General Fonseka as the chief executive officer of future Sri Lanka

By Day

“ There is nothing permanent except change" – Heraclitus

(November 14, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) As a concerned person who has kith and kin in Sri Lanka I am impelled to write this. And let me state the bottom-line-up-front (BLUF); In the present times and circumstances Sri Lanka needs an uncorrupt and capable Chief Executive Officer with a vision, and a mission sanctioned by a vast majority to manage the country authoritatively than a Presidency, an administration, or a political system that thrives in a rough and tumble political atmosphere. Elsewhere I will elaborate more on a viable and an efficacious alternative system to the present political set up.

I write this with no vested interests whatsoever and mention some names here and there only as examples.

When I think why Sri Lanka the so-called oldest democracy in Asia, though small in land mass, is not an economic and political powerhouse in the world today given the near 100 percent literacy rate, free education and medicine, the tropical weather, and after all the strategic location in the Indian Ocean, these things rush in my mind; rampant corruption, disunity, nepotism, ungratefulness, opportunism, surrendering principles and national security for filthy lucre, gullibility, too much or unnecessary groveling towards or kowtowing to foreign powers, and the existing unproductive and wasteful political system to name a few.

It hurts and is sad to see Sri Lanka is going backwards even with the benefits of free education and medicine for every Sri Lankan, be they the innocent, the insurgents, the activists, the terrorists, the journalists, the clergy, the politicians, or the minority. It is this free education that helped me to graduate from one of Sri Lankan universities and find a job in a developed country and continue to perform well with diligence and commendable acceptance when I left the military and country in total disgust in mid 90s. Thank you Sri Lanka for my free education that help me to excel and medicine and medical services that saved my life when I was on the death bed in the condemned section in the Dr P. T De Silva’s Ward 45. It is this free education that made possible for Prof Lucas who studied at St Josephs and Dr Karunadasa who studied in a backward school in down south to gain admissions to Sri Lankan university engineering faculties, excel in electrical engineering, and teach countless number of engineering students to date. I mention their names because they taught me and I know their backgrounds somewhat. Isn’t it sad that Sri Lanka is not on top of the world given the intelligentsia, the brain power, the number of academics in engineering, medicine and science, the martial nature of her people, and the unconventional warfare experts Sri Lanka have or have ever produced?

If Sri Lanka wants to achieve aggrandizement, security and stability, self-sufficiency and economic dominance, and go back to her glory days, or halcyon days, of the agrarian self sufficiency, water management using gravity and the construction experts of Brazen Palace and Sigiriya fortress every Sri Lankan is proud of and likes to talk about then every Sri Lankan needs not only to think like a Sri Lankan but act like one. In current rough-and-tumble politics there is no space or time for that. Look at the quality and quantity of politicos from local bodies up to parliament; calculate the national treasure wasted on their high maintenance; salaries, very expensive bullet-proof vehicles, housing and security; think of the inconvenience caused to public when they move about, attend functions or in the neighborhood they live due to blocking the roads, security searches and sweeps and the speed demons on the wheel in back up vehicles running over and killing the innocent. That is why I float this idea to suggest an alternative or a potential solution for the existing set up. Sri Lanka needs an uncorrupt and capable Chief Executive Officer with a vision and a mission sanctioned by a vast majority instead of an Executive Presidency that facilitates any corrupt politician to abuse and misuse powers and perks for his or her pleasure, profit and personal safety. I think an overwhelming majority would agree with me that in the present circumstances and in contemporary Sri Lanka the only ‘fit, proper and capable’ person that a vast majority of Sri Lanka can repose confidence in is none other than General ‘Fonnie’! Is he perfect, given his blunt speeches and emotions? No! But the deciding factors for the CEO post are his squeaky clean background with respect to financial malfeasance; his tactics, techniques, procedures and managerial skills in achieving the nearly impossible that is vanquishing the LTTE militarily and his quality of leading from the front as a young officer (YO) through a General officer (GO). He is brave, battle-proven, battle-scarred, not a ‘character’ but has ‘character’, has suffered near fatal injuries in line of duty. He has very successfully managed a vast institution that is Sri Lanka Army, prosecuted a war against national and transnational terrorists and successfully conducted one of the biggest humanitarian operations in history. I do not think that there is a singular person in contemporary Sri Lanka who has those credentials under his or her belt, or I may rather say ‘Sam Brown’!

