So Sarath Fonseka is arrested.
Those who went on all sorts of apologia for the Fonseka-Mangala-JVP-TNA-UNP-SLMC dirty election alliance are now crying about the loss of democrasy.
This author doesn’t think that government was very reasonable or tactical in arresting Sarath Fonseka. Fonseka was a loser, and a political tar baby with UNP (quite rightly) washing their hands off the alliance and showed signs of going back to basics. Which was a good thing. Those who were left with Fonseka were JVP/Mangala/Tiran Alles and the likes, who wanted MR out just because they hated him and just because they had no future with him. Those had no political acceptance, let alone popularity. With Fonseka’s repeated demonstrations of what kind of a ‘politician’ he is, it would have been a matter of time that the ‘rest of the alliance’ ends up in embarrasment.
A costly embarrassment at that, because the alliance already showed that they would go to any lengths to achieve what they need. It was Mangala and the JVP that decided the directions of the campaign, and it was them who started all the mud, which came back with vengeance when Rajapakse’s decided to hit back. UNP could at least be controlled by the votes (although with Ranil’s leadership this isn’t a lot so, but even the UNPers have begun to see Ranil for what he is, albeit for all the wrong reasons) but those who dare to go on suicide missions can become a real nuisance for country’s stability: Ranil’s early behavior on the polls outcome still shows how the UNP is STILL a different animal from the dirty alliance. Anyone who thinks that the Mangala/Tiran/JVP/Fonseka alliance is made out of real love for country is just kidding themselves (and I have provided ample reasons elsewhere in this blog), and I for one am not particularly sorry about a ‘hard’ approach on them. Those who cry every time the government cracks down on opposition should keep Singapore in mind, because that’s part of what gave the country’s stability.
This post isn’t about that.
Mahinda has been known as a soft guy on opposition. However, this doesn’t seem to be the case right now, and sometimes, with admittedly moronic moves. Take sealing Lanka newspaper for instance, the police did it and then couldn’t provide any good story to the court, which asked them to let the guys work. Lanka is a rag, but they came out winners and government ended up with the egg on its face for absolutely nothing.
Is this a similar case? Is Fonseka arrested with reasons or not? Or was it just to harass him? I don’t know, and I don’t pretend to. I could say one thing, if government arrested him just to take revenge without any proper reason, it’s BAD and STUPID. If government arrested him to take revenge with proper reasons for arrest, it is bad, but not that stupid.
This post isn’t about that either.
This post is to bring to the readers attention a few stuff, just to put some light on to the other side.
First, after the election, the dirty alliance did not accept the defeat. Ranil did so, and at first it seemed that the UNP as a party would. But Fonseka and Somavansa did not let the matter go, and started the ‘campaign of jilmart‘. Then the pro-dirty-alliance media and bloggers started quoting them just as quotes (so as not to lose the pretense of ‘intellect’), and them Somavansa/Mangala started claiming that there is widespread belief that the election was rigged, and then people like Wickramabahu joined the bandwagon. The whole thing was built up from the scratch upto the critical mass, like the proverbial Stone Soup. They also went to the religious leaders before the courts, which could only serve to build up the hype, even without any factual basis whatsoever. Wasn’t very different from pseudo-scientific claimants behave. This ‘operation’ lost any semblance of sympathy I had about the ‘joint’ opposition: they fought a dirty fight with everything they can.
Second, Fonseka threatened to use his information as a ransom or as a means of revenge:
Earlier in the day, Gen Fonseka had said he was prepared to give evidence in international courts on any war crimes charges brought in relation to the civil war.
“I am definitely going to reveal what I know, what I was told and what I heard. Anyone who has committed war crimes should definitely be brought into the courts,” Gen Fonseka said.
Audio in Fonseka’s own voice is here: There are those who ask “if crimes really happened, why shouldn’t we expose them?” problem is, this exposure is politically motivated, and the only reason is personal revenge that has nothing to do with the war ethics. This is the very same fonseka that claimed (to avoid political backlash) he takes responsibility for anything that happened in the war, which hints that his “evidence” could well be motivated and biased too. [edit] The apologists were crying high and low that Fonseka was “misquoted” and corrected what he said about white flags, but UN still hangs onto it.
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/international/un-quizz-lankan-team-over-fonsekas-ltte-remarks-743
given this situation, anything Fonseka says doesn’t even have to be credible for the west to act upon it, which makes him a dangerous guy and he knows it and intends to use it as well.[/edit]
If Fonseka knew something unethical happened, he had enough time (during his tenure as Commander as well as after that) to resign on that grounds. He did not. Even when he resigned, that was to fight Rajapakse corruption. That means, (unless one claims that corruption comes before war crimes in Fonseka’s priorities), he is now doing something that he himself didn’t think a correct thing earlier, just for personal reasons. He is risking country’s name just to get revenge from Rajapakse’s when he is desperate, knowing very well that these means are not right – otherwise he would have come up with the evidence at least as soon as he broke ranks with Rajapakses: he did not, because he knew that it was wrong to do it. Fonseka threatened to use the ‘banned weapons’, and the government probably preempted. And those who cry that government shouldn’t arrest him using the army because he is no longer in military seem to forget the tiny fact that he is now holding against government, information that he received as a privileged top army officer, not as a civilian. So Fonseka bats in the capacity of a military officer, demands to field as a civilian.
