මැතිවරණ කොමසාරිස් වත්කම් බැරකම් නීතිය
Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya collected candidates’ asset declarations with zeal, Ivan argues, only to lock them away, telling Ravaya that the public needs a court order to see them. The 1988 amendment to the Declaration of Assets and Liabilities Law gives anyone the right to certified copies for a fee. Ivan recounts how he first saw Lalith Athulathmudali’s declaration, the People’s Alliance’s broken 1994 pledge to publish ministers’ assets, the Speaker who complied and the President’s office that did not, and reproduces a 2005 letter from Deshapriya’s predecessor sending him six declarations — disproving the claim that there is no precedent.
Weerawansa, as Well as Somawansa, is a Bequest of Wijeweera
Written as the JVP split between Wimal Weerawansa and Somawansa Amarasinghe, the piece argues both sides inherit habits Rohana Wijeweera built into the party: raising money from businessmen, hiring out the party’s services and hiding its finances. Ivan recounts what the businessman Yasasiri Kasthuriaratchi told him about his dealings with Wijeweera.
ව්යවස්ථාව සමග වළ කජු ගැසීම
Ivan traces how politicians have toyed with the constitution: the authoritarian features of J.R. Jayewardene’s 1978 charter, rushed through as urgent; Chandrika Kumaratunga’s broken promise to abolish the executive presidency and her transitional clauses keeping her in power; the 2000 attempt to pass a new constitution by buying UNP votes; and the distortion of the 17th Amendment by Jayampathy Wickramaratne. He notes the Speaker signed the wrong draft, leaving commissions in legal limbo, and argues the proposed 19th Amendment is too narrow.
ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණට සිදුවූයේ කුමක්ද?
Rebutting Tilvin Silva’s claim of success, Ivan uses vote figures since 1994 to show the JVP lost 47 per cent of its 2001 vote in the local elections, worst in Colombo, Puttalam and Kalutara, which he blames on its nationalism and its alliance with the President. He traces how Chandrika Kumaratunga may steer the party through Somawansa Amarasinghe, whose relative Sirisena Cooray is said to have enabled his 1989 escape, citing General Cecil Waidyaratne.
විය හැකි දේ සහ විය යුතු දේ
Written on the eve of the local government elections, Ivan sets out what each side must prove against the 2001 results, and says a sharp JVP decline could mark the beginning of its end. He praises the government’s comparatively clean campaign, proposes reforming the executive presidency by removing the arbitrary dissolution power and simplifying removal of a president, and argues that Prabhakaran, like Mandela, could become a stronger leader by abandoning arms.
Eliminate hatred from the struggle for power
Some problems a governing party cannot solve alone, and some cannot be solved without the agreement of all the parties. In a country with many of the first kind, the main challenge of its politics is how to reach the second kind of agreement.
බල තරගයේ වෛර සාධකය ඉවත් කිරීම
Mutual hatred and fear of reprisal stop parties from agreeing on national problems. The editorial reports the Alliance for Democracy’s all-party meeting in Parliament on its eleven-point reform programme, attended by Mahinda Rajapaksa, Rauff Hakeem, the UNP, JVP, TULF, TELO and Tamil Congress, where all agreed that the presidency should answer to Parliament and the courts, backed independent commissions, and favoured holding presidential and parliamentary elections together.