අර්බුදයේ මුල ඇත්තේ ව්‍යවස්ථාවේය
Ivan traces the clash between the President and the UNF government to the 1978 Constitution, which J.R. Jayewardene modelled on de Gaulle’s while ignoring the need for power to alternate. Comparing the American, Indian and Swiss constitutions with Sri Lanka’s three in fifty years, he recounts how crisis was postponed until 2001, and argues that Chandrika Kumaratunga should follow Mitterrand in 1986 by ceding domestic power to the Prime Minister.
කෙළවර කුමක් ද?
Ivan explains that the 1978 Constitution assumed one party would hold both presidency and Parliament, and recalls how France and D.B. Wijetunga avoided conflict under cohabitation. Chandrika Kumaratunga could have conceded power or resigned after 2001 but chose confrontation, while the Prime Minister’s investigations of her corruption and crimes now give him the advantage. He sets out the likeliest course of the conflict, ending in impeachment, an election or her loss of office.
නයි පොළගුන් සමග සෙල්ලමට යාම
Ivan likens Ranil Wickremesinghe to a snake charmer handling cobras whose fangs he has not drawn: pursuing the President and her associates slowly through inquiries while they still hold key posts. Further sections note that the committee under retired judge Ranjith Dheerasekera on local election malpractice has been starved of resources, mock the President’s reported threat to bite the Prime Minister’s neck, and warn that the honeymoon is ending, citing Harry Jayawardena’s appointment to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
මජරකමද? වැඩවසම් උද්ධච්ඡකමද?
The dispute over luxury bullet-proof vehicles bought under the People’s Alliance, some now missing, shows how selfishly the country has been run. The editorial lists the purchases for the President’s security from 1999 to 2000, costing Rs 1,110 million for cars and perhaps Rs 3,000 million with helicopters, and contrasts this with UNP leaders who faced worse threats without such spending and with meagre budgets for agriculture, labour and irrigation.
චන්ද්‍රිකාගේ ගැටලු ජයගන්නට රනිල්ට හැකි ද?
Ivan notes that President Kumaratunga still controls ambassadors, provincial governors, who would head any interim administration, and the power to dissolve Parliament after a year. Curbing these needs a two-thirds majority, and her strategy is to deny the government PA votes unless investigations into crimes of her era, which could threaten her and the Bandaranaike name, are dropped. Ranil Wickremesinghe’s political future, he says, depends on how he handles this.
රාවය ඉදිරිය දකින ආකාරය
Answering critics who say Ravaya has gone soft on the UNF government, the paper recalls its record of opposing both UNP and PA governments. It backs curbing the President’s powers even at the cost of a distorting amendment, prosecution of those responsible for PSD crimes, including the President, and the peace effort, including lifting the LTTE ban. It lists its campaigns on the Elections Commissioner, state gifts, assets declarations, the 17th Amendment and Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva, and reveals PSD plans to bomb Ravaya and kill its editor.
ජනාධිපතිනියගේ ඡීඑස්ඩී දාමරිකකම් ගැන ශ්‍රීලනිප, පොපෙ හා ජවිපෙ කියන්නේ කුමක්ද?
When inquiries into the Presidential Security Division began, SLFP loyalists called them a plot to weaken the President’s security. The editorial notes that investigations now link the PSD to the attacks on the Leader editor, the Rohana Kumara murder and other outrages, with officers saying they acted on the President’s orders, and demands that the SLFP, PA and JVP state their position. If she ordered the crimes she must face the law, by constitutional amendment if necessary.
පීඑස්ඩී අපරාධවලට ජනාධිපතිනිය වගකිවයුතු නැද්ද?
Police inquiries are confirming what Ravaya long reported: that the Presidential Security Division was behind the attacks on the Leader editor and his home, the Rohana Kumara murder, the harassment of singers Rookantha and Chandraleka, the burning of actress Anoja Weerasinghe’s house and body parts sent to Ravi Karunanayake. The editorial argues these crimes had political motives, that the President’s role must be investigated, and that if involved she belongs in prison, not the presidential palace.
ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනයක් අවශ්‍ය වුවත් එය සිදුකළ යුත්තේ පරිස්සමෙනි
With the UNF in government but President Kumaratunga holding decisive constitutional powers, including dissolving Parliament after a year, Ivan traces the cohabitation crisis to a 1978 constitution designed for one-party control, a flaw N.M. Perera foresaw. The government’s planned amendment to curb her powers needs PA votes for a two-thirds majority, and he warns that buying them could distort constitution-making, urging a broad consensual process for a new constitution instead.
සියලු රාජ්‍ය අරමුදල් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ පාලනයට යටත් විය යුතුයි
Former finance minister Ronnie de Mel asked during the budget debate that all state funds, including the President’s Fund, be brought into the Consolidated Fund under Parliament’s control. The editorial calls holding funds outside it illegal and contrary to parliamentary democracy, and criticises the Auditor General’s weak scrutiny of institutions under powerful figures and the Public Accounts Committee’s frequent failure to meet for lack of a quorum.