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Video: ‘I will never join this govt.’ - SF

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Former Army commander Sarath Fonseka speaking at his first press conference since his release, said he would never join the current regime.

“This is a question a lot of you wanted to ask me. I would never join this government. I will always fight for the principles that I stood for. I will topple the current corrupt regime and save this country.”

He also stated that, people are trying to spread rumours about him joining the government in order to prevent him from regaining political stability within the people of this country.

Speaking further Sarath Fonseka spelt out his political manifesto which included the abolition of the executive presidency, coming to an agreeable political solution for the people of this country to the ethnic problem and an end to the rampant, corrupt political culture within the country. “The first and foremost point is to get rid of the rampant corruption and nepotism prevalent in the country and the abolishing of the executive presidency that has paved the way for dictatorial behavior by the incumbents,” he said.

Explaining his manifesto the former Army Commander insisted on the need of a complete overhaul in the political culture prevalent in the country. “The people of this country are not equal and are not served justifiably; the main reason for this is political interference. Almost all facets of this country have been completely dominated by politicians and their interference and there must be an end to this. People should have equality and justice and that is the political culture I wish to bring to this country,” he said.

Mr. Fonseka also said the citizens of this country had a false notion of true democracy. “The simple fact that there is an election and people have the right to go to the polling station does not denote true democracy as claimed by many. True democracy is the right to freedom of speech, freedom to think associate and oppose which the discerning of the citizens of this country do not possess in reality” he said.

He also said the 18th amendment had paved the way for interference within the judiciary by Politicians.

“The citizens deserve an independent and robust judiciary but the 18th amendment has paved the way for unwarranted political intervention, I’m a victim of this process and know first-hand what people have to suffer within the prevailing system,” he said. Speaking further Fonseka said that he did not wish to see Sri Lanka facing the same fate as many other countries with corrupt regimes. “Take Germany as an example, after the second world war the entire country was in tatters, the main rallying point of the then ruler was patriotism, he then told his citizens that patriotism was even greater than religion and ignored the teachings of religious leaders, he forgot the culture of the country and re wrote history according to his own whims and fancies. Hitler also thrived on racism and ensured that the Nazis dominated all other religions and races. I don’t want this to happen in our country,” he said.

Fonseka also reiterated that the solution to the national question could not be found in a piece of paper. “Trust needs to be built first among all nationalities within the country, it is after this trust is built that we could talk of a political solution,” he said. The former Army Commander said this was a slow and gradual process. “We can’t expect this trust to take place overnight and it can be a long slow process, we have to be patient like we have been in the past until this trust is built and a solution is put forth,” he said. (Hafeel Fariz and Yohan Perera )

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