No tears for Fonseka
Posted on February 9th, 2010

H. L. D. Mahindapala

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Retired General Sarath Fonseka is one of those tragic Shakesperean heroes who is doomed because of a fatal flaw in his character. In short, Fonseka has been the main cause of his own downfall. In the last few days Fonseka was asking for it and he got it last night. He was challenging the government to arrest him if they have any charges against him and when the Military Police went to arrest him he resisted. He had to be dragged out initially though he walked the last steps to the van in which he was taken to security quarters at Sri Lankan Navy.

The irony is that Fonseka who was challenging the government to arrest him was refusing to walk out like a gentlemen and an officer to face his accusers. This is typical of Fonseka. He should have honoured his own words and, knowing the law, cooperated with the Military Police as there was no point in resisting arrest. He may have been putting up a show for Soma-hansa Amerasinghe, Rauf Hakeen, Mano Ganesan and a couple of retired officers but what good would that do to him?

The resistance he put up at his flat at Rajakeeya Mawatha was unworthy of a man who holds the rank of a General. That is the behaviour of a kudu karaya. It is as if he was admitting guilt even before he is taken to trial. Besides, there was no bravery in resisting his own officers whom he had trained to carry out orders from higher echelons. In resisting arrest Fonseka was creating another sorry scene which is not in keeping with his high rank.

According to media reports the charges read to him include

* Engaging in political activity aimed at targeting and undermining the state which he was sworn to serve whilst in uniform

* Conspiring against his Commander-in-Chief whilst holding the highest rank in the Army

* Creating a private army of more than 1,500 deserters whilst holding the office of the ArmyƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Commander in pursuit of his self-serving politics, and

*. Engaging in corrupt practices in procuring arms for the forces.

In this short list he has been let off lightly. Perhaps, there are more to come. But the most criminal charge that should be levelled against him is that of betraying his own comrades and expressing his willingness to name them in an international court, assuming that they had committed war crimes. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

It is incredible that an Army Commander who earned his glory and spurs on the bravery and sacrifices of his forces should turn around now to bring his own rank file into disrepute and blackmail the state and the nation with threats of exposing them in an international court for carrying out his own orders as Army Commander. Amazingly, he talks now as if he was not a part and parcel of the Army which, according to him, had committed war crimes.

It is his state of mental balance that is in question when he makes allegations against his own forces during the time he was the Army Commander. How can an army commit war crimes without the knowledge of the Army Commander? If his rank and file committed war crimes without his knowledge then he was not fit to be the Army Commander. Besides, if he knows anything about the law of war crimes he should be aware that the ultimate responsibility lies with him. More so, because he has claimed credit for all the successes in the battle field. He just canƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t get away with getting all the credit for himself for the victories and passing the blame for things that wrong to the others.

In his own words he has absolved all responsibility of any alleged crimes attributed to the Defence Secretary ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” his main target in his accusations — when he declared that Defence Secretary was sitting in his air-conditioned room fiddling with his ties while he, as Army Commander, supervised and directed every move from Mavil Aru to Nandikadal. If the Defence Secretary was fiddling with his ties in the comfort of his air-conditioned room, without interfering in the battlefield, how on earth could he have committed war crimes? If what Fonseka says is true ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” and we, ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ for the sake argument, provisionally accept his word that he alone is the hero who won the war — then he is responsible not only for victory but also for the war crimes, which he never questioned or investigated or named names when he was the Army Commander.

In his naƒÆ’†’ƒ”š‚¯ve approach, he wants to have it both ways. He wants to be the good boy for the victories and name bad boys for what they did under his command. That cock wonƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t fight, General, even in gam sabaha court. What is worse, he is accusing innocent people, who had no input into the war effort as the guilty party. of the Commander-in-Chief or the Defence Secretary, then how can he point a finger at them now, or for that matter any other authority or officer, for any alleged war crimes. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

Sri Lankan soldiers who followed him loyally must be dying a thousand deaths now when they heard over the Sinhala Service of the BBC yesterday that ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-he (Fonseka) is prepared to give evidence in an international court on war crime charges against Sri Lanka.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ BBC added: ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-General Sarath Fonseka speaking to journalists in Colombo on Monday said, “I am not going to save anyone who has committed war crimes”.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ “I am definitely going to reveal what I know, what I was told and what I heard. Any one who has committed war crimes should definitely be brought into courts,” Gen. Fonseka said.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ “Those who reveal the truth are not traitors” he added, said the BBC report. .

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ What did he know? What was told to him and by whom? And what did he hear and from whom? ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ These are questions he should be asked at the trial along with the most important question: what was he doing about it when he directed every inch of the operation, according to his claim?

