THE MIG-27 CONTROVERSY CONTINUES

Here are some recent articles relating to the Mig-27 controversy, which make for interesting reading:

http://www.sundaytimes.lk/070819/Columns/sitreport.html
Readers please note the author of this particular article on Sunday Times claims to 'baring the truth behind the Operations cell of the Army's Directorate of Intelligence' at Athurugiriya. This treacherous act of publicly leaking information resulted in the assasinations of a large number of the Sri Lankan Defence forces Long-range commando personnel by LTTE killers during the so called 'Cease-fire' time.

http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20070320_01
http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20070818_01

There is no doubt that transparency is important in all matters of public accountability. The counter-point to that is maintaining transparency while preserving security in the very same matters, to prevent leaking information that is of military significance to the enemy.Going by the tone with which Athas makes his claims referred to above, one wonders whether the media's so called 'defence analysts' haven't started crossing the line between responsible reportage and espionage for the enemy.

One important question in this issue is whether or not the SLG dealt govt-to-govt as it claims. In considering this issue, it is more important to assess which is most important; whether the government is telling the truth or not, versus whether the final outcome of this deal is beneficial to the SLAF and thereby to the outcome of a war which is clearly decisive for the future of our nation and also others in the region. The issue here isn't how virtuous our government is; rather, how good is it in taking care of our national security in a time of absolute threat. The current outfit is just too good at exactly that and that seems to scare the crap out of the tamil terrorists as well as those who think their own political futures are no longer safe. It obviously wouldn't be, once the ordinary man realizes how incompetent some of these familiar old political faces have been.

And then there's the question of how much truth is what the government says. Governments lie. This one wouldn't be the first nor the last. And it is not the only one in the world today that lies to its citizens and everyone else. Those who are too childish to understand that much, have no business talking politics.

So is corruption in Sri Lankan governance. As much as it would be ideal to live in a country where there is no corruption, only a fool would believe that such a nation ever existed in human history. Every nation has some corruption. In most, it is either well hidden or camoflaged in ways that make them hard to detect or prosecute. This is not to say that it is ok, or acceptable. It is what it is, as long as it remains manageable. There are bigger problems facing us today; like survival.. To mix our priorities could be fatal, in the face of the challenges ahead.

What is of greater importance and urgency today is to deal with a level of terrorism that is threatening the very existance of each and every man, woman and child irrespective of race, religion or language difference in Sri Lanka. Let's stop kidding ourselves that there are bigger priorities. There aren't.

In focussing on dealing with that threat as a priority, responsible Sri Lankans need to identify individuals and organizations that attempt to divert public attention from those priorities under various pretexes, irrespective of what the given reason is. Everything else is secondary to survival and those who tell us otherwise aren't our friends. They could well be an enemy in the guise of a friend, a hidden threat far worse than the enemy who is in the open.