L. Jayasooriya

This is in response to a posting “Doctorate to Sarath Fonseka”

appearing in the Asian Tribune of Monday the 28th December 2009. I am not responding to Asian Tribune because all what I send to it are returned with the message “Over quota”. Also if I want to add any comment there is no provision of a ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”SENDƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ button. Lanka Web has a similar problem in replying with the password. Sinhale Hot News is the most efficient and it has no password.

I am not writing this in favour or against Gen. Sarath Fonseka but out of a feeling of unfairness to the General that has resulted in the application of the wisdom of Prof. Laksiri Fernando of the University of Colombo in initiating the whole thing and going out of the way to rub it in on the General. I will soon explain what I mean by that.

The Professor, having explained to the ordinary mortals that according to the procedure in universities all doctorates have to be sanctioned by the Senate, has as a member of the Senate said and I quote “In the case of offering honorary doctorates to President Mahinda Rajapakse as the Commander in Chief and Mr. Gotabhaya Rajapakse as the Secretary of Defense, it was I who proposed the motion in the Senate of the University of Colombo on the 29th May, seconded by many others instantly which carried the day unanimously without any objection. It was a measured decision.” End quote

He measured the decision as follows and I quote “In the case of the President, it was particularly the Mahinda Chinthana that he enunciated and the commitment with which it was implemented that were of paramount consideration. In the case of the Secretary of Defence, his well known strategic planning and the execution of that plan through the whole of the defence sector were taken into consideration.” End quote

If the professor had proposed the name of the President alone and stated the reasons as standing up to the threats and extreme pressures of named countries to hand over the LTTE to them no one would have found fault with it but to include the Defence Secretary only leaving out the three Service Commanders who were involved in the final phase of the war was the flaw. All the three service commanders and the Defence Secretary played vital roles. If any one of the three services was absent the war could never have been won but it is the army that suffered most and had the most number of casualties and had to work hardest. That point has to be conceded. If at every turn the correct moves were not made the war could never have been won or at least it would have taken very much longer. If therefore SF has said that the honours have been given to politicians only it is improper to ridicule him.

Now Prof. Laksiri Fernando says and I quote “It may be the case that Gen. Sarath Fonseka has had equal or more credentials to deserve an honorary doctorate from the University of Colombo, but unfortunately it was not clear at that timeƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚¦ Of course the University of Colombo could have offered an honorary doctorate to Gen. Fonseka without any issue or to avoid any issue, as it has become now, but unfortunately it did not occur to the Senate at that time.” (End quote) Any one can see the confused thinking here that the public would not expect from a member of the university senate. When such a person makes personal attacks on SF as he has done it becomes distasteful.

Let it not be understood that I am writing this in defence of SF. The readers would notice that what I have written was only to point out the unfairness and not anything for or against SF in his political campaign. The voters will make the decision on whom to vote for based on their perceptions especially with regard to the long television interview that SF gave the MTV on the night of the 24th December 2009.

This is available on a CD which can be E-mailed. Inquiries should be made from MTV. Those against SF have one month to do something about it. I cannot as an independent observer be fairer than that.