Media Reform
An interview with Ravaya editor Victor Ivan on media reform: the campaign to abolish criminal defamation, the proposed Freedom of Information Act, plans for a Media Training Institute, and his argument that Sri Lankan journalism has acted as a creator of disputes rather than an arbitrator of them.
අල්ලස් කොමිසම ඉදිරියේ දහසක් මල් පිපීම
Government and opposition are now filing rival corruption complaints with the Bribery Commission, which the editorial sees as a chance to force it to look at the top of the power pyramid. It urges commissioners to publish their own asset declarations, to treat the editorial itself as a complaint and call for the declarations of everyone from the President down, to act on the Auditor General’s findings, and to start with the President’s Rs 2,400 million vehicle purchases against a Rs 63 million allocation.
කෙළවර කුමක් ද?
Ivan explains that the 1978 Constitution assumed one party would hold both presidency and Parliament, and recalls how France and D.B. Wijetunga avoided conflict under cohabitation. Chandrika Kumaratunga could have conceded power or resigned after 2001 but chose confrontation, while the Prime Minister’s investigations of her corruption and crimes now give him the advantage. He sets out the likeliest course of the conflict, ending in impeachment, an election or her loss of office.
නයි පොළගුන් සමග සෙල්ලමට යාම
Ivan likens Ranil Wickremesinghe to a snake charmer handling cobras whose fangs he has not drawn: pursuing the President and her associates slowly through inquiries while they still hold key posts. Further sections note that the committee under retired judge Ranjith Dheerasekera on local election malpractice has been starved of resources, mock the President’s reported threat to bite the Prime Minister’s neck, and warn that the honeymoon is ending, citing Harry Jayawardena’s appointment to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
වත්කම් බැරකම් නීතිය ප්රායෝගික නොකරන්නේ ඇයි?
As right-to-information legislation is due before Parliament, the editorial says existing rights must also work in practice. The public may obtain the asset declarations of anyone covered by the assets and liabilities law, but few know it and no system issues certified copies. Publishing all declarations on a website, it argues, would be a cheap way to curb illicit enrichment by politicians and officials.
අල්ලස් හා දූෂණය
Ivan explains the 1994 laws that created the Bribery Commission and the offence of corruption, and why they failed: the President appointed commissioners freely and was excluded from the definition of public servant, as the 48 security vehicles bought in 2000, 13 missing, show. He criticises the Commission’s handling of the Channel 9, Mangala Samaraweera credit-card and misuse-of-state-resources complaints, its reference to the 1975 rather than the amended 1988 assets law, and proposes reforms.
ඇවිලෙන ගින්නට පිදුරු නො දමනු
The editorial says a peaceful settlement of the ethnic conflict is essential to the survival of all communities. As a deal with the Tamil rebels takes shape, eastern Muslims fear becoming a minority under Tamil dominance. It urges Tamil leaders to allay that fear, Muslim leaders to act with patience, and opposition parties not to inflame the situation for short-term gain.
මනා මූල්ය පාලනයක් සඳහා අවශ්ය කොන්දේසි
The editorial says no plan has yet emerged to rescue a country bankrupted by mismanagement and corruption. It proposes caps on the price and minimum service life of state vehicles, noting the President alone spent Rs 2,400 million in a year with 13 vehicles missing; full enforcement of the assets and liabilities law with cheap public access; an end to unofficial funds in state bodies; limits on officials’ multiple directorship fees; and revision of a 1980 rule letting senior officers keep state cars for Rs 150 a month.
මාධ්ය නිදහස ප්රජාතන්ත්රවාදය
Taking up Lasantha Wickrematunge’s criticism of editors for hiding wrongdoing by the powerful, Ivan welcomes the repeal of criminal defamation and planned media reforms but says freedom means little without responsibility. He recounts how most papers protected magistrate Lenin Ratnayake and Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva, and faults the Editors’ Guild for silence on the Leader ban, the President’s claim that a minister plotted to kill two editors, and the layered cover-up of attacks on journalists under the last government.
කැකිල්ලේ ක්රමය
Ivan says the Chief Justice heard Karu Jayasuriya’s petition over biased state broadcasting despite Mary Robinson’s advice that he stand aside, then delayed it until after the election, likening this to the fabled King Kekille’s justice. Other sections mock the President’s claim of humane rule, criticise a JVP no-confidence motion against the Western Province opposition organiser, ask why the air force commander alone faces firm action, and note police corruption admitted by H.M.G.B. Kotakadeniya, urging use of the assets law.