Recent incidents of violence including a shooting inside a courtroom have raised fears among the public. While many have described these incidents as a threat to national security, the government has assured that all perpetrators of
recent crimes would be brought to book. 

“Our leaders have been engaged in trivial things while neglecting the vital few” says Maj. Gen. Dr. Boniface Perera  Pic by Samantha Perera

However, experienced military officers opine that national security is a broader concept that needs to be addressed with an integrated approach. Former Security Forces Commander of the Wanni Region and Eastern Province Maj. General Dr. Boniface Perera opines that national security and national economy goes hand in hand. Dr. Perera is a battle-hardened infantry officer who served the Sri Lanka Army for over 36 years, dedicating 20 of those years to active combat. Dr. Perera holds a PhD in Economics and is a respected international researcher, writer, entrepreneur and international analyst specialising in national security, economics and politics. In a candid interview with the Daily Mirror, Dr. Perera recalled instances where successive regimes have blundered when addressing the issue of national security and spoke at length about his solutions to address loopholes in the national security mechanism.

Excerpts:

  There have been several shooting incidents and over 11 deaths during the past two months. These events have been described as a threat to national security. What are your observations?

National security is a very vast subject. The President (who is the commanding chief of the armed forces and also the Minister of Defence), Chairman of National Security Council and officers of Defence Ministry, Secretary of Defence haven’t understood the wider aspect of national security. We need to understand that national security cannot be enhanced without national unity. National security cannot be enhanced without national development. If the unemployment rate is very high, if youth are frustrated, if courts aren’t giving justifiable decisions, if the police is not friendly with the people, then all these aspects pose a threat to national security. On the other hand an inefficient state sector, poverty, poor health also weakens national security. So national security is integrated into all these aspects. If we don’t know where we were, we don’t know where we are. If we don’t know where we are, we don’t know where to go. National security cannot be enhanced by firing water cannons, firing tear gas or arresting few people and taking murderers to find weapons and eventually killing them. These are short term strategies. Ministries of justice, economic development, foreign affairs and cultural affairs need to be integrated. I think that has never happened since independence. Until independence we had no problem because foreigners were ruling this country and the world wasn’t developed at the time.

 Let’s take the post-war scenario for instance. We thought we are safe after the war concluded. Then Easter Sunday attacks took place and national security eventually became a buzzword. It seems people have access to small arms and weapons for instance. From your experience do you see a pattern in these cases?

We thought we are safer after the war. But my answer is no. We must understand why the war happened. It is important to understand the root cause of any event. In the Northern and Eastern provinces there have been certain issues and all these have been political. But the answer was military. And the problem remains the same and it has to be treated. Likewise after the war there have been about 30,000 terrorists. Many of them were killed, many of them surrendered. But what happened to their weapons? They had rocket propelled guns (RPGs), missiles fired at aircrafts and they had around 30,000 small arms. There were two factions and even the Karuna faction had weapons. But these weapons weren’t handed over. Those weapons were buried or hidden and no authority in Sri Lanka counted the number of weapons they had, how many were captured and how many were left behind. There was no research done and in fact we are very weak in research and development. As a result the weapons are everywhere. T56 rifles are a killer weapon and then there are pistols as well. No proper plan was executed to seize these weapons. So it’s like in Peshawar and Afghanistan. If we have licensed guns there is no issue, but one unlicensed or undeclared weapon can cause a national security problem. The underworld is in the possession of undeclared weapons. Who knows how many weapons are there? If you take the Easter Sunday bombings, we never thought such an incident would happen. Our national intelligence system was very weak. If a bombing or an attack happens in USA, New Zealand or Middle East we have to analyze whether it would threaten our national security. Our Defence officials should have analysed the Christchurch attack for instance.

 How sure are you that these weapons are those that were left behind by the terrorists and that they don’t belong to the military?

There were some weapons taken from the military, but I don’t have much details. Definitely the LTTE are no longer going to use these weapons. And we are a small country. Anybody can travel to the North to South to East within an eight hour time period. Some of these LTTE weapons may have been transported to the south to eventually end up in the hands of underworld kingpins. All these deals are done for money.

 The Easter Sunday attacks were a huge blow to the country’s national security. But prior to the attacks we had received some intelligence reports and information regarding a possible attack, but nobody acted upon these leads. What are your observations regarding the state intelligence operations?

The main culprit of the Easter Sunday attacks is none other than the President at the time, Maithripala Sirisena. This is because by virtue of the appointment as President he is also the Commanding officer of the armed forces, Defence Minister, Minister of Law and Order and Chairman of the National Security Council. As per the Constitution he was responsible for the national security of the country. So he can’t escape saying ‘I don’t know’. He’s the prime culprit to be taken to courts and punished when he was President. More importantly, when fundamental rights are violated by an Executive President he cannot enjoy presidential immunity. So what he had done is violated the fundamental rights of those who were killed. The Presidential Commissions found him guilty, but the courts issued a penal punishment to pay a couple of million rupees as compensation. But the law should be equal to everyone. When the attacks happened he was in Singapore and as the President who was responsible for the lives of 22 million people didn’t turn up even after the attacks happened. He had reportedly delayed flights and arrived at the last moment. This shows his irresponsibility. But even the present government has failed to deliver justice to Easter Sunday victims and citizens of the country. So how can we expect progress and national security even in future? Usually there has always been a trend where leaders from the times of monarchy have been sidelining intellectuals and associating with illiterate and incompetent people. We see a similar trend in present day politicians and leaders as well. What happened to Gotabaya Rajapaksa is a classic example.

