පී.එස්.ඩී.යට රජ සැලකිලි
Ivan details favours the President granted to her Presidential Security Division. Its director Nihal Karunaratne was promoted to Superintendent of Police without the required EBE examination through two Cabinet papers, and seven chosen PSD men were given luxury flats in a state-owned Bambalapitiya tower rent free, costing the state Rs 2.6 million a year. He calls this corruption.
මාළිගා විවාදය යළි කරලියට
A long reply by presidential media director Janadasa Peiris to a report that Rs 800 million had been spent on the site of a planned presidential palace has revived the controversy. The editorial notes what he leaves out about the Temple Trees renovation, including a swimming pool and mini-cinema, and about repairs to President’s House, and observes that earlier leaders from S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike to Ranasinghe Premadasa lived in their own homes, a tradition Chandrika Kumaratunga broke.
මහජනයා මීහරකුන්ට ගැනීම
Ivan says it is absurd to seek public help through newspaper advertisements to find state vehicles misused in the election, when the officials who released them should be held responsible. He is equally scornful of the dispute over the helicopter bill for ‘Prince Sapumal’, a former defence minister flown to Teldeniya: the government wanted to protect him, then blamed the prisons chief when the public objected.
නරින්ට කුකුළන් බාරදිම
Tourism Minister Gamini Lokuge has said the management agreement for SriLankan Airlines should be reviewed. The editorial notes that since management passed to Emirates there are no direct flights to Germany or Italy, key tourist markets, and that Sri Lanka cannot change this despite majority ownership. Handing the airline to a regional competitor was like giving Lake House to a rival newspaper, and those who criticised the deal in opposition must now correct it.
රටේ රැජිණ ජනාධිපතිනියයි
A satirical piece on the gift of two acres of prime land at Rajagiriya to the President’s Australian physiotherapist, likening her to a feudal queen who rewards retainers from the royal domain, along with luxury houses for loyal officials and President’s Fund grants to relatives. A second item mocks the CID’s deferential questioning of Anuruddha Ratwatte over the Udathalawinna massacre and its passing of the matter to the Attorney General.
Dirty politics undermine sovereignty of people
The rule of law is essential to the survival of a democratic political system, and when the rule of law is broken the system is damaged with it. What follows is a list of the specific breakages, with figures.
The truth is out there
The accusations and counter-accusations in the quarrel between S.B. Dissanayake and the President are extremely serious, and both sides are holding fire — refraining from using all the bullets at once, and firing one or two at a time.
පුද්ගලිකකරණය හා විගණකාධිපතිගේ වගකීම
Employees protest the sale of 51 per cent of the National Insurance Corporation, with life funds over Rs. 1,800 million, to Janashakthi for about Rs. 490 million. The editorial says privatisation has become a source of illicit wealth under both UNP and PA, notes that the Public Enterprises Commission misled COPE over Air Lanka, and calls on the Auditor General to examine all privatisation deals and report to Parliament.
President’s Fund draws instant money
The Prime Minister has told parliament that the President’s Fund need not table its accounts because no money is allocated to it from the consolidated fund. That statement misled parliament and the public both, and will feed the doubts people already have about the fund.
Making corruption possible in a democratic country
The President told a government party meeting that she planned to go to parliament herself to answer the opposition’s accusations over the Katunayake expressway, the Diyawanna golf links land and the Thilan Wijesinghe bribery case, because her ministers were not replying well enough.