පාසල්වලට ළමුන් ඇතුළත් කරගැනීම
The yearly, heartless contest for school places is over, with few winners and many losers. The editorial describes how the race begins almost at conception, with certificates manufactured to fit a target school, as a sign of how thoughtless the country’s institutions have become.
ලෝක ළමා දිනය සැමරිම
Children’s Day is celebrated across the country, but the principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child are not upheld. The editorial treats care for children and the elderly as a measure of civilisation and warns that prosecuting abusers achieves little if the children themselves are left worse off by the process.
තිබ්බොටුවාවේ ශ්‍රී සුමංගල නාහිමියන්ගේ නිර්භීත ප්‍රවේශය
In a country without leaders who love it, understand its problems or want to lift it up, the Mahanayake of Malwatte has spoken fearlessly: ready for talks with the LTTE, urging both the LTTE and the JVP to avoid extremes, and taking a moderate line on conversions. The editorial sees in him a rare hope, while warning that his road will not be easy.
Voluntary March Towards Destruction
Victor Ivan argues that neither the UPFA nor the UNP read the 2004 election result correctly: the government took a near-tie as a mandate, the opposition as a victory, when both should have read it as a demand for consensus. Parliament has sat three times since the election, spending those days on abuse and fisticuffs while costing Rs 1.9 million a day whether it meets or not. The government advertises the repeal of the Tax Amnesty Act and the compensation formula though no amending bills have been tabled, and diverts youth brigade funds without the parliamentary approval such a transfer requires. Having roused the trade unions against its predecessor, it now cannot drive back the demon it summoned; having roused the country against the Norwegian-brokered talks, it now wants negotiations in an environment of its own poisoning. Ivan holds not only politicians but intellectuals, the private sector and society at large responsible for standing aside, and expects wisdom to arrive only after the fall.
සෝම හිමියන්ගේ අපවත්වීම, ආගම් භේද හා ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ජාතිකත්ව ගැටලුව – 2
Ivan traces how the Sinhala people formed from many tribal groups, with Buddhism as the force that united them under one language and faith, how Tamil-speaking groups from South India settled alongside them, and how Muslim trading settlements grew from about the eighth century under tolerant Sinhala kings who also endowed Hindu temples.
සෝම හිමිගේ අපවත්වීම, ආගම්භේද හා ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ජාතිකත්ව ගැටලුව
After Soma Thera’s death, fear spread among Christians that they might be attacked, and the old charge of ‘unethical conversions’ became a claim that Christian forces were killing Buddhist leaders. Ivan asks whether religion is becoming an explosive dividing line like race and language, and looks back to Asoka’s empire and the Buddhist idea of the state.
රටේ කාලකණ්ණිකම නිදහස
Written for Independence Day, a survey of why the whole social and political order has decayed: imperialism and colonial rule, an independence received as a gift rather than won, a party system that breeds autocratic leaders, the grip of party and family power, and a state that never became the state of all its people.
සෝම හිමියන්ගේ අපවත්වීමට මුවාවී චෝදනාලාභී පුද්ගල තුන්කට්ටුවක් රට ගිනි තබයි
An investigation of the leaflet campaign that followed the death of Gangodawila Soma Thera, which claimed that Ravaya was funded by American churches to attack three ‘Buddhist leaders’: Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva, the Public Trustee Sarath Seneviratne and Telecom chairman Thilanga Sumathipala. The piece traces who produced and paid for the leaflets and the ‘Bodu Handa’ newspaper, and argues that the aim was to inflame religious feeling to shield men facing corruption and criminal charges.
රට කාලකන්නි කිරීමට ඉඩ නොදෙමු
A New Year editorial warning that a religious rift is being added to Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict. Recalling Lee Kuan Yew’s use of Sri Lanka as the example of a failed state, it traces how caste, religion and language disputes each divided the country in turn and asks whether the majority will once again follow a small extremist minority, as in July 1983.
නිසරු නායකයින් නිසා වැනසෙන රටක්
Prompted by commemorations of J.R. Jayewardene, S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike and Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Ivan sets out what makes a great leader and assesses every head of government since independence, from D.S. Senanayake to Chandrika Kumaratunga, finding none who qualifies. Contrasting Nehru, Mahathir Mohamad, Chandrababu Naidu and Lee Kuan Yew, who wrote books setting out their vision, he blames the lack of internal party democracy, family dominance and the belief that a leader must be Sinhala, Buddhist and Govigama.