COLOMBO, Nov 25 — Ten days ago, at the end of a national security council meeting in Colombo, Sri Lankan war hero Sarath Fonseka quietly told President Mahinda Rajapakse that he intended to quit the army at the end of the month as he was considering a presidential run.
Rajapakse showed no surprise, said people with knowledge of the event.
Instead, he thanked the nation’s first four-star general for his services, particularly his role as the army commander who supervised the military conquest of the Tamil Tigers, thus ending a quarter-century-long separatist war on the island.
Rather than wait till the end of the month, he could go immediately, the President told his putative challenger, graciously wishing him well in his political career.
Many had thought the war hero’s challenge would halt Rajapakse’s plans to hold a snap presidential poll that would ride on his overwhelming popularity to give him another eight years in office, including two unfinished years of the current presidency.
Instead, Rajapakse, a politician from Sri Lanka’s Sinhala-dominated south, chose to tackle the challenge head-on.
Two days ago, he announced that presidential polls would be held in January, followed by parliamentary elections later in the year.
Gen Fonseka has not confirmed he will run, but it looks like a matter of days before he announces his bid formally. Meanwhile, the leftist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) party has announced that he will be its joint candidate to lead an opposition front against Rajapakse.
“We came to an agreement on Monday night that he will be the opposition candidate,” said Anura Dissanayake, a senior JVP figure. “He has accepted and promised to end the executive presidency once he wins the polls.”
The fight between the 63-year-old war President and the 58-year-old general, a legitimate military hero, threatens to spawn unrest in a nation fast healing from a long period of civil conflict. That in turn could dent an economic recovery being built on an influx of tourists and lowered risk perceptions about the island.
A less-than-decisive victory for the incumbent also could hurt his chances of propelling his party to the two-thirds majority in Parliament that he requires to make the constitutional changes needed to offer a political settlement to the Tamil minority.
More worryingly, the Rajapakse-Fonseka fight could also divide the armed forces, where the recently retired general enjoys huge popularity among the junior ranks for his penchant to fast-track officers with proven fighting skills.
But because that policy invariably rubbed against the careers of more senior officers, the general is not uniformly popular among the top brass. However, few deny the savagery and cunning with which he led his troops, and in the process escaping two assassination attempts.
In April 2006, a woman suicide bomber blew herself up near his official car, killing nine soldiers and seriously wounding him. After Colombo doctors threw up their hands, Gen Fonseka was rushed to Singapore by air ambulance. Discharged from hospital in July, he promptly went back to planning a military offensive against the Tamil Tigers.
Many in the Sri Lankan military think Rajapakse blundered when, soon after the military victory in May, he elevated Gen Fonseka to the largely ceremonial post of Chief of Defence Staff. Gen Fonseka also alleged in his resignation letter that Mr Rajapakse had called New Delhi in mid-October for military help, fearing — unfairly — that the general was planning a coup.
Still, many — even those in the military who support him — think that the general may be erring in taking on his former political master.
Gen Fonseka, for all his military prowess, is seen as a cat’s paw for an opposition that has no answers to the sweeping popularity of the President. — The Straits Times
Show/Hide comments
Show/Hide comment form
