By C. A. Chandraprema Courtesy The Island May 14, 2018, 12:00 pm (Continued from yesterday) Of the five separate determinations given by the nine judges of the Supreme Court, the lengthiest was Justice R. S. Wanasundera’s dissenting determination. This is also the determination most often referred to by nationalists who claim that the executive presidency is […]

BY Dr. DAYAN JAYATILLEKA Courtesy The Island So the Northern Provincial Council and some civil society activists are reportedly gearing up to mourn May 18-19th and the week leading up to it as Genocide Week. May 18/19th marks the days the Long War ended, and Tamils, Sinhalese and Muslims stopped dying in large numbers. It is […]

By C. A. Chandraprema Courtesy The Island May 13, 2018, 10:11 pm Nationalistic groups in this country believe that the institution of the executive presidency is a sine qua non for the preservation of Sri Lanka’s unitary character in the face of the provincial councils system. This idea largely stems from what is believed to have […]

By Neville Ladduwahetty One of the pressing questions before the nation is whether Sri Lanka should be governed under an Executive Presidential system or a Parliamentary system of government. Sri Lanka was governed under a Parliamentary system from independence up to 1977. From 1978 until 2015 Sri Lanka was governed under an Executive Presidential system. […]

 lanka C news බෙදුම්වාදී උවමනාවන් ඉටු කරමින් විධායක ජනාධිපති ධුරය අහෝසි කිරීම සදහා ගෙන එන 20 වන ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනය වහා නවත්වන්නැයි ජාතික නියෝජිත මහ සග සමුළුව කියා සිටිති. කොළමදී පැවැත්වූ මෙම සග සමුළුව සදහා නිකායන් නියෝජනය කරමින් ඉහලම නායක හිමිවරුන් සහභාගී වී සිටියහ. අනුර කුමාර දිසානායක මේ බෝම්බය ගෙන ආවත් පුපුරුවා හරින්නේ දෙමල සන්ධානයේ උවමනාව […]

By Dr. DAYAN JAYATILLEKA Courtesy The Island April 27, 2018, 9:03 pm It is bad enough that the Yahapalana 2015 ‘regime change’ project planted Mr. Sampanthan as a settler in the post of Opposition Leader, a post in which he continues to be a squatter, demanding ‘internal self-determination’ and the full implementation of the Geneva resolution. […]

BY Edward Theophilus In 1971, Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike efficiently acted to control JVP actions showing lessons learned from 1958 emergency.  With these excellent experiences in the past, Mr. JR Jayewardene and the UNP government strongly believed that the constitution introduced in 1972 must be reformed introducing a new constitution, which establishes an Executive Presidency in […]

BY Edward Theophilus Sri Lanka has been relegated to a sharp debate on the constitutional reforms since the political independence in 1948 as the constitution, which was given to the country by the Solebury Commission in 1947 was subject to many criticisms in regard to various matters. The constitution established to the country was not […]

Ranjith Soysa MEDIA RELEASE SPUR (Society for Peace, Unity and Human Rights for Sri Lanka Inc) – 22 April 2018 The Society for Peace Unity and Human Rights for Sri Lanka (SPUR) joins other nationalist organisations, professionals and patriotic politicians in strongly condemning the proposal to abolish the Executive Presidential System in Sri Lanka. The territorial […]

  රියර් අද්මිරාල්  සරත් වීරසේකර අපේ රටට නිදහස ලබා ගැනීමට ප්‍රථමයෙන් පවා බෙදුම්වාදී දෙමළ දේශපාලනඥයන් රටේ දෙමළ රාජ්‍යයක්‌ පිහිටුවීමට ගත් ප්‍රයත්නයක්‌ අප දකිමු. මැලේසියාවේ බහුතර මැලේ ජාතීන් 52% ක්‌ පමණි. ඉතිරිය චීන සහ දෙමළ ජාතිකයන් ය. ඒ රටේ භූමි පුත්‍ර සංකල්පය මගින් සියලු දේට ප්‍රමුඛස්‌ථානය සහ සියලු වරප්‍රසාද පළමුවෙන් හිමිවන්නේ රටේ භූමි පුත්‍රයන් සේ සැලකෙන මැලේ […]

Dharshan Weerasekera, Attorney-at-Law In this installment, I turn to the recommendation by the Interim Report (‘IR’) that the ‘Principle of Subsidiarity’ should guide centre-periphery relations in Sri Lanka.  Chapter Two of the IR is titled, ‘Principles of Devolution,’ and Section One of that chapter is titled, ‘Principle of Subsidiarity to Apply.’  This is the section […]

Dharshan Weerasekera, Attorney-at-Law [Author’s note:  A portion of the present paper was presented at a side-event during the recently concluded 37th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva] On 9th March 2016, the Parliament of Sri Lanka converted itself by resolution[1] into a Constitutional Assembly in order to draft a new Constitution […]

Society for Peace, Unity and Human Rights in Sri Lanka Incorporated under Associations Incorporation Act 1981(QLD) Why is it so important to oppose the proposed new constitution? Please do not look at this issue through blue, green or red glasses. This goes beyond political affiliations. The future of our land of birth is at stake. […]

Rajan Philips Courtesy The Island February 3, 2018, 7:11 pm As the country marks the seventieth anniversary of independence, its principal political leaders are out-clowning one another and turning the whole political system into a circus of clowns. There is no other charitable way to describe what the President, the Prime Minister and the former President […]

Mahinda Gunasekera  Please watch the video sent in attachment to ascertain the high degree of federalism envisaged by the proposed new constitution for Sri Lanka giving more powers to the peripheral units which are not obtained even in Federal Republic of Germany. Please share this with your contacts and impress on them the need to […]

