Views - 1404 Tuesday, 13 November 2018 00:00

TIME: What was the immediate reason for calling an election? President Kumaratunga: I was forced into it by a total breakdown of cohabitation in Government. The Prime Minister (Ranil Wickremesinghe) was determined to harass me and chase me out. He ha

Views - 68 Monday, 12 November 2018 00:00

Maithripala Sirisena is trying to settle his personal political rivalry with Ranil Wickremesinghe in an unconstitutional way and has plunged the whole country into chaos in the process. He has virtually taken over the Government by force. This is not

Views - 176 Monday, 12 November 2018 00:00

Have you heard about the Orange Book Liberal, Nick Clegg? He is in our Constitution, rather distortedly, stealthily crept in through the 19th Amendment in Article 70. Luckily, most strange (or orange) theories are still in Ranil Wickremesinghe’s (R

Views - 194 Monday, 12 November 2018 00:00

A college professor of mine once told me the definition of an intellectual is ‘one who cannot lie’. But in the heady atmosphere of cerebral activity around a tattered piece of paper called the Constitution, I’m compelled to revisit that ancient

Views - 745 Monday, 12 November 2018 00:00

In the backdrop of the recent developments and the strong arguments that have been presented against the dissolution of Parliament saying the President has no constitutional power to do so, before four and a half years into a Parliamentary term, as s

Views - 6378 Monday, 12 November 2018 00:00

Adverse economic consequences of executive action In a flash move, Parliament was dissolved last Friday by President Maithripala Sirisena, claiming he had powers to do so under the Constitution. It was not a sudden executive action, but the culminat

Views - 447 Saturday, 10 November 2018 00:10

With the US and the IMF acting tough, Pakistan’s time-tested friends, Saudi Arabia and China, have come to its rescue at a time when its economy is in dire straits. The woes of Pakistan’s economy are many. The Pakistani Rupee has been devalued f

Views - 227 Saturday, 10 November 2018 00:02

A High Court’s acquittal of Asia Bibi, a Christian lady, previously sentenced to death and forced to live in a secret location since 2009 for allegedly blaspheming Islam and its prophet, has brought a blood thirsty fana

Views - 147 Saturday, 10 November 2018 00:01

The disintegration of a large plantation adjacent to us, resulted, first, in the plunder of timber trees, rubber, cocoa and other less-valuable large vegetation, followed by a mass “squatter intrusion,” for lack of a better term, on what was from

Views - 355 Friday, 9 November 2018 00:00

“For forms of government let fools contest; whatever is best administered is best” – Alexander Pope “Among a people generally corrupt, liberty cannot long exist” – Edmund Burke “This is quite a game, politics. There are no permanent en

Views - 145 Friday, 9 November 2018 00:00

Mankind International Ltd., one of Sri Lanka’s leaders and pioneers in employment placement, celebrates 40 years in operation this year. Better known as Maritime Placements Ltd. or Maritime International Ltd., a brand name which created many a care

Views - 780 Friday, 9 November 2018 00:00

Kumar Welgama, a senior member of Rajapaksa’s party and an influential Sri Lankan politician, told reporters yesterday: “We are the laughing stock of the world. One Prime Minister is in the Official Residence and the other is in the PM’s Office

Views - 179 Friday, 9 November 2018 00:00

As we struggle to put it down in black and white today, the writing on the wall is still visible if fading. It suggests that Sri Lanka as an emerging democratic republic has been weighed in the scales and found wanting in the balance. And not simply

Views - 156 Thursday, 8 November 2018 00:45

The prosperity of a nation depends on how fair the distribution of wealth is across the economic value chain comprising of consumers, employees, suppliers, shareholders and Government. As countries progress economically, there tends to be fairer dist

Views - 199 Thursday, 8 November 2018 00:00

The recent decision by the President to appoint a Prime Minister following a changing of the composition of the Cabinet of Ministers and the simultaneous prorogation of the Parliament has caused a mayhem leading to a tense political situation. Sever