So if government hits back and hits back HARD, I will only watch if it goes beyond the accepted ethical tolerances with respect to what Fonseka set, unlike how it did in the case of Lanka paper.
Now the hypocrites would point out that my accepted tolerances are rather low. Point is, I’m being realist while they are being hypocrites.For instance, there’s a lot of cries about ex-Army or Army officers being harassed for supporting Fonseka, while other army officers supported Rajapakse and are now fine. Are these hypocrites so clueless to think that had Fonseka won, the fate of Shavendra Silva and Jagath Jayasooriya would be EVEN WORSE than the post-election fate of those who supported Fonseka? Yet they did support Fonseka; it doesn’t make sense to say that since it didn’t happen, they are not guilty or they would have protested when it happened. Fact is, they knew it (although they would have pretended otherwise) and supported Fonseka who WILL do it and threatened several times of ‘punishments’. Only thing, he lost. That doesn’t make him a saint, or anyone who supported him saints.
Take Taboo Subjects for another example, whose reaction to Fonseka Arrest was
මෙවැනි ජඩ ප්රජාතන්ත්ර විරෝධී ක්රියා සිදුවනු දැක, ඒ අනුමත කරන මීහරක් රැළක් සිටින රටක ජීවත්වීමට ලැබීම ගැන පමණක් කණගාටු වෙමි.
But lets see how this very Taboo behaves when he is on the serving end:
බහුතරයේ මතය වූයේ ජෙප්පන් අපට නෙළීමට පළමු අප ජෙප්පන්ට නෙළිය යුතු බවය.(දෙවන ලෝක යුද්ධ සමයේ කවුදෝ ජෙනරල් කෙනකු තම භටයින්ට “උඹ බැල්ලිගෙ පුතාව මරපන්, නැත්නං ඌ උඹව මරයි” කියා ඇත.) මෙහි යම් ප්රායෝගික සත්යයක් තිබුණු බව ඊට වසර ගණනාවකට පසු අද ලේඛකයාට පසක් වේ. කොයි තරම් සිත් ගන්නා සුළු විසඳුම් සේ පෙනුනත් ජෙප්පන් හා කොටින් සමඟ සාකච්ඡා කිරීම බොහෝ විට නිරර්ථකය. එවන් විසඳුම් ගැන සිතත්නේ රනිල් වික්රමසිංහ බඳු වෙන දෙයක් කර ගන්නට බැරි නෝංජලයන් පමණකි.හරි. නැවත කතාවට. පසුවදාම අපි ජෙප්පන්ට නෙළුවෙමු. ඔවුන් ගණනින් වැඩි වුනත් මෙවැනි සටනකදී වැඩි හයිය එන්නේ ආයුධ සන්නද්ධ හා සංවිධානාත්මක පක්ෂයටය. හෙණ ගෙඩියක් සේ හිටි හැටියේ කඩා පාත් වන විට කාටවත් කර ගන්නට දෙයක් නැත. ජෙප්පන් හය දෙනෙක් රෝහල් ගත කෙරිණි. අපේ පිළේ කාටවත් දරුණු තුවාල නැත.
…
අප හිතුවේ පෙරදා සිද්ධිය දැනසිටි මහාචාර්යතුමා අපට කන් වල ඇඟිලි ගසා ගන්නට දෙහි කපාය කියාය. අප ගියේද ඊට සූදානම්වය. මොන? එතුමා අපව සංග්රහශීලී සිනාවකින් පිළිගත්තා පමණක් නොව අපට කිරි-තේද දුන්නේය. …
“පුතාලට කියන්න තියෙන්නේ මෙච්චරයි. කවුද පොලු අරගෙන ආවේ? ඒ ගොල්ල. කවුද ගැහුවෙ? ඒ ගොල්ල. පුතාල මේ ගෑනු ළමයි එක්ක කතා කර කර යනකොට පැනල ගැහුවා. එච්චරයි කියන්න ඕනෑ.”
මේ වර්තමාන සිද්ධීන් ගැන විමල් වීරවංශ හා පියසිරි විජේනායක කරන විස්තරයට සමාන පට්ටපල් බොරුවකි. ඇත්තටම සිදුවූයේ මෙහි අනෙක් පැත්තය. බෝධිසත්තයින් නොවෙතත් විමල් වීරවංශට වඩා අවංක වූ අප එබඳු පට්ටපල් බොරුවක් කීමට අකැමැති වීමු. අපේ හිතේ තිබුනේ මීට කුඩා බොරුවක් කියන්නටය.