If General SF has an ambition to be the Chief Executive Officer of Sri Lanka, he can do the following if he wishes; replace the ‘ministers’ and ‘ministries’ with Departments based on ‘Essential Services’ they deliver or ‘Roles’ they play; appoint secretaries and additional secretaries with proven managerial skills, who are subject matter experts in that essential service field. When he selects the right person for the right job only thing that matters is excellence, merit and his or her patriotism for a ‘unitary state’. In this way Sri Lanka can avoid appointing someone from a minority community who will go on to be an Attorney General and later be very much anti-Sri Lankan. The CEO needs to stay away from Sinhala only rhetoric and tone down speeches that appear or somebody would interpret as chauvinistic, jingoistic, or racist and must be willing to accommodate the smart, the bright and the capable from the minority communities. Let me give some examples; what about Daya or Lucky Nadarajasingham, the famous shooters, to be the Head of the Department Of Sports of Sir Lanka. Gen SF knows better than me about them that they are Tamil and received education at Ananda College, the largest Buddhist school in Sri Lanka but cannot speak Tamil, as they say. Don’t you Sri Lankans think that Daya or Lucky, though Tamils are much better than the political Sports Ministers that you have had or are going to be had in the present political set up? Think of the waste, fraud and abuse, the state of affairs, the interim councils, the human smuggling rackets, asylum seeking, or vanishing into thin air while on overseas tours, to name a few, in the history of the Sports Ministry. The next example is the case of Imitiaz Bakeer Marker, a Muslim, also received education at Ananda College. The most interesting thing about him, they say, is that he captained the school debating team, an Attorney-at-Law by profession. True, he is a United National Party (UNP) member. What to do; he just followed his father in politics. If Sri Lanka is truly willing to shed communal and party politics what about the CEO SF appointing Imitiaz Bakeer Marker as the Head of the Department of Justice, at least he can read and write in Sinhala, Tamil, or English and speak in any of the three main languages to any walk of life and will be able to interpret the law to a certain extent than a political round peg in a square hole. After all, aren’t they saying all the communal ills because of the language issues? I am sure he as the Head of the Justice Dept will do a lot of justice on that. I am also quite sure that he would be highly motivated to even to disown the UNP because he would see a better future for Sri Lanka.

Another good one; don’t you think that Professor Rizvi would do a better job for the health of the Department of Health than a lawyer running or ruining the Health Ministry; at least he would order only 800 or so essential drugs necessary and cancel a slew of generic varieties numbering 10,300 or so to avoid the biggest scandals in industry and save billions of rupees. After all Sri Lanka can show to the wider world that late Prof Senake Bibile did not die in vain and make him proud in his grave! I can give you numerous examples of good, capable and quality persons from the minority communities who can and should be accommodated and appointed by a future CEO of Sri Lanka for the good of the many. But I see also this, a majority of the minority communities are honestly not for a unitary state at present. It may be a result of historic reasons, what they may have experienced due to the broken promises of the successive governments since independence and their corrupt to the hilt politicians, the brain-washing, or the organized indoctrination with ulterior motives. I know a Tamil ex-military officer who spent a half of his life in the north and the other half in the south until he immigrated. When he arrived in the south to be a Service Cadet he did not speak Sinhala at all. When mortars fell into the camp he was in, a lot of people suspected that he had given out the grid coordinates. Now we read and hear in the media that some Sinhalese are in custody for supporting the LTTE. He was subject to unnecessary and shameless bigotry. Now he is an IT professional in a foreign university, at great risk to his life he is doing a very commendable service by being one of the biggest and silent advocates for Sinhala and Tamil unity and concord by debating with his own brethren. He tells me that sometimes he runs to the ‘bunker’ when he runs out of talking points up in the sleeves on behalf of Sinhalese, and his own brethren hound him. There are rascals and disingenuous persons on both side of the ethnic divide. Things can change and will in a conducive and proper environment. After all, they say, what she or he is a product of the environment!

