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මජරකමද? වැඩවසම් උද්ධච්ඡකමද?
Victor Ivan
Ravaya
The dispute over luxury bullet-proof vehicles bought under the People's Alliance, some now missing, shows how selfishly the country has been run. The editorial lists the purchases for the President's security from 1999 to 2000, costing Rs 1,110 million for cars and perhaps Rs 3,000 million with helicopters, and contrasts
After twelve people were killed by private buses in two weeks and crowds began stoning buses, Ivan describes a transport system in which passengers, owners and crews are all aggrieved and senior police officers, including former PSD director Nihal Karunaratne, own buses. He proposes extra licences and free training for
With prices soaring beyond even middle-income earners, Ivan says that however important peace is, people will not endure hunger while waiting for it. He urges the government to identify the ten or fifteen essential goods people need and keep them at subsidised prices, since peace can be won only if
Repealing the criminal defamation law, used by the executive against journalists, is an important step, but good governance also needs an independent judiciary, public service, audit commission and elections commission. Despite the 17th Amendment and the Constitutional Council, the impeached Chief Justice remains, local polls showed free elections are not
Parliament repealed criminal defamation unanimously, though some PA and JVP members clearly opposed it. Replying to Wimal Weerawansa's attack on Ravaya during the debate, the editorial says Ravaya lost faith in Chandrika Kumaratunga long ago, alleges that Mangala Samaraweera arranged a Press Council ruling for the JVP through its chairman
Campaigners demanding that the LTTE ban stay in place would, the editorial argues, wreck the proposed talks and push the country back to war it cannot afford. The Tigers fought before and after the ban, which was imposed to placate the public after the attack on the Temple of the
Ivan argues that under Sarath N. Silva the judiciary became an object of public disgust. Appointed by Kumaratunga while facing charges, he purged judicial officers who would not bend, as the International Bar Association mission noted, and now seeks to reinstate a magistrate found guilty of rape and fraud. He
A short note on Anura Bandaranaike's meeting in London, with Nimal Siripala de Silva, with JVP leader Somawansa Amarasinghe to bring the JVP into the People's Alliance. Ivan calls the two alike in everything but oratory, says Anura's aim is to overtake Mahinda Rajapaksa as the PA's next presidential candidate
Murders and robberies are now daily events, and attacks on officials who enforce the law are rising, from the killing of customs officer Sujith Prasanna Perera to the acid attack on audit superintendent Ambanwala, for which no one has been arrested. The editorial blames protection given to criminals by police
Ivan notes that President Kumaratunga still controls ambassadors, provincial governors, who would head any interim administration, and the power to dissolve Parliament after a year. Curbing these needs a two-thirds majority, and her strategy is to deny the government PA votes unless investigations into crimes of her era, which could
A short satirical note on Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva's long Vesak article in Lankadeepa on the Noble Eightfold Path, which Ivan says never actually explained the path. If readers took the Chief Justice's own life as the model, Buddhism would suffer the ruin the courts have. He compares it
Ivan reports moves to reinstate magistrate Lenin Ratnayake, whom a Judicial Service Commission inquiry of Appeal Court judges Hector Yapa, Asoka de Silva and T.B. Weerasuriya found guilty on all four charges: two rapes of women connected to cases before him, and concealing his dismissal for fraud from the Insurance
The editorial says Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva, kept in office despite grave charges, is dragging the whole judiciary into contempt. He promoted to the High Court a former district judge found guilty after ruling in his favour in his own misconduct case, and is now trying to return to
A multi-part column. Ivan contrasts a poor country with rulers who bought 44 bulletproof cars at Rs 40 million each, many now missing, and spent Rs 600 million on the Sarasavi studio. Under 'Sadism' he reports confessions that Sanath Gunathilake ordered the bombing and burning of Anoja Weerasinghe's house and
Ivan analyses the local election results in the Colombo municipal area, Kesbewa, Ratnapura and Galle against the 2000 and 2001 parliamentary polls. The UNP held or gained ground while the PA's vote collapsed by a third to over half and the JVP also fell sharply. He concludes that voters rejected
Ivan says the UNF government has failed to keep local elections civilised and has not appointed the promised inquiry into earlier poll malpractice, and traces state-level electoral fraud from the Dedigama by-election and the Jaffna development council poll through 1982 to its revival under Kumaratunga. A second section on the
An open letter to Justice Minister W.J.M. Lokubandara setting out police evidence on the 14th impeachment charge against Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva: his close ties to Rohana Kumara, alleged mastermind of the Wijekoon murder, who lived at the official residence, used ministry vehicles and posed as his secretary. Quoting
Lalith Ambanwala, superintendent of audit in Kandy, was attacked with acid on the very day four senior provincial education officials he had exposed over a fraud of tens of millions were reinstated without proper inquiry. The editorial compares the case to the murder of customs officer Sujith Prasanna Perera, notes
Local elections on the 20th in a limited number of councils will test the government's commitment to free and fair polls. Ivan notes that monitors found malpractice at the previous local elections, blamed on government supporters, and that a promised inquiry committee including a retired Supreme Court judge was never
Ivan ridicules Dr Ariyaratne Athugala, head of mass communication at Kelaniya University, who told Dinamina that repealing criminal defamation would be a crime and complained that the media dwell on Rookantha, Chandraleka and Anoja Weerasinghe. Ivan notes that international bodies seek repeal, that the law protects only politicians and officials,
