This article first appeared in Colombo Telegraph on: February 23, 2019
“..It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way……” ~ from Charles Dickens’ Classic Novel, A Tale of Two Cities
There is nothing fictional about the story involving two Sri Lankan Diplomats, one about to retire as the High Commissioner for Sri Lanka to Australia, and concurrently accredited to Fiji, New Zealand, and the Solomon Islands. Somasundaram Skandakumar was appointed in August 2015 and is getting ready to relinquish his post after serving his term and return to his homeland, Sri Lanka.
In 2008, the Government appointed Jaliya Wickramasuriya as Sri Lankan Ambassador to the US and Mexico. He served as ambassador until the US government wanted his removal in 2014 pending charges brought against him. Ambassador Jaliya Chitran Wickramasuriya stands indicted by the US Federal authorities of perpetrating serious financial crimes: money laundering, tax evasion, wire fraud. Besides, this diplomat has also been charged with committing visa fraud in his application to the US authorities to become a permanent resident of the US. He is also considered a fugitive from justice in Sri Lanka.
Both were non-career diplomats at the time of their appointment; both were businessmen from the private sector of Sri Lankan commerce and industry with no prior government experience.
By all accounts, Somasundaram Skandakumar excelled during his tenure, placed Sri Lanka on the map in the part of the world he served, made connections with industry leaders, politicians, charitable organizations, and sports organizations. He played a significant role in Prime Minister Turnbull of Australia, visiting Sri Lanka in November 2017. No one raised their eyebrows when Skandakumar was appointed as High Commissioner in 2015. He had impeccable credentials. Skandakumar had a good family background, with his father, a preeminent civil servant who served in the Administrative Services of the Sri Lankan Government. Skandakumar was a cricket star from his high school days at Royal College, then at the University of Ceylon, and finally The Tamil Union Cricket Club, where he was President in 1998-2000, club’s Centenary year.
In his professional career, Skandakumar started as an executive at one of the British agency houses and rose to Managing Director at George Stuarts Group and retired as the Group Chairman of the Board of Directors.
Therefore, it was no surprise that Skandakumar’s tenure as High Commissioner for Sri Lanka in Australia was nothing but brilliant.
When Jaliya Wickramasuriya was appointed Consul General to the Sri Lankan Mission in Los Angeles in 2005, no one paid much attention. Sri Lanka’s mission in Los Angeles was a small office located on Wilshire Blvd. This office was responsible for mostly signing documents and notarizing affidavits and issuing visas etc. But when the Government appointed Wickramasuriya in 2008 as the Ambassador to Sri Lanka in the US, it sent shock waves within the diplomatic, political, and community circles. This office was occupied by Sri Lankan career diplomats and eminent academics and scientists, including Jayantha Dhanapala (a former UN under Secretary-General), Warnasena Rasaputra, Dr. Ananda Guruge, to name a few. Wickramasuriya, with high school education and limited business experience in the tea trade, was unsuited for the position at the time of his appointment. If you can call that, the only qualification was his close connection to President Mahinda Rajapakse, who appointed him to the position. Wickramasuriya is former President Rajapakse’s cousin, Kamala Rajapakse’s son.
Wickramasuriya’s appointment came at a crucial time for Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka was engaged in a bloody war against Tamil Tigers (LTTE) being watched by the international community with mounting criticisms and allegations of war crimes committed by the government forces in the war’s prosecution. One is not sure if the Rajapakse administration was naïve or could care less about the international community in boldly forging ahead with the appointment of Wickramasuriya to the most vital diplomatic position in Sri Lanka’s international relations and foreign policy. US-sponsored UNHCR resolutions have urged Sri Lanka to conduct an independent, credible investigation into alleged war crimes committed by Sri Lankan forces against the Tamil community. Wickramasuriya has very little to show how, by way of any, contribution he made to appease the US and UNHCR charges against Sri Lanka. By all accounts, Wickramasuriya appears to have run his tea business from the embassy premises in Washington, DC. He was busy organizing junkets for investor groups and tour operators and agents from the US to Sri Lanka.
With this record of conduct, it was only a matter of time that Wickramasuriya’s career had to come spiraling down, crash and burn.
