Human rights Vs Election victory
The future of democracy in Sri Lanka appears to hang on one question: whether the Commissioner of Elections can hold the coming parliamentary election in a free and fair manner, if not entirely then substantially.
චන්ද්රිකා පාලනයේ ඇතැම් ගති ලක්ෂණ අනාගතය
Ivan argues that Chandrika Kumaratunga reached power by chance, as Vijaya Kumaratunga, Lalith Athulathmudali, Ranasinghe Premadasa and Gamini Dissanayake left the scene and Anura Bandaranaike quit the SLFP. Lacking experience, she sidelined seasoned figures such as Dharmasiri Senanayake and Mahinda Rajapaksa in favour of S.B. Dissanayake and Mangala Samaraweera. He lists broken promises on the executive presidency, the ‘Pajero culture’, duty-free vehicle permits and liquor licences for MPs, condemns her record of rigged elections, and warns that the worst of her rule may come in a second six years.
කවුරු දිනුවත් ජනාධිපති ක්රමය අහෝසි වන ඡන්දයක්
Ivan describes S.B. Dissanayake as the man now steering the People’s Alliance, whose hints foretold the dropping of Lakshman Jayakody and possibly Richard Pathirana, and who shaped the national list. He recounts the sidelining of Dharmasiri Senanayake, S.B.’s ambitions for the media ministry and premiership, and alarm within the alliance at a drift towards junta rule. With no clear winner likely, any government will need small parties such as the JVP and may have to agree to abolish the presidency.
රාජ්ය මාධ්යයේ ඉහඳ පණුවෝ
Written in Ivan’s own voice, the piece answers the sustained attacks on him and Ravaya by state media and government-funded ‘jungle papers’. He describes how Bennet Rupasinghe and Sujeewa Dissanayake won editorships at Dinamina and Silumina by serving their political master, the minister’s contemptuous nicknames for them, and a former regional correspondent now heading the smear unit. He says he lives on his Ravaya salary and declined posts the government offered.
ගෙදර ගියොත් අඹු නසී, මග හිටියොත් තා නසී
Ivan finds the government trapped after its presidential win. S.B. Dissanayake has become one of the few steering the state, while Sarath Amunugama has displaced Mangala Samaraweera on media and failed to deliver UNP defectors. Party-crossing and a referendum to extend Parliament’s term are both fraught, the President’s health raises questions, she is unlikely to trade the presidency for the premiership, and on the ethnic question she is likely to lean towards war.
This is what happened
There are occasions when a foolish friend can be more dangerous than a vicious enemy. The longest piece in the archive: Ivan’s point-by-point answer to the account the President gave of him in a televised interview, setting out what actually passed between them from the founding of Ravaya onwards.
එස්.බී. ගේ තප්පුලෑම
Ivan answers S.B. Dissanayake, who on television called him an extortionist working for an alleged arms dealer, Ananda Chittampalam, to bring Ranil Wickremesinghe to power. Ivan phoned into a live programme to question him, recounts his past association with Chittampalam, Harry Goonatilleke and Anuruddha Ratwatte in the 1988 campaign, and rebuts claims about his income, houses and English. He contrasts Dissanayake’s former hardship with his new wealth and recalls his own role in the impeachment move against Ranasinghe Premadasa.
A government, an actor and an audio cassette
The PA government is pushing itself towards political extinction for the sake of a film actor. The disrepute the Channel 9 scandal has brought on the government and on the President who leads it is great, and the story shows how much weight men like Sanath Gunatilleke, who gate-crashed into the PA at the last moment, came to carry.