The Sunday Times Sri Lanka

Columns

Political Column

Seniors bother MR and juniors plague Ranil

On Thursday he met with publishers and editors of national newspapers. He followed the same ritual on Friday with Colombo-based foreign correspondents and other accredited journalists. Over Kiribath (milk rice), hoppers and string hoppers, he spoke informally. Both events were informal and did not assume the air of a news conference. Yet, Rajapaksa answered some thorny questions deftly.

5th Column

Wistful longing to be a dictator!

My dear Satellite,

I thought I must write to you after reading some public comments you had made recently, where you had said that you should have become a dictator for at least six months to bring in a new Constitution for the country, and then reverted to democracy.

The Economic Analysis

The growing debt burden

The growing public debt and its servicing costs are a severe burden on the economy. It has a detrimental impact on macroeconomic fundamentals that have adverse effects on long term economic development. The large expenditure on debt servicing implies fewer resources for developmental expenditure.

Lobby

Not Issued with this week

Focus on Rights

A rogues’ gallery in local government

The queue of hopeful candidates waiting to get nominations from Sri Lanka’s political parties for the upcoming local government elections brings to mind irresistible and immediate parallels with the proverbial rogues’ gallery. Perhaps if police identification lists of known criminals in this country are compared against these pictures and these names, there may be more than a few unhappy coincidences.

Talk at the Cafe Spectator

Corruption: Top cop in scandal of scandals

The cat-and-mouse games played in the Police Department continue to baffle top leaders of the UPFA. Weeks ago, the entire team of CID (Criminal Investigation Department) officers assigned to the Commission to Investigate Bribery or Corruption were summarily moved out. Orders went from Police Headquarters asking them to take up duties in different police divisions.

From the sidelines

The ‘plus’ in ’13-plus’ – That is the issue

What is the “plus” in the “13–plus?” This is the question to which President Mahinda Rajapaksa seeks an answer in his discussions with the Tamil National Alliance, he says. “That’s what I want to find out!” He had just been asked by reporters what his starting point was with regard to a political solution to the ethnic issue, to which he had responded “As I have always said, it’s 13-plus.

Column By Gomin Dayasiri

Not Issued with this week