Airborne ministers, messy diplomacy and abandoned citizens

When future historians come to write about the current period in Sri Lanka, they will understand why it came to be called a “country like no other.” For there is no country like Sri Lanka and it is doubtful there will be one like it in the next millennia.

But if those torch bearers who foresaw a nation under another Parakramabahu the Great or not-sogreat or a Dutugemunu reborn might be better off if their advertorials were discarded in the rubbish bins of history and their propagandist tomes were buried in the tombs of a devastated nation like an ancient Pompeii wiped out by the volcano Vesuvius.

Still, before future historians hold their noses, close their eyes and turn away from a smelly political catastrophe that drove a nation’s people to the streets cursing the rulers that turned them out and even drove citizens to perilous journeys by sea in search of a new home, perhaps the next generation should have a whiff of what their ancestors struggled through.

There would still be enough left of the fistful of rulers whose promises of fair and equitable governance, justice for all under the rule of law and a much-touted meritocracy were nothing but deceptive mirages like in the Arabian deserts to which our hastily upgraded cabinet ministers are rushing in search of oil.

It is now reported that our own president will deign to travel to a sheikdom in search of petrol. After all the brouhaha that the Rajapaksa government created during the pandemic insisting that the Muslim dead be cremated instead of buried as Muslims traditionally do antagonising Islamic countries, it sure takes a hero to go shake the hand of a Sheik and ask for a couple of litres of fuel to keep the government wheels turning.

Why, the president might ask his one-time cabinet minister Rear Admiral (Retd- thankfully) Sarath Weerasekera to join him on this desert adventure. After all was it not this Rare Admiral that wanted the government to ban Muslim women in Sri Lanka from wearing a face covering called the Nikab?

All that political imprudence shortly before a crucial session of the UN Human Rights Council did cost Sri Lanka the votes of some Islamic states. Who cares as long as one receives some desultory applause at home with hopes of being propelled into the rarified ranks of pure, unadulterated nationalists.

The only thing that will immediately concern our high-flying ministers even in these terribly trying times is the availability of aviation fuel. So while our constantly airborne foreign minister was flitting from global North to global South and possibly shaking hands with every passer-by hoping that among them would be those 31 or so countries he claimed had supported Sri Lanka at the last UNHRC sessions, our new Tourism Minister Harin Fernando was at 35,000 feet heading for London on a private visit.

Conscientious as he appears to be, he did not miss the opportunity of addressing a gathering of British tour operators and ancillary interests at our High Commission. He was keen to sell Sri Lanka. Why not, after all now that everything from filling stations seem to be available at our fire sale.

The minister’s enthusiasm apparently is not shared by our diplomatic mission which needs some ‘spring cleaning’ to put it mildly, now that this is the season for it. After the meeting Minister Fernando twitted or tweeted or whatever the word is, on June 17 or 18 mentioning his meeting and posting some pictures along with it.

To him it was important enough. Apart from it being his first overseas ‘promotion’ as minister, he naturally would like to see plane loads of British tourists turning up bringing with them individual power supplies, medicines and other essentials to survive in a nation ruined by political upstarts.

Given what appeared to be its news worthiness at a time when even the bottom of our barrel of foreign reserves has been scraped a hundred times, it is natural that as journalists representing Sri Lankan and other media and interested in Sri Lanka but not having been invited to the event, one counted on the High Commission to provide a more detailed account of what transpired in a timely media release.

So one waited and waited and waited knowing only too well that news will soon become history. Then lo and behold, 10 days or so later a press

There would still be enough left of the fistful of rulers whose promises of fair and equitable governance, justice for all under the rule of law and a much-touted meritocracy were nothing but deceptive mirages like in the Arabian deserts to which our hastily upgraded cabinet ministers are rushing in search of oil.

release turns up in my inbox. After 60 years of domestic and international journalism I am quite accustomed to bureaucratic insouciance and tardiness. But I did not expect diplomatic missions to conduct themselves like file-pushing kachcheri clerks.

The press release states: “Delivering the welcome address, High Commissioner Saroja Sirisena stated that Sri Lanka has been a resilient country which has overcome difficult situations.”

A couple of sentences further it says “What Sri Lanka offers is something unique that taps into the sixth sense of the traveller. Once in Sri Lanka, a traveller experiences a little bit of Sri Lankanness that they take away with them.”

Lacking the prescience of a Gnana Akka who might have comprehended what all this was about, I was anxious to find out what the high commissioner meant before sitting down to write something on how tourism is being ‘sold’ at this critical juncture.

So did the words that Sri Lanka “has been” a resilient country mean it was no longer so? And that overcoming “difficult situations” would therefore be an almost impossible task given that the current situation is unprecedented?

Keen to find out what Sri Lanka taps into the sixth sense and what this “little bit of Sri Lankanness” that is being offered the unwary traveller was I had hoped to contact the high commission for clarifications as any professional journalist would do when unable to comprehend what seems like gobbledegook.

Strangely I found that the high commission does not have an Information Officer to whom such questions could be posed.

Knowledgeable sources tell me that under Sri Lanka’s Right to Information (RTI) Act state institutions such as the Foreign Ministry must have Information Officers and Designated Officers to deal with public queries. That includes our diplomatic missions abroad which must have officially named Information Officers and Designated Officers to deal with queries under the RTI Act.

But the high commission in London does not. It avoids contact with any London-based Sri Lanka journalist registered with the Foreign Press Association and accredited with the British Foreign Office and even fails to respond to communications and answer questions.

The British Foreign Office regularly sends media releases and invites recognised journalists to media gatherings and press briefings while our mission refuses to descend from its Olympian heights.

Recently former foreign secretary and well healed diplomat Ambassador Prasad Kariyawasam wrote to a newspaper calling for a rethink of our foreign policy including shedding shibboleths we have been clinging to.

While it was addressed to policy makers and those interested in foreign policy it was outside Kariyawasam’s remit to examine the need to train and educate career diplomats-even senior ones- on the need for sensible media relations and communication and how to make use of media in public diplomacy.

Knowing well enough Foreign Minister GL Peiris’s interest in media relations and for expeditiously conveying information and with a new foreign secretary at the head of the ministry one could only hope that those who represent Sri Lanka abroad are taught some basic lessons in this aspect of diplomacy that appears to be neglected.