Will General Sarath Fonseka become a National Leader?

"In Politics, there are no permanent friends and there are no permanent enemies - quote by a senior politician of India. But the Rajapakse regime is in the process of making permanent enemies and enduring troubles for the nation."
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By Nilantha Ilangamuwa

(November 23, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) In Colombo, two key level officers who advocated the elimination of the Tamil Tiger rebels, have been punished as a result of President Rajapaksha’s ungrateful attitude .

One time they were President’s real friends. One served as Sri Lanka representative to the UN in Geneva. What befell on Dayan Jayathillake recently when he was recalled from his UN mission in Geneva is now faced by the former Chief of Army, General Sarath Fonseka.

General Fonseka’s resignation letter details his own experience and confirms the degree of authoritarianism of the Rajapakse brothers. No one can be permanent friends of Rajapakse & Co. Mere suspicion and any utterance will trap anyone to be ensnared into subtle and rudimentary treatment by the brothers. Unless you are a hero worshiper, you have no chance of surviving in the Rajapakse regime.

The former JVP politician Wimal Weerawanse’s compromising stand clearly states it all. To survive, one has to behave like a pussycat rubbing his master foot.

The letter of General Fonseka is lamentation of an officer who did his best for the regime and its leadership that entrusted him with the gigantic task to eliminate the LTTE.

Post war situation had developed into an arrogant ‘family first’ attitude of President Mahinda Rajapaksha. This arrogance will be the death knell for this government and it is very sad to see a leader like Rajapaksha who depends on grass root politics becoming victim of his traditional base and eventual peril due to the sheer madness of his family vision and mission of governance. He is not doing enough to hold the country together. Having infused the crony family ruling, he is in an entrenched position to do his best to save his family unity and he is unable to think farsighted to take forward the nation.

This is the only post independence government that is entrenched in the semi dictatorial family governance. General Foseka’s saga is already showing signs of deteriorating situation developing for the country and President’s inability to hold on to his overwhelming support base in the South.

Having embroiled in the violent ruling for the past four years, it is worrying to experience the calamitous situation progressing with the exit of General Fonseka. There is no doubt there will be further highhanded behaviour of the state against its citizens in the coming months until the election.

Rumours are rife that the beginning of 2010 will be celebrated with another dastardly murder like the brutal killing of Sunday Leader editor Lasantha Wickramatunga. The rulers know how to outsmart the opponents in a violent way.

Introduction

In the history of Sri Lanka, its politics is not progressive form of good and accommodative governance. It is advancing further into an utter mess that will only bleed the country with the deep rooted frustration prevailing in every spear of the functioning of the nation and this is not an encouraging sign.

Hundreds of thousands of innocent people have lost their lives in the internal conflicts. This is a blot and no serious efforts have been taken to truthfully deal with the situation. Violent deaths have become acceptable norm for the people in Sri Lanka. Due to lack of accountability, the nation’s citizens are dying behind the iron curtain of the defence establishment. Even at the time of reading this piece, Sri Lankans are persecuted by the state machinery in the prisons and undisclosed torture camps.

It was propagated that LTTE is a sore and must be eliminated for Sri Lanka’s progress. Until the final battle there was consensus within the forces and the people as well as most of the right thinking media to work together against the Tamil Tiger rebels. It was unanimous that their brutalities have lost the real purpose of a liberation struggle.

It is unjust to claim that it was Rajapkasha or his family’s strategies or plans that gave the ultimate victory. It is the sheer sacrifice of the people that defeated the LTTE terrorism. Many soldiers had to sacrifice their lives to suicide bombers in the battle front. But unfortunately, six months after the victory, Sri Lanka is only experiencing the arrogance of Rajapaksha brothers and their extremist men, instead of the situation progressing towards honest nation building process.

Conspirators within

The President Rajapaksha celebrated his sixty fourth birthday this month. He is expected to declare the election schedule soon. With the failures and compounding failures of the government, it is not certain that the ruling party will win the elections whether it is presidential or general.

In his ranting, the President claims that there are conspiracies against his patriotic government. It is unfortunate he is failing to realise the conspirators are his own kith and kin and his Jayaweva broomsticks and not the outside elements. Now that the president is on the course of discharging his personal vendetta against Sarath Fonseka, one could expect the furore to reach the venomous stage.

In Politics, there are no permanent friends and there are no permanent enemies - quote by a senior politician of India. But the Rajapakse regime is in the process of making permanent enemies and enduring troubles for the nation.

Personal anger over the General

In his letter to the President the General clearly states that Rajapaksha has lost the confidence of the Tamil people. “Thousands of valiant soldiers sacrificed their valuable lives to liberate these unfortunate civilians from the brutality and tyranny of the LTTE in order that they could live in an environment of freedom and democracy. Yet, today many of them are continuing to live in appalling conditions due to the lack of proper planning and the reluctance to incur expenditure on the part of the Government.” (Quote: resignation letter from the General Sarath Fonseka.)

It is interesting to read some recent political analysis that strangely supports the elimination of the JVP uprising by the UNP. These analysts have now become the bedfellows of the Rajapakse regime and are claiming that, ‘Sarath Fonseka had become a war hero because of the President’s farsighted agenda’. In addition, they claim the reason for the victory is because of the charisma of the President.

Six months since the defeat of the LTTE, it is now clear that the President does not and will not care about the minorities and take forward the nation to resolve the decades old conflict peacefully. The other point is, majority of the Sinhalese stood for the military offensive and it is the determinant factor of the southern vote base.

The President is marking his mission forward with these factors. Rattled by General Sarath Fonseka’s departure from the military service and his possible entry into the Presidential election, it is expected the President and his associates taking a nasty path to turn the table in their favour.

It is the war mania that is keeping the President in power. Timely intervention of IMF has also given some respite to the government. Now that the war is over, the President is expected to swim in the war victory and General Fonseka will be the only contender who could thwart the blood thirsty paranoia of the President.

National Leader

What Sri Lanka needs is a national leader. President Rajapakse has failed to make use of good opportunities to become a national leader. He has contributed and further contributing towards the denigration of our nation state.

General Sarath Fonseka is the only challenge who can address the real crisis facing the cross section of the ethinic divide and who has the ability to understand the ground situation. He is not the person who fled when faced near death in the hands of LTTE terrorism. The nation is waiting to hear his frank commitment upholding the fundamental values needed for good governance through the path to achieve unity in diversity. We hope he will not make the same mistake like the ‘I am Southerner’ man Mahendra Percival Rajapakse.

(The writer can be reached at ilangamuwa@gmail.com)

-Sri Lanka Guardian