Sarath and Corruption – unanswered questions
Posted on January 16th, 2010
Ananda De Costa
Soon after SarathƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s resignation, came his corruption story initiated by journalists, not by government. People got carried away by this story in Asian Tribune that only a few saw the hidden second motive behind the story with the heading ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…- Every Bullet … Innocent Tamil Civilians ..ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚. If this story was published six months ago it would have been an entirely different story. Why the comprehension of so many patriots weakened once they knew that Sarath was now going against Mahinda. True patriots should never lose their heads over stories of various actions by individuals. Regardless of Mahinda,Sarath or anyone else, very few Sinhalese killed innocent Tamils on racial grounds. The real killing of the innocence was the only invention of the Tamil Tigers. One should defend this before defending individuals.
SarathƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s corruption storey was not even challenged by Sarath himself. MahindaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s corruption stories, on the other hand, are inheritance of all Heads of Governments thanks to the behaviour of Sri Lankan politicians since independence. Corruption in the US, Australia, UK and elsewhere during election campaigns is a ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-way of lifeƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ or endorsed as to be complied with the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-western values systemƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚. To them, whatever done within their legal system is justified. In the case of Muslim terrorist, anything they do is justifiable. If anything found to be not within the value system, just say sorry and everything is then assumed to be forgiven by the people and the God. Whether Mahinda is corrupted or not he will always be blamed since he is a Sri Lankan President. These corruption allegations went into full swing once his anti western stand was clear. However, Satrah is yet to reject his moral and monetary corruption allegations properly. He did not even reject his ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-moral corruptionƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ stories. Therefore, these allegations should be true. Perhaps he is assuming these as his privileges, similar to western value system.
What is so good about Sarath so that Sri Lankans should give him the mandate to be the President ?
His argument is he won the war against Tamil Tigers; therefore he can win the corruption war too. Assuming Sri Lankans are stupid, he went to declare his assets openly. Did he disclose all the wealth under his wifeƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s name, childrenƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s name and under other relativeƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s names and how the huge rent he is currently paying is earned? Sri Lankans are wonderful people to forgive him for earning some money since he helped to win the war. But they will not forgive him for joining Ranil Ponseka and the western conspirators. If war is the main achievement, corruption is forgivable, but the betrayal of friends and motherland will not be forgiven.
Judging from SarathƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s behaviour after the war ended, one can easily conclude that he has no ability to manage a country. He is a disgrace to his own relatives and the Sinhalese race. While all other heads of armed forces behaved very well, this manƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s behaviour was disgraceful in every sense. He is not listening to anyone while Mahinda is listening to everyone. He simply has no qualification whatsoever to be a democratic leader. He is not an intelligent man. This leads me to another question.
Why the RajapaksaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s appointed him as the head of the army ?
Surely Gota should have known his qualities and abilities. Then why did they still wanted him ? One can only think that this man only knows how to kill the enemy. If he is selected to be the President, he will do what he can do. Forget about the war against corruption; he will kill his enemies. He will create another killing field.
The first constitutional amendment we urgently need is to pass laws to pre-qualify politicians. Moral wholesomeness will be of utmost importance in addition to paper qualifications. This man has none.
January 16th, 2010 at 9:19 pm
Yes, there should be a constitutional amendment to debar the likes of Sarath Fonseka from contesting a Presidential Election, on the grounds of his ‘divided loyalties’ by holding a US Green Card and others like him. Those who hold Permanent Resident status in other countries and hold dual citizenship should be similarly excluded.
January 16th, 2010 at 11:50 pm
If I may add to cassandra, we should also amend the constitution to prevent the ambiguities when the likes of Virath (opps…, sorry Sarath..) coming to contest for political positions of the country. In “de-general’s” case he is asking for security as a retired general and budding president as well, a small country like Sri Lanka should consider this type of a character as an enemy of the Nation not as a potential saviours of the people.
January 17th, 2010 at 3:27 am
Even the corruption involved in SF giving contracts to his son-in-law can be overlooked and/or considered a lesser offense since the reality is that corruption of this type is the down-side of the Free Market Economy, and it has been worsened by globalization. We cannot have it cleaned-up without the most stringent of regulations, and regulations go by the wayside during wartime. Sadly, the war is not fully over yet; SF has become a part of ‘the other side.’
What cannot be forgiven is the way Sarath Fonseka smeared mud on Sri Lanka’s victory over the terrorist LTTE by his loose statements made in several places….not just once.
Can he be entrusted with the Nation’s dignity and national security when he has demonstrated that he does not have the character to uphold them as his primary responsibilities to the nation ?