නීති සමාජය ගොලුවීම
After UN rapporteur Param Cumaraswamy visited Tony Fernando in hospital and urged the Bar Association to speak up, Ivan condemns the silence of lawyers, human rights figures and most newspapers, and alleges that the Chief Justice uses an $18.2 million World Bank judicial reform loan to buy silence through consultancies and trips. He faults President Kumaratunga and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe for tolerating the rot, questions the President’s claims about LTTE arms ships and an assassination plot, and criticises W.J.M. Lokubandara’s handling of the Public Trustee.
හදිසි මැතිවරණයක
As the ceasefire agreement with the LTTE nears its first anniversary, the seizure of a boat carrying anti-aircraft weapons shows the LTTE is ready for war, unsettled by talk of a snap dissolution and the President’s pact with the JVP. The editorial warns that an election under cohabitation would be a violent contest, and lists eight points the parties should agree, including electoral reform, restoring the independent commissions, a neutral caretaker government and a five-year national government.
අඳ-ගොළු-බිහිරි පාර්ලිමේන්තුව
Ivan argues that Parliament, unlike legislatures elsewhere, ignores citizens’ complaints and media exposures. His examples include the Bribery Commission’s ruling on Mangala Samaraweera’s credit-card spending, its refusal to act on his own complaint against the Chief Justice, and Ravaya’s 2001 exposure of abuses by the Public Trustee, including misuse of the Samarakoon fund meant for poor couples’ dowries. He cites the Marga survey and the IBA report on the judiciary, which Parliament never debated, and the UNP’s silence on the Chief Justice now it is in government.
A Snap Election
In a climate where peace hangs by a thread, the looming threat of a snap election promises not a democratic transition, but a destructive contest of death. Caught in a bitter, bilateral deadlock, the Executive President and the Prime Minister are poised to drag the nation into a mad struggle for supremacy. With the LTTE watching warily from the wings, an election waged in the “law of the jungle” risks plunging the exhausted country back into anarchy. To prevent this impending peril, civil society must forcefully demand a civilized consensus—a unified, all-party commitment to structural reform, independent electoral oversight, and a non-military resolution—before the ballot box is completely broken by the barrel of a gun.
මනාලයා නැතිව පැවති මගුල
An international workshop on strengthening judicial credibility, attended by chief justices of nine countries and opened by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe at the Colombo Oberoi, went ahead with the Sri Lankan Chief Justice’s chair empty amid a Free Media Movement protest. The piece notes comments by Justice Bhagwati and Justice Kirby, and describes media lobbies that shielded Lenin Ratnayake and now protect Sarath N. Silva, including an editor barred by his management from criticising the Chief Justice.
ප්රභාකරන් හොඳ නම් ජනාධිපතිනිය පමණක් නරක ඇයි?
Ranil Wickremesinghe has reached agreement with Prabhakaran but not with Chandrika Kumaratunga, who leads the main opposition. Ivan argues that any settlement with the LTTE needs at least the main opposition’s support, and faults the government for wavering between confrontation and coexistence, leaving PA rebels stranded after the 19th Amendment failed. Citing de Klerk and Mandela, he says Wickremesinghe and Prabhakaran must each win respect across communities and from the People’s Alliance.
ඔස්ලෝ ආධාර සමුළුව
The piece defends the LTTE’s inclusion in the Oslo aid conference but says involving the President would have strengthened it, and notes that Western delegates stressed sovereignty, territorial integrity, human rights and democracy. It contrasts Chandrika Kumaratunga, who offers much on paper but nothing in practice, with Ranil Wickremesinghe, who has no prepared plan but concedes whatever is asked, and warns that opposition obstruction is strengthening the LTTE’s hand.
හොරගල් ඇහිලීම
Ivan assesses the manoeuvring between President and Prime Minister after the 19th Amendment was withdrawn. The President may dissolve Parliament after 5 December but has promised not to, and a crossover government or a bid to replace Ranil Wickremesinghe as UNP leader through another prime minister faces numerical and LTTE obstacles. He notes her wish to change the system so she can stay in politics until a child takes over, and says Wickremesinghe is staking everything on peace and the Oslo aid conference.
චන්ද්රිකා + රනිල් ඒකත් ජයසිරී මංගලම්
With the 19th Amendment blocked, Ivan sees a stalemate that could push Chandrika Kumaratunga and Ranil Wickremesinghe into a temporary political marriage: he to protect the peace process, she to halt inquiries into corruption and crimes linked to her security division and to secure her family’s political future. A second section argues she has turned to wrecking the peace process and defends talks with Prabhakaran. A third questions Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva’s handling of complaints against himself and his alliance with Hemantha Warnakulasuriya.
රනිල්ට වැරදුණේ කොතැන ද?
After the Supreme Court blocked the 19th Amendment strategy, Ivan assesses Ranil Wickremesinghe’s leadership. He compares the goals and power bases of J.R. Jayewardene, Ranasinghe Premadasa, Chandrika Kumaratunga and Wickremesinghe, and argues that the Prime Minister missed the chance, just after his election victory, to use his mandate to force the President into constitutional reform. He praises his resolve on peace but faults his reliance on personal friends rather than the cabinet and his failure to explain his goals.