සුනාමි යාන්ත්රණය හා දේශප්රේමය
The joint mechanism is splitting the country in two. Its opponents say it gives a terrorist group formal recognition; the editorial answers that 60 per cent of the damage was in the North-East, and that those who stand for peace have as much right to be heard as those who call war patriotic.
රට නැවත යන්නේ යුද්ධයකට ද?
The ceasefire created good conditions for a peaceful settlement, but the country failed to use them and is now being pushed towards settling matters by war. The alliance never had one view of the conflict, and the editorial warns that starting a war is easy but will bring only destruction.
ඒකාබද්ධ යාන්ත්රණය හා ඉදිරි දේශපාලන අර්බුදය
At the donor conference in Kandy the President promised to sign the joint tsunami mechanism with the LTTE despite pressure from extremists. For the JVP it has become a question of survival, while neither the President nor Ranil Wickremesinghe will trust the other; the editorial warns that no option will end the confusion soon.
The Joint Mechanism and the Coming Political Crisis
Having promised the Kandy aid conference she would sign the joint mechanism for tsunami relief in the north-east regardless of extremist pressure, the President has been called. The JVP, under internal pressure that has made the issue one of survival and dignity, has resolved to quit the government if she signs. Victor Ivan sets out the arithmetic: the JVP’s departure costs 39 seats, the Hela Urumaya’s likely departure another nine, and the Tamil Alliance’s 22 do not cover the gap. Refusing to sign preserves the government but damages her standing internationally, in her party and among the people. Her alternatives are a coalition with a UNP leader who will not strengthen her hand, inducing a large group of UNP MPs to defect — for whom, Ivan notes, she could probably secure judicial protection through the Chief Justice — or dissolving parliament, possibly resigning the presidency and contesting as prime ministerial candidate herself. He judges a parliamentary election would hurt the JVP and Hela Urumaya most, and warns that whichever course she takes the turmoil will not end soon, still less if the LTTE abandons the ceasefire.
වෙරළ තීරයේ ඉඩම් කොල්ලකෑමට ඉඩ දෙමු ද?
Businessmen close to the government have begun using the tsunami to seize thousands of acres of valuable coastal land, confirming suspicions raised when the buffer zone was declared without reason. The editorial is not against foreign investment, but calls on informed citizens to force the government to abandon the scheme.
ජවිපෙට නිවට වෙන්නට සිදුවීම
However venomous the President’s attack in her television interview of 16 May, the JVP has not struck back, because she holds two fatal weapons: the power to dissolve Parliament and the power to look into JVP leaders’ assets. Sections follow on the President’s trump cards, the Chief Justice and religion, and the failure of every party to declare its assets and liabilities.
දේශපාලනය හා ධර්මය
Ranil Wickremesinghe’s 54-page booklet on politics and the Dhamma was launched with great ceremony. The note compares the thin record of books by Sri Lankan leaders, J.R. Jayewardene’s included, with India’s tradition from Gandhi onwards, and links that emptiness to the emptiness of the country’s politics.
ජවිපෙ ප්රතිරූපය බොඳවීම
The alliance can no longer go on without resolving the conflicts between the JVP and the SLFP. Once the government’s shining star, the JVP took the heaviest blow yet when the President attacked it in a television interview on the 16th, and it is now too weak to satisfy her.
පාසල් ප්රශ්නය හා කූට ලේඛන
A Royal College teacher’s admission of her child on a false birth certificate has filled the papers. The editorial agrees that forgery is a serious offence but notes that it has become normal in the race for school places, and argues for reorganising the school system rather than hunting down parents.
පරා වළල්ලක් වෙන්නට යන ටෝනිගේ නඩු තීන්දුව
The Human Rights Committee’s ruling against Sri Lanka over the one-year sentence imposed on Tony Fernando shows how the Supreme Court’s high-handed policy flouted law and natural justice. A Chief Justice with any shame would resign; Ivan notes that the fourteen-member committee included India’s P.N. Bhagwati.