Editorial
Home » EditorialUNP, SLFP need to come to the centre
President Maithripala Sirisena must be wondering what on earth happened to the time that has so swiftly gone by since his surprise election victory exactly two years ago. He now finds two-fifths of his term is already over, with precious little to show for it. He assumed the high office he holds under exceptional circumstances. [...]
Swim together or sink separately
A New Year in the Gregorian calendar has dawned. For the Chinese it is the Year of the Rooster. 2016 was the Year of the Monkey; the monkey being regarded as a clever animal. There is also an old Chinese saying; “May you live in interesting times”, the origin of which however has negative connotations [...]
2016 : Did the Govt. get it right — or wrong?
With 2016 coming to a close, the National Unity Government is fraught with internal strife not uncommon in coalitions in office for two years. The latest disagreement comes in the form of the proposed Development (Special Provisions) Bill mooted by the UNP segment in the Government but opposed rather strenuously by its SLFP counterparts. The [...]
Road tragedies: Govt. must act decisively
For a Government that acted at the speed of greased lightning, and with a heavy hand (pun intended) by the Navy to rescue two foreign ships held hostage by striking workers at the Hambantota Port, its weak-kneed approach to the striking private bus operators and to buckle under their pressure stands in sharp contrast. As [...]
After JJ, Lanka must build better ties with Tamil Nadu
Hot on the heels of the death of a true friend of Sri Lanka in Cuba’s Fidel Castro came the passing away of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa Jayaram (JJ) — by no means a friend of Sri Lanka. A populist to the core, who distributed cash, gold, sewing machines, mobile phones and various other [...]
MPs must lead by example
Come hell or high water, Parliamentarians have served themselves yet another allowance and the Government has found the money for it by raising the price of diesel sending food prices of common folk still higher. It is a widespread belief that MPs no longer live in a pecuniary state and that they don’t live by [...]
Take middle path on foreign policy
The Government received a reality check last week in Geneva when the Attorney General (AG) and the chief of National Intelligence (CNI) got a rude shock at a UN committee monitoring torture when they were cross-examined to the point that they had to beat a hasty retreat from the floor. That some of the UN [...]
Road terrorism and the corruption ring
Private buses are a classic example of capitalism gone wrong in this country. In the pre-nationalisation era of yesteryear, private bus operators made a lot of money and provided a useful service to the people. With the advent of socialism, these companies were nationalised and the state began to have a monopoly in public transport [...]
Trump trumps: Will he dump liberal America?
And so, the American voters have picked the unknown devil (instead of the known devil) to lead them for the next four years. In their somewhat skewed election process, the defeated candidate got more popular votes than the winner who to the much over-rated ‘most powerful job in the world’ – the President of the [...]