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චන්ද්රිකා + රනිල් ඒකත් ජයසිරී මංගලම්
Victor Ivan
Ravaya
With the 19th Amendment blocked, Ivan sees a stalemate that could push Chandrika Kumaratunga and Ranil Wickremesinghe into a temporary political marriage: he to protect the peace process, she to halt inquiries into corruption and crimes linked to her security division and to secure her family's political future. A second
While this article credits the UNF Government for stabilizing a collapsing economy through strict financial control, it heavily criticizes the administration's lack of a broader economic vision. The author argues that Sri Lanka must stop thinking like a small island and instead integrate its education and workforce into the global
After the Supreme Court blocked the 19th Amendment strategy, Ivan assesses Ranil Wickremesinghe's leadership. He compares the goals and power bases of J.R. Jayewardene, Ranasinghe Premadasa, Chandrika Kumaratunga and Wickremesinghe, and argues that the Prime Minister missed the chance, just after his election victory, to use his mandate to force
The Supreme Court ruling on the 19th Amendment has created a sense of instability, but the editorial argues that neither side can prevail: the President can obstruct the government but not topple it, and with the Tamil alliance's 16 MPs the government has 130 seats, not 114. It urges both
The Supreme Court has ruled that the 19th Amendment needs both a two-thirds majority and a referendum, which only the President can call, opening a new political crisis. Ivan notes the irony of the 1978 constitution now hampering its UNP authors while the SLFP and JVP defend the executive presidency.
Ranil Wickremesinghe has ordered the new Inspector General of Police, T.E. Anandarajah, to investigate an attack on journalists at a Samurdhi officers' protest in Medirigiriya, allegedly by thugs linked to the United National Front. The piece welcomes the order but doubts it will be followed through, citing inaction over election
Ivan argues that the government's proposed 18th Amendment, shielding the Constitutional Council from fundamental-rights suits, ignores the real flaw in the 17th: Jayampathy Wickramaratne's redraft for the President left her the power to nominate holders of key posts. He recounts the civil-society origins of the reform and the JVP and
The government seeks a 19th Amendment to remove the President's power to dissolve Parliament after one year, while the President resists. The editorial supports the change, citing France, but warns against repeating the hasty 17th Amendment and lists further defects to fix: the President's right to hold cabinet portfolios, presidential
Ivan links four events of one week: charges finally filed against former railway general manager Wack Silva, first exposed by Ravaya in 1992; the removal of magistrate Lenin Ratnayake; a seminar on judicial independence addressed by Lord Brennan, Rohan Edrisinha and Ranil Wickremesinghe; and the launch of his book 'Nonimi
After more than five years, the Judicial Service Commission has decided to remove magistrate Lenin Ratnayake, whom a three-judge inquiry had found guilty on four serious charges but who was meanwhile kept on compulsory paid leave. The editorial recalls that he had been dismissed from the Insurance Corporation for fraud
Ivan recalls an acquaintance who contrasted J.R. Jayewardene's showy gold Rolex with the far costlier Patek Philippe worn by Chandrika Kumaratunga, and traces the Bandaranaike family's modest finances from the Maha Mudaliyar to the 1956 election loans. He describes a phone call in which the President spoke of the watch,
Ivan traces how politicians have toyed with the constitution: the authoritarian features of J.R. Jayewardene's 1978 charter, rushed through as urgent; Chandrika Kumaratunga's broken promise to abolish the executive presidency and her transitional clauses keeping her in power; the 2000 attempt to pass a new constitution by buying UNP votes;
The editorial accuses the President of abusing her powers under the distorted 17th Amendment. She has kept Priyani Wijesekera, the most senior and qualified candidate, as only acting Secretary-General of Parliament despite the 14-day limit on acting appointments, and passed over Justice Mark Fernando, whose ruling that presidential immunity ends
The idea of a Constitutional Council, advanced by professional bodies and backed by pro-democracy and media groups, was meant to take appointments to key posts out of the head of state's arbitrary hands. The editorial argues that the version of the 17th Amendment drafted with JVP mediation reverses this, leaving
Using the purchase of armoured vehicles for the President, where Rs 2,400 million was spent against a parliamentary allocation of Rs 63 million on used BMWs bought through an intermediary, Ivan argues that senior officials bear greater blame than politicians because their posts are permanent and they are bound to
Ivan rejects the Bribery Commission's ruling that the Chief Justice is not a public servant and that his complaint against Sarath N. Silva and Lenin Ratnayake falls outside its remit, citing the Penal Code and the assets law. Further sections argue that the 17th Amendment was certified without its transitional
The editorial welcomes the government's decision to lift the ban on the LTTE as necessary to the peace process despite some opposition. The ban was imposed to placate the public after the attack on the Temple of the Tooth and made no difference to what the LTTE did. It notes
Who is More Responsible for Corruption: the Politician or the Bureaucrat?
Victor Ivan
Business Today
This article argues that Sri Lanka's greatest existential threat is not the war waged by Prabhakaran, but the pervasive cancer of state-level corruption and waste that has been rotting the country from within. Challenging the popular narrative that blames corruption entirely on politicians, the author places heavy responsibility on permanent
The CID found Rs 50 million in treasury bill certificates in one bank locker of a former powerful minister, reportedly holding Rs 1 billion in such securities, and earlier probed Rs 450 million linked to a former service chief. Questions also surround Rs 540 million allocated to a rubber company
Ivan recounts eight numbered first-person incidents about the judiciary: a former PA minister urging a friend to 'shape' Ivan over the Chief Justice; a judge's tale of a colleague who fathered his maid's child; a journalist spreading word that the government would drop impeachment; talk with an Attorney General's officer;
