The Fonseka (post November 2009) Fiasco

General Fonseka: Military leader, failed Presidential candidate

At DefenceWire we have established, for our own team, 3 points of analysis for examining Sarath Fonseka. We would like to share those with you. The first is Sarath Fonseka pre December 2005 (Sarath Fonseka: the early and not so famous years). The second is Sarath Fonseka post December 2005 and upto mid-November 2009 when he was Commander of the Army. The Third point of analysis is Sarath Fonseka post November 2009 when he became a political candidate.

Upto the end of his military career, Sarath Fonseka was described and analyzed on the merits of his Command as a military officer. Citizens who were opposed to terrorism saw him as a hero, some even calling him "Nandimithra", the great warrior general of King Dutugemunu. Those who favoured terrorism, like the separatist Tamil elites in the TNA and Tamil Diaspora, considered him a criminal. He was acknowledged as a great military leader regionally and even internationally by forces opposed to terrorism as a concept and phenomenon.

Following his entry into politics however, that description has changed. We would like to describe it as a broadening of the unit of analysis to include all three periods of Fonseka's life described above. This analysis had to include his personal life and character during his military career.

The political arena, as was witnessed, is a whole different ballgame for a military man. It is more so when he is campaigning for the biggest job in the country. The candidates have to embrace the fact that every aspect of their character, from the time they held a responsible office, will be scrutinized. Herein lies the dilemma.

Does one scrutinize a successful military commander-turned candidate based on the merits of THAT job (past military record)? or does one scrutinize his political record? which, in Fonseka's case was non-existent. We do not know of a single military officer (perhaps Yoshitha being the exception) who enters the service with at least a figment of an imagination of eventually running for a public office or even President.

This is why military service has been separated from political service, at least at this level. Now, had Fonseka campaigned for the forthcoming General Election without campaigning the last Presidential Election, he would have stood a chance of being elected and would still be the darling of the masses.

But, unfortunately, he chose the latter maybe because he wanted to get even with the Rajapakses, but also because a group of opportunistic political jackals (we will explain why we use this term) saw this as the opportunity for some reflected glory in the war victory and a chance to "Send Mahinda Home". Fonseka post November 2009 would have agreed to both these objectives.

Both Fonseka and the pack of jackals were guided by political expediency rather than principles and lost handsomely. For those jackals that lured the lion and turned him into a half-breed, this is what they do.

But this is NOT what military officers do, at least that was not the precedence in Sri Lanka until Fonseka post November 2009. The task of the lion was to form the vanguard around the lambs and protect the lambs from harm and not to charge into the midst of the lambs with a pack of jackals asking to be elected their king.

The luring of the lion (and the lion being lured) and a few other lions following their leader into this mish-mash of things has discredited the uniform. This was inevitable. Fonseka and his followers made this choice. They will now have to live with it.

The Army will have nothing to do with it either, for if they did, the 5 forcibly retired Generals (and we can name at least five more who Fonseka promoted above others) would have left the Army and joined his campaign. Now a show of support like that would have definitely turned the tables on the Rajapakse regime. But this did not happen.

Lesson learnt? Politicians cannot be discredited the same way that you cannot mud-wrestle with a pig. But military officers can and will be discredited and they will suffer, for it is a profession with honour. It is a profession that trains one to die for that honour.

The Coup

Totally fabricated coup designed to create a public opinion to purge Fonseka from public life forever, which also reinforces our argument about the lion laying in with the jackals/pigs and losing its credibility. Our estimate is that the government, which is also made up of some cunning jackals of its own, will eventually get Fonseka to commit a mistake (or capitalize on one he has made already, like the statement he made to Frederica Janz) and lap him up using the long arm of the 'law'.

The people of this country, except those reeling under the pain of their favorite party losing and with it their own personal projects, will not say "අෙන් අෙපායි" at least to the extent they would have said අෙන් අෙපායි to "General Fonseka post November 2009" being put behind bars.

The statement made to Janz

What happened on that day was reported by us as follows (DefenceWire May 20th 2009). Sometimes reading between the lines maybe encouraged.

As reported by the media, LTTE's former police and 'political wing' chief and chief spokesman Nadesan, his family, Pulidevan and his family and Ramesh and his family have all died and their bodies discovered by the Special Forces.

There were rumours that the two leaders had gone down on their knees and begged the Special Forces at which point they assumed the Special Forces to smile and let them go.

Rumours are that Prabhakaran's entire family was dead. These rumours indicate that even Prabha's daughter, Duharga was there at the scene. Until otherwise indicated by the government, at this moment in particular, their bodies are nowhere to be found.

Other leaders like Lawrence, Karikalan, Ilanthirayan, Papa, Sempian etc are also dead. Their bodies might also be discovered in due course.

