යාපනේ පුස්තකාලයට ගිනි තැබුවේ කවුද?
Ivan revisits the burning of the Jaffna Public Library during the 1981 District Development Council election, when the ruling party had made itself a contender in the North. Jaffna believed the police were responsible, and in private talk senior circles pointed to DIG Edward Gunawardena, then in charge there. Ivan recounts a book published some thirty-two years later, a June 2014 article by retired police officer Tassie Seneviratne and Seneviratne’s account to him of a sergeant’s story, and his own inquiry to a retired DIG about Gunawardena’s background.
නව ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවක් ඉලක්ක කොටගෙන ඒකාබද්ධ විරුද්ධ පක්ෂ ව්‍යාපාරයක් ඇති කරගැනීම
A seventeen-point plan for a joint opposition movement with one aim: a new constitution. Parties would unite around a common programme rather than a common candidate, keep that unity until the constitution is drafted and passed within an agreed time, decide by consensus rather than majority vote, agree first on principles and then on a programme, launch it at a public rally, take it to the main towns, and if necessary negotiate with the President.
නව ව්‍යවස්ථාව හා පොදු අපේක්ෂකයා – 9
Part 9 turns to the opposition’s idea of a common presidential candidate who would deliver a new constitution within six months. Ivan questions whether the Seventeenth Amendment belongs in a new constitution, shows that some constitutions were written quickly but most were not, and argues that instead of a common candidate the opposition needs a common programme, agreed by all parties and set before the public, with a timetable for a new constitution; only this can prevent the slide into anarchy.
ව්‍යවස්ථා සම්පාදනයේ දකුණු අප්‍රිකානු ආදර්ශය (ව්‍යවස්ථාවක් හදාගැනීමේ ප්‍රශ්නය-8)
Part 8 holds up South Africa as a model. After de Klerk freed Nelson Mandela in February 1990, multi-party talks from 1991 agreed a two-stage transition: an interim constitution, elections in 1994, and a constitutional assembly given two years to draft a final text, with wide public participation through theme committees, which the new Constitutional Court then tested against agreed principles before approving it.
ලිඛිත ව්‍යවස්ථා ඇති රාජ්‍යයක් ඇතිවීම (ව්‍යවස්ථාවක් හදාගැනීමේ ප්‍රශ්නය-7)
Part 7 traces how written constitutions arose as the grip of theology broke in Europe. Ivan sets out ten principles of the liberal idea of the nation-state, from popular sovereignty and the separation of powers to equality before the law, protection of minorities and a secular state, then contrasts Britain’s unwritten constitution and parliamentary sovereignty with the American constitutional convention, now 228 years old, and India’s constituent assembly, which built a constitution for a vast and diverse nation.
වැට් වංචාවේ හෙළි නොවූ රහස්
As the VAT fraud case ended with a verdict on a former Inland Revenue commissioner, one of thirteen accused of whom only five were ever arrested, Ivan recalls that Ravaya first exposed the fraud, the largest tax fraud in a South Asian state institution, on 26 June 2005, because the authorities had failed to act. He criticises the incomplete investigation, the ease with which an accused obtained travel documents and left, as in the forged-passport case of Rizana Nafeek, and the failure to honour the Auditor-General’s officer who uncovered the fraud.
ව්‍යවස්ථා සම්පාදනය හා අධිකරණය (ව්‍යවස්ථාවක් හදාගැනීමේ ප්‍රශ්නය – 6)
Part 6 examines judicial review. Under Articles 120 to 124 of the 1978 constitution the Supreme Court can review bills only before they pass, so unconstitutional amendments can go through with a two-thirds majority. Parliament has ignored conventions, as in extending its own life by referendum. Contrasting Chief Justice Marshall’s establishment of judicial review in the United States and the Indian Supreme Court’s defence of the basic structure, Ivan argues that Sri Lanka’s courts have lacked the independence and creativity to protect a constitution, however good.
ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනය (ව්‍යවස්ථාවක් හදාගැනීමේ ප්‍රශ්නය – 5)
Part 5 compares how constitutions are amended in the United States and India, where fundamental provisions are hard to change and courts have restored constitutions after they were abused, with Sri Lanka, where all three constitutions were made by majority power rather than consensus. He surveys amendments to the 1978 constitution: the 1982 early presidential election and fraudulent referendum, the Sixth Amendment after Black July, the Thirteenth and Seventeenth, Kumaratunga’s failed draft, and Mahinda Rajapaksa’s Eighteenth.
පාඨකයින්ට පෙනෙන්නේ කෙසේද?
A short note to readers on the constitution series. Ivan explains the plan he set himself over the New Year holiday: to cover the history of Sri Lanka’s constitutions, what kind of constitution the country now needs and what it must achieve, which will take several more articles. He asks readers whether the series interests them enough to continue.
බලය ගල්ගැසුණු දෙයක් බවට පත් කළ ජේ.ආර්.ගේ ව්‍යවස්ථාව (ව්‍යවස්ථාවක් හදාගැනීමේ ප්‍රශ්නය-4)
Part 4 examines the 1978 constitution. Holding five-sixths of Parliament after the 1977 election, J.R. Jayewardene rushed through a new constitution without proper public scrutiny, stripping Parliament of supremacy and creating a president above the law, with the power to appoint and dismiss the cabinet at will. Citing K.M. de Silva’s biography of Jayewardene, Ivan argues that though it removed some Sinhala-only provisions, the constitution was drafted without Tamil representatives and did nothing to stop young Tamils being pushed towards a separate state.