පළාත් මැතිවරණවලට පෙර ස්වාධීන මැතිවරණ කොමිසම ඇති කළ යුතුයි
The editorial observes that the People’s Alliance is preparing to test its strength in provincial council elections without the independent Elections Commission required by the 17th Amendment. The President unconstitutionally withholds approval of the Constitutional Council’s nominees, while the government, the JVP and the Supreme Court have all failed to act. It warns that future elections will become a frenzied plunder between two power blocs unless the commission is established and electoral law reformed first.
ස්වාධීන මැතිවරණ කොමිසම මරා දැමීම
Ivan argues that neither government nor opposition wants an independent Elections Commission: the President withholds approval of the Constitutional Council’s nominees and the Supreme Court declined to resolve the Elections Commissioner’s petition about his personal liability. Further sections criticise a campaign to build up Justice Shirani Bandaranayake as a future Chief Justice despite her role in the order restraining Parliament’s impeachment, and the President’s obstruction of Rajitha Senaratne’s scheme to issue freehold deeds for state land.
හැමදේටම විරුද්ධ වීමේ විපක්ෂ නිල පිළිවෙත
The editorial criticises the People’s Alliance for rejecting parliamentary oversight committees that would give the opposition scrutiny of ministries, dismissing the claim that they would weaken the presidency. It calls for removing presidential immunity, the power to dissolve Parliament at will after a year and the right to hold unlimited cabinet posts, and regrets that the PA, JVP and UNP have all abandoned the debate on reforming the executive presidency.
ශ්රී ලංකාවේ දේශපාලනය පිළිබඳ අර්බුදය
A theoretical analysis, framed through the views of ‘social democrats’, of Sri Lanka’s failure since 1948 to build a political structure acceptable to all groups. It identifies three conflicts, Sinhala versus Tamil nationality, minority rights and a struggle among power-holders, rejects the realpolitik maxim ‘si vis pacem, para bellum’, and argues for conflict transformation, a protracted peace-building process and a devolved, consociational state built on rebuilt social capital.
How will the struggle for power end?
In this article, Victor Ivan analyzes the escalating power struggle between President Chandrika Kumaratunga and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. Facing the end of her term and unable to contest the next presidential election, the President seeks to overhaul the executive presidency to secure her continued political dominance, potentially by aligning with the JVP or utilizing Parliament as a constituent assembly. Conversely, the Prime Minister is determined to preserve the current system to claim the executive presidency for himself, plotting to render the President politically irrelevant. Ivan warns that this clash of ambitions, coupled with a lack of faith in the impartiality of the judiciary under Chief Justice Sarath Nanda Silva, risks plunging the nation into an extra-constitutional crisis and potential civil conflict.
83 කළු ජූලියෙන් උගත යුතු පාඩම
Twenty years after Black July, the editorial calls it the most tragic event since independence, noting the involvement of sections of the ruling party, the President’s failure to express regret and the constitutional amendment that drove Tamil MPs from Parliament. Citing Lee Kuan Yew’s use of Sri Lanka as a model of failure, it blames ethnically divided parties and proposes that a peace process begin with the national leader apologising to Tamils on behalf of the Sinhalese.
අන්තර්වාර පාලන උභතෝකෝටිකය
With peace talks stalled over the LTTE’s demand for an interim administration, Ivan argues that the Tigers may fairly be given absolute power over the overwhelmingly Tamil North, but not over the East, where 1981 census figures show Muslims and Sinhalese together make up 58.7 per cent. He sets out options such as treating the East as a separate unit with proportional representation and veto powers, and concludes that a transitional LTTE-dominated administration in Tamil areas is a lesser evil than renewed war.
බල අරගලයේ කෙළවර කුමක් ද?
Barred from a third term, Chandrika Kumaratunga now wants the executive presidency she once enjoyed reformed so she can keep her party leadership, while Ranil Wickremesinghe wants it untouched until he inherits it. Ivan traces her options, from a JVP alliance and a snap dissolution to a caretaker cabinet, and warns that with Sarath N. Silva controlling the courts the rivalry could slide into a civil conflict decided by which side the police and army take.
හිරේ සිටිය යුත්තේ කව්ද?
After a bench headed by the Chief Justice rejected Tony Fernando’s revision application against his one-year sentence for contempt, Ivan argues that the bench included judges Fernando had named as respondents, that the judgment identifies no contempt beyond raising his voice, and that it is Sarath N. Silva who belongs in prison. Further sections contrast the Constitutional Council’s published character criteria, drafted by H.L. de Silva, with the Chief Justice’s conduct and criticise delays in appointing the Judicial Service Commission.
රටට අමතක වී ඇති විධායක ජනාධිපති ක්රමය
The editorial notes that the once-powerful campaign to abolish or reform the executive presidency, begun by N.M. Perera and carried forward by Lalith Athulathmudali, Gamini Dissanayake, Chandrika Kumaratunga and the JVP, has fallen silent. With the President’s second term ending in 2005 and the Prime Minister hoping to succeed her, it argues that at minimum presidential immunity should be confined to official acts and removal for deliberate constitutional violations made easier.