Fonseka made immature by the Chinthanaya?

by Dr. Vickramabahu Karunaratne

(October 12, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) When I was in the sixth standard at Ananda College, I used to believe that Sri Lanka belonged to the Sinhala people. My parents lived in Matugama, a predominantly Sinhala area.The Mahawamsa and its associated Sinhala mythologies were then, very real to me. I extrapolated my little world and assumed that the island of Lanka was full of Sinhala people from Point Pedro to Devundara. I also thought that all the other national and religious groups were here only on short visits or for work and that their lands were situated far away across the sea. I am sure that many of my classmates thought the same about Sri Lanka. This must have been the thinking in the minds of all the little boys in the sixth standard at Ananda. I understand that General Sarath Fonseka was also at Ananda, perhaps a decade after. Hence I won't be surprised if the mindset of the general in his early days was also like mine.

Irrational world

Fortunately for me, I was a student of Kotagama Wachiswera Thero who pulled us out of the irrational world of mythology and bigoted thinking. Then there was Thanabalasingham who widened our thinking by introducing us to the treasures of Western literature. Of course, there were others who guided us into rational thinking and to the natural law of conditional thinking. I am sure that a Tamil boy of the same age living in Jaffna, studying at Hindu College and worshipping Thirukkural, must have gone through the same thought process. In general all of them matured to become decent men who served this country according to their social class orientation. It was the same with the Muslims and the Christians. I am yet to meet a Dravidian fanatic who claims that Sri Lanka belongs to the Dravidians, the descendants of the mythical Ravana. Of course there is the claim for Eelam, the Tamil homeland. However, even the most extreme map leaves a fair amount for the Sinhalese. In any case, the claim to Eelam will become a reality only if internal self determination is denied to them totally. Unfortunately General Sarath, an old Anandian had not got the opportunity to mature out of his sixth standard mindset. Perhaps I am wrong and he was inducted into this immaturity by the Mahinda Chinthanaya. If so, it means this is the thinking of the ruling elite and General Sarath has only been honest by saying so in public. In that case no one can say he is not a straight forward man!

We could laugh it off really, if this was a joke made in a private conversation. But apparently General Sarath has said this in public - in Canada. In a sense his statement is a slap in the face of the government that is trying hard to cover up its Sinhala chauvinism. Even Mahinda's friend Manmohan Singh will not be able to contain the pseudo Dravidian revolutionaries in South India. Though they claim to be students of Periar, neither Karunanidhi nor Jayalalitha is going to accept the heritage of Ravana and drop the Aryan tradition of Rama.

Nevertheless they both will have to resist the new avatar of Aryan Rama in the form of General Sarath. On the other hand, the world over, not only socialists but also consistent democrats will have to rise up against this new Aryan Sinhala general. Even Obama may not be happy with this guy's hegemonistic thinking. - Sri Lanka Guardian