Lanka down with Fonsekitis and Karapinchitis

"Gen. Fonseka too appears to have erred in his annexure to his letter of resignation in saying that the government alerting the Government of India on the alleged coup had resulted in placing of Indian troops on high alert. Fonseka should have known that such a declaration left the Indian government no option but to deny it, whether he was correct or not."
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By Gamini Weerakoon

(November 23, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) President Mahinda Rajapaksa played pandu at the Premadasa (he re-called it as Khettarama) Stadium on Tuesday. The President entertained his faithful in the jam packed stands to a delightful display of pol adi all round the wicket. It was in cricketing parlance of the environs of the stadium: Lanuwa Udin Ara, Lanuwa Yatin Ara. None could blame the President. It was his party convention and what else could you do at such conventions other than to keep walloping the opposition.

Rajapaksa was restrained to a degree. He named no names. He did not even name himself as being responsible for the great victory in the Thirty-Year- War. It was the victory of the party, it was the victory of ‘you people’ who fought against terrorism, he declared quite modestly, even though glory of victory shone on him and he bathed in it.

It was standard post war rhetoric but wrapped up in luminous SLFP- Blue, light of the stadium as he bashed everything out of sight. No one in the world could dictate to him, he declared pointing out to the foreign pressures to which he was subjected to but resisted. Some of those who had been with him in this struggle against terrorism to protect the country were no longer with him and were helping Pirapaharan’s death wish to materialise: split the army. The reference was obvious.

Barack Obama style

Rajapaksa thundered for well over an hour and then in moves on stage reminiscent of Barack Obama, ran down a stepladder off stage and trotted out in step with his bodyguards — arms held in running in Obama style. He even spoke in fluent Tamil for many minutes but whether it was with the aid of a teleprompter (used by TV presenters) or his newly acquired linguistic knowledge is not certain.

But what exactly were his roseate dreams of Mahinda Chintanaya for the second term that were conveyed to his faithful audience? There was nothing new — not even whether he would have a presidential or parliamentary first. Some commentators in the Rajapaksa camp are happy over the stadium performance — good enough to win an election. But in his second term as president does he wanted to be remembered only as a politician who won the war? Politicians, it is said, think only of winning the next election; statesmen think of future generations. Will Rajapaksa be content in being remembered only for his contribution to winning the war?

The country is in election mode but the electoral process has yet to be initiated by President Rajapaksa. He is playing with his cards close to his chest. Presidential or parliamentary and if so when? is the query on Sri Lankan lips. Last week the opposition parties floated the story: Rajapaksa is running scared. He has to declare elections soon before he sinks further into the political quagmire, he has fallen into after sitting pretty just a few months ago.

Fonseka under attack

With the media in election mode Gen. Sarath Fonseka the former army commander who it is speculated would be the common opposition candidate is occupying the centre stage. Last week some English language columnists came down hard on him. Apparently a hot reception is planned out for the General.

He was painted as an egoistic, brash, megalomaniacal military commander who was posturing as the Sinhala warrior king Dutu Gemunu and taking credit for success in the war against terrorism whereas it was Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his brother Mahinda Rajapaksa who had helped and guided Fonseka all along. One commentator went on the claim that there had been severe friction between Fonseka and some of the top notch officers of the armed services and it was Gotabaya Rajapaksa who had been able to guide Fonseka along to attain the military objectives.

Coup sans officer cadre?

Some of these reports went on the allege that Fonseka was suspected of attempting a coup d’etat against the Rajapaksa government and that was the reason he was hurriedly relieved of his post as army commander soon after the LTTE was militarily defeated. There appears to be a basic contradiction in the arguments of the Fonseka critics in that an army commander who is at loggerheads with his officer corps and resented by them, could simply not have staged a coup to take over power! Military history reveals that the officer corps is required for such coup d’tats and it cannot be done however much the leaders are popular with the rank and file.

Leaks?

In some of the commentaries almost verbatim reports of telephone conversations between the former army commander and top officials have been reported. How would the contents of these alleged conversations which were privy only to Fonseka and the official at the other end be known to the correspondents unless there had been inspired leaks by some not very well disposed to Fonseka? We are not faulting our colleagues since such inspired leaks by officials or by telephone tapping have been the basis of world famous scoops such as Watergate. But such unconfirmed reports do place a question mark on the credibility of the contents of the alleged telephone conversations.

Gen. Fonseka too appears to have erred in his annexure to his letter of resignation in saying that the government alerting the Government of India on the alleged coup had resulted in placing of Indian troops on high alert. Fonseka should have known that such a declaration left the Indian government no option but to deny it, whether he was correct or not. Besides he should have realised the constant inconsistency of our Big Brother’s claims on Indo-Sri Lanka affairs from the very beginning of this conflict.

Since our colleagues seem to have climbed a very high moral pedestal on this issue, such as statements being made that the resignation of an army commander should be confined to only just a line or two, it is also essential that the criticism made about Gen Fonseka too should be without blemish. We wish to assure our readers that we are not afflicted with ‘Fonsekitis’ which is now reaching epidemic proportions or ‘Mahinditis’ which has been endemic now for four years.

Karapinchitis

In this pre-election period, we journalists should be alert to all forms of diseases affecting our body politic. Last Sunday many of us seem to have ignored Karapinchitis that has been taking a heavy toll on our politicians. To the uninitiated, Karapinchitis originates from Karapincha — curry leaf which is used for the flavour it imparts to curries and then thrown into the sink. The victims of Karapinchitis during the past few years have been: Mangala Samaraweera, Sripathy Sooriyarachchi, JVP, UNP renegades (all not yet in the sink) and last but not least, Gen. Sarath Fonseka.

-Sri Lanka Guardian