{"id":41990,"date":"2012-05-19T06:56:18","date_gmt":"2012-05-19T06:56:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=41990"},"modified":"2012-05-19T20:36:30","modified_gmt":"2012-05-19T20:36:30","slug":"fonsekas-arrest-and-release-on-the-inclusivity-clause-of-historiography","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/fonsekas-arrest-and-release-on-the-inclusivity-clause-of-historiography\/","title":{"rendered":"Fonseka’s Arrest And Release: On The Inclusivity-Clause Of Historiography"},"content":{"rendered":"

By<\/strong>\u00a0Malinda Seneviratne<\/a><\/span>\u00a0–<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Malinda Seneviratne<\/p><\/div>\n

The word in the street is that the former Army Commander, Sarath Fonseka will be released, not ‘someday’ but within the next few days.\u00a0 In February this year, I wrote about the man in the context of history-writing.\u00a0 That note included some comments about his politics,\u00a0his personality and the world of political machinations he stepped into without any preparation whatsoever.\u00a0 I believe it warrants a re-read.<\/p>\n

Dr. Udaya Meddegama, Sinhala Department, University of Peradeniya,\u00a0once wrote a poem about the Mahawamsa, clearly the most comprehensive account of what happened in this island.\u00a0\u00a0Those who vilify it cannot counter it with any other account written with scholarly rigor that can match it and flounder in a sad process of myth modeling, extensive cross-quoting and other cheap propaganda devices wrapped as historical account.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
They claim it was written by \u2018racist Buddhist monks\u2019. The breadth and depth of the tract is such that it would warrant an entire Department or even School (like those in India dedicated to the study of the Mahabharatha and Ramayana), but Sri Lanka lacks historians and people with academic vision.\u00a0\u00a0Vilification is easier.\u00a0\u00a0Such people would be humbled if they read the meticulously researched commentaries of Kuliyapitiye Prananda.<\/div>\n

Meddegama observes: the \u2018Sinhala\u2019 race was fathered by the ruffian son of a patricidal and incestuous father whose mother\u2019s sexual fascination was bestiality.\u00a0\u00a0Some start to a \u2018racist\u2019 account written by a chauvinist.\u00a0\u00a0The Mahawamsa, then, is an unforgiving narrative.<\/p>\n

History\u2019s players are never one dimensional; the chronicler should not be swayed by great deed to footnote or erase blemish; not in hero and not in usurper.\u00a0\u00a0If history is indeed written by the winners for the glorification of winners, then the Mahawamsa is quite a poor account.<\/p>\n

The above preamble was provoked by the second anniversary of former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka\u2019s arrest and talk of updating the chronicle to include that which came after and especially the struggle to free the nation from terrorism.\u00a0\u00a0History will remember and forget and the particular mix of the two is never predictable.\u00a0\u00a0Key facts, however, can and must be recorded.<\/p>\n

Fonseka played an historic role. Fonseka, thereafter, lost it.\u00a0\u00a0He was hero, undoubtedly, and he was villain too. Undoubtedly.\u00a0\u00a0The villainy dilutes heroism but rigorous chronicling is unmoved by such things.<\/p>\n

The man\u2019s ambition, inflated self-worth, political naivet\u00e9 etc., and a now proven inability to operate in unfamiliar terrain cost him dearly.\u00a0\u00a0His mean-spiritedness, treacherous and irresponsible ways don\u2019t exactly make him paintable in heroic colours alone.<\/p>\n

He did not win it all single-handedly, but he was key enough to warrant special mention, as much as the Navy and Air Force Commanders, the Defence Secretary, the political leadership of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and those who stoutly resisted all efforts to derail the drive on the diplomatic front did.\u00a0\u00a0Perhaps less, all things considered, but certainly not more.<\/p>\n

He has immense spoiler-potential as I have argued:\u00a0\u2018He has been flip-flopping so much about the white-flags story that no government tasked with safeguarding a nation\u2019s sovereignty can afford to risk mouth-shooting from Fonseka; not because truth should be suppressed, but because he cannot be trusted to be honest.\u00a0\u00a0He can lie in order to exact revenge for perceived wrongs and has proved he is not above putting vengeance above nation.\u00a0\u00a0And he\u2019s not Private Fonseka, he\u2019s the former Army Commander.\u00a0\u00a0Even a lie from a mouth that big can have disastrous consequence for nation and citizen.\u2019\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>(Daily Mirror, October 20, 2010).<\/p>\n

I also stated the following:\u00a0\u2018All this is irrelevant when placed in the context of the overall framework of the law.\u00a0\u00a0Laws should not be broken or twisted and principles should not be selectively applied even in the best interest of the country because it creates bad precedent.\u00a0\u00a0Regardless of the \u2018necessity\u2019 element, there is clear ill-will in the execution of proceedings against Fonseka and it does not matter whether the man intended to slaughter the Rajapaksas and their friends within 24 hours of being elected President (if that had happened of course).\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

We are talking history here though, not law.\u00a0\u00a0There were many others who erred and in far more serious ways.\u00a0Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan aka \u2018Colonel Karuna\u2019 for example.\u00a0\u00a0There is a time to fight and a time to forgive, forget and move on, but even these things are irrelevant to the spirit of the law.\u00a0\u00a0\u2018Karuna\u2019 is officially a \u2018good boy\u2019 now; Fonseka is officially a \u2018bad boy\u2019.\u00a0\u00a0But history, when it is recorded, must mention both good and bad.\u00a0\u00a0Either way, both warrant mention, for happy and unhappy reasons.\u00a0\u00a0Write them out, or write them partially, and the error will amount to misinforming generations yet unborn.\u00a0\u00a0It may not matter, but it could. That is the danger.<\/p>\n

A story is not story enough when key incident and key player are written out. It must include the soldier who laid down life for country, the LTTE cadre who marked the earth and memory with his or her heroism, the errant combatants, the suicide bomber, the criminals against humanity and those who marshaled forces to win back a nation, civilization and a tomorrow for our children.\u00a0\u00a0In all their colours, with all the good and bad, the unforgettable and forgettable.<\/p>\n

Malinda’s Blog ;\u00a0http:\/\/malindawords.blogspot.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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