Sarath Fonseka: I didn’t become a field marshal by selling chickpeas on Galle Face Green
Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka, Minister of Regional Development, is widely credited as a key element contributing to end the 30-year war. Fonseka who was jailed by Mahinda Rajapakse regime sees him as the most qualified person to hold the post of law and order, a portfolio that has been kept away from him so far. This is the Sinhala translation of the recent speech the controversial, straight-talking politician made in the parliament.
We never faced a tragedy like the one we came face to face with on April 21. Today I am not speaking from the side of the government. I am speaking for the country. We should not try to protect the government or politicians; we have to speak for the nation.
Our concern should be to face reality and think how to rescue the country. We saved the country which suffered for 32 years in the grip of a painful war. The reason for that, as I think, should be attributed to the weaknesses of certain politicians and armed forces chiefs. There were enough opportunities to end that war without being dragged on for such a long time. Prabhakaran could survive for a long time as he was shrewd enough to identify our weaknesses. We could end the war as qualified people with abilities and knowhow were appointed to key posts in administration and military fields.
What happened on Easter day is not something we can take lightly. The LTTE took a long time, more than 10 or 12 years, to launch an attack like the one we faced on April 21. But the present terrorism we are facing has started with the devastating Easter attack.
The LTTE was driven by the ideology to divide the country and perished by desperately trying to divide the land. New terrorism is inspired by a religion with young people taking the wrong path. We are sorry about these young people taking this misguided path, and we are not angry with them. It is a terrorism having extra-territorial links drawing active support internationally like the LTTE.
We have international sympathy and assistance but what we are facing now is a plague. The people of our country have to face difficulties irrespective of what religious or political ideology they belong to. The old fear has raised its head once more. Today, we are not sure whether we can come home safely. Father and mother have to go work in two different vehicles. It is not safe to send two children in the same vehicle. We may have to open the check points and barricades once again. People will have to be frisked to see whether they are carrying arms. A young man having a beard may be caught and questioned suspected of being a Muslim. Tourism will be affected. There won’t be foreign investments. Even if a new government comes into power the situation will not change.
All of us in the parliament have to cooperate with the soul aim of rescuing the country. I believe many politicians who came to power after the 32-year war did not take the correct path. When peace dawned after three decades of war, our country took the appearance of a carnival and people started to live a carefree life. There was nothing bad in that. After suffering for 32 years we had the opportunity to free ourselves from fear and begin the carnival life. The politicians and the armed forces too became a part of this carnival, forgetting the responsibilities expected from them. They had to mindful of their responsibilities whether there was a war or not. The politicians did not care to fulfil their duties.
Everybody joined the merry-go-round
Everybody joined the merry-go-round. Politicians took that opportunity to strengthen their power thinking of the windfall the politics would bring and preparing to spend a better life. They never took time to look at the changing priorities and new developments in the global arena. The emerging world problems were discussed here and there but no one cared to properly concentrate on those developments and take remedial action.
The security of the nation is the topmost priority before the economy because it is not possible to build an economy where there is no protection and willingness to strengthen the security.
For example, Singapore is a country with the same landmass of the Colombo city. But that country has provided military training for three million people. Singapore has the highest defence budget in South East Asia, even more than Australia. As our politicians think that strengthening security does not bring votes the attention paid to this area remain very low. That is why we have to face a situation like this today. When a country has no security it means that the rulers have neglected their duties. We cannot escape from that guilt. Everybody on either side of the aisle in the parliament have to bear responsibility. You cannot pass the buck.
Foreign intelligence sources informed us about the impending bomb attacks on April 21, well in advance to take action to stop that. Today, many theories are discussed. Some say there was not enough time. It does not matter whether the warning came on April 4 or April 9. If the warning reached us on April 4, necessary action should have been taken on April 5. If the information reached on April 9 the action to prevent that should have been taken on April 10. There is no point in arguing about the time. I saw the copy of a letter sent to VIP security units by the IGP. Then I saw the copy of a letter sent by the national intelligence chief on television. That letter has been sent to the IGP by the national intelligence chief. As I know, in a security council, national intelligence chief does not function under the ICP. Intelligence chief is under defence minister and the defence secretary. If the intelligence chief is forwarding a letter, a copy should to go the president without fail. In this instance the letter has also gone to defence secretary. It is wrong to victimise the IGP for this glitch. It is impossible to say the president has not seen the letter. If the sessions of the security council were held once a week, this letter could have come for discussion. In case of a crucial letter of that nature the council had to summoned immediately.
Sacking of the IGP (Pujith Jayasundera) is no solution because there are people above him who are responsible for this. When the present IGP was appointed I objected and said Wickremasinghe (another senior police official) was the ideal man for the post. I suggested to try Wickremasinghe in the post for about two years before appointing the Pujith. I met the president four time to discuss this issue.
