Upali Cooray A very thought provoking pragmatic debate ended today(11th Sept.) between Dr. Dayan Jayatillake(DJ) and Emeritus Professor Dr. G.H.Peiris (GP)  in the Colombo Telegraph and in The Island newspaper, concerning the devolution of political power in Sri Lanka. There appears to be two contrasting views between the two who are known as backers of […]

P.S. MAHAWATTE Colombo 05 Courtesy The Island October 11, 2017, 10:33 pm What we are witnessing today is what the government of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe could not achieve in 2002/2004. Signing of the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) with LTTE’s Prabhakaran, without even the knowledge of either President Chandrika Kumaratunga (CBK) or parliament! PM RW even […]

By C. A. Chandraprema Courtesy The Island Dr. Jayampathy Wickremaratne has been trying to allay anxieties of concerned citizens about the new constitution that he is involved in drafting. He claims that there will be a special constitutional provision against secession. What he is referring to is the following provision in the recently released interim report […]

Author: G. H. Peiris Several articles by Dr Dayan Jayatilleke published in The Island during the past few days indicate that he is very definitely the most articulate and, arguably, the most “intermestic” exponent of the notion of the ’13th Amendment’ (implemented more comprehensively than at present with all powers and functions referred to in […]

By Sanchith Karunaratna  Courtesy adaderana Leader of the National Freedom Front Wimal Weerawansa stated that the decision made by the people on the proposed constitutional amendments will change the fate of Sri Lanka. Speaking to the media at Mattegoda, Wimal Weerawansa stated that the current government is in the process of formulating a constitution that is detrimental […]

By Dr Kamal Wickremasinghe Courtesy The Island October 10, 2017, 8:58 pm Since breaking the yoke of colonialism, Sri Lanka has shown an undue interest in ‘playing around’ with constitutions. With the exception of the 16 May 1972 constitution that officially proclaimed independence as a republic, such manoeuvres have been motivated by cynical political objectives portrayed […]

by Rev. Fr. Vimal Tirimanna, CSsR Courtesy The Island October 10, 2017, 9:12 pm Although there are more burning issues that deserve to be discussed in the public forum at the moment (such as the Bond Scam, the undemocratic postponement of the local and provincial Council elections,…etc.) local media as well as the local political arena […]

By Sumanasiri Liyanage Courtesy The Island October 10, 2017, 9:10 pm A couple of weeks ago Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, tabled in Parliament the recommendations of the steering committee on constitutional reforms. Prior to that six committee reports had been tabled. It is good that all these documents in all three languages are now available on […]

By G. H. Peiris Courtesy The Island Several articles by Dr. Dayan Jayatilleke published in The Island during the past few days indicate that he is very definitely the most articulate and, arguably, the most “intermestic” exponent of the notion of the ’13th Amendment’ (implemented more comprehensively than at present with all powers and functions referred […]

By Amila Wijesinghe, LLB (Hons), LLM (Public International Law), BPTC Candidate (Nottingham Law School) The interim report of the new Constitution presented by the Steering Committee of the Constitutional Assembly has been the subject of much controversy in the last few days. Whilst President Sirisena has insisted that there is nothing in the draft that […]

By Udaya P. Gammanpila Courtesy Ceylon Today President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe have repeatedly said they would not touch the unitary State and the foremost place given to Buddhism. However, Buddha Sasana Karya Sadhaka Mandalaya which includes several Maha Nayake Theras emphatically states that the interim report of the steering committee had caused […]

by C. A. Chandraprema Courtesy The Island October 7, 2017, 7:52 pm The interim report of the Steering Committee of the Constitutional Assembly is now on the table and there seems to be a stand off developing between the UNP and the pro-Sirisena SLFP over its contents. President Sirisena is being furiously assailed in pro-UNP websites […]

By D.B.S. Jeyaraj Courtesy The Daily Mirror Possibility of a drastically-altered final report Strategists count ethno-religious factors in referendum-voting estimates Overwhelming support of minorities might augment shortfall in Sinhala-Buddhist votes Making political calculations on the basis of 2015 could prove dangerously-wrong in 2017 and years to follow The coalition government of President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil […]

Courtesy The Economist Constitutional reforms, if not a full blown new constitution, were always on the cards after the reformist Maithripala Sirisena was elected president in 2015. This was reinforced after the United National Party (UNP) and Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) formed a coalition government in the same year, providing them with a large […]

By C. A. Chandraprema Courtesy The Island October 5, 2017, 9:39 pm When looking at the interim report of the Steering Committee of the Constitutional Assembly, the game plan of the yahapalana coalition becomes immediately apparent. For over one and a half years, we have been intermittently receiving various documents from the Steering Committee which made […]

BY PANCHAMEE HEWAVISSENTI Courtesy Ceylon Today Although, Sri Lanka’s Constitution declares that the country is a ‘Unitary State’ some are of the view that the country should be a ‘United State’. Legal experts say that 13th Amendment would affect the sovereign power of the people and it annuls and destroys the unitary nature of Sri Lanka […]

By Gunadasa Amarasekara Courtesy The Daily Mirror At the moment when proposals for drafting a new Constitution or amending the present Constitution are underway, it would be extremely relevant to understand the true face (nature) of the present Constitution, since it is from this premise that we will have to proceed either to abolish or amend […]

