Media Reform
An interview with Ravaya editor Victor Ivan on media reform: the campaign to abolish criminal defamation, the proposed Freedom of Information Act, plans for a Media Training Institute, and his argument that Sri Lankan journalism has acted as a creator of disputes rather than an arbitrator of them.
17 වැනි සංශෝධනයට කොකා පෙන්නීම
Ivan explains that the 17th Amendment gives the Constitutional Council power over the independent commissions and top appointments, yet the President has still not named her nominee despite Article 41(5). He argues that she is protecting her hold over the Chief Justice, Attorney General, IGP and Bribery Commission, since a council would weaken her defence against impeachment and against the Padiyapelella rocket-launcher case linked to a plot to kill S.B. Dissanayake.
ජනාධිපතිනිය දූෂිත ද?
As the President offers to answer opposition charges in Parliament herself, Ivan argues that a leader must dispel public suspicion created by her inner circle. He sets out the evidence that BOI chairman Thilan Wijesinghe sought a $1 million bribe over the Galle flour mill, Rajan Asirwatham’s conflicted role in the Kotagala plantation sale, the unseen influence of Ronnie Peiris behind highway and Diyawanna projects, and the government’s refusal to release ministers’ asset declarations.
අධිකරණයේ අර්බුදය හා නීතිඥ සංගමය
Responding to the Bar Association’s criticism of the Sunday Leader and Ravaya, Ivan names the lawyers said to have attended a meeting at Temple Trees where President Kumaratunga discussed the UNP’s election petition and asked that a judge she had accused of taking a bribe be removed from the bench hearing it. He recounts the Vinsendra Rajan fundamental rights case, Sarath N. Silva’s land request while serving on the Vijaya Kumaratunga murder commission, and his appointment as Chief Justice, and says the Bar must defend judicial independence.