By Rathindra Kuruwita Courtesy Ceylon Today Last few months have been turbulent ones for the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) who has seen one of its coalition partners, Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF), leaving the coalition and threatening to gather anti TNA elements around it. This is a culmination of the attempts by a number of […]

By Dr. DAYAN JAYATILLEKA Courtesy The Island November 26, 2017, 8:54 pm SIGNING OF THE INDO-LANKA ACCORD: Wasn’t the 13th Amendment forced upon us by India and therefore shouldn’t it be undone or at least ignored and not implemented “Ignorance never helped anyone yet!” — Karl Marx The crisis is escalating and proliferating daily. It is […]

By Canishka Witharana Courtesy The Daily Mirror Buddhist thinking superimposed upon all Eastern thought the notion of the equality of all human beings – C.G. Weeramanthry Social contract theory requires the Govt to use such power for peace, safety and public good of the people Giving foremost place to Buddhism proved to be a sound constitutional […]

Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardana Courtesy The Daily Mirror MP Wijedasa Rajapakshe today has in a letter dated November 11 requested Speaker Karu Jayasuriya to abolish the Constitutional Assembly and take steps to rectify the error made by Parliament to postpone the provincial council elections by violating the Supreme Court verdict. The former minister in his […]

Dharshan Weerasekera, Attorney-at-Law ‘Statutes are designed to meet the fugitive exigencies of the hour.  A Constitution states or ought to state not rules for the passing hour, but principles for an expanding future.’ – Benjamin Cardozo, The Nature of the Judicial Process Author’s note:  The present paper is part of a proposed 2-Volume work titled, […]

 By K K S Perera Courtesy The Daily Mirror The slightest doubt created in the minds of voters by the opposition could cause the people to vote against it in the referendum.  -A Constitution of a nation has to be acceptable to all people despite of their differences, which is an enormous task. What is important […]

යුතුකම සංවාද කවය බෙදුම්වාදී ව්‍යවස්ථාවට එරෙහිව යුතුකම සංවාද කවය මගින් පසුගියදා පැවැත්වූ ජාතික සමුළුවේදී පැවැත්වූ සම්පූර්ණ කතා එකතුව… අස්ගිරි පාර්ශවයේ ලේඛකාධිකාරී මැදගම ධම්මානන්ද නාහිමි රුහුණු රට භික්ෂු පෙරමුණේ ලේකම්  ඕමාරේ කස්සප නාහිමි නීතීඥ කණිෂ්ක විතාරණ මහාචාර්‍ය සුසරිත් මෙන්ඩිස් රියර් අද්මිරාල් සරත් වීරසේකර යුතුකම සංවාද කවයේ සභාපති ගෙවිඳු කුමාරතුංග වෛද්‍ය අනුරුද්ධ පාදෙණිය ජ්‍යේෂ්ඨ කතිකාචාර්‍ය මාධවී හේරත් ඛනිජ තෙල් […]

By Dr. DAYAN JAYATILLEKA Courtesy The Island November 7, 2017, 8:59 pm The curtain falls today on the Constitutional Assembly debate on the Interim Report of the Steering Committee. So what happens now? It doesn’t look good. The curious coincidence that the curtain falls roughly on the centenary of the October Revolution of 1917 in Russia […]

 lanka C news 2002-2004 වසරවලදී පැවති එක්සත් ජාතික පක්‍ෂ ආණ්ඩුව විසින් විදේශයන්ට විකුණා දැමූ රාජ්‍ය දේපලවලින් ආපසු ගන්න බැරි වූ එකම ආයතනය ලංකා ඉන්දීය තෙල් සමාගම බව හිටපු ඇමති විජේදාස රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතා පවසයි. තෙල් සංස්ථාවට තිබූ ඒකාධිකාරය බිද දමා පනතද වෙනස් කරමින් තෙල් පිරවුම්හල් සියයක් සදහා එකල අවසර දුන්නද අද වන විට පිරවුම්හල් 350කට වඩා […]

By Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka Courtesy The Daily Mirror Balaya bedanna kalin mey aanduwa petrol tika bedanna oney!” (Before this Government shares power, it must share the petrol!”) –Anonymous, irate citizen in petrol queue, on TV news    With shockingly dangerous irresponsibility or sheer nihilism, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe wants the Constitutional Assembly to loosen the centre’s ties […]

By Kelum Bandara Courtesy The Daily Mirror President doesn’t seem to be serious about Steering Committee on constitution making That is why he has decided to call for an All Party Conference  It’s feared whether Parliament will enact new Constitution in  the same way it enacted PC Elections Act Unitary status and foremost place for Buddhism […]

By Prof. Shantha K. Hennayake Department of Geography University of Peradeniya-Courtesy The Island November 6, 2017, 8:49 pm This indeed is the paradox of multinational federalism: while it provides national minorities with a workable alternative of secession, it also helps to make secession a more realistic alternative to federalism”. Second, federalism has not led to […]

DHARSHAN WEERASEKERA, ‘If at any time it appears to the President of the Republic that a question of law or fact has arisen or is likely to arise which is of such a nature and of such public importance that it is expedient to obtain the opinion of the Supreme Court upon it, he may […]

By Dr. DAYAN JAYATILLEKA Courtesy The Island November 5, 2017, 9:05 pm The Government is lying to us big time and blatantly in its evangelical attempt at unethically converting Sri Lanka to a non-unitary state through a new, non-unitary Constitution, while the otherwise loudly vociferous JO did not/has so far not challenged that foundational lie in […]

By Sugeeswara Senadhira Courtesy Ceylon Today The three-day debate in the Constitutional Assembly may not help to adopt a new Constitution, but it has provided the much needed forum for a national debate on this vexed question. During and before the debate it became very clear that there was no possibility of a consensus leading to […]