Dear readers,
Late last year, when it was evident that the SLDF defeat of the LTTE was a foregone conclusion, a well orchestrated campaign to defame the then SLA commander, Lt. General Sarath Fonseka was organised by the LTTE and pro LTTE elements in Sri Lanka. The intention was to drive a wedge between the SLA commander and the Government, specifically to damage the very close relationship between the Commander and the President / Defence Secretary. Through concerted efforts by the patriots, this campaign was nullified.
However, following the end of the war and victory over the LTTE, the vicious campaign has raised its ugly head, the renewed campaign is an attempt to break the UPFA voter base claiming that Chief of Defence Staff will run for office next year. Some UPFA stalwarts and patriots have fallen for this campaign hook, line and sinker and have issued statements that have not helped, and have only managed to intensify the rumour mills. EFT sources close to the Government have confirmed to us that the relationship between the Chief of Defence Staff and the President / Defence Secretary is closer than ever and have nullified the speculation that the CDS will run for President as a common candidate. EFT would also like to quell the popular belief that the CDS is a ceremonial post, according to the provisions of the CDS act, the CDS has executive powers and is the senior most SLDF officer in the Island with the power to command the forces. Do not fall for this malicious campaign and do not fall for the rumours, do your best to nip this unpatriotic acts in the bud.
EFT.
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29 comments:
What the good general should do is come out and declare that he respect the president and his leadership, without being a cry baby.
It seems the general is upset that during the army exhibition, his photo was removed from its position and the presidents photo was placed there.
What a cry baby.
When president came into power SF was on track to retirement. President cut short the previous Army commanders extensions and allowed SF to get the commander position. In fact the President gave the the highest position SF could accomplish in his carrier, talk about a photo.
Then the president gave him an armor plated car, at that time even the defense sectary didn't had one, apparently this saved his life, talk about a photo being hung out of place.
When the opposition was attacking SF.
Mapila (mangala) saying the commander is not even suitable to lead the salvation army.
UNPers and TNA saying, there are army death squads controlled by the commander abducting journalist, the president defended SF. Talk about a photo out of place.
When the war ended the president promoted SF to the highest rank possible. Even the defense sectary was not given that honor. If you remember after op- riviresa, then government quickly promoted the defense minister to General rank not the commander who commanded the operation. Talk about a photo.
The president took a great political risk waging war, he stood up face to face against immense international pressure. He has all the right to gain the political advantage of his policies. That is what politics is all about.
The General being silent on this issue is feeding the defamation campaign, even when asked he didn't give a straight answer, he's being a cry baby, no wonder why we couldn't win the war for 30 years.
General should come out and declare that there is no rift between him and the president and that he respect the leadership and courage of the president. That is his duty and he owes it to the president for what the president has done to him.
Hello Mahen,
Good to see you are alive still!
Think it should be SF who should come up with the truth as President will always remain silent..
Ninja said...
SF made it clear more than once that he has no intention for doing politics. This was his official stand. However, (kala paththara web sites, mada web sites, etc) keep propagating SF becoming common candidate. At that rate, SF will be out of time if he is going to reply to all them and prove his stand. Besides, such (kala paththara websites) will earn some validity for their rumors too.
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Ninja,
According to Dhehapaluwa, he has not made it clear. Why do we have two opinions regarding this.
Second,
I know lot of patriots are reluctant to criticise SF because he is our National Hero, thinking it is an insult to him. But we Criticise MR all the time, one in a while GR as well. Why not SF? I like Dheshapaluwa's comments whether it is correct or not.
We do not have to be like LTTE supporters like Peter and Jay, who never sees anything wrong with their leaders. I think it is good to have independent opinion even if it brings our heroes down a bit.
SK, If you have any problems, please criticise Dheshapaluwa and not me. hehe.
With regard to photo at the army exhibition.
I totally disagree with MR's photo displayed in the army exhibition. However it is equally wrong to display then Army commander's photo too. Army has to be a faceless force that safeguards the territorial integrity of a country. It should not have a face. The exhibition should not have been used to gain personal mileage by SF or to gain political mileage by MR.
JRJ gave leadership to Vadamarachchi campaign although he had to succumb to Indian pressure at the end. He to his credit did not take credit for such things. Even today we revere Gen. Kobbekaduwa as the architect of that run.
