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Gen. Sarath Fonseka is a free man today. It is heartening that saner counsel has prevailed at last and the parties to the dispute that led to his incarceration have softened their positions.
The 2010 electoral showdown between President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Gen. Sarath Fonseka as a result of a bitter personality clash and its impact on the polity served the purpose of only those who opposed the war and/or supported the LTTE they made the most of that tussle to make a comeback. The UNP and the JVP used SF not only to avoid certain defeat at the last presidential race but also to bask in the reflected glory of the war-winning army chief and shore up their crumbling images. The TNA, which had chosen to remain mum on war crimes allegations in the wake of the defeat of the LTTE, got emboldened by its association with SF-led Opposition and the government`s defensive action on the political front to call for an international probe subsequently.
Following the country`s war victory, Gen. Fonseka got short-changed as is common knowledge. Perhaps, the Rajapaksas bent on making political capital out of the defeat of terrorism did not want to share the credit for the successful war with anyone who, they thought, had political ambitions. A cocky Gen. Fonseka also refused to acknowledge others contribution to the country`s triumph over terrorism and deserted his estranged friends in a huff to join forces with his wily foes who had insulted and vilified him in public. Even the overseas Tigers and NGOs sympathetic to the LTTE`s cause threw in their lot with him. Adversity, as they say, makes strange bedfellows!
Bankrupt yet crafty Opposition politicians adroitly fuelled Gen. Fonseka`s political ambitions by likening him to General Dwight Eisenhower, who became US President. Fonseka fell for their tricks hook, line and sinker. Little did he realise that it was Gen. Douglas MacArthur`s political fate, and not Eisenhower`s, that awaited him. President Truman`s famous words about political ambitions of Eisenhower and MacArthur come to mind: `The nation`s two greatest heroes seem to suffer from either `Potomac fever` [desire to share State power in Washington by being appointed or elected to positions of government] or brass infection.`
After Gen. Fonseka`s failed presidential bid, he was charged with, inter alia, questionable arms deals, an attempt to overthrow a democratically elected government and assassinate the incumbent president and causing rifts in the army during his tenure as both the army commander and Chief of Defence Staff. The rest is history.
Suffice it to say that a government that has no qualms about shielding crooks responsible for mega rackets the CPC oil hedging scam is a case in point hauled up a war winning general before a military tribunal over some flimsy matters involving a few million rupees. Hundreds of fraudsters and criminals within government ranks who should have been thrown behind bars many years ago have gone scot free!
Gen. Fonseka`s political plans are not immediately known, but according to a public announcement he made after his release last evening he is sure to remain in active politics. Usually, a person starts his political career from the grassroots and rises to the top but in the case of Gen. Fonseka it has happened the other way around. He found himself catapulted by circumstances slap-bang to the topmost rung of the Opposition as its common presidential candidate three years ago. But, today, he has had to set out on an arduous political journey all over again and build his party.
Time was when SF enjoyed the backing of an undivided Opposition including the TNA. But, today the JVP stands divided with the dissident faction accusing its rivals of having ruined the party`s future by supporting SF`s presidential bid. The UNP has also suffered a split though there is no breakaway group as such. Only the UNP rebels are really supportive of SF today because they are without a strong leader to take on their bete noire, Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is all out to oust them and consolidate his power in the party.
Gen. Fonseka`s popularity will be put to test even before he fully recovers from prison hangover, as it were, at the next PC polls on the horizon, where his party, most probably, will have to vie not only with the government but also with the UNP and the JVP. The chances of the oppositional forces coming together once again with him as the leader are remote if the rapid disintegration of the anti-Rajapaksa coalition immediately after the 2010 presidential election is anything to go by the UNP pulled out of the opposition alliance hurriedly refusing to abandon its Elephant symbol and contested the 2010 parliamentary polls separately.
SF finds himself in a different political milieu today with a host of new formidable challenges before him. However, his release has warmed the cockles of many a heart as he richly deserves freedom and a happy life. It is hoped that he and the government will learn from their past mistakes and resolve to avoid them in the future. Cheers!
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AnuD
Senior Member
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 58628
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 24 May 2012 16:15:25 GMT Report for Abuse
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SF is not ein freedom.
See, almost everyday how he is bashed.
It like living in some Arab country before the arab spring.
Edited By - AnuD - 24 May 2012 16:16:23 GMT |
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