විපතේ විශාලත්වය හා පක්ෂවල පුංචිකම
Nearly 50,000 dead and close to a million displaced in under an hour: Ivan argues that a disaster of this scale should make the parties see that none of them can solve it alone. Events are defying everyone’s calculations and leave no room for heroes; only a joint national programme can overcome the disaster and prevent a ‘political tsunami’.
දැන් පවතින තත්ත්වය
A numbered twenty-point programme for the country after the tsunami: facing the challenge with a practical vision, an all-party government for two years, restarting peace talks with interim administration for the North-East that the Muslims can accept, rebuilding ten symbolic towns, reorganising the state, a higher court to settle disputes, and a new constitution before elections.
ජාතියේ ගෞරවය කෙලෙසන පාසල් ක්රමයේ වෙනසක්
Ivan argues that the school system turns the whole country into liars and pushes parents into fraud to win a Grade 1 place. He proposes a reorganised system of primary, secondary and A-level schools with equal facilities, addresses laboratories and maintenance funding, and sets out tables for each level.
රනිල් වික්රමසිංහට වැරදුණේ කොතැන ද?
The President’s takeover of three ministries and dissolution of Parliament were undemocratic and arbitrary, but Ranil Wickremesinghe’s handling of the crisis was not strong either. Ivan weighs the Prime Minister’s record, including his peace initiative, and asks whether he will now fight the system itself or simply try to oust her.
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.
අඳුර ආලෝකයක් කරගත නො හැකි ද?
The Supreme Court has ruled that the 19th Amendment needs both a two-thirds majority and a referendum, which only the President can call, opening a new political crisis. Ivan notes the irony of the 1978 constitution now hampering its UNP authors while the SLFP and JVP defend the executive presidency. He calls for an interim all-party government to agree on constitutional, electoral and party reforms, the ethnic question and national policies, followed by a clean election.
ආගමික නායකයන්ගේ මැදිහත් වීමක් අත්යවශ්ය ය
The editorial welcomes the Inter-Religious Council formed by Buddhist, Catholic, Hindu, Muslim and Christian leaders to press politicians to put the country right. It argues that politics, not religion, now determines every aspect of life and is leading to ruin through rigged elections, politicised institutions and ethnic mistrust, and asks religious leaders to back deep reform of the political system rather than bless those who win by fraud.
Importance of democracy within a party
There is a real discussion in the country about broadening democratic freedom and the reforms it needs, and almost all of it is about how to reform the state. The parties, which are the state’s main instrument, are doing nothing to strengthen democracy inside themselves.
Eliminate hatred from the struggle for power
Some problems a governing party cannot solve alone, and some cannot be solved without the agreement of all the parties. In a country with many of the first kind, the main challenge of its politics is how to reach the second kind of agreement.
නපුර ජයගැනීම
Sri Lanka signed the UN Convention against Torture and passed a torture law in 1994, yet political torture has grown. Ivan cites the case of beautician Ivan Turner, detained as an alleged LTTE suspect and humiliated by senior police officer Bandula Wickremasinghe, whose only punishment was a transfer. Borrowing Bishop Frank Marcus’s phrase ‘evil rule’, he argues that Kumaratunga, like Jayewardene and Premadasa, rules through partisanship, and that only democratic reform can end it or allow the ethnic question to be seen democratically.