It is compulsory and imperative that Gen SF should not be a politician and depend on so called ‘altruistic or patriotic’ politicians who are attempting to back him up and buck him up. The recent article written by Major General Nalin Fernando, appeared in the print and electronic media, is a real good one and an eye-opener as to why military officers should not be politicians. But it does not mean a retired General, an AVM, or an Admiral should not be a Chief Executive Officer if she or he is real good for an organization, institution, or a country. The sad truth or the reality is that anywhere in the world military chiefs are appointed by the political Heads of States with vested interests. So by the time almost all those military chiefs retire they have shamelessly been singing his or her master’s or mistress’ song or rather singing Hosannas to the rulers. No surprise and wonder that they would have lost the credibility and public confidence. They become only famous in song and legend made possible by certain suspecting or unsuspecting sections of the media but not in reality! It is extremely rare that you find a military chief, like Gen SF, of a nation that is a Devil’s advocate or with contrarian views. Moreover Gen SF should be wary and leery of, especially, the politicians who then threatened kill all the service members who reported duty during the Reign of Terror in 90s, who not long ago disparaged the fighting formations and columns that were reaching Killinochchi and Elephant Pass using the words like Medawachiya and Pamankade sarcastically, who did not want to give even a letter of recommendation for a job at Salvation Army, and some malevolent Sinhala supremacist or extremist political parties as well.
I am one who firmly believes that vanquishing the Tigers was a ‘joint’ effort and was total team work. At the same time I would also mention here about a few big players and factors that facilitated the military demise of LTTE. For the starters; it was ‘new normalcy’ after 9/11; the Boxing Day tsunami; Late Lalith Jayasinghe; the ‘still living’ officer who ensured ‘Charles’
deserved a death sentence for the Central Bank bombing; the Sri Lanka Navy Intelligence Lt Cdr who explained the follies of the armed struggle to Col K and introduced him to a fast life; the very strong diplomatic push by three to four very capable, maverick and pugnacious academics with either a ‘megaphone’ or the command of English; the concerted effort of some academics and journalists of Sri Lankan Diaspora; the sinking of the floating warehouses; the aerial action on SP Selvam, the enemy equipment, and positions. A tiger unless it is a phoenix in a tiger’s hide or clothing or as a result of disunity among Sri Lankans cannot rise again from the ashes! I need to say this too that unfortunately the Tigers or so-called ‘boys’ would not have become a formidable force to be reckoned with and lasted almost three decades in the first place if not for the venal government, military, Customs officers at various levels or pay grades and equally culpable some members of populace who helped the sleeper cells, wittingly or unwittingly, knowingly or unknowingly by renting places to operate from and vehicles and equipment to utilize against for a few more quick and fast green bucks. Greed for some has been insatiable and for that Sri Lanka paid dearly in blood and treasure and with her otherwise bright future.

Why don’t Sri Lanka have or ‘produce’ anymore famous ‘Honest Alberts’ that of the Sathasivam Case or sons of IGPs, like Dr. Lucky Dissanayake who was very humble and low maintenance and was drowned in performing an altruistic act to save a friend’s child in distress in the seas off Sri Lanka.

Gen SF in his attempt to revamp and purge the Army to make it an effective fighting force made a lot of changes that resulted in a bunch of disgruntled, angry and revengeful officers. There were a lot of senior officers who did not come out of funk and pluck up some spunk to lead from the front. He went on to appoint the best, the smart and relatively young who excelled at field craft and in combat. But some of the Combatant Commanders, for that matter, especially the media savvy ones are not his choices and selections but foisted on him or ‘strategically introduced’ by his superiors for ‘understandable reasons’. Now everybody knows the reasons as one can see in the newspapers with the stories of removing portraits and posters etc. And there were also some Combatant Commanders and General Staff who have been ‘silent operators and consummate professionals’. Laymen will not read or hear about them in the main stream media. It is apt to mention here that a couple of commanders Gen SF appointed also are not the right choices as it later turned out to be. A general makes mistakes too and learns from it.

