Exciting time to be here
View(s):When James Dauris first came to Sri Lanka he was only 18 years old. A young teacher of English Literature, he remembers the long journey down from the school in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh where he taught, to Rameshwaram in Tamil Nadu, from where he took the ferry over. It was 1984, just a year after the riots of July. Dauris had known what to expect, but the shells of torched houses and businesses that still remained made a deep impression on him:“Seeing the evidence, seeing a burnt-out building is so much more striking than reading about it. You can read about a hundred buildings being burned and it’s a figure. When you see it you realise this is somebody’s home or somebody’s business which has been destroyed. It brings each little tragedy home in a much more personal way.”
James Dauris Pic by Indika Handuwala
On that same trip he would travel to Nuwara Eliya and Kandy, but Dauris saved Jaffna for this year, when he returned to the island to take up his new post as the British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka and the Maldives. A week ago, he flew down to the North of the country, calling on several prominent players in the region including C.V Wigneswaran, Chief Minister of the Northern Province and Major General Nandana Udawatta, Security Forces Commander for Jaffna. The visit afforded him an opportunity to look in on key UK-funded projects such as the HALO Trust’s demining operations in Muhamalai and the community policing programme at the Puthukkudiyiruppu Police Station.
On the same trip, he also met and spoke with communities who had been internally displaced by the war. They were on the cusp of returning home and brimming over with both anticipation and trepidation. Dauris is frank about what lies ahead for these Sri Lankans. “I heard from lots of people how in spite of the problems they still face, there is a real sense that things have changed, since the middle of January, since President Sirisena’s election.” He was told by residents of the North they felt they could be outspoken about their problems in a way that wasn’t possible six months ago. “That’s a very significant change,” says Dauris now. “It’s quite intangible, you can’t take photographs of that but it is a very real and welcome change and much to the credit of the current President and his government.”
He takes care though to emphasise that there are considerable challenges still ahead for these very same communities. Six years after the end of the war, many homes are no longer standing, in other cases the buildings exist but do not have basic facilities like electricity. There is a need for livelihoods and infrastructure like schools and hospitals. Dauris sees here a country-wide concern bigger than any one province. “They will not be able to address this alone, it is a challenge for the macro-community, not just the micro-community,” he says.
The High Commissioner is here at a time when his government enjoys good relations with their Sri Lankan counterparts. Dauris pauses to note that President Sirisena’s decision to visit London so early in his tenure was seen as a confirmation of these strengthened ties. However, in at least one area, his time here is likely to prove more demanding than that of his predecessor, John Rankin. (The latter, now Ambassador to Nepal, has been praised for his leadership in the immediate aftermath of the recent earthquake.)
Dauris will have a ringside view of events unfolding in the Maldives. When asked about the ongoing crisis there, he is wary of the use of the word. However, the US made headlines this week, with the Obama administration coming under internal pressure to lobby for the release of all political prisoners, including former president Mohamed Nasheed. Dauris himself cannot be immune to the pressure, and has already travelled there, presenting his credentials to the current government as well as meeting key members of civil society.
Identifying the “special relationship” he sees the UK as having with both Sri Lanka and the Maldives, Dauris says now, “We, and many other countries, in the international community are keen to see democracy thrive in the Maldives. And so for example, the arrest and the conviction of the former President Nasheed is a cause for concern.”Creating that space for democracy is in the hands of various institutions, he says, from the judiciary and the parliament to civil society. This is a careful, if not altogether satisfying answer. But these are early days yet for Dauris.
His tenure holds promise, not least because of his familiarity with this part of the world. His career in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office began in 1995, and he comes to us from Peru where he served as Ambassador. (A qualified solicitor, he holds a law degree from Cambridge.)He speaks a smattering of Sinhala – and already put it to good use when he bought himself a train ticket down to Galle.Standing as he travelled third-class, unfortunately he missed the gorgeous views. Clearly an enthusiastic traveller, on another day he made a considerably shorter trip, hopping on a bus to Pettah, hoping to enjoy his anonymity while it lasted – but that hope died when he was outed on Twitter.
He seems more amused than anything else by this, being himself quite at ease on the social media platform. In recent weeks, he’s tweeted often. In one post, he shared a picture of the skeletal remains of a place of worship, writing: ‘St James’s Church, Palaly South. Sad for the community to see it looking like this, roof gone, as they return home.’ His most recent however, was in honour of World Environment Day and starred a brown-headed barbet and her chick in his garden in Colombo. An amateur bird-watching enthusiast, he is looking forward to acquainting himself with the 20 odd species endemic to Sri Lanka.
Conservationists could hope his personal inclinations will translate into tangible support for local initiatives. Biological diversity, Dauris says, is “something very special and very vulnerable.” “As in any society, development introduces contradictions and introduces real management challenges. Getting the balance right between a population’s needs and conservation’s needs, recognizing that in the longer term conservation needs are in many ways interlinked with the population’s needs, is difficult and needs good leadership with a clear strategy.”
Sri Lankans interested in other immediate concerns such as the issue of visas to students and visitors to the UK, will find less room for hope. Dauris says the High Commission’s visa process is unlikely to change though every effort is being made to “operate it as efficiently as possible.” In the Maldives, a temporary visa centre, however, has eased the process of applying considerably, removing the need for the applicant to appear in Colombo to submit their biometric information.
On the academic and cultural front, the High Commissioner is pleased to be involved with the largest British Council operation in South Asia, and to see the British Council library here enjoy a reputation as having the largest membership anywhere in the world. Taken together, his many responsibilities ensure the months ahead will be busy ones. His list of people to meet itself runs for a mile. Though the many rounds of engagements sound at least a little taxing, he seems pleased with his lot. “I’ve arrived in Sri Lanka at an exciting time,” he says, smiling.