බහිරවයාට ගිය මහා භාරකාර දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව
Ivan explains how the Public Trustee’s Department holds charitable trusts and bequests worth hundreds of millions, then documents spending by the new Public Trustee, N.S.A.S. Seneviratne, whose past he had warned about: a pirith ceremony and air-conditioning from the D.B. Jayatilaka fund, a car bought from the Samarakoon dowry trust, repairs to others’ vehicles, gifts to his children’s school and temples, costly work at Richmond Castle and an unreturned G.L. Peiris fund transfer.
තොරතුරු ලබාගැනීමේ අයිතිය රාජ්ය පාලනය විවෘත කිරීමට හේතු වේ
Welcoming the UNP’s acceptance of the professionals’ draft for four independent commissions, the editorial backs the Editors’ Guild draft on freedom of information, Article 19’s campaign and the Democratic Alliance’s twelve demands. It traces unfulfilled pledges from the Premadasa era and the R.K.W. Goonesekere committee, and argues that a right to information would curb secret privatisation deals such as Air Lanka’s, empower villagers, and force the Auditor General, Elections Commissioner and tax authorities to do their duty.
යන්නෙ කොහේද? මල්ලෙ පොල්
Ivan catalogues the absurdities of government: the President’s television pledge not to postpone local elections, contradicted by the news bulletin that followed; her claim that democratic freedom is complete as the International Press Institute put Sri Lanka on its watch list; Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake blaming democracy for the decline; attacks on the UNP’s march in Kegalle linked to Mahipala Herath; and a curb on ministers’ vehicles issued after they had all been bought.
Fifty three years of incomplete freedom
The fifty-third anniversary of independence falls today. The country was moving from feudalism to capitalism, and what was expected of independence was not freedom from colonialism — colonialism had produced only a modern nationalist state. National integration was the condition of real independence, and it was never met.
මුදල් අර්බුදයේ නොපෙනෙන පැති කිහිපයක
Ivan examines the floating of the rupee and its fallout: importers ruined by paying at the new exchange rate for goods sold at the old, daily price rises, and likely shortages at the Sinhala New Year. He traces the drain on reserves to war purchases, duty-free vehicles and bulletproof BMWs for politicians, crony privatisation, Air Lanka’s aircraft and fuel subsidies, and falling aid, and doubts that exports, heavily dependent on imported inputs for garments, can close the gap.
පාන් වෙනුවට කේක්
In a television interview the President denied an economic slide or real price rises and claimed a bank driver earns Rs. 60,000 while a minister gets Rs. 19,000. The editorial corrects her figures, noting ministers earn about Rs. 29,815 tax-free and that some have built mansions since 1994, reads her remarks on executive power as a warning, and likens her message to Marie Antoinette’s.
ලැබූ නිදහසේ ඇති නොගැලපුම
On the anniversary of Independence, Ivan argues that because Ceylon won freedom without struggle, its communities never forged a real national unity. Citing Lord Soulbury’s foreword to B.H. Farmer’s Ceylon: A Divided Nation, he notes that Section 29 did not stop the citizenship laws or the Sinhala Only Act, and that minority representation fell short of expectations. A new constitution alone will not solve the ethnic problem; Sinhala and Tamil democratic aspirations must be joined in a common movement.
Need for reforms cries out loud
An unprecedented interest in the reforms good governance needs has arisen. The UNP is demanding independent commissions for elections, the judicial service, the police and the public service under a constitutional council, and K.N. Choksy is to bring a draft bill he has prepared.
අධ්යාපන ඇමතිට මල් මිටක්
The piece welcomes the decision to admit half of all Grade One pupils by computer lottery from January 2002. It describes how competition for popular schools has bred forged documents, a market in fake deeds and bribes to principals of up to Rs. 300,000 in Colombo, shutting out poor children, and urges that the lottery, drawn before parents, be implemented to the letter despite pressure from powerful quarters.
ආර්ථික අර්බුදය හා රාජාණ්ඩු දේශපාලනය
As prices soar, the government has used police against a JVP protest while fishermen strike and the UNP turns to agitation. The editorial blames poor governance rather than external factors, citing the flour subsidy before the 1994 election, misdirected Samurdhi payments, unmetered electricity users, lost port revenue after the President moved to the Fort residence, the French locomotive deal and a Rs. 2,500 million new presidential palace, and calls for an open democratic system.