Democracies don’t need oppositions, they need vibrant,
effective and sober oppositions. 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.
It needs leaders but personality dependence is not indicative of
strength but flaw.
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. Sarath Fonseka was not endowed with this kind
of resource package in 2009. As JVP
firebrand Lalkantha put it, Fonseka served a purpose. He was, therefore, used. Discarded.
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. He had strange friends back
then and was clearly ill-advised.
There were 5 key people who backed Sarath Fonseka in
2009/10: Ranil Wickremesinghe, Mangala Samaraweera, Somawansa Amarasinghe, R.
Sampanthan and Rauf Hakeem. When Fonseka
was released last week, none of them were around to greet him. Tiran
Alles, Parliamentarian and political associate is widely held as the ‘broker’
in getting Fonseka released. Arjuna
Ranatunga, another party member, clearly chagrined, said ‘everyone should get
the credit’. 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’t bow down to far
greater pressure levels (to stop the military operations against the LTTE) in
the last years of the conflict. Alles
says, ‘No, the USA had nothing to do with it’.
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. Fonseka wryly observed
that the President cannot be proud of himself for holding back his (Fonseka’s)
civic rights. The President has said
that he doesn’t want to interfere in matters decided in a military court which
is essentially saying ‘I used my discretion in one way about release and
another about granting civic rights’.
The political implication is obvious: Fonseka cannot run for President.
Fonseka’s wife, Anoma, claims that some UNPers secretly
(that’s a keyword) back a UNP-Fonseka alliance.
Another report says that UNPers have been warned not to be close to
Fonseka. Prominent UNPers were seen
welcoming the former Army Commander when he was released, among them some whose
‘discipline’ is being queried by the party.
The JVP, although their parliamentary presence is largely thanks to
having clung onto Fonseka’s coattails in April 2010, has distanced itself from
Lalkantha’s dismissive comment, but hasn’t exactly been bubbling with
excitement after Fonseka was released. Neither has Fonseka been chummy with his
main election-ally.
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. Fonseka has gone on
record (after his release) to say that he took a budu pilimaya to the battlefront and took it to prison as well, a
statement of fact that cannot sit too well with that crowd. He is unlikely to back ‘devolution’.
R. Sampanthan’s party, the TNA, which backed Fonseka’s
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
‘political prisoners’ (read LTTE cadres, ex-terrorists). 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. Rauf
Hakeem has since joined the Government.
Mangala Samaraweera, apart from getting his time-trusted minions to run
‘news’ websites that give journalism a bad name, has not been seen or heard of
for quite a while. Chandrika
Kumaratunga, who gave a guarded ‘yes’ to Fonseka days before the election, has
not offered any comments.
Fonseka’s 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.
The JVP has since split in two.
The end of the road for Sarath Fonseka?
No. An online poll
carried out by www.nation.lk asking voters
who they believe Fonseka should align with, shows ‘Mahinda Rajapaksa’
comfortably leading Sajith Premadasa and Ranil Wickremesinghe, but lagging
behind the 5th ‘choice’: ‘None of the above’. That could be a reflection of general
sentiment. In other words, Fonseka
should consider leaving these politicians alone (he’s certainly been used and
bitten by them). Makes sense if he wants
to be principled and untarnished by the machinations politicians are generally
known for. Lack of an organization,
however, doesn’t do much for achieving political goals. Good men and women have played and lost.
Badly.
Perhaps Fonseka should seriously consider a different
path. 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. 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. 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.
Harping on wrongs done to him and decrying person and not office/abuse
won’t get him far, for he has a handicap: the possibility of having the ‘sour
grape’ tag pinned on him.
He needs an organization, but that’s for later. He needs people, lots of people, but he has
enough to start things rolling. He needs
a project and one that is not about capturing power but getting the country
back on track. In this he will need to
be wary, more of his friends than his known detractors. It’s mine-ridden, this path, but it seems, as
of now, the only sensible direction for this colorful and controversial man to
take.
2 comments:
Sarath Fonseka is walking into the field at a crucial time. The TNA's Batticaloa address shows that the 'stripes' had been only whitewashed but the lime is wearing off. Sarath Fonseka can contribute to fighting further efforts to divide the country this time through guile as against arms. The time is coming once more when those who love the land must stand firm. This is not a time for disunity.
Sarath Fonseka would be best advised to stay clear of politics. He appears not to have learnt anything after his so-called friends callously used him and dropped him. Anyway, the fact remains that although released, he is still an exconvict but he is behaving as if he had been found innocent.
Post a Comment