රට අවුලට යවා බලය අල්ලා ගැනීමට සිහින දැකීම
The JVP is once again pushing the country towards ruin, Ivan writes, and it is using the formula of 1971 — frighten the villages with an invasion that is coming, then offer an armed movement as the answer. Only the enemy has changed: where once it was an American-backed coup, it is now the United Nations and the West preparing to hand Prabhakaran a state.
13 වැනි සංශෝධනය ක්රියාත්මක කිරීම
The government has decided to give provincial councils the full powers the 13th Amendment already allows. Ivan calls it arguable but better than doing nothing, and adds what costs nothing and is not being done either: making it possible to deal with state offices in Tamil in the north and east and in the Western and Central provinces, recruiting the staff for it, and rewarding bilingualism.
රට තීරණාත්මක තැනක
Ivan puts the decisions facing the country as a numbered list: whether to keep the All Party Representative Committee going and produce a settlement, whether to protect the European trade concession the garment industry depends on, and what the UNP is for if it will not take a far-sighted position on either.
තත්ත්වය ඛේදජනකයි
The year opened with the killing of a member of parliament — the third since the government took office, and all three Tamil. Ivan sets out what is alleged about the reduction of the murdered member’s guard after he voted against the budget, and asks how a country’s human rights position can improve when members must leave it to stay alive.
එළඹෙන වසර සුනාමි ප්රතිසංස්කරණ වසර බවට පත් කරමු
A year after the tsunami killed 40,000 and displaced a million, the editorial says the country owes the survivors a quick return to normal life, assesses what has and has not been done, and compares the JVP’s politics without arms to the LTTE’s politics with them.
රණ බෙර වැයීමෙන් විය හැක්කේ විනාශයකි
As a newspaper, Ravaya has always stood for peace, not war. Both Chandrika Kumaratunga’s and Ranil Wickremesinghe’s peace efforts failed, but the editorial warns that a new war would be more destructive than any before, whoever won, and that only the public can change the picture.
විශ්රාම යන හැම ජනාධිපතිවරයෙක් ම පරික්ෂාවට ලක්විය යුතු ය
Ravaya explains its decision to go to court against the special privileges planned for former President Chandrika Kumaratunga and on other matters. Because presidential immunity prevents scrutiny in office, it argues, retiring presidents must be examined; it recalls its long pursuit of her assets declarations, her children’s foreign education and the President’s Fund.
ඡන්ද අයිතිය සමග සෙල්ලම් නො කළ යුතු ය
Many people who voted at earlier elections found their names missing from the register this time. The editorial says the official explanation is not a fair answer and calls on the Elections Commissioner to find out what happened, who is responsible, and explain it to the country.
සාමය නොසලකා යුද්ධයට අත වැනීම
The country has a new President, but the search for a peaceful settlement has stalled. Rajapaksa’s win was a win of the Sinhala majority in which minorities had no share; by electing forces that would not grant the Tamils even the tsunami mechanism, the south has signalled that it will not settle the conflict by sharing power.
නව ජනාධිපතිවරයා
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.