‘Though we don’t have gunboats, we have an Admiral of the Fleet’

by Saman Indrajith

Claims that the country’s intelligence sector has been restored to its former level and revamped are mere fairy tales, former army commander and Gampaha District SJB MP Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka said in parliament.

Participating in the third reading of the budget debate 2021 under the defence ministry expenditure heads, Fonseka said that it would take at least five to six years to re-streamline an intelligence service. For a complete overhaul and bringing it to optimum level, it would take more than 10 years.

“So those who claim to have rebuilt the intelligence services within one year are either lying or they do not know the service priority but only their political priorities. The intelligence sector must be revamped. There had been several changes in the top-most positions of the intelligence services but that does not mean the service has been overhauled,” he said.

He stressed that the tri-forces should be provided with necessary equipment and facilities to keep their morale high.

“During my time as the army commander, I increased the cadre strength of the army from 116,000 to 200,000. As the morale was then high, the youth joined the army. Earlier, only 3,000 personnel were recruited per year but I was able to increase it to 4,000 per month. Though the numbers increased, there was no corresponding budget allocation increase”, he said.

“I fought the battle with an allocation of Rs. 82 billion. But I used the money to provide for the soldiers. They had only one jungle fatigue. I gave them two. They had only one pair of boots, I gave them two pairs. A soldier was given only a half of an apple, but I provided an apple to each of them. I could do so as the army was free of corruption then. Sometimes, I had to make unpopular decisions and implement them. I visited the army hospital and got all those who could see, hear and stand on their feet to carry a weapon and deployed them in the operational areas, sometimes with their doctors and nurses”, Field Marshal Fonseka further said.

He added: “In that manner I, redeployed 10,000 men from hospital to the front. Though the soldiers had the morale to fight, they changed their minds once they went home and saw the tears of their mothers and wives and some who went home on leave did not come back. It was the time we were holding fortifications near an earth bund near Mullaitivu. The number of our casualties was high. I wrote letters to the soldiers asking them to come back. Thereafter, I wrote to their parents and wives asking them to send their sons back to service. I distributed CDs containing patriotic songs among soldiers but nothing worked and desertions continued.

“Later, I asked the police and military police to capture the deserters and court martial them. Earlier, it took at least two months for a decision, I brought it down to two days and those found guilty were put in prison. Around 2,000 were put behind bars. I had to send 2,000 to jail. No politician claimed ownership for those moves. Those who claim credit for winning the war did not know the actions I took. They were not popular moves but they helped win the war”.

The Field Marshal said that the tri-forces should be modernized. “The army has not been modernized since the day I left it. One may have got two or three computers and boast that they modernized the army. Modernization means that they should buy new armaments. We still have the tanks of 1955 that came soon after World War II. There were 80, and we lost 50 under my command in the war. The army has only 30 now”.

The air force does not have fighter aircraft. It had 11 fighter planes. Four of them were brought from corrupt deals by Udayanga and his friends. Today, we have only a single fighter aircraft. The navy has only two gunboats which are with the coastguard for offshore patrolling. Though we don’t have gunboats, we have an admiral of the fleet. War or peace we must build the tri-forces which are the pride of the nation, he added.