MR/GR/SF contributed in equal measure in their areas for the victory. UPFA is milking this for political gain. We need MR/GR caliber head for the nation to ensure that separatism will not raise its head again. If RW is elected as the president there is a big risk of separatism and excessive devolution raising its head.
This does not mean that UPFA can ruin the country economically with its nationalistic politics. But it is the case now. It seems that is a price we have to pay. To not to have separatism and economy to be ruined or economically develop and face separation. Although I continue to be a UNP supporter with regard to economic policies I reluctantly have to support MR for the sake of a unified country.
War victory and patriotism is not used to take any long term precautions against separatism such as constitutional changes or they are not used to make hard unpopular decisions to take the country in the right economic path. The only I mean ONLY use the war victories are used is to conduct election after election and strengthen the power of few. It’s a shame to not to use the sacrificed of 26000 soldiers in a bigger way so that several future generations of this country would benefit. Many other detrimental things are happening in the economic front now. Only few things come to light. As I said I am willing to see these losses in several fronts and incomprehensible individual gains by few for the sake of the country’s territorial integrity.
The war victories while benefitting the country is making huge political advantages to MR and UPFA. The least MR can do is to treat SF well as he too played an equal and crucial share of the victory.
Gen. Fonsekas action won us the war, but his inaction cost us long term stability.
Gen. Fonseka is a hero no question about that, his stratergies and style won the war.
But we need more than winning the war, we need long term stability, we need a constitutional change that devolve power to regional bodies without vilolating the unitary state.
And we need 2/3 of the parliament to do this. Before this saga UPFA was on the track to winning 2/3rd even 5/6, but not anymore. The opposition was in shambles they couldnt find anything to attack the government.
First it was Hikka festival, people dindt care,
then it was the MR's sisters house in Deniyaya people attacked the UNPers who were going to see it.
Then it was about selling gold, people laughed.
But this issue has stiked with people, people love true heroes, so when they are being attacked (even falsely) people make notice of that.
Polular governments like UPFA cannot be defeated overnight, it can be done by chipping away their popularity slowly attaking everyday and slowly bleeding the polularity. This issue certainly started the bleeding.
To have permenant peace in this country we need to devolve power without violating the unitary state. With racists like Mano Ganeshan, Rauff Hakeem and biggots like Sirithunga Jayasooriy the UNP coalition will never protect the unitarty state, all that is won will be lost if they come into power. If UPFA led by MR was to gain power with 2/3 majority we would have hoped for real solutions.
But Gen Fonseka being silent has started the downfall of the UPFA popularity. It is sure he wont run for precidency from UNP coalition, but he has done real damge to the chances of UPFA gaining 2/3 majority and achiving constitutional change that would provied long term stability in this country.
However Gen Fonseka can change the situatiuon overnight. He can come out and accept the nomination to run for Gall district (His home town) and for the defence minister post form UPFA. The seniorty of Gotabay Rajapaksha wont be a problem as he has generousely agreed to resign. With SF running for Defence minister position, the UPFA list will look attractive than ever, people will flok to polling stations to vote for who ever UPFA candidate running in their districts. This is the only way permanant peace can be achived in Sri Lanka.
Gen Fonseka Sir, the people are waiting.
දේශපාලුවා / Thusitha,
Would be interesting to know when will be the nomination dead line etc.
Surely that should give us an indication to find out who would be running and where the split may happen.
I think it is fault of both sides. In any case, I hope that speculations and criticism would damage the patriotic sector regardless whom is targeted. Both Mr and SF are heroes regardless whatever. So in the worst case if they're fighting we should leave it gracefully for them, w/o taking sides, blaming other and belittling one. Also w/o providing a live telecast of that fight.
Regardless of whatever I believe SF has another 5yrs duty at CDS. Any other military leader would be as patriotic, but I doubt whether anyone else is as visionary, anticipative and innovative as he is. His role is not to attend to petty issues of military, he shud aim purely on future. How to convert SLDF into a force that can face any modern military challenge, and how it can improve its intelligence services. Firing him form CDS is equally risky as MR loosing PE.
Govt as a whole is mostly responsible the way they lost popularity. SPC election was a foolish campaign. War victory alone is not enough to win public support for ever. If they do silly things like insertion of Sajin/Anarkali, appointing of fools like Muthuhetti, and giving freedoms to thuggery in many areas during pre-election, will never get them there. Nor will they get 2/3 as long as they keep scums like Mervyn, who had no vote bease anywhere in SL.
