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.
අයවැයේ දාර්ශනික දුගීභාවය
Ivan faults the budget for lacking a development vision beyond World Bank and IMF advice, urging a strategy to place trained workers such as nurses in better-paid foreign jobs, and criticising new taxes on non-resident foreign-currency accounts, savings accounts and vehicles. He then sets out invoices showing Rs 214,384 spent on liquor for the President’s official residence in August 2000 alone, and large hospitality bills for officials during the 2000 election campaign, which he calls an offence under bribery law.
About the Budget
While this article credits the UNF Government for stabilizing a collapsing economy through strict financial control, it heavily criticizes the administration’s lack of a broader economic vision. The author argues that Sri Lanka must stop thinking like a small island and instead integrate its education and workforce into the global market. Rather than passively relying on the remittances of unskilled laborers while simultaneously exploiting them with excessive passport and agency fees, the government should actively train its youth for skilled international professions—such as nursing—and facilitate affordable foreign education to alleviate local bottlenecks and maximize global economic opportunities.
ඔලුවෙන් සිටුවා ඇති ස්වාධීන කොමිෂන්
Ivan argues that the government’s proposed 18th Amendment, shielding the Constitutional Council from fundamental-rights suits, ignores the real flaw in the 17th: Jayampathy Wickramaratne’s redraft for the President left her the power to nominate holders of key posts. He recounts the civil-society origins of the reform and the JVP and UNP roles in its passage, notes Priyani Wijesekera as its first victim, and proposes public vetting of Council members, barring them from legal practice and letting the Council investigate complaints against senior judges.
ආණ්ඩුව ගන්නා පියවර දෙස විමසිල්ලෙන් බලා සිටිමු
Ranil Wickremesinghe has ordered the new Inspector General of Police, T.E. Anandarajah, to investigate an attack on journalists at a Samurdhi officers’ protest in Medirigiriya, allegedly by thugs linked to the United National Front. The piece welcomes the order but doubts it will be followed through, citing inaction over election violence and over MPs Ranga Bandara, Dilip Wedaarachchi and Ranjith Aluwihare, and over incidents involving ministers Vajira Abeywardena, Arumugam Thondaman and Mahinda Wijesekera.
අන්තෝ ජටා-බහි ජටා
Ivan links four events of one week: charges finally filed against former railway general manager Wack Silva, first exposed by Ravaya in 1992; the removal of magistrate Lenin Ratnayake; a seminar on judicial independence addressed by Lord Brennan, Rohan Edrisinha and Ranil Wickremesinghe; and the launch of his book ‘Nonimi Aragalaya’ on the judicial crisis. He recounts the husbands of the two abused women, one later murdered after testifying, and lists unanswered questions about Sarath N. Silva, Upali Abeyratne and the inquiries.
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.
දූෂණයට වඩා වගකිව යුත්තේ දේශපාලකයා ද රාජ්ය නිලධාරියා ද
Using the purchase of armoured vehicles for the President, where Rs 2,400 million was spent against a parliamentary allocation of Rs 63 million on used BMWs bought through an intermediary, Ivan argues that senior officials bear greater blame than politicians because their posts are permanent and they are bound to uphold the law. He criticises the Treasury Secretary and the Auditor General, including over the President’s Fund, privatisation and Mangala Samaraweera’s credit-card spending, and calls for top officials and politicians to be prosecuted and jailed.
නීතිය ඔලුවෙන් සිටුවීම
Ivan rejects the Bribery Commission’s ruling that the Chief Justice is not a public servant and that his complaint against Sarath N. Silva and Lenin Ratnayake falls outside its remit, citing the Penal Code and the assets law. Further sections argue that the 17th Amendment was certified without its transitional provisions, leaving the existing commissions without legal standing; criticise the Constitutional Council’s demand for immunity through an 18th Amendment; and ask whether the securities found in Anuruddha Ratwatte’s safes will be pursued.
Who is More Responsible for Corruption: the Politician or the Bureaucrat?
This article argues that Sri Lanka’s greatest existential threat is not the war waged by Prabhakaran, but the pervasive cancer of state-level corruption and waste that has been rotting the country from within. Challenging the popular narrative that blames corruption entirely on politicians, the author places heavy responsibility on permanent state bureaucrats. Rather than acting as the legal backbone of the state, these officials frequently collude with temporary politicians for personal gain. The author concludes that until both corrupt politicians and their complicit bureaucratic enablers are prosecuted and imprisoned, Sri Lanka will never develop a strong, independent administrative service capable of upholding the rule of law.