අහස උසට නැගි ජීවන වියදමට පිළියමක් නැද්ද?
At the Sinhala and Tamil New Year, shoppers say prices are the highest ever. For two decades governments blamed war spending for high prices and poor services, the editorial notes, but with over a year of ceasefire and aid flowing, excuses about defence costs no longer hold, and the government must explain whether the problem is inability, indifference or mismanagement.
A Snap Election
In a climate where peace hangs by a thread, the looming threat of a snap election promises not a democratic transition, but a destructive contest of death. Caught in a bitter, bilateral deadlock, the Executive President and the Prime Minister are poised to drag the nation into a mad struggle for supremacy. With the LTTE watching warily from the wings, an election waged in the “law of the jungle” risks plunging the exhausted country back into anarchy. To prevent this impending peril, civil society must forcefully demand a civilized consensus—a unified, all-party commitment to structural reform, independent electoral oversight, and a non-military resolution—before the ballot box is completely broken by the barrel of a gun.
දැන් වියහැකි දේ කුමක්ද?
Ivan tests the JVP claim that a JVP–People’s Alliance coalition could have formed a government on 2001 results, pairing the UNP with its Tamil and Muslim allies against the PA, JVP and EPDP, and noting the collapse in both parties’ votes at the 2002 local elections. Policy differences and public fear of renewed war make a lasting alliance unlikely, so an early election is improbable; he urges civil society to widen the government–LTTE talks into a broader state reform.
නිශ්ශබ්දතාව අවසන් විය යුතුය
Ivan argues that Sri Lanka lacks a meaningful social dialogue: outwardly educated and modern, it remains feudal in its politics, economy and attitudes. Contrasting Europe’s liberal philosophical debate and Gandhi’s democratic dialogue in India with the narrow, divisive discourses of Anagarika Dharmapala and the Left, he blames the silence of the educated class, fear of being branded traitors and party loyalties, and calls on intellectuals to break their silence.
රාජ්යය ප්රජාතන්ත්රවාදි කිරීම
The LTTE’s move from a separate state to a federal system of internal self-rule offers an easier basis for a settlement. Ivan argues that minorities pushed aside by the majority seek to break away, and that the state must be democratised so the majority cannot override their rights, citing Nehru’s creation of Tamil Nadu. He links the insurrections of Prabhakaran and Rohana Wijeweera to caste domination as well as ethnic and class grievances, and calls for a new constitution through broad national dialogue.
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.
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.
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.
පළමුව කතා කළ යුත්තේ මොළයට නොව බඩටය
With prices soaring beyond even middle-income earners, Ivan says that however important peace is, people will not endure hunger while waiting for it. He urges the government to identify the ten or fifteen essential goods people need and keep them at subsidised prices, since peace can be won only if people are in a state to think clearly.