“ඒත් සර් කවුරු හරි ඇහුවොත් අපෙන් කාටවත් තුවාල නැතුව ඒ ගොල්ල හය දෙනෙක් ඉස්පිරිතාලෙ ගියේ කොහොමද කියලා?” මම ඇසුවෙමි.
“ළමයෝ, ඒක බලාගන්නනේ මම ඉන්නේ. ඔය ළමයි කියන්න ඕනෑ මෙච්චරයි. කවුද පොලු අරගෙන ආවේ? ඒ ගොල්ල. කවුද ගැහුවෙ? ඒ ගොල්ල. පුතාල මේ ගෑනු ළමයි එක්ක කතා කර කර යනකොට පැනල ගැහුවා.”
එතුමා කලින් කතාව පුනරුච්චාරණය කළේය. (එකම බොරුව පුන පුනා කීම එය ඇත්තක් බව අවිඥානකව සාක්කිකරුවාට ඒත්තු ගන්වන සාර්ථක උපක්රමයක් බවත්, විත්තියේ නීතිඥවරුන් නිතර මේ උපක්රමය භාවිතා කරන බවත් මා දැන ගත්තේ කලකට පසුවය.)
සති කිහිපයකට පසුව පරීක්ෂණය පැවැත්විණි. අපට තිබුණේ කලින් කට පාඩම් කරගත් බොරුව කීමට පමණි. විනිශ්චයකරු පීඨාධිපතිතුමාය. (ඇත්තටම පැනලයකි; නමුත් අනෙක් දෙදෙනාම කණිෂ්ඨ කථිකාචාර්යවරුන්ය. දෙදෙනාගේම සේවය ස්ථිර කර නැත. එය කිරීමට බලය ඇත්තේ පීඨාධිපතිතුමාටය. මේ නිසා ඔවුන් දෙදෙනා තම යුතුකම හොඳින් ඉටු කළා යැයි මම සිතමි.) නඩුත් හාමුදුරුවන්ගේය. බඩුත් හාමුදුරුවන්ගේය.
ඉක්මණින්ම තීන්දුවද ලැබිණි. අප සියල්ලන් නිදහස්ය. අපෙන් පහර කා රෝහල් ගත කළ හයදෙනා ඇතුළු ජෙප්පන් දහ දෙනෙකුට මට මතක හැටියට සති දෙකකට පන්ති තහනම්ය. සාමාන්ය කෙනකුට පෙනෙන විදියට මෙය අන්ත අසාධාරණයකි. ඒත් ජෙප්පන්ට එකේ ගණනක් නැත. කොහොමත් ඔවුන් හිතා ඉන්නේ සමාජ ක්රමය තියෙන්නේ ඔවුන්ට දඬුවම් දීමට කියාය. අනෙක් අතට ඔවුන් කරන ක්රියා වලට සාපේක්ෂව මෙය ඉතාම සුළු දඬුවමකි.
[emphasis is mine]
Taboos whole article doesn’t even show any remorse over the act, so he can’t claim that this was something that was done when he is less matured. The example clearly shows how hypocritical the guys are. Those who find the government “unethical” in doing what it can find it “ethical” for the opposition doing what it can, even knowing very well that they are wrong: For instance, not accepting the defeat and start rumor-mongering, THEMSELVES supporting the spread of rumors or mud (like W3 Lanka) at least as quotes when they themselves are too “intellectual” to say that they believe it personally.
This isn’t an apologia for Rajapakse Regime. As the winner, it should have treated Fonseka perhaps in a more dignified way. This is just a reminder to hypocrites that there is no point of crying only when they are in the receiving end, especially when they are supportive/complacent of dirty acts themselves. Let it be remembered, as Taboo subjects says, “වැඩි හයිය එන්නේ ආයුධ සන්නද්ධ හා සංවිධානාත්මක පක්ෂයටය.” and not cry when hit in a mutually dirty game.
Bril write up as usual. Thanks.
well said man, well said.
මට හිතෙන විදියට ෆොන්සේකා කරන්නෙ තරහ කාරයන්ට විරුද්ධව බොරු සාක්කි දීල නඩු වලට පටලන්න හදන එක.
