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රනිල් වික්රමසිංහ: විවේචනාත්මක විශ්ලේෂණයක්
Victor Ivan
Ravaya
Prompted by a friend's emotional call on the morning after the defeat, Ivan recalls what he once told Ranil Wickremesinghe to his face. Sections examine his deep but unfulfilled vision, the acting Elections Commissioner, forged ballot papers in an earlier election, his lack of courage, and the party system.
Mahinda Rajapaksa's win lacked minority support, but it decides the SLFP's future. S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike gave his family no special place; Sirimavo turned the party into a family property, and every leadership crisis since arose inside the family. The Bandaranaikes never believed Rajapaksa could win and planned to reclaim the party
Written before the final results were declared, the editorial congratulates Mahinda Rajapaksa on a win by fewer than 200,000 votes, reminds him that a president chosen by the majority community must serve a multi-ethnic country, and asks that the loser be treated with dignity.
Mahinda Rajapaksa won a close contest, helped by Prabhakaran's boycott, ending the political careers of both Ranil Wickremesinghe and Chandrika Kumaratunga. For the first time the SLFP passes to a leader outside the Bandaranaike family; sections assess Wickremesinghe, Kumaratunga, the JVP and Prabhakaran, and predict that on the ethnic question
The worst story about Chandrika Kumaratunga's honesty came from Le Monde's Delhi correspondent, puzzled by the degrees listed in her official biography after 1994. Ivan then recalls the impeachment plan of 1991, in which all three main actors lived in dream worlds, and how the exposure of the Suriyakanda mass
The Declaration of Assets and Liabilities Law of 1975, amended in 1988, is the only strong law for scrutinising the wealth of politicians and officials, yet until 1999 it was applied almost only to officials. Ivan recounts how, as Ravaya's editor, he asked the Elections Commissioner for the declarations filed
The winner may steer the country not for six years but for twelve. After nearly 58 years of independence the country is fractured and bloodied; the editorial calls for democratising the parties' feudal ways and for each of the executive, legislature, judiciary and media to do its duty.
Ivan explains that he decided after the 1999 election to write a book on his experience of Chandrika Kumaratunga before she lost power, and that some critics credit him with helping to create the conditions for her rise. He begins with stories that cast doubt on her honesty, including one
Ranil Wickremesinghe faces only Mahinda Rajapaksa, but Rajapaksa faces Wickremesinghe and Chandrika Kumaratunga as well. His candidacy excites anti-UNP forces, though his pacts with the JVP and Hela Urumaya and the Bandaranaikes' hostility cost him; two incalculable factors remain, Prabhakaran and Karuna.
The Bar Association has appointed a former Chief Justice and two retired Supreme Court judges to draft a code of ethics for judges. The editorial welcomes it, but says the judiciary's indecency flows from the Chief Justice himself, and that the law must be enforced against him if the trend
Three weeks from the 2005 presidential election, Victor Ivan sets out what each outcome would produce. Defeat ends the political life of whichever man suffers it, and fragments his party. A Wickremesinghe victory brings immediate dissolution and a parliamentary election that would cut the JVP and Hela Urumaya down, after
The campaign is calmer than before, but the state media's behaviour has not changed and the Elections Commissioner has not dealt with it. Sections follow on 'the 2005 conspiracy', Mangala Samaraweera's democracy, including Ports Authority money spent on his mother's official residence, Soma Thera and the doctor branded a traitor
Transport is where the public suffers most every day, yet it is the least discussed issue of the campaign, while politicians ride in luxury vehicles at public expense. Ivan examines the conduct of private bus crews and its causes, and proposes measures including restricting container and lorry traffic in Colombo
The election is being held without an Elections Commission because the President has not approved the Constitutional Council's nominees, leaving the Commissioner to act alone. The editorial notes that the Police Commission has at least curbed political interference with the police, and regrets that neither the President nor the candidates
Under the subhead 'Minorities within the great Sinhala nation', Ivan argues that the Sinhala nation itself does not treat all its members as equals, contrasting two former journalists, the JVP's Wimal Weerawansa and the UNP organiser Chandana Sooriyabandara, and pointing to India, where a Sikh prime minister and a Muslim
With three weeks to go, Ivan argues that the winner's side will stay dominant for a long time. If Ranil Wickremesinghe loses, his career ends and the UNP splits; if Mahinda Rajapaksa wins, he will want an early parliamentary election to weaken the JVP and the Hela Urumaya; and it
The candidates compete in promises such as a Rs 4,000 Samurdhi payment while the country rots in corruption. The editorial gives two examples, including a large fraud reported by the Auditor General months ago and never investigated, and says a country that cannot even hold a free and fair presidential
The SLFP is the Bandaranaike family's party, a change made in Sirimavo's time. The President agreed to Mahinda Rajapaksa's candidacy only because she had no choice, still holds the party's reins through nominations, and is now working for the victory of the rival candidate, Ranil Wickremesinghe.
Every head of state since independence was elected by the people, yet all ruled like feudal kings, above the law and interfering with the courts. The editorial says change will come only when voters stop following leaders like sheep, and asks at least that the next head of state abandon
Fifty-seven years after independence the country lurches from one crisis to the next, and hardly a single field gives cause for satisfaction. No ruler has turned it round, and the editorial points to a head of state placed above the law by presidential immunity as one root of failure.