Deshapaluwa
I TOTALLY agree with your second post.
The seperatists want SF/GR/MR combination split. If there is even an iota of chance of that happening MR should be avoiding it at any cost.
Insiting SF to run Galle is as dangerours as Janaka P running for CM. People like him should be protected or not exposed.
I pray there is not an issue between MR and SF. If there is MR being the boss should take the initiative to resolve that. Then I fully agree that SF should make a Strong public statement that his loyalties are with the current administration.
If there is an issue all that has influence with the admin should nudge the people to resolve rather than escalating. Egos egos. Courty is more imporatnt than egos
Sujeewa
2/3 majority is easy for MR. Election will give him 1.7/3 the balance 0.3/3 will cross after the election. He just have to throw few portfolios. Last time they had to get many to reach 2/3 and it didn't happen. This time it is a possibility as he will be close to 2/3. My worry is if he use the 2/3 to devolve beyond reason to please India et el? Anyways MR is less riskier than RW.
Thusitha said...
Ian said...
My worry is if he use the 2/3 to devolve beyond reason to please India et el?
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For me MR is not a single person. I believe MR = MR + GR.
The negotiator + a fighter. Like the Tsunami that came in, this is once in a 1000 year combination.
That is why I support MR so much.
I assume that GR will keep MR on track (which he is quite capable of having a bias to liberal political views) if he try to deviate and do stuff that would harm the integrity of our nation.
This is an assumption, but I am not sure whether I am 100% correct here.
Putting words in General Fonseka’s mouth …
General SF is a true hero. His tactics won the war and there is no doubt about that. He was not made hero by the president. But only MR had the vision to understand his capabilities and hand him over the daunting task of winning the war. He did this at an unbelievable speed. As much as MR’s leadership, SF’s tactics matter too. That’s why we need to give due respect to both these people.
No one has confirmed reports to say that SF is coming to politics. But they speculate and speculate in style. They put the words they want to here into SF’s mouth and interpret his words in a way suitable to them. This is indeed getting high on mis-information.
On the other hand, if someone says that SF owes everything to MR and should make a statement now, I think again, that is being ignorant. SF has made statements after statements. They were published in quite a few newspapers. As much as he would like to see a country without corruption, he has NO intention to come to politics, he has clearly stated. How many times should the good general repeat the massage to go into one’s head?
We tend to seek excitement and believe only what we want to believe. Our brains would ignore the comments of SF’s and believe what’s there in so called ‘informed sites’ if that’s what excite us. If you know really want to know the truth, ‘the truth is out there’ for you to grab in the most plain and simple form. The general has said it himself. If you don’t want to believe his words, well what can I say?
Thusitha/Ian;
I won't put my money on purely MR based solution, and do not believe MR=MR+GR always. MR listens to GR only in matters that matters to GR's interest, and GR so far never interfered to political things. If a bad devolution is given, I dunno whether GR will oppose or retire himself.
I'd vote for UPFA but always give my pref votes for men who'd safeguard the nation, and be able to stand against even MR when needed. My fear is getting a 1.7/3 of yesmen, teamed with 0.3/2 eelamist into a 2/3 govt. A 2/3 for eelam is always easier than a 2/3 for non-eelam. This is why we shud fill the 1.7/3 that we vote with genuine patriots with enough backbone to resist MR if needed.
Agree with all that SF shud not contest PE or GE. I think he shud be given more room to plan the future of military at CDS role [heard that he's got bored with it, despite Mahen assuring he';s not] and keep him for another 5yrs, after which he shud serve a term or two in national list if he wills. No pref votes, no secretary roles. No common candidate either [all three, in my view, will be rejected by SF anyway]
SF is not a cry man, he's fighting an important ideological front. I may have differences with his sinhala only view, but we need that view also represented as some ppl do believe so.
Also he is by far the only man who spoke about Ethnic Integration by means of colonization. His planned big camps include military residencies, and that looks to me as the only way how Sinhala population can "safely" and realistically be settled in north. Although it is always theoreticaly possible to execute our sovereign powers to create multinational colonies, I have given up the possibility of MR it. Most likely plan for him gotta be to break TNA by two [which again is a better short term solution].