In a scenario where Gen SF wants to be the CEO of Sri Lanka, chances and indications are such the biggest player opposing side is going to bring up and field, pit or array against Gen SF is the former Navy Commander who has been very political savvy since his days as a ‘commander’ (equivalent to Lt Col or Wing Commander). He has been synonymous with Navy Seva Vanitha Unit as far as one can remember. The following positive things about him will be highlighted by the defending political administration in a Presidential Election; educated at the same school like General SF; his teammate of the college swimming team; a service commander like him; under his watch close to ten floating warehouses were sunk that helped Gen FS to defeat the tigers militarily and unite Sri Lanka. To be fair to the former Navy Commander I have not seen and heard any corruption charges against him, and he has unique education qualifications, naval and otherwise, but he dabbled too much in politics throughout his career, plus that and his capricious decision making is a very big negative in this regard. Had he stood by his principles like the then Naval Office-in-Charge(Trincomalee), NOIC(T), Commodore Wairasekara who chased out the IPKF naval ship commanders when called on him as they broke the time honored naval protocol and ‘gate (wave) crashed’ to Tricomalee habour after the Indo-Lanka Peace Accord Sri Lankans would love and like him very much. The NOIC (T) was sadly forced out of the Navy. He became a tug pilot at Colombo harbor to provide for his wife and two humble kids whom I have seen in Trincomalee during their school vacations. It is a disgrace to force out a principled man or woman. The good thing is that because of his principles he saved his life, and a wife has a husband and children a father. He was the next in line to be the Commander of Navy (CofN). The most of us in the military know what happened next; an ambitious Rear Admiral who was instrumental in fracturing the Navy into cliques that are in existence even today surrendered his religion to be a CofN, and only to allowing his official motorcade circumvent the railway crossing on a red-light to meet his death waiting fully-wired with explosives on a motorcycle at the Galle Face Greens. But in the case of the CofN I am talking about here he was ready and more than willing to be a Secretary and say ‘sir’ and ‘salute’ to a majority of politicos, who should not have been elected in the first place to public office given their educational or family background, sexual misconduct , financial malfeasance, or criminal behavior. Why didn’t he very well and gracefully decide to be a consultant to Bahraini Navy or Omani Navy, or find some decent employment local or overseas, instead of continue to singing Hosannas to sorry and pathetic politicians? I am quite sure given the naval successes on his watch against the LTTE a number of countries may have been itching to get his experience and knowledge at a very high price or with top dollar, euro, or dirham for their navies. If he were principled, then I would have suggested the former CofN I am talking about to be the CEO of Sri Lanka too. These are open secrets. Think of two of the other best and brightest in his Intake; the Governor Mohan and the former ADC Prassanna , why both of them have been not on talking terms with him though the CofN I am referring to did not embezzle or steal? It is because of his loathsome politics, dabbling in politics, uppity and hubris.

Only thing he has to do now is to forget about the sorry and pathetic politicos and shed or iron out differences and make friends with Gen SF in the name of his country and school to take Sri Lanka forward. It takes more moral courage to forget the sorry and pathetic past and make friends with someone you are not on the talking terms or see eye to eye than to be antagonistic or a political adversary forever. Sri Lanka needs you to be a little bit humble and understand that Gen FS has more support, clout and backing for the CEO post in a future Sri Lanka.

There may be hidden players with questionable military backgrounds such as alleged frauds, treasure hunters, shameless and disgraceful womanizers, mediocre performers, cowards who tarried. They may be serving, cashiered, forced to retire, retired ones. There will be no surprise or it is no wonder when some of them are brought up from retirement or active or volunteer service to challenge and negate Gen SF’s qualifications or his suitability to be the CEO of Sri Lanka. Let me tell you this as a person who has naval experience, ashore or afloat, flown in combat aircraft as an observer, and deployed with the elite operators to war(by the way I have nothing but the highest regard to and admiration for the Sri Lankan Security Forces) that there is a vast difference between leading the troops from the front as a young officer, a middle grade officer or a colonel circumventing mine fields and booby traps under fire to close on the enemy to unleash violence and destroy than to do a desk job, shoot deer for venison , sink the ships from distance, or bomb the targets from the sky. As an example one might argue; what about the Special Boat Section (SBS) and the Rapid Boat Section (RBS)? I get that. There is still certain amount of protection to troops due to choppy seas, armor and distance. Though some badly want to claim the credit for ‘arrow boat concept and swarm tactics’ I know for a fact where the credit really lies, and it was conceived in early 90s. I will name one name (while others are humble not to make noise to claim the credit for it as Sri Lanka’s success against her common enemy is every Sri Lankan’s success!) lest Sri Lanka fail to do justice or recognize some of those who blazed the trail rather ‘wake’! He is none other than late Commander (NP) Gallage from Sri Lanka Navy Patrolmen Branch. His voice was not ‘officially’ listened to. No high-ranking person debriefed him. But as young officers we were inquisitive and interested in knowing his Techniques Tactics and Procedures (TTPs) he employed in Kilali lagoon with a high rate of success. He was the pioneer small boat operator the LTTE dreaded most in early 90s till his untimely demise. He was a methodical, creative young naval tactician with a bright future. On the very first day of returning to proper ship (RPS) from leave he made it a point to cruise along to study the seas, enemy change of tactics and the environment. Only on the next day he went on offensive in his ‘water jet’! I know I am digressing from the topic but Sri Lanka is entitled to know the truth then only Sri Lankans can make a well informed decision before they cast their precious vote without being lured or garnered by wily, corrupt and cunning politicos with the promise of some sop or crumb and a utopian world! Sri Lankans need to avoid another lost or wasted chance for a real change and to move forward off the beaten path.

