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Home » ColumnsA hopeless jumble of the law and crossovers for gain
It is a devastating indictment on Sri Lanka’s political culture that the right of a parliamentarian to cross the floor of the House on a ‘matter of conscience’ (meant to be resorted to only exceptionally) has evolved into a convenient device exercised for precisely the opposite objective. Utterly unprincipled behavior The utterly unprincipled nature of [...]
Maithri’s manifesto – where does the roadmap lead?
With less than three weeks to go for the presidential poll the opposition has complained of increasingly blatant violation of election law by the government camp.More than in the case of previous elections, the violations this time have tended to strengthen the opposition’s case against the regime, vindicating the position that it is corrupt and [...]
Rifts within both alliances as campaigning hots up
Bathiuddin, Sri Ranga in fisticuffs at Temple Trees; Hakeem faces dilemma, but SLMC’s stance matters little to Muslims; Rajapaksa manifesto tomorrow Sirisena manifesto attempts to please all major partners in constitutional changes, but questions over how he will do it within 100 days At the end of a hectic schedule addressing election rallies in the [...]
Will there be changes in economic policies in 2015?
With less than three weeks for the presidential election, a question uppermost in the minds of the intelligentsia and business community must be: “Will 2015 be a turning point in economic policies?” There is no definite answer as the election campaign has paid scant attention to economic issues. In as far as the incumbent President [...]
Double-crosser at crossroads
My dear Udaya, I thought I must write to you because frankly, we are all confused about what happened to you over the past few weeks, what with all this fuss about leaving the Government and then suddenly re-joining it, after suddenly realising that you had made the ‘wrong’ decision. Honestly, I am less than [...]
BASL furious: Returning officer gives phone bribes
A serving Government official in the Anuradhapura District held a ceremony and distributed free mobile telephones to retired Grama Niladharis. This is the gist of a complaint made to the Commissioner of Elections by the district branch of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka. It alleges the official in question would be acting as a [...]
Will Santa gift a new conscience this X’mas?
Every man considers his conscience to be his temple — supreme and infallible, as eternal as the icon Truth enshrined therein. But to another it may seem like the devil’s workshop where, upon temptation’s anvil, the conscience can be hammered into any shape and form as personal expediency and inclinations dictate. If patriotism is the [...]
Preachers ignore their own prayer books
Ever since the LTTE seemed headed for military defeat despite the grandiose claims of some foreign military experts of Tiger invincibility, Western powers led by the United States, the UK keeping pace at its master’s feet, have been trying to burn Sri Lanka at the stake. Any occasion seemed good enough and any international platform [...]