පක්ෂ තුනක ප්රජාතන්ත්ර විරෝධී භාවිතය
A country divided by party loyalty sees only good in its own side. Ivan examines the undemocratic record of the UNP, the SLFP and the JVP, from the 1982 referendum that extended Parliament’s life, which Sirimavo Bandaranaike opposed, to their handling of the independent commissions under the 17th Amendment.
නිසරු නායකයින් නිසා වැනසෙන රටක්
Prompted by commemorations of J.R. Jayewardene, S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike and Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Ivan sets out what makes a great leader and assesses every head of government since independence, from D.S. Senanayake to Chandrika Kumaratunga, finding none who qualifies. Contrasting Nehru, Mahathir Mohamad, Chandrababu Naidu and Lee Kuan Yew, who wrote books setting out their vision, he blames the lack of internal party democracy, family dominance and the belief that a leader must be Sinhala, Buddhist and Govigama.
ආර්ථිකය, සාමය හා දේශපාලනය
The piece notes a buoyant economy under the ceasefire, with the share index above its 1994 peak, rising investment, exports and tourism, and a peace process continuing without major bloodshed. Politics, however, is stagnant: the independent commissions are collapsing and the committee on the judiciary has not met. It warns that Ranil Wickremesinghe is following his uncle J.R. Jayewardene’s path and Chandrika Kumaratunga her mother’s, risking a fractured SLFP, authoritarian rule and gains for the JVP. A final section discusses the health workers’ strike.
ස්වයං විනාශයකට යෑම
Ivan asks why the LTTE demands an interim administration it knows the government cannot grant, and argues that it seeks recognition as an equal state, as it did when excluded from the Indo-Lanka Accord. He recalls that the Accord already conceded much the Sinhalese now resent, and that the JVP, which bombed Parliament in 1987, now backs the President’s resistance. Examining Sinhala Mahavamsa myths and the Tamil claim to the East, he warns that both leaderships are steering the country towards anarchy.
ජනාධිපති අගමැති ගැටුම කෙළවර කුමක් ද?
Tracing the Development Lottery Board dispute back to the 1978 Constitution, Ivan quotes N.M. Perera’s warning that split control of presidency and Parliament would paralyse the state and invite dictatorship. He recalls Athulathmudali and Gamini Dissanayake turning against the executive presidency, the PA’s 1994 pledge to abolish it, D.B. Wijetunga’s peaceful handover of domestic power, and Kumaratunga’s broken promise to the JVP. Wickremesinghe, a defender of the office he hopes to hold, failed to strike a deal at the height of his mandate and now faces a dilemma.
ජේ.ආර්. ගේ “ගෝල්ඩ් රොලෙක්ස්” චන්ද්රිකාගේ පතේ පිලිප්ස්”
Ivan recalls an acquaintance who contrasted J.R. Jayewardene’s showy gold Rolex with the far costlier Patek Philippe worn by Chandrika Kumaratunga, and traces the Bandaranaike family’s modest finances from the Maha Mudaliyar to the 1956 election loans. He describes a phone call in which the President spoke of the watch, a gift she planned to auction, and his article leading her to hand gifts to the Treasury. He then recounts his failed efforts to obtain ministers’ and the President’s asset declarations.
මේව දැකල පණ පලයන් පෙරේදා
Ivan recounts eight numbered first-person incidents about the judiciary: a former PA minister urging a friend to ‘shape’ Ivan over the Chief Justice; a judge’s tale of a colleague who fathered his maid’s child; a journalist spreading word that the government would drop impeachment; talk with an Attorney General’s officer; a judge’s account of W.J.M. Lokubandara’s changed stance; a Constitutional Council member alleged to draw his daughter’s salary; a bribe paid for Sirimavo Bandaranaike in the SLFP case; and Abeysinghe, who tried to strangle Lenin Ratnayake.
ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණේ භූමිකාව
The editorial says the JVP aims to ally with favoured SLFP figures, derail the peace process with the President’s help and use the resulting disorder to form a government it can steer, much as Sirimavo Bandaranaike and N.M. Perera did in 1964, with Mangala Samaraweera as go-between. It argues the JVP offers the SLFP little beyond votes, and warns that the power struggle may push Prabhakaran to prepare for war or to claim that only a separate state is left.
මාළිගා විවාදය යළි කරලියට
A long reply by presidential media director Janadasa Peiris to a report that Rs 800 million had been spent on the site of a planned presidential palace has revived the controversy. The editorial notes what he leaves out about the Temple Trees renovation, including a swimming pool and mini-cinema, and about repairs to President’s House, and observes that earlier leaders from S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike to Ranasinghe Premadasa lived in their own homes, a tradition Chandrika Kumaratunga broke.
පැවැත්ම සමග කරන සූදුවක්
Ivan argues that the JVP is gambling its political survival by opposing Ranil Wickremesinghe’s peace effort as it once opposed the Indo-Lanka Accord. He recalls that the party called provincial councils a division of the country, killed people over them and then became their keen participants without apology, and now stays silent on the executive presidency and the President’s stalling of the 17th Amendment. Nationalism, he says, can wreck a settlement but no longer carries anyone to power.