17 වැනි සංශෝධනය නොසලකා ක්රියා කිරීම
Ivan argues that state officials and institutions must stay neutral in elections, which the 17th Amendment was meant to guarantee. He lists the caretaker government’s pay rises, regularisation of casual staff and teacher promotions, the IGP’s refusal to reverse post-dissolution police transfers and the partisan conduct of state media, and says that such wilful breaches by a President who controls both the police and state media would alone justify impeachment and expose officials to prosecution.
රෙජී රණතුංගට එරෙහිව නීතිය ක්රියාත්මක විය යුතු ය
A young man who had got a job through Reggie Ranatunga was beaten to death after joining another party. The editorial cites inquest evidence that the politician struck him, notes that the Gampaha magistrate granted bail while the victim was in intensive care and was then promoted Director General of the Bribery Commission, and condemns the police for still not arresting him.
රාවයට වසර 15යි
Marking fifteen years, the piece traces Ravaya from a monthly magazine under J.R. Jayewardene to a broadsheet weekly. It says the paper helped bring Chandrika Kumaratunga to power but then opposed her government, which subjected it to bomb attacks and record criminal defamation cases. It pledges the same scrutiny of a coming UNP government and continued pursuit of Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva, and recalls how Jayewardene and Premadasa responded to its criticism.
Who can name the winner
The PA’s defeat at the coming election is inevitable. Closing off electoral malpractice, a powerful group leaving the PA for the UNP, and the SLMC and the CWC contesting in alliance with the UNP are the main things that will produce the result.
ව්යවස්ථාව උල්ලංඝණය කරන සියලු දෙනා නීතිය ඉදිරියට ගෙනා යුතු ය
The editorial accuses the caretaker government of obstructing the 17th Amendment’s election provisions through mass recruitment, police transfers and promotions for teachers who would serve as polling officers. It notes that the Inspector General of Police has refused the Elections Commissioner’s order to cancel transfers and that state media ignore his directions, and demands that all who violate the Constitution be punished.
මැතිවරණයෙන් විය හැක්කේ කුමක්ද?
Ivan predicts a People’s Alliance defeat in the December 2001 election, citing curbs on rigging under the 17th Amendment, the defection of S.B. Dissanayake’s group, and the UNP’s alliance with the Muslim Congress and the Ceylon Workers’ Congress. Using vote shares from 1965 to 2000, he estimates the UNP-led front could near 50 per cent and about 125 seats, leaving the PA below 75, and warns of post-election back-door deals if the result is close.
Other side of executive presidency
The President called the 1978 constitution ridiculous and went on enjoying the privileges of the system it created, without even reforming away its contradictions. She is paying for that now.
මෙවරත් නීතියක් නැති ඡන්දයක් ද?
After the dissolution of Parliament, the caretaker People’s Alliance government raised public sector pay, cut the defence levy, made casual workers permanent and recruited in bulk, all of which Ivan says count as bribery under election law. He warns that the government is heading for a ruthless election whatever the 17th Amendment says, and faults the opposition for not pressing the Elections Commissioner to use his new powers from the day of dissolution.
හවුල් ආණ්ඩු දේශපාලනය
The editorial argues that the People’s Alliance government will be remembered for arrogance, inefficiency and corruption. It contrasts the hopes placed in Chandrika Kumaratunga with elections won by thuggery since 1997, development stalled and the Electricity Board’s savings turned into debt, and a one-woman government in which she took the finance portfolio and alienated her own cabinet.
කුණු වී සැරව ගලන තුවාලයක් බවට පත්ව ඇති දේශපාලනය
Ivan likens all parliamentary parties, the PA, UNP and JVP alike, to maggots feeding on a festering wound. He examines the charges traded after S.B. Dissanayake and others crossed to the opposition, including Mangala Samaraweera’s claims about Dissanayake’s Hanguranketa mansion, and the defectors’ own accounts of Chandrika Kumaratunga’s chronic lateness, her hoarding of ministries and her control of tenders through Ronnie Peiris, whose business links to the Katunayake expressway and Hiru radio he details.