saturday and would also purchase the best equipments available at that time (training done by the company who delivered the gadgets).

I was lucky to join the university under Professor Ranjith Mendis and twisted him arm to introduce Quality Teaching in Peradeniya.

We established a Quality Forum, it went into defunct state within three months of Rail becoming PM under Chandrika.

 

Now my grouse with the Ranil Wicramasinghe who like JRJ wants to destroy the universities (not only Pali and language departments, which JRJ initiated) is that he replaced Professor Ranjith and also the university reforms envisaged -long term- by the team of University Dons.

 

He put a stooge with no knowledge in Quality and University Education as the UGC Chairman and his selection of Ministers of Education is arbitrary.

Good guys are leaving and bad guys are coming to roost.

By the way I visited the private hospital years later for courtesy call and sadly quality had a nose dip with an Indian guy running the place.

Punchlines, Punch Bags (Boxing Bags). Punch Balls, Kick Bags and Kickbacks with Punch and Judy

Punchlines, Punch Bags (Boxing Bags). Punch Balls, Kick Bags and Kickbacks with Punch and Judy

Posted on July 3, 2010

Election is all over and every conceivable lie had being utilized for gains.

It is miracle that I survived without hearing loss since the decibel range was higher than the pitch I was used to.

Sometimes I think it is a blessing to be either deaf or blind or both.

Since I am not either this is to revive Punch and Judy not in his style but in boxing style.

It is strange to note that Punch and Judy characters never used Boxer the kids friendly dog nor the the real boxing characters like Cassius Clay (Mohamed Ali), probably fearing American backlash.

I am writing this not expecting any kickbacks from any living soul or any British soul sent to hell by Punch but I have to use English for the strength of the Punch but in boxing style.

I am not even light weight and not even super flyweight to have the physical (I was super bantamweight when I was abroad and having being here for over 5 years gone below the fly weight category without even having a crash course in dieting) presence felt in the ring.

I have to use the English punchlines (send our Buddhist MPs including monks to heaven – not to hell like in UK for them to evoke blessing for the millions of voters who are practically missing a meal-according to health Ministry statistics they never starve; they actually follow the Buddhist monks principle of eating once a day to go to heaven.

Sri-Lanka is not the heaven or paradise that it used to be.

The boxing categories including light weight was used by me to address the issue I have with the Microsoft / Open Office Office Package/s which is /are always super heavyweight and tax my computer’s limited resources including RAM.

Since I use Linux for my work I do many things (unlike Microsoft Windows) once at the same time (watching Football World Cup-not cricket now- do a distribution download while I do some pep writings like this) and the speed is a factor I rely for efficiency.

I use Abiword Light sometime which is portable too.

I have extended this to my Linux100 writing elsewhere in the Google’s blogspot- just type asoka and paraox- you are instantly there and I want the Linux Developers to produce Light Weight (700 MiB. Middle Weight is 1700 MiB and anything above is Heavy Weight (especially the commercial versions that tax resources even at boot time) and sometimes useless to say the least.

Just to take some respite from somewhat taxing job (100 is a big issue at my age, even though I have already 200 distributions in my USB hard disc) of testing and writing reviews for the wider web users.

I take life at an easy pace now!

To begin with my Punch Code (in computer terminology) we must have a nurse and a doctor appointed to the parliament.

The should weigh all new MPs (do not do that with the old foxes they are too heavy that the spring of the balance will break without any spring of surprises) now and every three months over the next 6 years and send that data to the Central Bank / World Bank and the WHO (Sinhalen whoooo) as real data.

They must be categorized according to the weight class of the boxers and see how they progress from flyweight to super heavyweight both in weight and money in no time.

Real progress of the country.

My argument for this is that our parliament truly represents the wishes of the population in real terms and numbers. 

It truly feel the pulse of the people and rule of the law but not the rulers image.

If we have donkeys in this country surely they should be represented there.

Then we must have an annual contest in front of the Diyawana Oya and get Indian actors to come and face them weight by weight.

Our voters can be used as the Punch Bags or Boxing Bag (it is done almost everyday if you look at the government TV Channel).

It is worth while that they must send a random sample of weight from school leavers for comparison.

But I think that is a waste since our Central Bank has the knack of manipulating any real data into abstruse elements for it to be presented at the Budget at any time of the day or night or if necessary for IMF’s consumption.

But my real punch line is not for the new MPs.

It is for the Ministers who were newly appointed.

It looks as if they are used as the Punch Bags especially the Foreign Minister.

I do not wish to tell who uses them as the Punch Bags.

It is a top secret except for one who is always vociferous in Sinhala for the cameras and destroy anything foreign except the oil he wears on his head.

If seems that boxers use kick balls and kick bags.

I like both of them (kick bag and kick ball) and in football style I can kick them in their vestiges!

Asoka

3rd July., 2010