The chief of the LTTE's Mine-laying unit and a chief innovator of the Jhonny Mine and other deadly IEDs has died having lost both his legs in a mysterious blast. The LTTE's chief of smuggling with India and the deputy of the international procurement units (not Castro) have also died.

So did Fonseka spill the beans at the interview with Frederica? What was the point in Fonseka's idea of taking LTTE cadres alive? (කන්නදීල ඇතිකරන්නද?) Is it true that the Secretary Defence wanted the war to end on the 18th? Did he commit the Special Forces, which was the Commander's Reserve, to the final battle to secure an early end to the war for fear of an international attempt to rescue the LTTE leadership if it dragged on any further? Did Fonseka get angry with that decision made when he was away in China? Was he also angry that his own reserve was deployed from under his nose and that his own pace to end the war was somehow jeopardized? Did he feel angry that Gotabaya had stolen his thunder? These questions may have the answers embedded in them.

About whose right and whose wrong?

No one is completely right and completely wrong in this fiasco. Any one who thinks he knows what's completely right (or whose completely right) and what's completely wrong (or whose completely wrong) in this chaotic episode of contemporary Sri Lankan history is an idiot.

Thank you

DW, dA

Politics in the uniform

As our readership probably know by now, 5 Majors General, 5 Brigadiers and about 10 other officers and other rankers (NCOs) have been retired with effect from January 30th 2010.

These officers and men have been charged and in some cases found guilty of canvassing for the candidacy of Retired General Sarath Fonseka, even openly urging their men to vote for General Fonseka.

Among them are Major General Rajitha Silva (VIR) and Major General Jayanath Perera (Sinha), who are the splitting image of their Commander in more ways than one.

Except one officer, Major General Mahesh Senanayake, all others did not perform any pivotal operational duties during the war. Mahesh Senanayake functioned as D-Plans (Director Planning) and assisted the Army plan its strategic objectives until he was promoted to DGM-Plans (Director General Military Planning).

However, the incompetence of Generals like Samantha Sooriyabandara is legendary in the Army. In one battle at Muhamalai, he led 300 men to their death with another 1000 injuried. 26 soldiers lost both their arms and legs in this battle. This is the worst military operation conducted since 2005.

On April 24th 2008 defenceWire wrote:

Yesterday's battle needs to be corrected in the following way....

Troops from 55 Division advancing from Nagarkovil captured the LTTE's Forward Defence Line and recovered 17 dead bodies of Tigers. The LTTE was in total disarray in this front. However, in the next front at Muhamalai and Kilali, troops from the 53 Division who attempted to charge the LTTE FDL was beaten back heavily in open terrain by long range artillery and mortar fire. Troops who managed to enter the LTTE trenches were killed in booby traps planted by the Tigers.

Although the 55 Division had captured the Tiger FDL, the 53 Division's bungling made it impossible to link the line and troops withdrew after several hours with the dead bodies of Tigers, some of which was handed over to Jaffna police yesterday to be given to ICRC.

The 53 Division, comprising only regular infantry (533/534) also includes the Mechanized Infantry and Air Mobile Brigades. Some sources have claimed 53 Div comprises of Commandos and Special Forces. This is not true. These two specialized Regiments comes under the Army Commander's Reserve since a few years back.

Who did this?

The defeat at Muhamalai yesterday is the 3rd comprehensive defeat in Jaffna in recent times. Two of the three operations were led by Brigadier Samantha Sooriyabandara. Despite yesterday's loss and another loss many months ago where two Main Battle Tanks were lost due to poor leadership, Brigadier Sooriyabandara is to be appointed Defence Attache to the Sri Lanka Embassy in the United States, highly placed sources told DefenceWire.

As we had mentioned in April 2008, despite this massive debacle, General Fonseka arranged for Sooriyabandara to be sent to Washington DC as the Sri Lanka Government's Defence Attache. He was recently recalled before being sent on compulsory leave. Sooriyabandara has been replaced by Brigadier G.V. Ravipriya, the excellent, battle-hardened young officer who commanded Task Force 8.

It is a well known fact in the Army that a number of battle-hardened officers who performed a yeoman service during the war like Prasanna Silva, Chagi Gallage, Shavendra Silva, Kamal Gunaratne etc. were to be sent home under a Sarath Fonseka Regime. This regime never materialized and now General Fonseka's "Team" is at the receiving end of the stick. This is the danger of bringing politics into the Army and/or the Army going into politics. In retrospect, a lot more damage would have been caused to the Army had political power changed hands.