From what he suggests it seems that the Army, under his command, has committed serious war crimes. Is this the voice of a frustrated presidential candidate who has been rejected by a thumping majority 1.8 million people? Or is this the voice of a vindictive hate-monger who is attempting to blacken the image of the nation for his personal gain? Both add up to the same figure of a failed egotist whose future is in the past. These statements do not enhance his image as a hero of the nation. In fact, with each statement he makes he goes down in the estimation of the public that hero-worshipped him. However, what he says is no doubt music to the NGOs, anti-Sri Lankan governments in the West and the defeated coalition of no-hopers who were gathered around him at the time of his arrest.

It is not surprising that Ranil Wickremesinghe was not there last night to hand him tissues for his tears. He is distancing himself from Fonseka because he does not smell so good as in the start. The move of the government to arrest Fonseka has come as an unexpected gift to Wickremesinghe, who, no doubt will shed copious tears. Government has done for him what he could not do: removed Fonseka from the political scene which, Wickremesinghe hopes, would resolve his main problem of eliminating him as a rival. The upshot of all this has thrown the lean-to opposition coalition into total disarray.

The governmentƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s move to try Fonseka in a military court is justified and valid. He is not tried for his politics as a presidential candidate but for engaging covertly and even overtly at times to undermine the authority of the democratically elected state whilst holding the highest office in the Army. As everyone knows, he was making overseas call from America to Tilvin Silva, the JVP mouthpiece, to get his advice on how to go ahead with his moves in USA to put the Rajapakses in the dock with accusations of war crimes. .

It is the JVP that gave him this dead rope in the first place. The Soma-hansas, who were just tall enough to lick the boots of the general, are responsible for leading him down the path of self-destruction. Their manipulations and promises of greatness to come fed the hate and ego of Fonseka whose main objective was to bring down the Rajapakses who gave him everything. Even now his statements are soaked in bitter bile. That is not the stuff of democratic and humane politics.

As long as he is immersed in hate he will never redeem himself. It is difficult to shed tears for a man who hates his former patrons so much ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” a drama reminiscent of the Guttila– Moosila jataka tale — and has no compunction in letting down his own forces for the sake of his petty self-interest.

5 Responses to “No tears for Fonseka”

  1. aravinda Says:

    Mr.Mahindapala, in last two months you have predicted every event before hand, which shows your in depth understanding of Sri Lankan politics and general human behaviour. I love to read your analysis. What I see as the reason for Mr.Fonseka’s downfall is the those around him. If he had one good friend to guide him, to show him what is right and what is wrong, this fate may not have befallen him. He was bogged down on legality when morality was the main issue.

  2. pam Says:

    It seems that Mangala Samaraweera (or whoever ) was dead-on when he said that “the general was not good enough even to lead the salvation army”. I thought that it was an insult to the salvation army,as the leaders there are disciplined men and women who have decided to follow a humble lifestyle serving those in need.
    Anyway, to come back to the General, it may be now that Ranil smells the horrible odour of selfishness and madness emanating from the General, but it was apparent to me (who has never met the man) and so many others for a long, long time.
    A few characteristics displayed in the man’s behaviour:

    1. Ability to be extremely self-centered and ungrateful. Ungratefulness made SF forget that it was the president who re-appointed him as commander and gave him charge of the army. Selfishness made him want to kick MR and everyone else who stood in his way.

    2. Total lack of loyalty to the army and to the country. I lost whatever respect I had for the man when he opened his foul mouth and betrayed the army and brigadier Shavendra Silva. No matter what hard feelings you harbour against Gotabhaya you do not betray your army and your country to the western vultures who are circling over SL.
    A man who betrays his team is not worthy to lead a country, He should be tried in military court.(which will happen now).

    3. Braying like a mad ass during the election campaign. Making threats to imprison and kill the Rajapakses. For what? For corruption and lawlessness in the country? Perhaps those accusations are true, but let’s not forget that it was the Rajapakses who stood up to the Western pressure and proceeded with the war and finished off the LTTE. There is no doubt about the patriotism of the Rajapases. For that the country should be grateful to them. I’m not excusing corruption and nepotism, but they got rid of the bigger evil, an evil that scared us so much that we were afraid to go out in to the cities for the fear of being blown up by a mad suicide bomber. SF would not have become the war hero he was if the Rajapakses caved into international pressure and ordered the forces to halt the war and let the madman parbakaran go free, to live to fight for another couple of decades, killing thousands of innocent civilians. We are so forgetful.

