Dear Editor,
Bravo to your editorial in the last digital SLEN where you were championing the call for engineers to proactively engage in politics and at least vote in the coming General Election with conscious minds to send more scientific minded, educated, capable, citizens to the Parliament.
You are not alone Mr. Editor, IESL Patron, the President of Sri Lanka has made this call recently at a function held at IIE(SL) and I watched it on national TV during prime time. A related news item: http://www.colombopage.com/archive_15B/Jul26_1437930293CH.php
I think ( and hope) overwhelming majority of citizens are with you Mr. Editor, irrespective of their education, political affiliations, etc. If one think of the future of own family and kids, it's a no brainer to agree with your request.
In fact, this trend has begun in earnest in the last year or two and I know engineers who are actively engaged in these types of activities. It's a positive trend that got momentum leading up to the Presidential Election in January 2015 and continue.
I am of the view that our contributions as engineers who become politicians or thought leaders should not be limited to talks and votes. We must provide engineering / scientific solutions to social needs, we must act daily as individual professionals and collective groups within and outside our own organizations providing pragmatic engineering solutions. We must reach out to our fellow citizens on a regular basis just like a "typical politician does." We must be the voice of reason and practical applications.
I as the Chair of Mechanical Engineering Sectional Committee invited a prominent minister who is also an engineer, to a public lecture this year. It was a great success. I want to do more with enthusiasm and under IESL protocols. In this context, I like to propose to IESL President and The Council to organize and deliver a monthly round table discussion (3 hrs) where prominent political thought leaders and engineers discuss topics of national importance (one topic per session). 12 per year and 8 of them should take place in Provincial Chapters as well as Colombo and in places where the public can attend easily. It should be on a set weekend of a month ( Saturday or Sunday). It must be prominently advertised in major weekend news papers the week before. Ideally press / TV / Radio coverage must be there. The program should be the joint responsibility of the Chairs of the IESL Sectional Committees. The discussion will be moderated by an Engineer who is a good communicator and a reasonable subject matter expert with an open mind ( not biased). Language used must be Tamil and Sinhala not necessarily English as the purpose of this Round Table is to educate and create social momentum within the country.
Eng. Arjuna Manamperi
Council Member | Chairman MESC
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