Sri Lankans pride themselves in staking claim to being the first in many achievements. Wickramasuriya’s indictment is unprecedented in international diplomacy. A duly appointed ambassador of a country stands accused of serious crimes committed while in office. Sri Lanka could have done without this dubious distinction.
One wonders if anyone in the present Sri Lankan administration pays attention to these two diplomats’ story. Shavendra Silva, a former military officer, dispatched as Deputy Permanent Secretary to the UN in 2010. Soon after the war ended, several military officers were posted in diplomatic positions around the world including, Germany, Pakistan, Malaysia, Israel, Indonesia, Japan, Australia, and Eritrea.
One may ask, why not a military officer as a diplomat?
It’s a valid question. It has to do with one’s mindset. A career diplomat is by education and training a diplomat. The foreign service recruits and trains diplomats to represent a country, establish goodwill and promote trade commerce, and friendly relations between nations.
Take the case of Brigadier Priyanka Fernando, attached to the Sri Lankan High Commission in the United Kingdom. A year ago, at the Independence Day celebrations in London, news media filmed Fernando gesturing slitting of the throat at protesting Tamil residents in front of the High Commission in London. Brigadier Fernando was active during the operations’ final phase by the government forces against the Tamil militants that left hundreds and thousands of combatants and civilians dead or unaccounted. How can you place a battle-hardened military man to a position of diplomacy and expect him to behave like a peace-loving pacifist? One can only surmise that it is the mindset of an army officer thrust into a diplomat’s position. The switch from warfare to diplomacy is not feasible in a short period. The silver lining to this incident comes from the Sri Lanka Foreign Ministry’s action in suspending this officer forthwith.
Sri Lankans who left their motherland’s shores and settled in Australia, Canada, USA, UK, European Union, and other parts of the globe have been great goodwill ambassadors to their country of birth. They excelled in their careers as doctors, lawyers, engineers, IT professionals, accountants, academics, early childhood educators, etc. They helped fly the Sri Lanka flag high with pride in how they conducted themselves in the land that adopted them. These expatriates were the ones who were at the brunt of ridicule leveled against them by neighbors, colleagues in the workplace, etc. when Sri Lankan parliamentarians recently widely publicized behavior like hooligans, thugs, and common criminals in parliament. In the US, people ask, what kind of people we elect to our parliament? What kind of people do we send as diplomats to Washington, DC?
Sri Lankan administration must take note of the fact nations in parts of the world have laws permitting them to exercise universal jurisdiction over certain crimes. War crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide fall within the purview of such jurisdiction. General Pinochet, former military ruler of Chile’ from 1973 to 1990, was arrested in a London Clinic where he received medical treatment. His diplomatic status did not deter the authorities from arresting Pinochet, indicted by a Spanish Court for human rights violations in his native Chile’. He was held for over a year until the British Government released him.
Some believe Henry Kissinger, a former US National Security Advisor and US Secretary of State, runs the risk of being arrested if he travels abroad for crimes against humanity committed in Vietnam and South America.
In this context and the story of the two diplomats, Sri Lanka must leave diplomacy in the hands of career diplomats from the foreign service.
Hawks do not belong in the company of doves. Choices made for diplomatic positions based on nepotism have proved to be a disaster as in Wickramasuriya as ambassador to the US. Sri Lanka must take note that these are crucial times for the exercise of sane foreign policy in its international relations. Sri Lanka’s external relations with India and the US cannot is vital. US foreign policy, pivot to Asia, is clear, and the curtailment of Chinese expansion in the region is at its center. While Sri Lanka is carving out segments of its territory and vital commercial hubs and resources handing it over on a platter to China, one cannot expect India and the US to stand by idly.
We come back to the questions Dickens posed in his Tale of Two Cities.
For Sri Lanka, one begins to wonder which were the best of times..which were the worst of times..?
Is Sri Lanka in the in the age of wisdom – or is it the age of foolishness?
Was it the season of light then and season of darkness now?
A spring of hope then, a winter of despair now?
We had everything before us then.. we have nothing before us now.
We were all going direct to Heaven.. or are we all going direct the other way?