 In the wake of recent incidents related to shootings, the government made an announcement requesting Army deserters to surrender. Do you think there’s a link between Army deserters and these types of crimes?

Yes there’s a possibility because people join the Army for various reasons. Some join the Army to save the country, some join to earn an income and some join to seek revenge from the neighbour or his enemy. So after receiving military training, they can take their weapon and shoot. Therefore we have to be careful about why a solider would be absorbed. During war time and even afterwards, individuals have been absorbed as soldiers without them being screened for their educational level, height and background. These types of activities could be repeated. Therefore there’s a possibility that Army deserters are being used by politicians, drug lords and businessmen to kill some of their enemies or opponents. This is because they are trained to use weapons.

 Then this also trickles down to the issue of establishing a proper rehabilitation mechanism for ex-soldiers isn’t it?

During my PhD research I asked soldiers what they would do after they retire. Some said they would become three-wheel drivers, security officers or farmers. The other response I received was that they haven’t thought about anything. So some of them didn’t know where to go. Therefore there’s a gap in society. A soldier is enlisted at the age of 18 and they have to retire at the age of 40-45. After 22 years of service they have to leave. They are a very good resource to the country. But the irony is that full time students, full time housewives, pensioners and disabled individuals don’t appear in the labour market. This is very wrong. At 40 years these pensioners need to be absorbed into the labour market. Therefore there’s a need to establish the fact that soldiers require a second career choice. The pension they receive is not enough because they have to bear various expenses. Rehabilitation cannot enhance their economy. After retirement, an ex-soldier faces a transformation. They have to remove their military uniform and become a civilian and during this transformation they would experience Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).  My solution for Army deserters and retired soldiers is to train them on entrepreneurship. This is something adapted in many developed countries. There are about 25 regiments in the Army and we can provide a three-month entrepreneurial training for retired soldiers and deserters. They can be provided with technical know-how, finding the proper markets and so on. Capturing deserters won’t help and it is a short-term solution. In my research I found that 68% of soldiers who have retired are interested in becoming entrepreneurs. I have submitted my proposals to all the past rulers of this country including the incumbent President, but it’s a pity that none of them have shown an interest.

 Don’t you think that as a coastal nation Sri Lanka has to safeguard its maritime boundaries amidst emerging maritime security threats as well?

Strengthening national security cannot be done at the expense of the economy. Our culture is an important aspect of national survival. Even with so many aircrafts and weapons, the US failed its war against Afghanistan, Vietnam and Iraq. This is because nobody can attack a culture. The LTTE failed because they attacked our culture. They attacked the Sri Maha Bodhi and the Temple of the Tooth Relic. Our culture is our religion and what we believe in. There are 71% Buddhists in this country. The central theme in Buddhism is loving kindness (Avihimsa) and following the Middle Path. Our foreign policy has been derived from the Middle Path where we follow a non-aligned approach. So we are friendly with everyone and have enmity with none. We are an independent nation with a good culture and we must exercise it. Therefore we don’t have to worry about super powers fighting with one another. But having said that we also need to safeguard our land and establish territorial integrity and sovereignty. We have to safeguard our airspace and the maritime boundaries. We need an army to safeguard nine provinces. We are 257 times smaller than Russia. It’s good to have a big army, but how can we pay them?

 During previous budgets the highest amount of money was allocated for Defence. So are you saying that this shouldn’t be a requirement anymore?

There’s a high allocation for Defence because the government has to pay the salaries of military personnel. There’s no immediate solution. But systematically the armed forces should be right-sized. Perhaps the government could make adjustments to the age of enlistment, so that by the time a soldier retires he could become a community player and be transformed as an entrepreneur. We never had a visionary leader who could lead this country. All those who were elected to power developed their own economies and those of their friends and families, but not the country.

 How should we as a country prepare to face emerging national security threats?

If you develop the economy and create new jobs then what is the problem? Then people who kill for Rs. 200,000 will never get any orders or contracts. Creating an entrepreneurial culture is the only answer. The Judiciary is very important to establish national security. The police station and courts should be a friendly place for people. People waste time when they need to get a job done at a government institution. So the Clean Sri Lanka programme should ideally prioritize on fixing these issues. Our leaders have been engaged in trivial things while neglecting the vital few. I doubt whether they would understand what I’m trying to say.

 Do you think the incumbent government would be able to address these issues?

From my observations, I feel that the incumbent government is repeating the same mistakes made by Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Gotabaya was trying to enlist 100,000 people to the government sector. But that wasn’t a practical move. According to my statistics obtained over a period of 5-6 years, we have 163,000 additional peons and 100,000 additional drivers. That way we have over 250,000 additional employees in the state sector. We have the same amount of personnel in the armed forces even after 2009. The British Empire ruled around 52 countries, but today their army is smaller than our army. After 2009 we should have systematically right-sized the Army. If you take our state sector, we have 40-50% additional employees, but even with so many additional people we can’t get a job done! So this government must take serious note of reducing the staff in the state sector. Whether the present government is performing well or not can be tested during the upcoming elections. My prediction is that at a glance they will have a tremendous setback in their popularity. They have to prove what they have promised through actions and not by argument.