‘Viceroys’ undermining Sri Lanka’s sovereignty

by Dr Upul Wijayawardhana

It is becoming increasingly clear that some ambassadors, assuming themselves to be the new viceroys, are undermining Sri Lanka’s sovereignty. It is also becoming pretty obvious that the project to oust Gota got underway no sooner had he been elected President. Western countries that extol the virtues of democracy, some not hesitating to use even the might of the bullet to spread democracy, paradoxically seem unable to respect the wishes of voters in vulnerable countries when the democratic wish is at variance with their agendas. They continue to undermine and often succeed, unfortunately. It is a great shame that we lack politicians with guts who are able to withstand these bullies. While it is true that we are economically challenged, that by itself should not deter us from taking action when our sovereignty is threatened.

Within a week of Gota’s election, an international furore was created by the claims of a local lady who worked for the Swiss Embassy in Colombo. Her claim was that she had been abducted and assaulted by men who came in a ‘White Van’. This claim came close on the heels of a very serious allegation made by a politician at a press conference a week before the presidential election. He was flanked by two men, one of whom claimed to be the ‘White Van’ driver, who abducted opponents, and the other who fed the abductees to crocodiles. It did not take long for this canard to be debunked, as it transpired that the lake, where they claimed to have fed crocodiles, had never had any crocodiles! However, the damage was done.

Many moons later, the ‘abducted and tortured’ lady confessed that it was a charade. She is lucky to have got away with a suspended sentence. An irate friend of mine, rang me and said, “Is she not guilty of treason?” I agreed with him that her actions amounted to treason as she had purposely tarnished the image of the country of her birth.

Considering the conduct of the then Swiss Ambassador, who smuggled a police officer and his family the day after the election, a finger has to be pointed at him. In fact, it was he who internationalised this incident which is well described by Shamindra Ferdinando in his column in the Midweek Review (The Island, 19 July). This Ambassador went to the extent of getting an ambulance plane to airlift the lady. Had Gota not used his power and stopped that charade mud would have stuck forever; she would have been airlifted and given political asylum in Switzerland. Maybe, that was the promised reward!

Even when investigations revealed that her claims were untrue, Switzerland did not offer an apology. Gota did not have the guts to send that Ambassador packing home, which he should have done, and demanded an apology from the Swiss. Had he shown strength of character then, he may still be the President but that is a different story. Now that she has had no choice but to admit guilt, one would have expected a much-delayed apology from Switzerland. That does not seem to be forthcoming. Until this happened, I have been a great admirer of Switzerland, visiting often, but have not done so since. Shame on you, Switzerland!

Should our government take any further action, or will it? Ranil seems tough with everyone, nipping in the bud all forms of protest, but will he have the guts to challenge Switzerland? More importantly, having been the beneficiary of all these machinations to realize his life-long ambition in the most unexpected of circumstances, would he be interested? Very unlikely. Unfortunately, he does not seem to realise that unless we show that we are not prepared to allow our sovereignty to be undermined, those countries would continue to trifle with it.

This brings me to the other viceroy, the American Ambassador. Curiously, she has earned plaudits even from Dr Gunadasa Amarasekara. In his recent articles in The Island, unfortunately, he has failed to mention that she deserves to be sent out as she has overstepped the mark in many instances. The glaring instance, where she attempted to be the viceroy, is her approach to the Speaker. At the launch of his book, which she branded as fiction, Wimal Weerawansa said she had approached the Speaker, requesting him to take over as the President. On whose authority did she make this approach? Was she trying to apply the guidance laid down in the American Constitution where the Speaker of the House succeeds if both the President and Vice-President are incapacitated? Does she consider Sri Lanka to be a colony of the USA and she the Viceroy?

It is to the credit of the Speaker that he refused her request, pointing out that such a move would be against the Sri Lankan Constitution. One may have reservations about how Ranil became the President, but the fact remains that his appointment was constitutional. However, what is remarkable is that, though the Ambassador branded Wimal Weerawansa’s book a work of fiction, the Speaker has not denied the story. She is ubiquitous; even visiting the JVP office to meet the leader when the tide was turning in their favour. Now that it has become obvious that the JVP has not renounced violence, hijacked Aragalaya and attempted to storm Parliament, one wonders what the US Ambassador thinks of them now.

Should we allow ambassadors to act as viceroys and interfere in our governance? Definitely not! It is a great shame that we do not have leaders with a backbone who have the guts to take on the new viceroys and show them the way home!