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කඩුවේ අභියෝග ජයගැනීම
Victor Ivan
Ravaya
Ivan argues that S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike's Sinhala Only policy, by confining youth to Sinhala, fed the two southern insurrections led by Wijeweera and the Tamil separatist struggle under Prabhakaran, whereas Indian leaders kept English for higher education. He welcomes compulsory English at A-level but calls English-medium science in 560 schools from
Ivan likens the UNP's dealings with the People's Alliance government to a hereditary serf's timidity before his lord. Though the Elections Commissioner, religious leaders, PAFFREL, the election-violence monitors and EU observers found the October 2000 poll unfair, the UNP chose to 'let bygones be bygones' and filed half-hearted petitions. He
The opposition transacts with this government the way a serf transacts with his feudal lord. The serf's manner before his master is timid: he could not protest even when his wife or his daughter was taken. Timid talk about four commissions will not revive a decaying democracy.
The editorial says the President's throne speech covered much but ignored the real problems of democracy. It cites the Elections Commissioner, PAFFREL's finding of gross malpractice in 22 electorates, the election-violence monitors' call to annul 17 results and EU observers' ratings of polling stations, against her claim to have revived
The TULF objects that the PA–UNP consensus agenda covers democracy but not the ethnic question. Ivan agrees a settlement is vital but says it needs cross-party consensus, impossible while ruling parties use state power against rivals: the UNP stripped the SLFP leader's civic rights and banned the JVP, and the
The TULF is uneasy about the proposed PA-UNP understanding, because it is limited to an agenda for democracy and contains nothing about the ethnic crisis. If Tamil people and Tamil parties think a solution to that comes before everything else, that is entirely understandable.
Although the President pledged to give no posts to anyone involved in electoral fraud or violence, many leading offenders have been rewarded with cabinet posts. The editorial argues that future fraud can be prevented only by punishing past offences, criticises the opposition for staying silent about the organised rigging of
Anura Bandaranaike, an opposition member, has been elected Speaker with government support as Parliament declines. Ivan urges him to have ballot rigging at the last election investigated by a select committee or commission and the guilty expelled, to champion an Indian-style election commission, and to introduce a code of conduct
Ivan says the killing of Tamil detainees at a rehabilitation camp near Bandarawela presents a savage image to the country and the world, since the state is responsible for those in its custody. Recalling the two Welikada prison massacres of 1983, he notes that in a Western country the whole
The executive presidency split the state power that had been concentrated in parliament, and a large part of it now sits with a directly elected president. Parliament is nonetheless still the country's supreme political institution — and this is an argument addressed to its new Speaker.
Ivan likens the President's effort to assemble a government to collecting frogs in a basket. Rejecting Rauff Hakeem's demand for four independent commissions within 100 days, she turned to Ferial Ashraff, whose unconditional support is splitting the Muslim Congress and the National Unity Alliance. He proposes an all-party interim government
The President's attempt to form a government with the support of other parties is like collecting frogs into an open basket. The government will not accept Rauf Hakeem's condition that the four commissions be set up within a hundred days, so she is pushed towards abandoning him for Ferial Ashraff.
Ivan calls the October 2000 poll the biggest ballot plunder in parliamentary history, yet the People's Alliance won only 107 seats and lacks a majority even with the EPDP. He compares the 1994 arithmetic, notes the Muslim Congress's resentment after Ashraff's death and his National Unity Alliance's four seats, and
The editorial says the parliamentary election showed the true measure of Sri Lankan democracy. The caretaker government gave out tens of thousands of jobs, state land and public funds for campaigning. The Elections Commissioner, lacking real powers, succeeded only where there was no violence, and says he cannot annul results
The government has formed the largest cabinet in the history of Sri Lanka's Parliament, but with only 116 members it lacks a working majority and a small storm could bring it down, while the President cannot dissolve Parliament for a year. Ivan argues that the best course is a temporary
Winning the parliamentary election somehow was a condition of political survival for the PA, and above all for the President and the presidential system. National and international pressure for a clean election was greater than ever before, and the methods used were autocratic and violent anyway.
Ivan calls the October 2000 parliamentary election decisive for whatever democracy remains. The UNP introduced institutional violence but could at least retreat under pressure; the People's Alliance won the North Western poll by open plunder without remedy. He welcomes unprecedented pressure from unions, temples, churches, the Elections Commissioner and EU
For democratic politics this parliamentary election will be decisive: whatever democratic freedom is left depends on how it comes out. The Elections Commissioner means to act forcefully and the EU observers are working more systematically than before — and it remains to be seen whether that is enough.
The President has expressed sorrow at the death of JVP member Arambagedara Siridewa, shot by police in Matale, but the editorial says she has shown no real will to curb the violence of her party's regional strongmen. It cites Deputy Minister Shantha Premaratne calling the Chief Minister Anuradhapura's only terrorist,
As the Alliance for Democracy ties yellow bands on voters' wrists, the President has run an advertisement pledging a free and fair poll 'as in six previous elections'. Ivan says this would make the North Western poll and the 1999 presidential election fair, likens it to J.R. Jayewardene's referendum, and
