Ours is a failed state
Victor Ivan measures the failure of the state by what has happened to rural life — the collapse of peasant agriculture, the plunder of land, and a school system that sorts children by their parents’ means.
What is happening?
The patient needs surgery and the doctors are discussing the election. Victor Ivan sets out what the next president will and will not be able to do, and why the contest itself is in crisis.
කුමාර් පොන්නම්බලම් ඝාතනය
An investigative dossier on the January 2000 killing of Kumar Ponnambalam. It sets out a timeline linking the killing to the President’s televised attack on critics, and reports Mrs Ponnambalam’s accusation against the government and CID chief Bandula Wickremasinghe’s secret report naming Mahen Ratwatte as instigator. It reproduces the President’s two condolence letters (one wrongly dated), suspect Sugath Ranasinghe’s affidavit clearing Mahen Ratwatte, a lawyer’s letter for Ratwatte, and a transcript of Ranasinghe’s taped phone confession.
It’s time for cleaning up
Given how far the country has fallen, getting back to normal is not easy. People must understand that recovery will be gradual, and the government must at the same time give them a sense of hope. This is Ivan’s list of what the new government should clean up first.
ආණ්ඩුව ඉදිරියේ ඇති අභියෝග
Ivan sets out the tasks facing the new UNF government: humility in power, exemplary leadership, efficiency and, above all, restoring the rule of law. He urges an end to politicians’ immunity from traffic law and to fake number plates, noting their use in the Kandy killings and by presidential security, and calls for removing political protection from criminals such as Dhammika Perera, and for a Bribery Commission that targets the powerful and a right-to-information law.
අවසානයක් නොදුටු ඝාතන සංස්කෘතිය
Ivan details the political crime network behind the killings of Satana editor Rohana Kumara and Kumar Ponnambalam: gunman ‘Moratuwa Saman’, associates sheltered by a cabinet minister’s residence and an Urban Development Authority flat, and links to Beddagane Sanjeewa of the Presidential Security Division. He describes police interference, the reversal by investigator Shaw Wickramasinghe, a failed first attempt on Rohana Kumara, and the car and pistol used, concluding that small-scale state-backed killing continues.