Why Sarath Fonseka should stay away from the Presidential Elections.

By Ruwan Kotuwelle

There are much publicized rumors that Mr. SarathFonseka is going to contest against President Rajapakse as a common candidate at a presidential election. Mr. Sarath Fonseka is no doubt a war hero who will go to history books as one of the best Generals of modern day armies in the world. I am sure he has good intensions in mind do good to the country that has long been a victim of LTTE terrorism and bad governance. He must re-consider representing the people who are currently behind him trying to use him as a cat’s paw.

The UNP leader Ranil Wickramasinghe has a chronic history of supporting the LTTE indirect ways. In fact, he was in Norway with Soleihm who was receiving calls from KP who urged them to get the safe passage from Sarath Fonseka’s final assault. Ranil has lost many elections and still has the geed to be on the top. It is very obvious, that Fonseka is the Guinea pig here.

Rauff Hakeem would not support or continue support to anyone unless his agenda for “Muslimaisation” of the country is supported. He will always want the Muslims favored over others. He and his people are a time bomb one may expect to go off any time.

Mano Ganeshan has openly taken part in LTTE propaganda machine and still continues to disgrace the country with various comments to the foreign media. He is only concerned about the Tamils and he will try to use Mr. Fonseka to have his aspirations fulfilled.

Mangala Samaraweera is the one who said that Mr. Fonseka is not suitable to lead even the Salvation Army. He not only made the biggest insult to the army general who helped wipe out the LTTE leadership but all the Sri Lankans too.

JVP never represented the people of the country. Yes it is true that JVP won some seats at the General Elections. I believe that is solely due to the eloquence of Wimal Weerawansa. The day they lost Mr. .Weeerawans, they lost ability to harness any support from the people. They do not stand for any principles.

As I mentioned earlier, if he feels that he should correct the path of the nations, He must do it in his own right. The people who are backing are not really supporting him to be at the helm to make the changes he wants to make, they are there to use him to win (which is very unlikely to happen) and get the reign.

Apart from the above, he also must weigh in the threat to his life, having been on the top of hit list of the LTTE. He, being the general who led the army to crush the so called “Struggle” he is hated by even the ordinary Tamils. His life will be in imminent danger too. Janaka Perera was eliminated from a provincial election by the LTTE. One may accuse someone else for that, but what is the point? He is dead and all he wanted to do for people died with him. He must understand the simple meaning of his alliance’s pledge to abolish the Executive presidency. The simplest scenario is that Mr. Fonseka wins the election and his friends strip him of all powers and make him a ceremonial president and have someone as the Prime Minister. Why should he go against all odds to put some loser at the helm?

Finally, it is worth to have a look at the most recent statistics. His alliance managed to get only 35% in the recent Provincial Elections. Even the statistics does not support him. He has a loving family with close ties and the respect of a whole nation. It is not worth it to risk all that for nothing.