නීති ඇති කිරීම හා ප්රජාතන්ත්රවාදය
The much-argued bill for the revival of underperforming enterprises and underutilised assets passed its first reading by a majority of 76 — 122 for and 46 against, with two parties in the government abstaining. That shows there is no common agreement about this law even inside the government, and the vote against was well short too.
කොළඹ නගර සභා මැතිවරණය හා වත්කම් බැරකම් නීතිය
The crafty and comical way the assets and liabilities law works at elections was shown again at the Colombo municipal poll. The law matters at an election because it gives voters the right to know the background of the candidates’ assets and liabilities — and they get that right only if candidates file their declarations with their nomination papers.
වත්කම් බැරකම් නීතිය ගැන වැඩිදුරටත්
After Anna Hazare’s satyagraha succeeded, the Indian prime minister and the members of his cabinet published their declarations of assets and liabilities for the public to see. It can be read as a step to control the disillusion growing among people towards the leaders of the government — and as a very important by-product of the popular struggle against corruption.
දූෂණයට එරෙහිව හා තොරතුරු අයිතිය වෙනුවෙන් කරන සටනේ අවුල
India’s anti-corruption movement, and the satyagraha Anna Hazare carried out to bring the struggle to a logical end, finished by winning the object they had set — an independent anti-corruption institution under a public ombudsman. It has not been discussed enough in Sri Lanka, Ivan writes, and it can be counted the largest popular revolution in India since Gandhi’s.
යූඑන්පී අර්බුදය
A great deal can be learned from the UNP’s leadership crisis, not only about that party but about the political culture of Sri Lanka. Removing a party leader is extremely difficult: there is no simple, clear method in the party constitution for the membership to use when they want one removed, and nothing about how a group carrying on an internal struggle should proceed — and that is true of every party in the country.
යක්ෂයා පලවා හැරීම
For a decade there have been attempts inside the UNP to remove Ranil Wickremesinghe and change the leadership, and he has defeated every one of them and kept his place. The leader of the recent revolt was Sajith Premadasa, and though the popular belief was that he would win, Ranil won again — and Sajith does not appear to have finished his fight.
අධිකරණය ජනමාධ්ය හා සමාජ-දේශපාලන යථාර්ථය
Uvindu Kurukulasuriya, once a freelance writer for Ravaya, questioned Ivan’s present silence on the burning questions of the judiciary in an article for the Sunday Leader on the 17th. He opened with something that interests the public: that the president, minister Basil Rajapaksa and the prime minister attended a reception at the home of Saliya Hettige on his appointment to the Supreme Court.
පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ බලය සීමා කර ගැනීම
When the JVP member Anura Kumara Dissanayake tried to make a statement in parliament about the hedging agreement, the government whip’s objection turned it into a point of order for the Speaker to rule on. Ivan answers it with a precedent: the debate in the State Council, at the end of 1938 or the beginning of 1939, over a worker named Govinda shot dead by police during a strike at Mul Oya estate in Hewaheta.
දෙමළ ප්රශ්නය හා සුනිල් විජේසිරිවර්ධන
An interview with Dr Sunil Wijesiriwardena on the Tamil question appeared in the last Ravaya, and the purpose of this article is to question one idea in it — the idea that governs everything else he says there. The claim that no attempt was made to give a fair political settlement and that war was all that was done is, Ivan writes, entirely wrong.
ගාන්ධි නූතන ශ්රී ලංකාවට ගෙන්වා ගැනීම (II)
It was Gandhi who showed the world that spiritual strength joined to popular power can be turned into an undefeated motive force working for the progress, the justice and the liberation of ordinary people, free of self-interest, malice and hatred. Einstein said at his death that a powerful following can be won not only by political cunning but by the example of a disciplined and exalted human conduct.