පළමුව කතා කළ යුත්තේ මොළයට නොව බඩටය
With prices soaring beyond even middle-income earners, Ivan says that however important peace is, people will not endure hunger while waiting for it. He urges the government to identify the ten or fifteen essential goods people need and keep them at subsidised prices, since peace can be won only if people are in a state to think clearly.
බස් අවුල සහ මොළේ අවුල
After twelve people were killed by private buses in two weeks and crowds began stoning buses, Ivan describes a transport system in which passengers, owners and crews are all aggrieved and senior police officers, including former PSD director Nihal Karunaratne, own buses. He proposes extra licences and free training for drivers and conductors, uniforms, state compensation if fares are held down, night-time movement of heavy vehicles in Colombo, standard models and a single livery.
මජරකමද? වැඩවසම් උද්ධච්ඡකමද?
The dispute over luxury bullet-proof vehicles bought under the People’s Alliance, some now missing, shows how selfishly the country has been run. The editorial lists the purchases for the President’s security from 1999 to 2000, costing Rs 1,110 million for cars and perhaps Rs 3,000 million with helicopters, and contrasts this with UNP leaders who faced worse threats without such spending and with meagre budgets for agriculture, labour and irrigation.
සාපරාධී අපහාස නීතිය හා විමල් වීරවංශ
Parliament repealed criminal defamation unanimously, though some PA and JVP members clearly opposed it. Replying to Wimal Weerawansa’s attack on Ravaya during the debate, the editorial says Ravaya lost faith in Chandrika Kumaratunga long ago, alleges that Mangala Samaraweera arranged a Press Council ruling for the JVP through its chairman Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, and challenges Weerawansa to answer questions on killings and assaults, the Malimbada shooting and corruption allegations against the President.
සාපරාධී අපහාස නීතිය අවලංගු කිරිමෙන් පමණක් යහපත් රාජ්‍ය පාලනයක් ඇති නොවේ
Repealing the criminal defamation law, used by the executive against journalists, is an important step, but good governance also needs an independent judiciary, public service, audit commission and elections commission. Despite the 17th Amendment and the Constitutional Council, the impeached Chief Justice remains, local polls showed free elections are not yet assured, and the Bribery, Human Rights, Finance and Public Service commissions still run with their old members. The Council must move faster.
තහනම සාකච්ඡාවලට බාධාවක් කරගත යුතු ද?
Campaigners demanding that the LTTE ban stay in place would, the editorial argues, wreck the proposed talks and push the country back to war it cannot afford. The Tigers fought before and after the ban, which was imposed to placate the public after the attack on the Temple of the Tooth. The JVP too was once banned, and a ban lifted can easily be reimposed if the LTTE breaks its commitments.
චන්ද්‍රිකාගේ ගැටලු ජයගන්නට රනිල්ට හැකි ද?
Ivan notes that President Kumaratunga still controls ambassadors, provincial governors, who would head any interim administration, and the power to dissolve Parliament after a year. Curbing these needs a two-thirds majority, and her strategy is to deny the government PA votes unless investigations into crimes of her era, which could threaten her and the Bandaranaike name, are dropped. Ranil Wickremesinghe’s political future, he says, depends on how he handles this.
අපරාධ පාලනයට මීට වඩා වැඩි අවධානයක් යොමුවිය යුතු යි
Murders and robberies are now daily events, and attacks on officials who enforce the law are rising, from the killing of customs officer Sujith Prasanna Perera to the acid attack on audit superintendent Ambanwala, for which no one has been arrested. The editorial blames protection given to criminals by police and politicians, calls for corrupt officers to be purged, and urges that the still-unestablished independent Police Commission make this and freedom from political interference its first goals.
අධිකරණය ගඳ ගැස්සවීම
A short note on Anura Bandaranaike’s meeting in London, with Nimal Siripala de Silva, with JVP leader Somawansa Amarasinghe to bring the JVP into the People’s Alliance. Ivan calls the two alike in everything but oratory, says Anura’s aim is to overtake Mahinda Rajapaksa as the PA’s next presidential candidate by replacing the pro-peace LSSP and Communist Party with the JVP, and ironically wishes him success.
තකට තකතකට තක
Ivan argues that under Sarath N. Silva the judiciary became an object of public disgust. Appointed by Kumaratunga while facing charges, he purged judicial officers who would not bend, as the International Bar Association mission noted, and now seeks to reinstate a magistrate found guilty of rape and fraud. He suppressed cases against the PSD and approved the PA’s pre-2000 electoral law, and Ivan warns that disputes under any settlement with the LTTE would go to a Supreme Court headed by such a man.