නිදහසේ උභතෝකෝටිකය
On the 54th Independence Day, Ivan laments that freedom won without struggle left Sri Lanka without the attitudes or institutions to hold its communities together. Contrasting its record with Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and India, he cites negative growth, 15 per cent inflation, war costs and some 100,000 deaths, and argues that no leader since 1948, Sinhala or Tamil, has won the respect of all communities.
The dilemma of independence
More than five decades have passed since independence, and the fifty-fourth anniversary has to be marked with sadness rather than pleasure. What the country has done with its freedom, measured against the neighbours who started level with it, is the subject.
රට බිංදුවට වැටීම
With the services and manufacturing sectors collapsing, economic growth has fallen to zero and may turn negative, bringing soaring prices and job losses. The editorial says the rulers are absorbed in the political crisis, investors are pulling back and state institutions barely function. It argues that an early parliamentary election is the best way to end political instability, which is a precondition for overcoming the economic crisis.
ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණේ පරිවාස වැඩපිළිවෙළ
Ivan questions whether the JVP can win the five independent commissions by giving oxygen to a dying People’s Alliance government. He recalls its seats on the rigged North Western Provincial Council and support for PA provincial administrations, and gives the numbers: the government fell from a majority to 109 against 115 after Rauff Hakeem’s group left, and JVP support brings it back to 119. He argues that the pact’s ban on peace talks, privatisation and price rises clashes with the IMF standby agreement and risks another LTTE attack like Katunayake.
රට අඳුරෙන් අඳුරට
Power cuts have grown from one and a half to two and a half hours a day, adding to the political darkness, but were suspended on nights of cricket and presidential speeches. The editorial recalls the 1996 promises that there would be no more cuts, accepts that opposition to the Norochcholai coal plant was short-sighted, and says the real issue is government inaction: the Electricity Board had a surplus of about Rs. 8,000 crore in 1994 and now owes about the same.
හිතුවක්කාරකම් නිකම් ම බලා සිටීමෙන් පරාජය කළ නොහැක
The editorial says the President is playing with the country’s survival as political instability speeds economic collapse. She cannot govern without Parliament, which holds the legislative and financial powers, and had no right to prorogue it to avoid a no-confidence debate. With the opposition now in the majority and a large group from the government joining it, it argues that the People’s Alliance government is finished and that she must reconvene Parliament and let the opposition form a government, or bear the consequences.
A sail through stormy weather
The attack at Katunayake has brought down a large part of an already weak economy, and neither the parties struggling for power nor the public seems to grasp how serious it is. They behave like the crab that dances in the pot until the water boils. One more such attack would be enough.
අර්බුදය කුණු කිරීම
Ivan says the Katunayake attack has badly damaged a weak economy, yet the parties behave like crabs dancing in a warming pot. The crisis stems from the prorogation to block the no-confidence motion; the Speaker put his sister ahead of Parliament and the JVP’s factional approach wrecked the chance of an all-party reform government. With over Rs. 100 crore spent on the postponed referendum and Parliament due on 7 September, he warns that months more without proper government will deepen the economic collapse.
රටේ පැවත්ම සමග සෙල්ලම් එපා
Consumer prices are rising fast, trade is shrinking, manufacturing is collapsing, foreign investors are leaving and the stock market is falling, yet the government and parties are absorbed in the political crisis. The piece says the President, as Finance Minister, is ignoring the economy while Parliament stays closed, and that if she will not reopen it, MPs themselves have a duty to reconvene it and restore government, or all parties will answer to the public.
මුදල් අර්බුදයේ නොපෙනෙන පැති කිහිපයක
Ivan examines the floating of the rupee and its fallout: importers ruined by paying at the new exchange rate for goods sold at the old, daily price rises, and likely shortages at the Sinhala New Year. He traces the drain on reserves to war purchases, duty-free vehicles and bulletproof BMWs for politicians, crony privatisation, Air Lanka’s aircraft and fuel subsidies, and falling aid, and doubts that exports, heavily dependent on imported inputs for garments, can close the gap.