නිසරු නායකයින් නිසා වැනසෙන රටක්
Prompted by commemorations of J.R. Jayewardene, S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike and Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Ivan sets out what makes a great leader and assesses every head of government since independence, from D.S. Senanayake to Chandrika Kumaratunga, finding none who qualifies. Contrasting Nehru, Mahathir Mohamad, Chandrababu Naidu and Lee Kuan Yew, who wrote books setting out their vision, he blames the lack of internal party democracy, family dominance and the belief that a leader must be Sinhala, Buddhist and Govigama.
අන්තෝජටා බහිජටා තත්ත්වයක්
Ivan argues that anti-government and nationalist forces are converging: after the SLFP–JVP alliance talks collapsed, pro-alliance elements in the SLFP are pushing the President back towards the JVP, which now demands through Wimal Weerawansa that the SLFP drop devolution. He likens her position to her father’s after the Bandaranaike–Chelvanayakam pact, notes the JVP’s drift from the red flag to the lion flag, and blames Ranil Wickremesinghe for ceding public debate on reform to nationalists, risking an independent North and a bloodstained South.
අල්ලස් කොමිසමේ හුස්ම හිරවීම
The President and two of the Bribery Commission’s members oppose Justice Minister W.J.M. Lokubandara’s proposals to change the commission’s membership. The editorial argues that filling independent commissions with retired judges and lawyers has failed and slights other professions, that both government and opposition want to control the commissions, and that the Constitutional Council has not appointed new members as the 17th Amendment requires. Commissioners need courage as well as learning, like Neville Samarakoon.
An Utterly Complicated Situation
In this article, Victor Ivan examines the volatile political maneuvering between the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP). Driven by factions eager to topple the ruling government, efforts to form a JVP-SLFP alliance ultimately stalled due to President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s reluctance to commit to a permanent coalition. Ivan draws a historical parallel to the President’s father, S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, who was forced by chauvinist pressures to tear up the Bandaranaike-Chelvanayagam Pact. The author highlights the JVP’s alarming ideological shift away from Marxism toward blatant racism and Sinhalese chauvinism, explicitly demanding that the SLFP abandon its policies on the devolution of power. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is criticized for remaining passively silent, hoping the President loses credibility—a dangerous strategy that Ivan warns could empower racist factions, destroy the peace process, and ultimately result in a divided and bleeding nation.
අල්ලස් හෝ දූෂණ චෝදනා විමර්ශන කොමිෂන් සභාවේ සභාපතිගේ ලිපිය සහ කර්තෘ සටහන
Replying to Ravaya’s article of 7 September 2003, Chairman S. Ananda Coomaraswamy rejects the charge of partisanship, saying files on several senior ministers of the current government were also closed for lack of evidence, that the Mangala Samaraweera decision was unanimous and followed a lengthy inquiry, and that the Supreme Court can review it. The editor’s note argues that ministers may not draw extra funds such as a Telecom credit card beyond legal allowances, and that review is meaningless without an independent Supreme Court.
වත්ත බද්දට දි ඇස්සට දත නියවීම
The editorial argues that the government’s peace process is proceeding without any public debate on reforming the nature of the state, so that it appears to be merely a settlement of the Tamil problem. It lists wider failures, from a corrupt political system and judiciary to a preferential voting system that pushes MPs towards illicit income, warns that silence cedes public opinion to nationalist forces, and likens the government’s self-serving approach to J.R. Jayewardene’s.
ජාතික දේශපාලනයේ දි පාතාල ලෝකයට ලැබී තිබෙන වැදගත්කම
Following underworld figure ‘Bada Mahinda’ Godage’s confession to the CID, Ivan describes how Beddagane Sanjeewa, a presidential security officer blamed for Rohana Kumara’s murder, was killed on the orders of Dhammika Amarasinghe, with Tilanga Sumathipala also accused. Drawing on personal encounters, he outlines a repression apparatus of security officers and contract killers behind attacks on Lasantha Wickrematunga, Kumar Ponnambalam, Anoja Weerasinghe and others, and blames politicians and the media for letting Sri Lanka become ruled by hired killers.
ස්වාධීන කොමිසන් ක්රමය ගැන නැවත සලකා බැලිය යුතු ය
With the Police Commission collapsing after a member resigned in protest at another’s conduct, the editorial argues that independent commissions succeed only if their members have the courage to resist political pressure, a quality the Constitutional Council ignored in favour of education and experience. It notes that the Elections Commission remains unappointed because of the President’s objection to one nominee, that the Bribery and Judicial Service Commissions have not been reconstituted, and that the UNP has forgotten its promise to fix the 17th Amendment.
ආර්ථිකය, සාමය හා දේශපාලනය
The piece notes a buoyant economy under the ceasefire, with the share index above its 1994 peak, rising investment, exports and tourism, and a peace process continuing without major bloodshed. Politics, however, is stagnant: the independent commissions are collapsing and the committee on the judiciary has not met. It warns that Ranil Wickremesinghe is following his uncle J.R. Jayewardene’s path and Chandrika Kumaratunga her mother’s, risking a fractured SLFP, authoritarian rule and gains for the JVP. A final section discusses the health workers’ strike.
අපරාධකරුවන් රජ කරන රටක්
The editorial blames the collapse of law-enforcement institutions for the rise of violent crime, noting that suspects flee abroad on bail, that people linked to the killing of Satana editor Rohana Kumara and to Kumar Ponnambalam’s murder have fled or been mysteriously shot, and that Dhammika Amarasinghe, suspected of some 50 killings, enjoys freedom and a mobile phone in remand. It argues that human rights laws were introduced without modern investigative methods, leaving police lax, and calls on the Interior Minister to act.