Sit Rep 31 Oct 2009

A cautionary note on the present situation re Gen Fonseka. Our task was to allow things to settle down on their own which has worked. However, recent developments led particularly by a section of the diaspora Sinhalese is a cause of concern for DefenceWire.

DefenceWire team's stance up to now has been to avoid commenting on this dispute knowing fully well the capacity of both the present government and SF to come to a compromise on:

1. The direction the Sri Lankan Military will take
2. The direction General Fonseka would have to go

These may not be the most ideal directions for either, yet they are ones that are at best described as realistic and unavoidable.

There are many moves by politically motivated Sri Lankans, including Sinhala groups and also non Sinhala Sri Lankan groups to exploit a disagreement that has unnecessarily spilled over into the public's eye due to politics in the military and a very small section of the military in politics.

These groups, particularly those civilians involved who are not insiders or have little inside information can or will not understand the discipline of a professional soldier to take what he wants and to relinquish duty when required sans insubordination.

A professional soldier is not Dutugemunu. The Sri Lanka Army/Military is a modern Army/Military positioned within a democratic society. The professional soldiers serving in it will know when to let go. By asking them to perform a larger role based solely on selfish motives of individuals in the periphery, they may destroy that soldier and even themselves and their reputation.

The Sri Lankan Military and its leaders are now hailed the world over for their victorious feat. Their role in bringing peace to the country through military means will be remembered for decades to come as the ultimate example of a trained military executing its sacred task flawlessly from start to finish. But remember this, dear readers, military action is a means of achieving the end and the end is always political.

DefenceWire, as an impartial site whose work you have witnessed for over 3 years now wish to appeal to our readers to refrain from joining or supporting either 'camps' and to allow the professional soldier and professional politicians to resolve potentially resolvable issues mentioned above.

Thank you

KP Arrest -- UPDATE

We have received credible information on the arrest of two individuals, one a middle aged man traveling on a non-Sri Lankan passport at an undisclosed location in Bangkok in a joint stint launched by Thai and Sri Lankan authorities. The travel documents and said identity confirms with an alias of LTTE operative Shanmugam Kumaran Tharmalingham.

The man was carrying travel documents both under his own birth name and under other aliases at the time of arrest. A group of Sri Lankan officials is expected to fly the said two individuals to Sri Lanka shortly. Please await further information as it is made available.

by

DefenceWire

KP Arrest

There was an announcement over local media a short while ago that former LTTE International chief and only remaining LTTE senior Kumaran Pathmanathan has been arrested. We are yet to confirm this arrest. Please await further details.

Thank You

DW

Wanni heroes rewarded

Brigadier Prasanna de Silva, the illustrious Special Forces officer has been appointed Director General of Joint Training in the soon to be Office of the Chief of Defence Staff headed by 4-star General Sarath Fonseka.

The 47-year old officer could also receive a promotion as a Major General. Another little-known (by the general public) but equally brilliant officer appointed the Director General of Joint Planning and Development is Major General Mahesh Senanayake also of the Special Forces.

Other notable leaders in the Wanni battle like Major General Jagath "Chula" Dias, Major General Kamal Gunaratne and Brigadier Shevendra Silva have also received new postings.

Maj. General Dias was appointed Deputy Ambassador to Germany and was set to embark on that 2-year assignment when he met with an accident resulting in a broken hip. He was traveling alone without an escort after an unofficial trip. Claims by certain media of a conspiracy to assassinate the Maj. General is completely false.

Major General Kamal Gunaratne was appointed by Army Commander Lieutenant General Jagath Jayasooriya the SF Commander Wanni. He is also the Colonel Commandant of the Special Forces Brigade which functioned independently under General Fonseka until the end of the war. Major General Gunaratne is also to receive a foreign diplomatic assignment while still in service.

Brigadier Shevendra Silva has been appointed Director Operations at Army Headquarters Colombo. These officers will each receive a diplomatic assignment on a rotating basis.

Together these valiant officers will carry forward the farsighted reformations put forward by General Fonseka.

A "Sri Lanka Defence Force"

The newly appointed Chief of Defence Staff, General Sarath Fonseka is preparing massive structural changed to the three forces. He has assembled a team of high caliber officers to a new office to be set-up soon at the former JOC (Joint Operations Command).

The new office appropriately titled Office of the Chief of Defence Staff will oversee, in the coming months, a massive overhauling of the three forces. A Gazette Notification has already been prepared.

The Army, Navy and Air Force of the Sri Lanka Army will become more like the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) where land forces will be combined with air superiority and sea-borne forces will be combined also with air superiority.

Experts and insiders say the boundaries between the Army, Navy and the Air Force could become only superficial under this plan, which, in the long-term will become one massive force capable of operating not unlike the US Marine Expeditionary Force.