Who killed Kumar Ponnambalam?
Kumar Ponnambalam was the most courageous of Sri Lanka’s political commentators. He lived in Colombo among Sinhala people, most of his associates were Sinhala, and knowing exactly what it cost to defend the LTTE from Colombo he went on saying what he thought, fearlessly and well.
ජනාධිපති ඝාතන කුමන්ත්රණ කතාව හා කුමාර් පොන්නම්බලම් ඝාතනය
Ivan pays tribute to Kumar Ponnambalam as the boldest political commentator in the country, killed before his reply to the President’s warning to Tamils in Colombo could be published. He questions the shadowy ‘National Front Against Tigers’ that claimed the murder, likening it to the state-created death squads of the JVP’s second uprising, and criticises state media for spinning the attempt on the President into a plot involving businessmen, journalists and the UNP, as J.R. Jayewardene did before his referendum.
මාධ්ය නිදහසට මරණය
The editorial says no government has been as hostile to media freedom as the present one, which claims to have granted that freedom. It recalls that Ravaya exposed bank frauds, land grabs and the Airbus deal under Jayewardene and Premadasa, and that Premadasa even appointed a committee on its land revelations. Media freedom was won by journalists, it argues, and warns against the servility shown at the President’s address.
ගෙදර ගියොත් අඹු නසී, මග හිටියොත් තා නසී
Ivan finds the government trapped after its presidential win. S.B. Dissanayake has become one of the few steering the state, while Sarath Amunugama has displaced Mangala Samaraweera on media and failed to deliver UNP defectors. Party-crossing and a referendum to extend Parliament’s term are both fraught, the President’s health raises questions, she is unlikely to trade the presidency for the premiership, and on the ethnic question she is likely to lean towards war.
This is what happened
There are occasions when a foolish friend can be more dangerous than a vicious enemy. The longest piece in the archive: Ivan’s point-by-point answer to the account the President gave of him in a televised interview, setting out what actually passed between them from the founding of Ravaya onwards.
දැන් කරන්න යන්නේ මොනවාද?
Ivan says the People’s Alliance, instead of tackling the problems it promised to solve quickly, is busy attacking opponents. The new constitution has gone quiet, there is no clear approach to ending the war within a year, and the President’s three-hour address contradicted her conciliatory inauguration speech. He urges calm judgement and cooperation with political opponents.
Now back in power, what will she do?
Chandrika Kumaratunga’s win was not a clean victory in the full sense, and the abuses were not so great as to make one regret it. They did occur — in Hanguranketha, Wattegama, Wariyapola, Dambulla. What she does now is the question.
එස්.බී. ගේ තප්පුලෑම
Ivan answers S.B. Dissanayake, who on television called him an extortionist working for an alleged arms dealer, Ananda Chittampalam, to bring Ranil Wickremesinghe to power. Ivan phoned into a live programme to question him, recounts his past association with Chittampalam, Harry Goonatilleke and Anuruddha Ratwatte in the 1988 campaign, and rebuts claims about his income, houses and English. He contrasts Dissanayake’s former hardship with his new wealth and recalls his own role in the impeachment move against Ranasinghe Premadasa.
ඊළඟට කුමක් සිදුවේද
After the presidential election the editorial finds the way ahead unclear. It asks whether the President’s call to the UNP means a genuine national government or a ploy to isolate Ranil Wickremesinghe, doubts that the promised new constitution and package can pass with anti-package figures in the alliance, and notes that a prime minister is less secure than an executive president. A second section faults Wickremesinghe’s leadership for passivity over the Chief Justice appointment and the elections machinery and for careless remarks.
ජනාධිපති ක්රමය අහෝසි කරන බවට දි ඇති පොරොන්දුව ඉටු කරන්නේ කවදා ද?
Ivan recalls that Chandrika Kumaratunga promised at every rally to tear up J.R. Jayewardene’s constitution and enact the People’s Alliance draft. He traces the demand to abolish the executive presidency from the Premadasa impeachment and the SLFP’s 1988 and 1994 manifestos, notes the government’s silence since winning, and argues that with UNP cooperation the next parliamentary election could be held under a parliamentary system.