{"id":42840,"date":"2012-05-26T17:58:49","date_gmt":"2012-05-26T17:58:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=42840"},"modified":"2012-05-28T06:55:42","modified_gmt":"2012-05-28T06:55:42","slug":"fonsekas-reduced-circumstances-and-options","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/fonsekas-reduced-circumstances-and-options\/","title":{"rendered":"Fonseka\u2019s \u2018Reduced Circumstances\u2019 And Options"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\"\"<\/a>

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

Democracies don\u2019t need oppositions, they need vibrant, effective and sober oppositions.\u00a0 Decent oppositions are about the hard work of informed and coherent appraisal of government and governance, and the grind of organizing and keeping spirit alive in anticipation of opportune political moment.\u00a0 It needs leaders but personality dependence is not indicative of strength but flaw.<\/p>\n

Even powerful personalities need the backing of organizations as well as decent plans of action and the wisdom and maturity to assess with reasonable accuracy the overall political equation.\u00a0 Sarath Fonseka was not endowed with this kind of resource package in 2009.\u00a0 As JVP firebrand Lalkantha put it, Fonseka served a purpose.\u00a0 He was, therefore, used. Discarded.<\/p>\n

He was released after being imprisoned for a little more than 2 years in a move that smacked of political vengeance notwithstanding the reasonable arguments for incarceration on account of being a threat to national security.\u00a0 He had strange friends back then and was clearly ill-advised.<\/p>\n

There were 5 key people who backed Sarath Fonseka in 2009\/10: Ranil Wickremesinghe, Mangala Samaraweera, Somawansa Amarasinghe, R. Sampanthan and Rauf Hakeem.\u00a0 When Fonseka was released last week, none of them were around to greet him.\u00a0 \u00a0Tiran Alles, Parliamentarian and political associate is widely held as the \u2018broker\u2019 in getting Fonseka released.\u00a0 Arjuna Ranatunga, another party member, clearly chagrined, said \u2018everyone should get the credit\u2019.\u00a0 Some (like Jehan Perera) said Fonseka was released because the President was pressurized to do so by the USA, a wild claim considering that President Rajapaksa didn\u2019t bow down to far greater pressure levels (to stop the military operations against the LTTE) in the last years of the conflict.\u00a0 Alles says, \u2018No, the USA had nothing to do with it\u2019.<\/p>\n

Wickremesinghe has faulted Alles for not obtaining a full pardon from the President, although he himself did not lift a finger in the entire exercise.\u00a0 Fonseka wryly observed that the President cannot be proud of himself for holding back his (Fonseka\u2019s) civic rights.\u00a0 The President has said that he doesn\u2019t want to interfere in matters decided in a military court which is essentially saying \u2018I used my discretion in one way about release and another about granting civic rights\u2019.\u00a0 The political implication is obvious: Fonseka cannot run for President.<\/p>\n

Fonseka\u2019s wife, Anoma, claims that some UNPers secretly (that\u2019s a keyword) back a UNP-Fonseka alliance.\u00a0 Another report says that UNPers have been warned not to be close to Fonseka.\u00a0 Prominent UNPers were seen welcoming the former Army Commander when he was released, among them some whose \u2018discipline\u2019 is being queried by the party.\u00a0 The JVP, although their parliamentary presence is largely thanks to having clung onto Fonseka\u2019s coattails in April 2010, has distanced itself from Lalkantha\u2019s dismissive comment, but hasn\u2019t exactly been bubbling with excitement after Fonseka was released. Neither has Fonseka been chummy with his main election-ally.<\/p>\n

In 2009\/10 many anti-Rajapaksa elements in the I\/NGO community backed Fonseka, betraying thereby their true political objectives; they were closer UNPers who had nothing nice to say about Fonseka when he was Army Commander.\u00a0 Fonseka has gone on record (after his release) to say that he took a budu pilimaya<\/em> to the battlefront and took it to prison as well, a statement of fact that cannot sit too well with that crowd.\u00a0 He is unlikely to back \u2018devolution\u2019.<\/p>\n

R. Sampanthan\u2019s party, the TNA, which backed Fonseka\u2019s presidential bid, even getting him to agree to re-merging the North and East in the event that he won the election, went on a hunger strike in support of \u2018political prisoners\u2019 (read LTTE cadres, ex-terrorists).\u00a0 The fact that Fonseka, who had far better credentials as a political prisoner, was not seen to deserve similar protest is not lost on alert political observers.\u00a0 Rauf Hakeem has since joined the Government.\u00a0 Mangala Samaraweera, apart from getting his time-trusted minions to run \u2018news\u2019 websites that give journalism a bad name, has not been seen or heard of for quite a while.\u00a0 Chandrika Kumaratunga, who gave a guarded \u2018yes\u2019 to Fonseka days before the election, has not offered any comments.<\/p>\n

Fonseka\u2019s true political worth was revealed in April 2010 by the number of votes his party secured, sans UNP support and with just the JVP (in its reduced circumstances) backing him.\u00a0 The JVP has since split in two.<\/p>\n

The end of the road for Sarath Fonseka?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

No.\u00a0 An online poll carried out by www.nation.lk<\/a> asking voters who they believe Fonseka should align with, shows \u2018Mahinda Rajapaksa\u2019 comfortably leading Sajith Premadasa and Ranil Wickremesinghe, but lagging behind the 5th<\/sup> \u2018choice\u2019: \u2018None of the above\u2019.\u00a0 That could be a reflection of general sentiment.\u00a0 In other words, Fonseka should consider leaving these politicians alone (he\u2019s certainly been used and bitten by them).\u00a0 Makes sense if he wants to be principled and untarnished by the machinations politicians are generally known for.\u00a0 Lack of an organization, however, doesn\u2019t do much for achieving political goals.\u00a0 Good men and women have played and lost. Badly.<\/p>\n

Perhaps Fonseka should seriously consider a different path.\u00a0 Perhaps he could ignore the lure of party politics, parliamentary and presidential aspirations and re-invent himself as someone who stands for justice, good governance and democracy.\u00a0 There has always been a need to address these issues, but the addressers have been such shady characters that such projects have never captured the wider public imagination.\u00a0 Fonseka has a history, a lot of shine and some dubious spots, but he has not covered himself with the kind of embarrassment that those mentioned above has.\u00a0 Harping on wrongs done to him and decrying person and not office\/abuse won\u2019t get him far, for he has a handicap: the possibility of having the \u2018sour grape\u2019 tag pinned on him.<\/p>\n

He needs an organization, but that\u2019s for later.\u00a0 He needs people, lots of people, but he has enough to start things rolling.\u00a0 He needs a project and one that is not about capturing power but getting the country back on track.\u00a0 In this he will need to be wary, more of his friends than his known detractors.\u00a0 It\u2019s mine-ridden, this path, but it seems, as of now, the only sensible direction for this colorful and controversial man to take.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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