රාජ්ය නායකයා තේරිමේ තරගය
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.
අධිකරණයේ විනිසුරුවරුන්ට ආචාර ධර්ම පද්ධතියක්
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 is to be reversed.
ජනාධිපතිවරණය ගැන සමාලෝචනයක්
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.
දේශපාලන බීරී අලින්ට වීණා ගැයීම
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 see the issue as important.
පොරොන්දු දේශපාලනය, දූෂණය, මැතිවරණ නීති හා ජනාධිපතිවරණය
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 election is politically uncivilised.
ජනාධිපතිවරණය, රාජ්ය නායකයා සහ සාමය
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 the tradition of standing above the law.
රට යන්නේ කොයිබට ද?
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.
සුනාමි හානි පුනරුත්ථාපනය
The Auditor General’s report on tsunami recovery up to 30 June 2005 is now public. Of 48,974 houses destroyed, only 1,055, about 2 per cent of the need, had been completed by 4 August, and the report lists irregularities in the Rs 5,000 allowance payments. Under the subhead ‘Do we need more talk about the country’s failure?’, the editorial says the figures speak for the country’s level of civilisation.
සිය කැමැත්තෙන් විනාශයට යන රටක්
Lacking the wisdom to untie simple knots, Sri Lanka has let them grow into tangles, and the people pay the price. The editorial notes that the investigation into Judge Ambepitiya’s murder identified an underworld figure as the mastermind, and urges voters to make the candidates present, without lies, their vision for the country’s problems.
අපරාධය හා දඬුවම
Three teachers of D.S. Senanayake College have been sentenced to two years in prison for beating a student. The editorial does not doubt their guilt but finds the punishment excessive, and notes that the courts, once respected, have become a subject of public controversy.