    4. Threatening to bring the country against a war crimes tribunal. What the dickens!!!! Has he forgotten how ruthless the LTTE was and how many young men and women from the army lost their lives and limbs in fighting this bl–dy war. We were fighting a ruthless terrorist group, not a conventional army and as such terror had to be met with terror at times. There must have been violations sometimes, but this was an unprecedented war in the annals of human history. And, now for this ass of a man to stand up and utter this rubbish about betraying the army he led is utter madness. For that alone he should be tried in a military court.

    All these points show the delusional, and extremely self-centered behaviour of SF. I’m no fan of MR but I’m so glad that SF lost the election. We don’t know what we were spared from, probably from another megalomaniac in the mould of our old “friend” Velupillai Prabakaran!!!

    I can’t understand all this angst about the arrest. SF sure deserved it. The next one to be arrested should be Somawansa Amarasinghe. That madman is now talking about “democracy”. This is after his mad group of goons killed so many innocent Sinhalese, sometimes just for having the guts to open their mouths against the JVP (Jathika Vinasha Peramuna). I was an uni student at that time and I witnessed their brutality against anyone who dared to oppose them. Now this Amarasinghe is shouting about democracy. Excuse me, but what is he talking about? The govt should go after this worthless scum and try him and give him a life sentence.
    As for RW who banded with these goons (after all that the UNP suffered at their hands), shame on you RW.
    RW should resign from the leadership position in the UNP and let someone else guide that party to be a strong and worthy opposition. Sri Lanka needs such an opposition group in the parliament.

  3. pallesam Says:

    IF THE MR GOVERNMENT REALLY DEVELOP THIS POOR COUNTRY, HE MUST GET RID OF THOSE PEOPLE WHO ONLY TRY FOR POWER THEY DONT WANT COUNTRY TO BE DEVELOP INTERNATIONAL COMMUNALITY AND OTHER WORLD POWER SPEND MONEY ON THEM TO STOP DEVELOPMENT OF OUR COUNTRY BY USING THERE STUPID TRAITORS LIKE STUPID RANIL FONSEKA SOMAWANSA AND MANY OTHERS.
    IF SL DEVELOP COUTRIES LIKE INDIA SINGAPORE AMERIKA AND EUROPE WILL FACE PROBLEM.
    MR STEP YOU TSAKEN IS CORRECT DO NOT LISTEN TO THOSE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY PLS LISTEN TO MAJORITY OF THE SRI LANKAN AND KILL THOSE TRAITORS DO NOT LET THEM TO BREATH. THEY WILL BRING THIS COUNTRY ANOTHER DECADES POOR AND POOR.
    PLS GET CLOSER TO IRAN RUSSIA NORTH KORIA AND CHINA. GSP PLUS WE DONT NEED WE CAN LIVE N CAN STRONG OUR ECONOMY. YOU HAVE POWER AND YOUR THE KING.
    PLS GET RID OF THERE TRAITORS MAKE THEN SILENT.
    GOD BLESS YOU AND GOVERNMENT.

    SAM/ INDONESIA

  4. PRIYAN WIJEYERATNE Says:

    We are happy that the de-general is in for a long-time in jail, until he is tried. Good Luck to Sri Lanka and Jaya wewa Mahinda!!

  5. Sri Rohana Says:

    Dear Mahinda
    What you said is correct. SF always takes only the credit. His Muhamalai debacle or Elephant Pass defeat always passed to others. In Singhalese “wedanam mage ledanam magenewei”= good work is mine, failures are not mine.
    At present Sri Lanka’s society I have a high regard on Hon President as well as Defence Secretary Hon.Gotabaya Rajapakse too. Mr Gotabaya Rajapakse is a true patriot and he is brain behind the war victory. He was coordinated the Hon President and Three forces+STF+Police. SF led only army.
    Soon after the war within 3 months SF betrayed the war and Sri Lanka’s army and took the side of traitors such as Hakim, Ganesan, Mangala, Ranil. LTTE supporters such as TNA, fundamentalist Jehan Perera and CIA funded cat’s paw 4th international agent Wicramabahu Karunaratne is with him + feudalist, racist BBC, and reactionary NGO’s etc
    But Gotabaya Rajapakse still without hesitation he defends the war heroes and Sri Lanka like a real Lion. He taught a lesson to David Milliband, Bernard Kouchner in 2009 May and last week I saw him bravely defended Sri Lanka on his BBC interview. He proved he is not ready to dance to the music of western feudalist imperialists. My personal view is next Prime Minister in new parliament should be Hon Gotabaya Rajapakse. He already proved his leadership qualities.

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