We, Sri Lankans, are keen in making changes at err.. highest level possible. For example if a certain medication doesn’t cure a runny nose in two days, we change the doctor! That’s basically our approach in just about anything. If we don’t like something, and we expect it to be different, we want things to change at a very fundamental level.
We hardly stop to think or question if the medication takes time to cure, or whether the current doctor would change the medication after observation.
Worse, we don’t care even if a new doctor gives us steroids to cure a simple runny nose, which would create complications later on. Nor do we care if the change of medication would worsen the illness… We just want to keep changing the doctor.
May be that’s vengeance, for the doctor failed to satisfy you the way we want, just because we can.
We want our government to change, because the cost of living is high, because the level of corruption is high, because the number of ministers in the cabinet is high, because we don’t have proper infrastructure in the country, because the IDPs are still in camps, because SF is in custody, because we are yet to get benefits from not being at war…
I’d say we should wait… let things work out, let the smoke of war clear out, let the corrupt system build the infrastructure first and let the flow of investments come in… Let the people who work do their work...
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Friday, February 26, 2010
More left-over photos from 2008
These are posted for the value of the memories they bring me than for the photographic value... :)
Monday, February 22, 2010
Sunday, February 21, 2010
The Captain
Captain (ND) Athula Senarath RSP, psc, MSc. (DS), NDHRM (IPM)
Media Spokesman - Sri Lanka Navy
Friday, February 19, 2010
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Sunday, February 14, 2010
So why did they arrest Fonseka now? Really?
I’m not going to discuss whether it’s politically correct; because I don’t know; but why? Regardless of the facts on paper, I think we all know why..
Government took him into custody at great risk of international influence and potential blow to the vote base in the General Elections due in April. It has already provoke questioning from world powers and some significant protests from the masses; in contrast, knowing Sri Lankans - and the international community, had they done this in another couple of years, the effects would have been almost negligible. So why now? Why risk all this?
Fonseka was threatening to go to international courts with cases against Sri Lankan army (i.e Gotabaya Rajapaksha and the Army Generals who were not in his side at the elections?) on human rights violations. He had already made serious allegations and brought too much attention and unease to the government. The opposition leaders and the LTTE sympathizers had already been doing that, but that wasn’t received as seriously as Fonseka’s allegations by the world powers.
There’s nothing pretty about any war. And the war against terrorism in Sri Lanka probably had its ugly turns here and there which Fonseka knows, and the government knows too. So the government didn’t probably want Fonseka to keep talking, however untamed his speeches are, he still has some credibility as the ex-army chief. Especially, since he was seeking asylum in countries like Australia, where he would have the opportunity to rehabilitate himself to be more politically attractive the government must have thought that the damage he could cause while being out is much greater than what it would be if they arrest him.
Secondly, if he is to be brought in-front of the law, the government probably has much more control over the military law than the civil. And in order to charge him under military acts, it had to be done within 6 months of his retirement.
I think the charges that the government has against Fonseka are serious enough if they prove them; I don’t know whether he really did them, but the idea of overthrowing the government probably went through his mind while he was in uniform - but again, you can’t charge him for having the motive alone...
All that said; I think trying to compare Karuna and Fonseka is immature and lame. Wars are won because of tactical decisions than moral decisions. Karuna was (and still is) irreplaceable for his political as well as military value. Fonseka as the army commander, always was replaceable.
Government took him into custody at great risk of international influence and potential blow to the vote base in the General Elections due in April. It has already provoke questioning from world powers and some significant protests from the masses; in contrast, knowing Sri Lankans - and the international community, had they done this in another couple of years, the effects would have been almost negligible. So why now? Why risk all this?
Fonseka was threatening to go to international courts with cases against Sri Lankan army (i.e Gotabaya Rajapaksha and the Army Generals who were not in his side at the elections?) on human rights violations. He had already made serious allegations and brought too much attention and unease to the government. The opposition leaders and the LTTE sympathizers had already been doing that, but that wasn’t received as seriously as Fonseka’s allegations by the world powers.
There’s nothing pretty about any war. And the war against terrorism in Sri Lanka probably had its ugly turns here and there which Fonseka knows, and the government knows too. So the government didn’t probably want Fonseka to keep talking, however untamed his speeches are, he still has some credibility as the ex-army chief. Especially, since he was seeking asylum in countries like Australia, where he would have the opportunity to rehabilitate himself to be more politically attractive the government must have thought that the damage he could cause while being out is much greater than what it would be if they arrest him.
Secondly, if he is to be brought in-front of the law, the government probably has much more control over the military law than the civil. And in order to charge him under military acts, it had to be done within 6 months of his retirement.
I think the charges that the government has against Fonseka are serious enough if they prove them; I don’t know whether he really did them, but the idea of overthrowing the government probably went through his mind while he was in uniform - but again, you can’t charge him for having the motive alone...
All that said; I think trying to compare Karuna and Fonseka is immature and lame. Wars are won because of tactical decisions than moral decisions. Karuna was (and still is) irreplaceable for his political as well as military value. Fonseka as the army commander, always was replaceable.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
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