උරුමයේ කරුමය
Ivan agrees with Anura Bandaranaike that the SLFP is a Bandaranaike family fiefdom in which Mahinda Rajapaksa is only a capable retainer, but warns that the country is not a fiefdom too. Further sections mock the ‘jobless’ President’s prison visit to her guards at Bogambara and her complaint that cabinet meetings drive her mad, note an unrevealed secret Mangala Samaraweera told S.B. Dissanayake, and describe how powerful remand prisoners end up in hospital rather than cells.
ඡන්දයේ වටිනාකම එක සමානද?
A set of short items. Ivan objects that the President, Prime Minister and Anura Bandaranaike voted at their residences while ordinary voters faced threats. He faults the failure to prosecute election offences, the Bribery Commission’s refusal to act on misuse of state resources and its neglect of asset declarations, and the CID’s cover-up of the Rohana Kumara and Kumar Ponnambalam murders. He ends with a satirical note on the President’s visit to supporters in Bogambara prison.
එජාප ආණ්ඩුවක් යටතේ රාවය ක්රියාකරන්නට යන්නේ කෙසේද?
Ivan sets out Ravaya’s stance after the change of government. He rejects the claim that the paper makes and unmakes governments, explains why it backed the SLFP before 1994 and turned against Chandrika Kumaratunga after the 1997 and Wayamba election violence, and states its positions on the UNP government, the People’s Alliance, whose ruling clique he names, and the JVP. He also contests a Press Council ruling he says Mangala Samaraweera and Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe engineered.
මහජන කැමැත්තට පයින් ගැසීම
Anura Bandaranaike said that even if the United National Front won, his sister would not let it form a government but would keep proroguing and dissolving Parliament. The editorial replies that Sri Lanka is not a Bandaranaike feudal estate, that sovereignty lies with the people, and that voters also decide which politicians belong on the rubbish heap of history.
අර්බුදය කුණු කිරීම
Ivan says the Katunayake attack has badly damaged a weak economy, yet the parties behave like crabs dancing in a warming pot. The crisis stems from the prorogation to block the no-confidence motion; the Speaker put his sister ahead of Parliament and the JVP’s factional approach wrecked the chance of an all-party reform government. With over Rs. 100 crore spent on the postponed referendum and Parliament due on 7 September, he warns that months more without proper government will deepen the economic collapse.
අගවිනිසුරුගේ දේශපාලන භූමිකාව
The editorial recalls Ravaya’s protest when Sarath N. Silva was appointed Chief Justice while facing complaints before the Supreme Court, and says the aim was to bring the court under the President’s control. It faults the opposition for its slow move to impeach him after the 17th Amendment episode, notes Rauff Hakeem’s refusal to back the impeachment even as his party became the first target, and reports Speaker Anura Bandaranaike’s remark that any impeachment of his sister would end with Silva deciding it.
දෝෂාභියෝගයක්
With an impeachment motion filed against Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva, Ivan recalls the only earlier one under the 1978 Constitution, against Neville Samarakoon. He recounts Samarakoon’s career and clashes with Jayewardene’s government: the reconstituted Supreme Court, the Kalawana seat, the referendum amendment, the Ratanasara and Vivienne Goonewardene cases and mobs outside judges’ homes, and his 1984 speech that led to a select committee and impeachment committee. The contrast with today shows how far politics has declined.
In the name of the democracy, please
The executive presidency split the state power that had been concentrated in parliament, and a large part of it now sits with a directly elected president. Parliament is nonetheless still the country’s supreme political institution — and this is an argument addressed to its new Speaker.
පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ ගෞරවය ස්ථාපිත කිරිමෙහිලා නව කථානායකවරයා ඉදිරියේ ඇති අභියෝග
Anura Bandaranaike, an opposition member, has been elected Speaker with government support as Parliament declines. Ivan urges him to have ballot rigging at the last election investigated by a select committee or commission and the guilty expelled, to champion an Indian-style election commission, and to introduce a code of conduct for members. He should enforce the assets and liabilities law and make declarations cheaply available, open Parliament and its committees to electronic media, and bring funds such as the President’s Fund and Samurdhi under the Auditor General.
නිදහස් හා සාධාරණය කොයිබටද
As the Alliance for Democracy ties yellow bands on voters’ wrists, the President has run an advertisement pledging a free and fair poll ‘as in six previous elections’. Ivan says this would make the North Western poll and the 1999 presidential election fair, likens it to J.R. Jayewardene’s referendum, and lists jobs, loans and land handed out after dissolution. He details violence in Anuradhapura, Kandy, Kegalle, Puttalam and Matale, where police shot a JVP protester, and warns that victory by force lays the ground for rebellion.