Columns

Some aspiring and perspiring entrants to diplomatic life have it so, so wrong. Those who have conjured up images of diplomacy as cocktails and canapés at sundown and cognac and cigars at night cannot be but dreamers of dreams.

But there are more things in diplomacy than is dreamt of in their philosophy. It is a common mistake that the new initiatives whether planted at the top of the pyramid or at the bottom of the structure make, believing they have already learnt what they have to learn.

So some of them come to the service with the glorious illusion that because they have served in other capacities elsewhere they are capable of being metamorphosed into diplomatic Bismarcs overnight, ready to take on the world in a week or two, that they have little or nothing new to absorb from the new world they have begun to inhabit.

What is of greater concern is an issue or two that the Political Editor and others raised the other day. It relates to the undiplomatic conduct of the head of the Foreign Affairs Ministry, Admiral (retired) Jayanath Colombage.

Over the years one has noticed that officials- especially those in the higher administrative ranks including secretaries of ministries have begun to talk too much on government policy issues and other matters relating to their relevant ministries or departments or institutions.

There was a time going back to the beginning of the 1960s when we came into journalism when public officials talked little or not at all on matters relating to their work unless such intervention was considered necessary. It was a continuation of a civil service tradition. If they talked at all it was often about innocuous issues that could do no harm or were ordered to do.

It was the politicians — ministers, deputies etc. — who did the talking and were in the limelight- at times too much of it. Today it has reached a stage when a politician or public official assumes office in a new post or position on the first there is a photo- opportunity where some official is seen signing a book or a letter often surrounded by family, officials and others with only the cook not in attendance.

Unfortunately those old habits where officials went about their business without fanfare and fire-crackers, is long gone and everyone has now turned out to be spokesmen whether appointed or disappointed.

Last Sunday the Political Editor while commending Foreign Secretary Colombage for his pleasing personality and helpful manner had this to say. Let him take over the narrative.

“Alas, this week, he crossed the forbidden red line in diplomatic practice. He told several media outlets that the United States’ new President Joe Biden should first put his house in order. He was alluding to the protection of democracy and fighting extremism in the US. Not that President Biden is free from criticism. Neither Foreign Secretaries nor persons in the ilk of foreign relations are expected to make such remarks and this is the first time one holding office in Sri Lanka has done so. It is common sense that it is offensive to the country concerned.

“Imagine if the new US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken was to make such remarks about Sri Lanka. Would it not have drawn a protest from Colombo? Would not there be a lot of chest thumping asking the US to mind its business? Was this a response for the US Ambassador Allaina B. Teplitz’s remarks during a roundtable discussion with journalists? If that be the case, she is perfectly entitled to speak out as the US envoy. Such conduct only causes damage to the reputation of the country and its leaders. Sadly, one senior diplomat remarked, ‘you guys have a superpower complex.’ Added a retired, senior Sri Lankan diplomat who did not wish to be named: ‘The least a Foreign Secretary says, except on extraordinarily important issues, the better it is for the country, the Government and its leaders.’”

In the meantime a local website has alleged that Foreign Secretary Colombage “leaked” the report on Sri Lanka written by the United Nations Human Rights High Commissioner for distribution to member-states of the Council before the oncoming meeting in Geneva when Sri Lanka will be on the agenda.

Whether this allegation of a leaked report is true or not, I would not know. But it is interesting and certainly unfortunate that Colombage figured prominently in more than one publication within two days of each other.

While the accusation was still in the air another report in the same publication reportedly told some senior foreign ministry officials that their private conversations with each other are being monitored by “several agencies” and any criticism of the government or the foreign secretary will be known via this surveillance.

If this report is also true then it is surely worrying to know that the private communications of individuals whether of diplomatic officers or not, must be a matter of growing concern.

If true, then it is an admission by a high ranking officer that the communications of citizens of this country (and who else?) is being tapped and listened to. Not that this was not long known but it had not been previously admitted so openly.

But this is not the only diplomatic mess that has been made in the last couple of weeks. Hard on the heels of these stories from Colombo which one could believe are plausible since I have not seen any denial in the media or by the Foreign Ministry, comes the story of our newly-installed Permanent Representative at the UN, Mohan Peiris, a onetime chief justice, plunging into the deep-end of the UN discussion pool without seeming to know how to keep his head above water. If one is new to the UN system, its protocol and procedure the least one could-and should-do is spend some time acquainting oneself with as many of them before delivering judgments.

In his maiden speech at the UN, Mr Peiris thought he will play the heroic David against the mighty Goliath without realising that this was no one-eyed giant like Peiris was a pretentious David.

He should have known — if he did not he should have someone knowledgeable — that when the Secretary-General’s report comes up for discussion it is not an occasion to criticize the UN and its system and stray far afield accusing some UN agencies and associate institutions of being supporters of terrorist organizations and working on their behalf.

That is not the purpose of the discussion on the Secretary-General’s report as he would have sensed had he listened to representatives of other member-states.

Peiris got his just deserts when Secretary General Guterras responded to Peiris’s irrelevant and irresponsible intervention and told him where he got off. By that he should have realised that this is not the law and never got on. Had he wanted to condemn the UN and its operations there are appropriate occasions and not go charging in as on seeing a China shop. Now by dragging the Sri Lanka question from Geneva to UN headquarters in New York, Peiris has opened a can of worms.

In his column last Sunday the Political Editor quoted the reaction of a foreign diplomat to Sri Lanka’s amateur diplomacy: “You chaps have a superpower complex”. Indeed but not just a complex but a overwhelming belief.

It is said Udaya Gammanpila who fancies himself a knowledgeable chap next only to Henry Kissinger is said to have asked somebody derisively of Human Right High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet “Who is she?” Why, he could always ask somebody, anybody who reads.

(Neville de Silva is a veteran
Sri Lankan journalist who was Assistant Editor, Diplomatic Editor and Political Columnist of the Hong Kong Standard before moving to London where he worked for Gemini News Service. Later he was Deputy Chief-of-Mission in Bangkok and Deputy High Commissioner in London before returning to journalism.)