says that getting total freedom for former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka and organizing a strong joint opposition was the need of the hour to rid the country of all political evils and corruption.
In a recent interview with parliamentarian and skipper of the world cup winning national cricket team, Arjuna Ranatunga, who hails from a traditional SLFP family but crossed over to the opposition, says that getting total freedom for former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka and organizing a strong joint opposition was the need of the hour to rid the country of all political evils and corruption. He said he remained in politics only because Fonseka came to play an important role.
Below is the excerpt of the interview:
Q. What is your role in re-establishing Sarath Fonseka in the political stage after his release?
A. We won a major battle by getting Sarath Fonseka released. That was the major challenge we had before us. Credit should go to the people who agitated for his release like Tiran Alles who took part in several discussions. There was immense international pressure to release him. I feel that getting him released was a joint effort. Secondly, we wanted to get him released properly. We have already started the groundwork prepared for this need. Tiran has already started discussions and we will also try to organize protests or whatever action necessary to ensure proper release for him. I would rather see him outside than in jail.
Q. Alles negotiated with the President to get Fonseka out. At the same time, Fonseka said that he would fight for a corruption free government. Don't you think that your efforts to establish such a political environment would be difficult because you are obliged to the government for releasing Fonseka?
A. On one hand I am very grateful to the President for releasing him. But on the other hand, he showed the entire world that the general is a political prisoner. By doing that, he created a black mark on our country. For me, I would have released him completely instead of tying up his hands and legs not allowing him to take part in politics.
Q. Do you think that Fonseka actually has a political future in the current scenario?
A. Absolutely. I think he is the only one who can change the political culture in this country. He is the only leader who can make the country take the right direction. I am not the only one who has this view. Many opposition MPs are also of the same view. We have gone through this style of politics for so many years. I don't think anyone in power wants to stop corruption. We all know about the white van culture and murders. We need discipline in the country. If not, we will be in a major mess.
Today we are having problems with other countries. The relationship with other countries has been poor for the past so many years. I can remember how Mrs. Bandaranaike handled international affairs. She had eminent, knowledgeable people who could handle international affairs. We are now depending on certain Arab World countries omitting some of the important ones. We cannot go very far the way we handle this issue.
Q. You have been backing Fonseka since he started his political entry. There are others who continue to do so. But, do you think or feel that he felt betrayed by those who supported him at the Presidential election?
A. To tell you honestly, a lot of UNPers supported us, may be not as a party, but in their own individual way. That is why I feel that they should have done better as a party. Coming to the JVP, they supported us right along until he was released. They were not very keen to come out in public during the release. But, they were supportive of the moves we made. I am really happy with whatever they have done. We are now looking to get the blessings of the religious leaders. The next step would be to talk to the parties and the leaders to get their support.
Q. There was speculation that Sarath Fonseka the politician has failed to reach out to all sections of the people. What is your view on that allegation?
A. I did not associate with him when he was an army commander. But, we have all seen how he conducted as a commander. I have seen his sensitive side as well. He is not the type of person who would carry a child for the sake of showing the people how compassionate is he and pose for pictures just for the sake of getting people's support. I don't think we need that political scenario in the country today. We should tell the public the truth and do what we preach instead of saying something and doing something else behind their backs. This has been happening I think since independence.
I started my political career with Mrs. Kumaratunga and I was happy with some of the things that she did at the time. Then I supported the incumbent President because we thought he had a clear vision to clean up the entire mess. But it did not happen. Instead, he has been protecting the corrupt thugs and murderers and that was the time I had second thoughts. I should have been out of politics by now if general Fonseka had not come into politics. It was because I didn't want to be a part of this kind of politics.
Q. Do you mean to say that you would not have remained in politics if not for Fonseka?
A. To tell you honestly, no. I was planning to go somewhere with my kids and do some cricket related stuff. Because I felt I was not part of this political system.
Q. You were part of the present government as well. Now you are in the opposition. The government seems to be very powerful, simply because there is no opposition. What do you think should be done?
A. We can have different parties and visions. But we should have a common vision for the sake of the country. That is what we are trying to create. UNP has a different model, the JVP has a different model and so have other parties. All these things are secondary as far as I am concerned. The fundamental thing is how to protect the country. To do that, a lot of parties should sacrifice their logos and party names. These do not matter as long as there are genuine politicians to put the country on the right track. What I feel is that we need a common platform for all the parties and try and form a proper government with honest politicians. We rarely get honest politicians but I am sure we have a few, including those in the government. We need to establish a different political setup. If we can start that, the people will realize what we are trying to do.
Q. What about getting the support of the minority communities?
A. We should understand their problems. It is as simple as that. I have traveled to Jaffna quite a few times and I have often thought that we could have done better after the war. Once I spoke to the President on promoting cricket in the area. I always believed that we could get the people together through cricket. Even when in the government, I did not want to build stadiums. I just wanted to get these young people in the North and East to play cricket. We could have given them a bat and a ball instead of a gun and a bomb. Some of these politicians wanted the war again so that they could be rich and that they could divide and rule the country. I feel that we should identify problems of the people in these areas and address them quickly. Otherwise, we would create Prabhakarans in the future. We already had one and suffered for a long time.
Q. You are a politician. You did mention that you wanted to help cricket. What are your plans when it comes to cricket?
A. The chapter of cricket for me is over now. I have a bigger chapter now and a bigger role to play. But I still love the game. That was why I tried my best to stop corruption in the Cricket Board when I joined it in 2008. We had a plan and a vision and we wanted to expand cricket to areas where people could not afford to play the game. We were successful in doing it during the first year. For the first time in the history we gave away cricket equipment to 400 schools. I always felt the talent was outside Colombo. We are blessed with talent.
Unfortunately, cricket is run by people who always say yes to the government. These people will do whatever the government wants. It should not be the case. Today the board is in a mess and bankrupt because responsible people in the board wanted to satisfy the politicians. There has to be a proper policy plan.
I think players also have a major role to play. I am disappointed with some of the players who chose to play for IPL when I was in charge of the Cricket Board, I remember canceling a tour to England. It was a dream and privilege for us to play at Lords. But these players went to the President, convinced him and the then Minister and played IPL for money. We created monsters by allowing this to happen. These unwanted things happened because of the President and the former minister. I was lucky to have played cricket during the time of J.R. Jayawardena, Premadasa, D.B. Wijetunge, Chandrika Kumaratunge and Ranil Wickremesinghe. None of them interfered with cricket. I never saw them except once or twice. It was a big thing for us to see them.
(Nation)