Ignoring the warning letter was the greatest threat to our security. Opposition leader (Mahinda Rajapakse) may very well remember the suggestions I made at the end of the 32-year war. I suggested to create an efficient intelligence unit. I am not sure whether that happened.
After the war was over, intelligence units were used to settle scores with people like me and spy on our children. Even my government in power today did not try to strengthen intelligence. All the governments in power for the last 10 years should take responsibility for the present debacle because terrorism of this nature cannot be created overnight.
LTTE took 12 years to detonate a suicide bomb
LTTE took 12 years to detonate a suicide bomb to kill Ranjan Wijeratne (a former defence minister). The Easter bomb is at least the work of seven or eight years. There may be around 300 or 400 people behind that attack. This attack was launched by a leader in the calibre of Prabhakaran.
People now tell me not to annoy the president as there is a chance that he might appoint me as minister of law or order. There was a talk like that sometime ago. If I reveal these things, terrorists might try to attack me too. I have only 17 police guards to protect me. There were four STF guards too, but they were withdrawn on October 24.
I saw the brief message the president sent from Singapore condoling the deaths. He came to Sri Lanka at midnight though there were two planes leaving Singapore at 3pm and 9pm. He should have come immediately as he is the defence minister. When the president shows that he is weak we also become weak.
The security council, defence minister and defence secretary have shirked their responsibilities. If this happened in another country, responsible officials would have resigned immediately. Those things have never happened in our country.
The warning about the attack never got the priority that was paid to Namal Kumara (a man who was accused of plotting to kill several politicians including the president) or Madush (a drug baron who was arrested in Dubai). Therefore, the security and intelligence of the country had become a laughing stock. It is only used to settle scores with personal and political enemies.
The prime minister and the state minister for defence have not been invited to attend the security council meetings for six months. Do these things happen in a normal country? There are some politicians from the opposition in the security council. In which country do you see opposition members appointed to the security council? We can make the world laugh at these jokes. Did the security council speak about horse racing or betting? (he refers to Thilanga Sumathipala who is in the security council. His family owns a gaming business).
I respect the prime minister but why didn’t he go to security council meetings. He never mentioned that in the parliament. We didn’t know he was not invited to attend the security council meetings. There are no excuses. If the state minister for defence could not attend the security council meetings he should have resigned. What is the use if he is unaware of important security decisions. These are unforgivable lapses.
Some of my friends have held the post of law and order without having the required qualifications. How can a young inexperienced minister give instructions to veterans in the forces. If we continue to err like this we will never be able to save our country. Some people appointed as ministers are not qualified. We have decided that an administrative officer should be the defence secretary. Couple of senior officers were tried but then the practise of appointing relatives, classmates and friends became the norm. Everyone has failed.
In India all the officers in the defence ministry study at the Indian defence college which is one of the best in the world. For my luck, I studied in the royal defence college in England. Our people should at least go to the Indian defence college to horn their skills. Experience as a civil servant is useless without further education in the defence field. Some of our defence secretaries don’t know there are 25 soldiers in a platoon.
After the attack president has said ‘we are sad about the attacks, we will punish the culprits, all funerals will be at the expense of the government, orders given to relevant authorities to hunt down the culprits, we will declare emergency, May Day processions are banned, New Year celebrations are cancelled etc’. What’s the use of all this? How can the people live?
I am not going to talk about the terrorists because there are lot of so-called pundits among us who seem to have lot of knowledge about the subject. If I speak further about that, someone might throw a bomb at me. How can I escape such an attack. I have a security jeep with 600,000 km mileage that stalls frequently on the road. I tried to get a better vehicle but my requests fell on deaf ears. I asked for a jeep at least with a 200,000 km but nothing happened.
Use my knowledge to develop security
After the Easter bomb attack I requested a meeting with the prime minister and permission was granted only after 48 hours. I am a field marshal. I know about security. I became a field marshal not by selling chickpeas at Galle Face Green. I should have been invited for the meetings. Is there anyone in this government who knows about security better than me? If there is anybody I am ready to hand over the field marshal position to him. I don’t need honours or awards. Use my knowledge to develop security. I don’t need even bullet proof vehicles. Use me if you think I have the experience and knowhow.
When my name was proposed for the position of law and order minister, president called me. He forwarded three reasons why he declined to appoint me as the minister. First one, according to him, was that some senior Buddhist monks have asked him not to appoint me. Second reason was, he said, some government servants have asked him to reject me because I won’t be able to go to America as I don’t have visas to go there. How do you like that? As the third reason he said some DIGs were against my appointment. I asked him whether that included a DIG who has been condemned to death or the three others serving jail terms. Does the president consult DIGs to appoint a law and order minister?
This is a sad state of affair. If we want to save the country we have to appoint suitable people to key posts. If not we can live as we are doing now. Let’s travel protected in bullet proof vehicles blaring loud alarms, protected by dozens of body guards and also followed by ambulances. If that is what the government wants to do, let’s forget about the country and have a good time. – www.newstrails.com
