ජනාධිපතික්රමය ගැන නගන පුහු තර්ක
As one uncivilised era nears its end, Ivan answers those who still defend the presidency. Israel and India, he shows, keep a nominal president under a parliamentary system, and India’s model of devolution works within it. He describes how the old parliamentary system made MPs answerable and governments changeable, how the 1978 presidency reduced Parliament, and how violence has been bound up with the presidential system from its start, arguing that the electoral system must change too.
චෞර රැජින පොත කරළියට ගැනීම
When Chandrika Kumaratunga returned to politics to back Maithripala Sirisena, the state-owned Lake House papers began serialising, without Ivan’s permission, his book Chaura Rajina (‘The Queen of Deceit’), written against her. Ivan compares the two presidents, arguing that Mahinda did more harm than Chandrika. He reveals that he refused Mahinda Rajapaksa’s expectation that he would help against Kumaratunga, and a direct request from the President, by telephone, for help in the case against Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake, and concludes that no social struggle is entirely pure.
අශීලාචාර තත්ත්වය පවත්වාගෙන යමුද? ශීලාචාර රටක් ඇතිකර ගමුද?
Ivan frames the January 2015 election as a choice about the country’s future. After defeating a rebellion a state must heal, not keep ruling by fear; yet after Prabhakaran’s defeat the Rajapaksa government had no vision for repairing the damage to people, infrastructure, society and institutions, and turned the victory to its own ends, using the forces for power. He asks why the rebellions arose and argues that re-electing Mahinda Rajapaksa would entrench an uncivilised state.
ජනාධිපතිවරණයේ උරගා බැලීම්
Ivan names the institutions the January 2015 election will test. The judiciary has already bent, approving a third term. The state media have been turned into campaign tools, with attacks on Maithripala Sirisena’s rallies such as at Polonnaruwa. The Commissioner of Elections faces abuses such as in the Polpithigama division, while the Presidential Elections Act of 1981 clearly defines bribery. Finally he warns about any role for the security forces in the campaign.
මෛත්රීපාලගේ භූමිකාව
Using a chess metaphor, Ivan describes Maithripala Sirisena’s defection from the government to become the common opposition candidate as a move the Rajapaksa camp never expected. He assesses the MPs who crossed with him and the split in the SLFP, the roles of Chandrika Kumaratunga and Ranil Wickremesinghe in the anti-Mahinda alliance, and the JVP’s stance. He urges the challengers to avoid lies and communal appeals, credits Mahinda Rajapaksa with defeating Prabhakaran, but argues that his rule has done great harm, including its pro-China policy.
විරුද්ධ පක්ෂ ව්යාපාර අරාජිකත්වයේ සෙවණැලි
Ivan warns that full anarchy, the end state of a system without civility, is frightening, and that the coming election is a historic chance to defeat the Rajapaksa regime. Comparing the JVP’s support for Mahinda in 2005 with today, he assesses the roles of the Venerable Sobitha’s movement for a just society, Karu Jayasuriya, the UNP, the JVP and the Jathika Hela Urumaya, and argues frankly that Ranil Wickremesinghe, who has never won an election and lacks Mahinda’s charisma, should not be the challenger.
ජනාධිපතිවරණයේ ගති ලක්ෂණ
Ivan examines how the President resolved the Eighteenth Amendment dispute by seeking the Supreme Court’s opinion on 5 November 2014, which he says shows a judiciary tamed since the impeachment of Shirani Bandaranayake, recalling J.R. Jayewardene’s treatment of the courts. He criticises the Commissioner of Elections’ passivity over the election’s timing and the Pope’s visit, and warns that the opposition’s disunity and factionalism could hand the government a third term and push the country towards anarchy.
විලි බිය අහිමි කරගැනීම
As the January 2015 campaign begins informally, Ivan argues that a third-term candidacy under the Eighteenth Amendment shows a government that has lost all shame. He recalls the Kalawana case after 1977, when an election petition by Sarath Muttetuwegama unseated the UNP’s Pilapitiya and Speaker Bakeer Markar’s ruling produced two members for one seat, to show how elections were once policed. He lists the corrupt practices defined in the Presidential Elections Act of 1981 that the head of state is committing, and contrasts the discipline of India’s election commission, which checked even Narendra Modi.
රාවයේ මහජන පෙත්සම
Ivan describes the response to Ravaya’s public petition for reform of government: calls and emails on the day it went on sale from Gamini Viyangoda, Chandra Jayaratne, a professional association and ordinary readers. Ravaya’s readers, he writes, are an unusual constituency; the petition’s aim is to win a political framework the country needs after decades of decline. He then examines the President’s election-year budget promises, from university places to allowances for kidney patients and pensions for garment workers, and asks what they are worth.
එල්ටීටීඊ තහනම ඉවත් කිරීම ජනාධිපතිවරණ දිනය හා පාප්තුමාගේ ගමන
After the cabinet spokesman hinted at the election date, Ivan examines the constitutional timetable and the clash with the Pope’s January visit, which the Catholic Church had asked to keep apart from politics, and the astrologer’s role. He then discusses a European court ruling of 16 October 2014 on the LTTE’s listing, arguing that bans cannot last forever, that the LTTE was defeated militarily but remains strong in the diaspora, and that only a political solution will end its appeal.