The “evidence” he has are the things he has heard and was told, and he won’t take any personal responsibility for their accuracy. This was the case with his “white flag” story that he said to the Sunday Leader.
i don’t think we should look at this from purely political tactics pov
i will repeat something i wrote in another blog just now
-
sf was breaking the law and betraying sri lanka.
he
1/
betrayed and endangered military officers
2/
undermining/ed democracy
3/
called/ing for foreign intervention
there is enough evidence to file charges for these (and perhaps for corruption too.) this is probably first of many charges
he should face justice.
it would have been foolish to ignore all that. gov waited until after election. should not have delayed much longer . it would have been difficult to arrest him once campaigns started .
also it would also be unjust to arrest his accomplices ( esp ex soldiers) and not him for same charges.
you have a point there about SF: he is using his ex-credibility to revenge MR, and endanger the whole country. The apologists were crying high and low that Fonseka was “misquoted” and corrected what he said about white flags, but UN still hangs onto it.
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/international/un-quizz-lankan-team-over-fonsekas-ltte-remarks-743
given this situation, anything Fonseka says doesn’t even have to be credible for the west to act on it, which makes him a dangerous guy and he knows it and intends to use it as well. (i added this bit to the main article as well)
But (as usual)
my biggest gripe was with the hypocritical preachers who just fail to see these facts about SF- *especially* the fact that just before the arrest, he was issuing a clear threat to “expose” those who did “war crimes” and this wasn’t on any moral high ground whatsoever.
on the other hand nuts, i don’t rule out the possibility of government messing the thing up due to half hearted actions and not planning well. Admittedly, they messed the thing up with the Irida Lanka rag and we can’t deny that fact.
“”So if government hits back and hits back HARD, I will only watch if it goes beyond the accepted ethical tolerances with respect to what Fonseka set, unlike how it did in the case of Lanka paper.”"”
This is not the time to hitting back continuously since this is the government. Accepted ethical tolerances ????????????????????.
Afraid ……………………………………………………….
Government should have better alternatives.
This argument was somewhat valid about terrorists. But we are dealing with a democratic opposition here. I don’t see why you seem to claim that in a fair play, a democratic opposition could have lesser morality than the government.
As I said, this article isn’t about whether government did the arrest in ethical manner. This article is about the opposition hypocrisy after being defeated in a consensual dirty game.
As those who voted & supported MR, this is not the time to discuss the behavior of badly defeated opposition.
This trend seems dangerous. I think we need to have a discussion to tame the elephant. It is good for the elephant as well as the others.
let’s get one thing straight, do you think that HAD NOT Fonseka/JVP/Mangala tried to create a hype out of nothing about alleged malpractices, had not Fonseka threatened to “expose” the “war criminals”, government would have still go after him?
Before you answer “those can’t be compared to arrest”, my point is that the SF camp was doing everything possible, ethical or unethical, to bring Rajapakses down, even when they were defeated by people.
And when government is hitting back, they cry foul.
I’m not defending the action of government. What i say is that decent democracy is a give and take thing. Also, the talk about “disgraceful manner of arrest” etc are hyped up. Government apparently did something legal in using army to arrest him, and SF did not comply and maintain his dignity. Otherwise it did not have to be messy. Ranil or Somavansa wouldn’t have done that.
I think they were entirely reasonable. I always believed that if Fonseka was going to testify against Sri Lanka in a war crimes inquiry, we would have no option but to kill him. The government cannot afford to let him out of the country. We need to keep him behind bars.
A well written article with a great deal of analysis.
On what has been discussed, I in fact expected the government to arrest him even before the elections, particularly when he made the following statements during a press conference held three days before the election.
http://www.lankaenews.com/English/news.php?id=8998
Just to quote some of the things he said during that press conference:
“A great many of the Army Officers are having close ties with me. So, if the Govt. tries those dastardly tricks , it will only boomerang on the govt.”
“Whenever the Defense Secretary gives unlawful instructions, they inform me.”
Which government in this world would have tolerated an intimidation like that.
Brilliant (just as Nick mentioned before me!
)
There are many in the west who would like to nail Sri Lanka for imagined war crimes and SF was providing fodder for them with every twist of his tongue. Navaneethan Pillai would love to have SF’s testes in her hand. (She would have failed in any case)
Seeing how petty he is he would tell any lies, just to get at President Mahinda, without even realizing what damage he is doing to the country. He is a security risk.
Protecting a sovereignty is not an easy thing and it takes all sort of steps to protect and defend it.
Let the courts decide if he is guilty.
ano yako.. uba Taboo ta kade yanawa wage. mata penne…., Machan ahuwata tharaha wenta epa.. Uge blog eka ube danawata u keeyak ubata denawada huh…?
it would be good if you write Sinhala in Sinhala letters or write English in English letters.
This would be my only comment for you because your pointless allegation about “kade yanawa” doesn’t need any comment.
try to come up with a reasonable argument next time.
බත් කන හරකෝ…! තෝ කඩේ යනවා කියලා තොට නොතේරෙන එකට තමා කඩේ යනවා කියන්නේ..!
it sees that you seem to think merely showing your frustration in the open is a proper response. What it shows is the fact that you either don’t have a brain or any argument to get out of whatever is your problem.