Ppl like SF are gems for the brilliance of thinking power. We need them at RIGHT places.
Basil the rat.
swap bombs for BlackBerrys
Sujeewa Kokawala said...
Thusitha/Ian;
I won't put my money on purely MR based solution, and do not believe MR=MR+GR always.
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You have a point here. But he got us the best outcome negotiating and dealing in the last part of the war. I would be surprised that he would get SL a bad deal during the devolution.
Anyway, all these devolution are promises by a politician. MR must have had to sun and the moon to get India e.t.c. to end LTTE. That does not mean he had to keep these promises after the end of the war.
Also I don't believe that we are still out of the wood. A strategically placed bomb might kill all of our peace dividends. I don't think it is a good thing to rock the boat and start talking about changing our devolution packages. That should come with bit more stability. Then a healthy debate would be good and I am sure MR would back down if there are enough protests by Sri Lankan Patriots.
I am sure Maha Rajano would not want to go in to Sam Pereras Jathiye Pahara Ballo list.
Get ready guys. Wonder what would would be the outcome!
Investigations report by EU on Lanka out this evening
Where is this video
The General has a long and distinguished history of service to his country... like him or not.
MR and his brothers have far less of an investment in Sri Lanka in terms of public service.
As such SF gets the benefit of doubt in my mind and the other three... well... they are politicians first and foremost.
He has been dealing with rats for years and now has a few more on his plate... he just can't shoot them on a beach somewhere.
At this point we are past the traditional military fighting and can focus on the money. I do not think he is or ever has been for sale but others are less patriotic than he.
Wake up and smell the coffee... the good General has and it isn't the smell of Napalm in the morning.
}{MI}{
Could some one please explain to me, why the government is planning to hold the presidential election before the parliamentary election ?
It seems like a stupid idea, given that the most important thing is to gain 2/3 power while the popularity is high ! President has some more time until he needs a reelection and it is highly unlikely that he may drop so drastically in popularity in a short period in time. So he is not in risk !
[[Could some one please explain to me, why the government is planning to hold the presidential election before the parliamentary election ?]]
How do you know this?
Sujeewa,
I agree, maybe no one knows for sure. But is't that what we hear these days ? Anyway it is confusing to hear what is going on in Sri Lanka these days.
http://www.sundaytimes.lk/091018/Columns/political.html
There are lots of things to be done to prevent the country from falling back to the same situation as before..
Names of false news sites to be announced – Media Minister
October 20, 2009 01:49 pm
Government today said that it will publish the names of websites that have spread false news in the recent past in an attempt to destabilize society. Media Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena addressing a press conference today said that a public announcement will be made naming these sites which are according to him using the internet without the responsible usage of the press freedom.
Mahen Aunty,
Looks like you gonna get exposd as a "false news sites". You never told us truth about the Pottu story. However, no one has said its not true, so gonna hold you to that story till someone says the truth. Surely he is dead no?
Apologis for poor English, I am a poor village boy educated in garment school, no enough luck to goes to Cambridg like you.
Mahen,
Thanks for the encouraging post after ages. Good to see you getting finally activated to enlighten us on the latest developments. Any way the rumours spreading here are to the contrary. This is SL, so anything is possible.
From Daily Mirror
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had directly told the International Monetary Fund that his government would give Sri Lanka US$2.6 billion if the IMF did not approve the standby facility requested by the country, parliament was told yesterday.
Deputy Finance Minister Sarath Amunugama said this was the type of friendship Sri Lanka had nurtured especially with its regional neighbours and that the country would never forget the assistance received from countries like India and Pakistan.
“I want to place this on record. Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee telephoned the Indian representatives of the IMF and asked them to canvass for the approval of this loan to Sri Lanka.
Dr. Singh had himself said that in case the IMF does not approve the loan, India will not hesitate to provide the required funds,” Dr. Amunugama said.
He said a mega development boost was to be seen in post conflict Sri Lanka
Mahen Aunty,
Below does not mention any of your affairs with Rajaratnam.
Unless you also a Thomian lady!
FACTBOX-Key facts about Sri Lanka-born billionaire Rajaratnam
Expect some good and big news on IDP re settlement soon.
We at EFT have always appealed to the early release of IDPs.
Sarath Manamendra deserves a lot of publicity. Mahen, I think you have an obligation to introduce him to us.
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