අධිකරණ ස්වාධීනත්වය ගැන හෙළන කිඹුල් කඳුළු
More than 150 lawyers have signed a resolution calling for a general meeting of the bar association against the appointment of a select committee to inquire into the wrongs done by the retired chief justice while he held office — and the first signature on it, according to the newspapers, is that of a candidate for the presidency of the association at the coming election.
උගත් පාඩම් කොමිසම හා උගතයුතු පාඩම්
The Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission’s report has been handed to the president, and what it finds and recommends is not yet clear. It is a commission that drew international attention: the British foreign secretary said Sri Lanka should show its honesty by making the report public, and the government says it will be put before parliament in December.
රාජපක්ෂ පාලනයේ හත් අවුරුද්ද
Mahinda Rajapaksa can be counted the most argued-about and the most powerful head of state Sri Lanka has produced since independence; before him that place belonged to J.R. Jayewardene. Five sections follow: social and family background, power and resolve, the lust for power, importance and power, and where it went wrong.
විද්යුත් කැලෑ පත්තර අඩවි ගැන වැඩිදුරටත්
The article on the news websites that have turned into a species of electronic gutter press brought Ivan the chance to exchange views with one of the people he had charged — a man running a news website from a foreign country. Three sections follow: ethics, one-sided intellectuals, and Lionel Bopage and Rohana Kumara.
දුමින්ද සිල්වා හා අධිකරණය
The judiciary can be counted an important factor in the tangles of this country. As Harold Laski said, the courts are the mirror that reflects the degree of political civilisation in any national society — and we did once have a judiciary of that kind.
විද්යුත් කැලෑ පත්තර සදාචාරය
It was reported that the telecommunications regulatory commission had made the e-News website hard to reach, and a number of local and foreign media organisations protested, as did the American and European Union missions. Ivan’s article is about what those websites do and about the freedom they claim.
සරත් නන්ද සිල්වාගේ ක්රියාකාරකම් සොයා බැලීම
The select committee the government means to appoint to inquire into the improper acts done while Sarath N. Silva held the office of chief justice has become a subject of argument, and the first man to challenge it is Sarath N. Silva. He says appointing one two years after his retirement is an act of revenge, and that such a committee could damage judicial independence.
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.
නගර සංවර්ධනය හා මූලධර්මවාදය
Kumudu Kusum Kumara’s article criticising Ivan’s ‘Colombo City Development Debate’ appeared in the last Ravaya. Kumudu is a sociologist with a connection to the 1971 insurrection, Ivan writes, and it is right that his views on the development of Colombo should be criticised by such a man — and he is glad of the chance to return to the discussion.
විදුහල්පති ධර්මදාස හා දොස්තර ජයසිංහ
When Ivan heard that a doctor had been shot dead at Karandeniya he wanted to know why. He asked several people in Colombo with connections there, and from every one of them heard only that he was a kind young doctor who worked with great love for the people of the area — and nothing at all about the reasons behind his killing.