Yanne koheda? Malle pol!

By Dr Upul Wijayawardhana

Of many a wonderful saying that embellishes the Sinhala language, none seems more appropriate, at present, than the expression “Yanne koheda? Malle pol“; when asked “where are you going?”, the reply is “I have coconuts in my bag!”. Of course, it is a well-known tactic adopted by politicians of all shades, the world over; when asked a penetrative question for which they have no answer, instead, they answer their own imaginary question! Judging by similar responses to my article “Continuing craziness” (The Island, 11 November) I wonder whether there is, perhaps, ‘Covid-induced confusion’.

Whilst thanking G A D Sirimal (Continuing craziness: The Island, 15 November) for his advice on how I should write about the ‘war victory’, may I point out that his blaming me for not giving the credit to General, sorry, Field Marshall Sarath Fonseka shows that he seems to have completely failed to grasp the context of my piece. In my article, I was not discussing the war but expressing my total disbelief that the two people, at the helm of the country, are unable to tackle the total indiscipline rampant in the country with the resultant chaos, though they were able to defeat a ruthless terrorist group! In this context FM Fonseka is totally irrelevant as he is far from being at the helm!

I agree with Mr Sirimal that “The government, under Mahinda Rajapaksa, won the war” is the most accurate way to describe the war victory. Afterall, it is the ‘ruler’ who gets the credit for a war victory and, in fact, blamed in case of defeat. Though no one can deny the part played by FM Fonseka for the war victory, unfortunately, it was his own behaviour, following the end of the conflict, that soured the victory. Because he was so convinced that the victory was primarily his that crafty Ranil was able to convince Fonseka to stand against Mahinda at the presidential election. During the campaign, Fonseka declared that the day after victory he will hang the Rajapaksas in Bogambara prison. Meanwhile, Ranil was giving assurances to the Tamil diaspora in Europe that he would sort out ‘the minority problems’, as he would become the ‘executive’ PM, once Fonseka was elected President!

It is beyond comprehension how FM Fonseka got in truck with the UNP, which acted with disdain, mocking the army at every turn. The UNP ridicule was mostly directed at Fonseka, one MP stating in parliament that he could not lead even the Salvation Army! As PM, Ranil signed a peace treaty with Prabhakaran at the instigation of Norway, which was breached by the Tigers even before the ink was dry! Army suffered many setbacks due to his actions. The UNP continued to ridicule the attempts of Mahinda’s government at defeating terrorism.

To grab political power, Fonseka was prepared to forget all those insults. Worse still, he was prepared to let down his own army. When unfair accusations of human rights violations were made Fonseka’s explanation was that he was abroad when ‘the white flag incident, etc. occurred. As he was abroad at the time of winning the war, how come he claims the major part of the victory? Further, his attacks on the Navy Chief Karannagoda is despicable, to say the least. In the final phase of the battle, our Army was advancing under the cover of the Air Force and the enemy was cornered because the Navy effected a blockade, preventing the escape of terrorists. Who coordinated all this? It was Gota and that is why the Tiger rump has named him the “Terminator”. Aided by some burning with jealousy, The Tiger rump levelled many accusations against Gota but nothing was ever proved. The fact that the eace-loving Sri Lankan voters could see through these was shown by the massive endorsement Gota received at the presidential election.

FM Fonseka’s thirst for political power seems totally unquenched. After having made mincemeat out of the reputation of Sajith, and his father too, in a “Derana 360” programme prior to the last presidential election, unashamedly he became a Sajith devotee, after the announcement by Sajith that FM Fonseka would get a top post in his administration. Now it is rumoured that he is in competition with Champika in the move to oust Sajith! A significant proportion of his recent outburst in Parliament had to be ‘bleeped-out’ for broadcast news. Had he retired gracefully, instead of taking to politics, he surely would have earned a much better place in history.

Commenting on my article, Buddhi Perera in his opinion piece “From Craze to prosperity” (The Island, 12 November) states: “When thinking about the past performance of these brothers, namely Mahinda, Gotabaya and Basil, the last two names would not give rise to pleasant memories. As Secretary of Defence, during Mahinda’s rule, Gotabaya gave all assistance to our security forces Commanders by providing all men and material they asked for and some named the battle as Gota’s War. One may always wonder why it was not Mahinda’s, Sarath’s, Wasantha’s or Roshan’s War”. Maybe, in a “Yanne Koheda? Malle Pol!” stance, Mr Perera states providing all assistance would not give rise to pleasant memories! Memories would not be pleasant only for Tiger sympathisers!! The reason why some named it ‘Gota’s war’ is simply because Gota performed that vital function of coordination which, according to many defence experts, was the most important reason for the ‘war victory’.

Perera also refers to an opinion piece by Rohana Wijayawardhana (Country in peril? The Island 11 November) which was printed beside mine, expressing an opposing view, which illustrates the high journalistic traditions maintained by The Island over the 40 years of its existence.Wijayawardhana, by the way is no relative of mine, fears the country is in peril due to the following reason: “The present set is being led by a person who had many serious allegations against him even before his election while all past leaders did not have such allegations”. Whilst I greatly doubt whether all our past leaders were squeaky clean and had no allegations against them, am more concerned that the present President is being castigated on the basis of unproved allegations. It looks as if the vilification campaign of the Tiger rump has had the desired result!

In spite of the recent political setbacks, I still feel that provided Gota and Mahinda can repeat their past performance, the prevailing chaos can stop so that Sri Lanka starts a journey towards prosperity. Others may disagree but I still feel they are the only hope as there is no alternative in sight, at the moment. The fact that the opposition is failing badly was well highlighted in the editorial “Enemies of people” (The Island, 17 November).

My fervent hope is that all politicians realize the great danger the country faces and work together for better times.