Views - 282 Thursday, 8 November 2018 00:00

I have been following Eran Wickramaratne for a long time. Not in the creepy way political animals hunt, track, or sniff each other out to play, mate, or slaughter. There is not much to be said for a mutual admiration society in which one servile crea

Views - 454 Thursday, 8 November 2018 00:00

“...do hereby adopt and enact this CONSTITUTION as the SUPREME LAW of the DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF SRI LANKA.” (The Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka – Page xvii) Above is the enactment clause of the Consti

Views - 185 Wednesday, 7 November 2018 01:35

nWhy do we need MPs to represent us in Parliament?  nCan’t we all directly/digitally express our choices on issues of national importance and a well-managed civil service effectively execute such decisions? nWhat if we do away with party politics

Views - 176 Wednesday, 7 November 2018 00:53

Sri Lanka’s economy is built on agriculture. Sri Lanka is rich with biodiversity, climatic variations, water sources and soils that can accommodate large number of agricultural crops. Regardless of whether these crops are native or introduced our f

Views - 371 Wednesday, 7 November 2018 00:42

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing – Edmund Burke (1729-1797) The term of ‘democracy’ is derived from two Greek words – demos (people) and kratos (rule). In simple term, then, democracy is the rule of t

Views - 280 Wednesday, 7 November 2018 00:37

Two dynamics: Fear and greed In the first place, the current crisis in Sri Lanka is not a constitutional crisis. It is misleading to call it so since the constitutional guidelines set out in the 19th Amendment for the removal of a prime minister and

Views - 158 Wednesday, 7 November 2018 00:31

‘In the time of the butterflies’ is a novel by Latin American novelist Julia Alvarez. In it she fictionalises the lives of the ‘Mirabel sisters ‘who were tortured and slaughtered for their opposition to the voracious dictator Rafael Trujillo

Views - 228 Wednesday, 7 November 2018 00:26

It is ironic that the rally to ‘guard a glory of the land’ gathered in plain sight of the empty grandeur of Parliament. For days before that, and since the presidential coup which undemocratically replaced one prime minister with another, irate p

Views - 151 Wednesday, 7 November 2018 00:00

Many argue that performance of banks is more market driven. Better performance is no more a choice and it has become mandatory to sustain competiveness by satisfying diverse interests of stakeholders. Lending is a key function of banks and non-bank f

Views - 340 Tuesday, 6 November 2018 00:10

I am a democratic-republican, I believe. I believe in the will of the people as exercised through a majority mandate being invested in elected representatives. The checks and balances that the three arms of government bring, commonly known as divisio

Views - 372 Tuesday, 6 November 2018 00:08

The plan was to slowly ease back into writing by focusing on the challenges posed by new technologies such as artificial intelligence and distributed ledgers. But my readers’ minds are on other things, like cross overs by Parliamentarians.

Views - 596 Tuesday, 6 November 2018 00:05

For historical, cultural and civilisational reasons, the Kremlin means much more to the Russian people, but to those of us from the global South, it has been a centre of a special kind of power – a power that balan

Views - 172 Tuesday, 6 November 2018 00:05

The ‘dismissal debate’ has now turned into a ‘prorogation debate.’ The latest statement by liberal/left academics and professionals demands to revoke the President’s prorogation and call the Speaker to reconvene Parliament forthwith. The co

Views - 466 Monday, 5 November 2018 00:10

At a recent launch of another of its public interest initiatives, Verité Research asked the provocative question: “Who owns the audience?” It was in relation to the media, and the Colombo-based think tank was seeking to keep the reading and view

Views - 407 Monday, 5 November 2018 00:02

Overview Much has been said about the legal position regard to the current political phase we are going through. I am reluctant to take a side to argue or counter-argue with regards to recent actions and inactions. For me, it surely proves what we de