හිතක් පපුවක් නැති රටක්
The state pays Rs 10 a day to keep each of the 9,500 children in 91 homes under the Probation and Child Care Department, and Rs 2.50 a day for children in the Salvation Army’s care at Borella. The editorial contrasts this with the Rs 1.6 million daily cost of Parliament, Rs 6 million a year for a retired president and Rs 5 million spent on a cricket song.
ජාතික ආණ්ඩුවක් හරහා හෝ අවුල ලිහාගත යුතු ය
The government lacks the constitutional power to grant the interim administration the LTTE demands, and the main parties’ power struggle blocks consensus. The editorial proposes a two-year national government to agree a solution, negotiate with the LTTE and identify principles for a new constitution, followed by an election open to the LTTE and a constituent assembly of all elected members.
ජපන් ආධාර සමුළුව
Despite the LTTE’s absence, the Tokyo conference pledged $4.5 billion against the $3 billion sought, huge relative to government revenue, though much of it is loans and past aid use has been poor. The editorial finds the Prime Minister’s vision attractive but says good governance must begin with an independent judiciary and a disciplined party, and that the LTTE, having rejected his interim proposal, is unlikely to accept reconstruction outside its control.
අවුල පැලැස්තරවලින් විසඳිය නොහැක
The ethnic conflict needs surgery, not plasters, the editorial argues. Since the New York pre-aid meeting, the LTTE has boycotted the Tokyo conference and rejected the Prime Minister’s interim proposal as a renamed version of one it had already refused. Aid can only be used if trust is restored; granting the interim administration the LTTE wants requires opposition support, and if the main parties cannot agree, the alternative is war.
ලුෂන් හා මරණ තර්ජන
If Fisheries Minister Mahinda Wijesekera threatened journalist Lucien Rajakarunanayake with death over something written about him, the editorial says, it must be condemned and investigated. It also recalls that as Lake House chairman under the PA, Rajakarunanayake justified the presidential guard’s assault on journalists and deflected blame for the murder of Satana editor Rohana Kumara, and says he too acted as a suppressor of the media.
මින්පසු කොයිබටද?
With the peace talks stalled, the editorial warns that mishandling could make the breakdown permanent and holds both the government and the President-led opposition responsible. Since war failed to subdue the LTTE’s de facto state, it can only be absorbed by recognising its power within a federal arrangement it has said it would accept, with an interim administration meanwhile; treating that as betrayal leads back to war.
ආචාර්ය ගාමිණී කොරෙයා නිවාස අඩස්සියේ තැබීම
The editorial describes Dr Gamani Corea, former UNCTAD head and Sri Lanka’s most internationally respected intellectual, as effectively held under house arrest by a wealthy relative, identified in the allegation as Lalith Kotelawala, who is said to fear that Corea will leave his assets to a planned economics foundation. It condemns the local media’s silence out of dependence on his advertising, noting that Ravaya too receives it, and that the story reached the world through the Lanka Academic website.
රවිට මල් මිටක්
The editorial congratulates Commerce Minister Ravi Karunanayake on winning his long fight against the gas monopoly for the consumer’s benefit, and urges laws, as in many countries, to prevent monopolies in any sector.
විපතෙන් උගත හැකි පාඩම්
Calling the floods the worst natural disaster in half a century, the editorial says the disaster management system proved inefficient, relief was handed out without assessing need and marred by political and commercial rivalry and looting, and people were left living in known landslide zones. It calls for national policies on floods, erosion and forests, a transparent compensation scheme and an inquiry into why disaster agencies failed.
නීතිය අකුරටම ක්රියාත්මක කරන රාජ්ය නිලධාරින් රටට අවශ්ය නැද්ද?
The editorial laments that officials who apply the law strictly go unprotected: a customs officer was murdered after pursuing a politically connected businessman’s duty fraud, an audit officer was blinded after exposing fraud in the Central Provincial education ministry, and now a wildlife officer has been killed. It contrasts the lack of compensation for the blinded auditor with the large sums paid when political leaders die.