මින්පසු කොයිබටද?
With the peace talks stalled, the editorial warns that mishandling could make the breakdown permanent and holds both the government and the President-led opposition responsible. Since war failed to subdue the LTTE’s de facto state, it can only be absorbed by recognising its power within a federal arrangement it has said it would accept, with an interim administration meanwhile; treating that as betrayal leads back to war.
Conscience Benumbed
In this article, Victor Ivan argues that decades of mass violence and rampant political corruption have paralyzed the collective conscience of Sri Lankan society. Drawing heavily on the psychological trauma outlined in Prof. Daya Somasunderam’s book Scarred Minds, Ivan asserts that the psychological damage seen in the Tamil community is reflective of a wider distortion affecting all Sri Lankans—victims, perpetrators, and witnesses alike. Using the commercialization and resulting decline of Sri Lankan cricket as an analogy for the state of the nation, the author critiques how governance has become a mechanism for public plunder. Specifically, Ivan highlights the failure of the 17th Amendment, pointing out that constitutional safeguards and independent commissions (such as the Elections, Police, and Bribery Commissions) have been deliberately sabotaged or stalled by the President, with little to no resistance from the judiciary, the political opposition, or a benumbed public.
ශෘද සාක්ෂිය හිරී වැටීම
Drawing on Daya Somasundaram’s ‘Scarred Minds’, Ivan argues that two decades of mass violence in north and south have numbed the whole society’s conscience. He attacks FM radio stations for feeding the public trivia, likens the ruin of other sports and then cricket itself to the decay of an ageing, politicised bureaucracy, recounts how the 17th Amendment was distorted and is blocked by the President, and reminds Ranil Wickremesinghe of his broken promise of the rule of law.
ආචාර්ය ගාමිණී කොරෙයා නිවාස අඩස්සියේ තැබීම
The editorial describes Dr Gamani Corea, former UNCTAD head and Sri Lanka’s most internationally respected intellectual, as effectively held under house arrest by a wealthy relative, identified in the allegation as Lalith Kotelawala, who is said to fear that Corea will leave his assets to a planned economics foundation. It condemns the local media’s silence out of dependence on his advertising, noting that Ravaya too receives it, and that the story reached the world through the Lanka Academic website.
රවිට මල් මිටක්
The editorial congratulates Commerce Minister Ravi Karunanayake on winning his long fight against the gas monopoly for the consumer’s benefit, and urges laws, as in many countries, to prevent monopolies in any sector.
විපතෙන් උගත හැකි පාඩම්
Calling the floods the worst natural disaster in half a century, the editorial says the disaster management system proved inefficient, relief was handed out without assessing need and marred by political and commercial rivalry and looting, and people were left living in known landslide zones. It calls for national policies on floods, erosion and forests, a transparent compensation scheme and an inquiry into why disaster agencies failed.
නීතිය අකුරටම ක්රියාත්මක කරන රාජ්ය නිලධාරින් රටට අවශ්ය නැද්ද?
The editorial laments that officials who apply the law strictly go unprotected: a customs officer was murdered after pursuing a politically connected businessman’s duty fraud, an audit officer was blinded after exposing fraud in the Central Provincial education ministry, and now a wildlife officer has been killed. It contrasts the lack of compensation for the blinded auditor with the large sums paid when political leaders die.
ජනාධිපති අගමැති ගැටුම කෙළවර කුමක් ද?
Tracing the Development Lottery Board dispute back to the 1978 Constitution, Ivan quotes N.M. Perera’s warning that split control of presidency and Parliament would paralyse the state and invite dictatorship. He recalls Athulathmudali and Gamini Dissanayake turning against the executive presidency, the PA’s 1994 pledge to abolish it, D.B. Wijetunga’s peaceful handover of domestic power, and Kumaratunga’s broken promise to the JVP. Wickremesinghe, a defender of the office he hopes to hold, failed to strike a deal at the height of his mandate and now faces a dilemma.
සාම කතා වැඩපිළිවෙළත් අවුලක
Johan Galtung’s prediction that a peace process built on the carrot of aid would fail seems to be coming true. The piece argues that people fight over grievances, not money, and cites Willy Brandt and Desmond Tutu on healing inner wounds through apology and truth. It says the LTTE, undefeated and running its own institutions, must be dealt with as a quasi-government, and that its withdrawal over the Washington meeting and unmet resettlement pledges leaves the Tokyo aid conference without it.
මුට්ටියට පෙර හොරා යැවීම
Ivan describes Mangala Samaraweera’s push for the President to seize power quickly, possibly driven by a pending case over an attack on poster-pasting youths during the last election, and reads her takeover of the Development Lottery Board as a test of the Prime Minister. He warns that a clash between presidential and parliamentary power could turn bloody, and urges a French-style cohabitation in which the President leaves domestic government to the majority, while faulting the JVP, PA and UNP for opportunism over the 1978 Constitution and the independent commissions.