I see a lot of interest, euphoria, frenzy and exuberance to drag Gen SF into politics and force him to be a candidate in a future Presidential Election. Some try this as they are failed politicians, perennial losers, or jinx and some others with ulterior motives and hidden agendas and another segment innocuously. Let me forewarn you this; one is highly mistaken and it is farcical to expect Gen SF, as the CEO or a President in a future Sri Lanka to be a yellow-mellow, liberal, democratic Head of State who will yield to every silly demand made by trade unions or unemployed graduates, or activists! Sri Lanka needs a complete overhaul, purging and total revamp. The extraordinary situation in Sri Lanka needs extraordinary measures. They are need today more than ever. With the help of Internet or cyberspace, digital equipment, satellite technology or the advanced technology the truth can be twisted and propagated to unsuspecting persons around the world to win their sympathy and support for a spurious or an illegitimate cause putting a person, a legitimate government, or a proud nation in an embarrassing situation. They say, a mountain can be made out of a mole hill and will be by the parties with vested interest and wish harm to Sri Lanka. It is apt to mention that when it is National Security and only in national defence tactics, techniques and procedures of and, the targets taken by the ‘Dark Side’ (e.g. certain units within JSOC, SAS, GSG-9, Spetznas, Sayeret Matkal, or Sri Lanka’s own 2nd SF) of a nation’s military are not up for debate in public that results in inhibition and freedom of action in future operations, dangerous embarrassment to and demoralization in operators and threat to their lives. The consequence management once a threat is eliminated is so easy and painless as long as the public or media stay away in the name of the country and national security. Though they are very inquisitive, most of the time the public or media do not understand the big picture or the Courses of Actions (COAs) developed after using very exhausting and time consuming military decision making process (MDMP) on a threat and are not privy to all the information that leads to the elimination of the threat from wherever once and for all. Sri Lanka needs an authoritarian to manage the country, not a dithering, vacillating, vacuous ceremonial figurehead in funk. He will not be indecisive or inactive but will use force when the unruly protestors turn violent and start pelting stones and/or Molotov-cocktails at offices, government buildings, shops, vehicles and/or businesses. Underworld will be neutralized in an official and very effective way.

He will keep a sharp eye on and sternly deal with internal or external, foreign or domestic enemies. I would like to tell you this too that in a Sri Lanka where Gen SF is the CEO that there will also be brutalities by sick people, like the one where a bunch of sick policemen clubbed a mentally unsound human being to death. That is not a reflection of a country or its people. Not a deliberate or pre-meditated act by some Sinhalese members of the law enforcement agency against a minority Tamil. I condemn it in the strongest possible term and wish I was there to save him as I saved Tamils returning from India after the Indo-Lanka accord from harm in the hands of some ignorant personnel. I read an article written by a non-Sri Lankan with a holier-than-thou mentality. The writer was finding fault with spectators to the incident for by-stander apathy. Some may have called the law-enforcement or done something in their small way. After all that is why the video footage is available for the entire world to see that a nation’s society is not perfect but there are flawed and sick people living in it. But what I want to ask the writer what does ‘No Snitching’ in their western neighborhoods mean? What did poor Koreans in the Korea Town do to have their property looted and burnt? What about internment camp for the innocent Japanese? What about High Security Zones around Enduring Bases and what about the third country nationals who are employed in those enduring Bases but unable to leave the base to go to city? What about the religious places of worship declared off limits to natives as well as foreign troops in those Enduring Bases? Examples are aplenty. The persons who do not study history or have not had access to information is not aware that Sri Lankans as a nation are much more civil, decent and tolerant than most of the nations in the world. Believe it or not, that is the real truth!