Courtesy Ceylon Today The Steering Committee of the Constitutional Assembly of Sri Lanka submitted its interim report to the Constitutional Assembly on 21 September 2017. When the report was presented, the Prime Minister and the Members of Parliament representing the Government stated that their constitutional proposals have not deviated from the foremost place given to […]

 අරවින්ද අතුකෝරල lanka C news පිවිතුරු හෙල උරුමයේ නායක පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත‍්‍රි උදය ගම්මන්පිල මහතා එම පක්‍ෂ මූලස්ථානයේදී පැවති මාධ්‍ය හමුවකදී මෙසේ අදහස් පල කලේය. බුදු දහමට ලබා දී ඇති ප්‍රමුඛස්ථානයට සහ ඒකීයභාවයට අත නොතබන බවට ජනාධිපතිතුමාත් අගමැතිතුමාත් නැවත නැවතත් ප්‍රකාශ කරනවා. නමුත් මහ නායක හිමිවරු ඇතුළු බුද්ධ ශාසන කාර්ය සාධක මණ්ඩලය කියන්නේ ප්‍රමුඛස්ථානයට හානි කර […]

By Dr. Asoka Bandarage Courtesy Huffpost Sovereignty, Territorial Integrity and Constitutional Reform in Sri Lanka Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly recently, U.S. President Donald Trump declared that sovereignty should be the guiding principle in affairs between nations. Such statements aside, the United Nations, the United States and the ‘international community’ continue to wield their policy of […]

By Prageeth Sampath Courtesy Ceylon Today United People’s Freedom Alliance, Kandy District, Member of Parliament Keheliya Rambukwella said that the masses are displeased with this Government that is already very unpopular, and that ‘such a government will fall soon’. Excerpts of the interview: ? How are you these days? When are you joining the Government? A: […]

ආචාර්ය චන්න ජයසුමන  ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ කථිකාචාර්ය  වෛද්‍ය පීඨය, රජරට විශ්ව විද්‍යාලය  ශ්‍රී ලංකා ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා මණ්ඩලයේ මෙහෙයුම් කමිටුවේ අතුරු වාර්තාව 2017 සැප්තැම්බර් 21 දින අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ඉදිරිපත් කරනු ලැබීය. මෙහෙයුම් කමිටුවේ සාමාජිකයන් 21 දෙනෙකි. වාර්තාවේ මාතෘකා 12 ඔස්සේ කරුණු දක්වා ඇත. සිංහල පිටපතේ  පිටු 85 කි.  යහපාලන රජය ඉදිරිපත් කරන නව ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ හෝ ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනයේ හැඩරුව […]

By : A.A.M.NIZAM – MAATARA The government completely ignoring the sacrosanct declaration made by the Mahanayake Theros of the Tri-Nikayas to shelve the introduction of a new constitution or making amendments to the existing constitution seems to be in a peculiar hurry to adopt a new constitution, despite stern opposition by the majority of the […]

By Tamara Kunanayakam Global Research, September 18, 2017 As we meet here this evening, a radical overhaul is underway – of our political, economic, financial, social and cultural system. A new Constitution is being discussed, at the same time a plethora of radical reforms are being rushed through. The fact that many of these reforms are being […]

with Ravi Ladduwahetty Courtesy Ceylon Today Democratic socialism means that we must reform a political system that is corrupt, that we must create an economy that works for all, not just the very wealthy. LONGEST SERVING INDEPENDENT IN US CONGRESSIONAL HISTORY, BERNIE SANDERS After months of deliberations and contentious arguments, in closed door meetings, the Steering […]

Neville Ladduwahetty Courtesy The Island Dr. Dayan Jayetilleka (Dr. DJ), in his article titled “Unit of devolution: District or Province?”(The Island, Sept. 20, 2017), has missed the essence of the difference between what I stated and what he claims as the “Sinhala nationalist’s preference for Districts to Provinces” as the primary unit of devolution. I agree […]

By Saman Indrajith Courtesy The Island September 21, 2017, 10:18 pm The Steering Committee, tasked with drafting a new constitution has raised the hackles of some of its members by proposing that the term, ‘unitary state’ be done away with. The Steering Committee interim report submitted by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to the Constitutional Assembly yesterday […]

By Saman Indrajith Courtesy The Island Speaker Karu Jayasuriya informed Parliament yesterday that the Supreme Court by a majority vote had determined that the 20th Amendment to the Constitution was inconsistent with several Articles in the Constitution and would have to be passed by a two-thirds majority in Parliament and approved by people at a referendum. […]

ඇමරිකාව විසින් ශ‍්‍රි ලංකාවට ව්‍යවස්ථාවක් සකසා එවා ඇති බව ඇමරිකානු කොංග‍්‍රස් මණ්ඩලයේ ප‍්‍රබලයෙක් කියා සිටි බව උත්සව සභාවක් අමතමින් පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත‍්‍රී කෙහෙලිය රඹුක්වැල්ල මහතා පැවසීය.

Dharshan Weerasekera, Attorney-at-law D. B. S. Jeyaraj, the LTTE propagandist sometimes also known to masquerade as a ‘journalist,’ has written a lengthy commentary on the judgment in H. K. D. Chandrasoma’s case, published in the Daily Mirror of 19th August 2017 and titled, ‘Federalism is not Separatism, rules the Supreme Court.’ As far as I […]