There will be another argument, though not even existential in Sri Lanka, that appointing Gen SF as the CEO will pave way for a military dictatorship or junta in mufti. If someone knows about or has served in the military he or she knows that there is no other better institution that is fair and equitable than the military in the world. That is the very reason professional military officers are firm and fair in their lives. There is no tolerance whatsoever for discrimination. An officer cadet from Polonnaruwa Royal will get the same clothing bag items, pay, quantity of food, hair-cut and quality and quantity in punishment that of an officer cadet who joins from Royal College, Colombo 7. It is same for the soldiers too. What is wrong with a system where capable, fit and proper top brass fill the top slots? Nobody should be paranoid if he or she has been law-abiding and the citizenry need to be ready to abide a military system if it is the case to be. One who is not paranoid or panic-stricken will always opt for a military system if he or she really knows the customs, traditions, training and discipline in the military. They will be better off for sure. Only Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde types will decry and object to and oppose a military system.

What anyone interested in replacing a corrupt political system with a CEO has to do is to create a phenomenon like the one during the Islamic Revolution in 1979 in Iran where Ayatollah Khomeini assumed the spiritual leadership. Please do not misunderstand me; I am not advocating the mullahs’ politics or bloodletting that led to revolution or its aftermath, or current politics in Iran. I am just citing the profound and overwhelming approval for sort of his personality or image. The interested Sri Lankans need to generate that kind of emotions or ‘avalanche effect’ in peaceful manner to facilitate the appointment of Gen SF as the CEO. In a Presidential Election a notional person has to contest against the incumbent. If and when the notional person does win the Presidential Elections, the authority or power should be transferred to Gen SF to assume the CEO post of Sri Lanka using what I call the reverse Sonia Gandhi-to-Dr Manmohan Singh power transfer mechanism. Then Gen SF can appoint the Heads of Departments and others with ‘fit, proper and capable persons’! Then the question thus does not arise what if the Government does not accept his Letter of Registration before the elections.

Some Sri Lankans will have to sacrifice their comfort zones and idyllic living. The ball is in the court of the citizenry to decide whether to wallow in self-pity and continue to live on complaining of corruption, police brutality, human rights violations, unemployed graduates, sky-rocketing cost of living, labour unrest, corrupt and thug politicos, murderous underworld, drug king-pins, brazen and day light robberies, murder and mayhem, wanton destruction, fraud, waste and abuse etc, or make a brave, bold and out of ordinary decision to cast the vote for that notional person so that Gen SF could be appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of Sri Lanka. ‘Nothing is permanent except change, said Heraclitus. That change is needed now, not later. When you hear from a well-informed source that a young air force officer’s marriage was almost broken because he burnt the midnight oil to repair the damaged INDRA radar, and political wheeler-dealers were so mad, angry and hurt that they could not make fast bucks or millions by ‘repair by replacement’ and that YO saved a heck lot of foreign exchange for Sri Lanka your blood begins to boil. Sadly his only crime was he could not call his wife often enough and was very busy repairing the radar and plying between Colombo and Vauniya to make it happen. The haters disgracefully undertook to fill the void or absence of routine pillow talk between the loving husband and his wife with poisonous rumors to break the marriage. The marriage relations were on the brink or already strained for officers and soldiers alike due to high operational tempo (OPTEMPO). Some were barely holding on to the last straw. Moreover there is something fishy when a top notch engineer, a lecturer at Katubedda and a PhD who saved millions of dollars, a lot of FOREX, by repairing MLRS(‘Multi Barrels’) dies of ‘pneumonia’ in a foreign country on arms purchasing trip. I see no difference in the circumstances surrounding his death and that of Prof Senaka Bibile.

On General SF’s part he needs sooner than later to declare honestly to Sri Lankan whether he is prepared and stands ready to run the gauntlet and whether he is willing to suffer a few cuts, nicks and bruises, or gushing wounds when he emerges at the end of the two columns of people wanting to harm. He needs to avoid being just an actor in a political vaudeville staged by unfit politicos with vested interests. He owes it to the innocent with lots of hope, not to the wile and guile politicos. Only those innocent ones will be truly hurt or thoroughly disappointed if you do not have an ambition for real to be the CEO of a future Sri Lanka and just whip up hysteria or be wishy-washy by only alluding to your intentions without declaring in black and white your plan for a future Sri Lanka. I request if you are not willing to run the gauntlet what come may please do not take those innocent to a climax and let it fizzle out or to a zenith and drop them under gravity to be pulverized to smithereens on impact. Then you will be guilty of an unpardonable crime and live in infamy. You have to avoid that at all cost in order to die a peaceful death as one of the best warriors Sri Lanka has ever produced. Then you will be immortal in the hearts and mind of true Sri Lankans present and future!

“A nation without heroes is nothing"- Roberto Clemente

-Sri Lanka Guardian