Features

Oddities of Diplomatic Life

Published

2 years ago

2024/06/9

Thilina Walpola

Hulugalle with K.P.S.Menon at the Fontana di Trevi in Rome

(Excerpted from Selected Journalism
by HAJ Hulugalle)

Forty-five years ago there was no Diplomatic Corps in Ceylon. There were a number of consuls, some of whom were local businessmen serving in an “honorary” capacity. Cocktail parties were rare, and good liquor was cheap elsewhere.

A few countries whose ships used the port of Colombo employed full-time consuls who came out from their respective homelands. The United States, France, Germany, Italy and Japan sent career diplomats. Great Britain did not require special representations, for we were all British subjects. The Government of India had an “Agent”.

In 1930 there was a brilliant trio: Lewellyn E. Thompson, the American Vice-Consul, Mario Pansa, the Italian Consul, and K.P.S. Menon, the Agent of the Government of India.

Lewellyn Thompson’s first post in the US diplomatic service was that of Vice-Consul in Colombo. He was then 25 years of age, somewhat younger than Pansa and Menon. In due course he became American Ambassador in Moscow (between 1957 and 1961) when K.P.S. Menon was Indian Ambassador there. Thus the two men, both exceptionally talented, who started their diplomatic careers in Ceylon, were together in Russia during four eventful years.

Menon was the best known overseas official at the time in Ceylon though strictly speaking he had no diplomatic status. He had important duties as the representative of the Raj, the familiar name for the British Government in India. He was a brilliant public speaker and was greatly in demand on cultural subjects. His dazzling career at Oxford was the prelude to a succession of important roles in the service of his country. From Ceylon he went to Bharatpur as Chief Minister.

Lewellyn Thompson went from Ceylon to Geneva. When I first visited Rome in 1950, on one of my jaunts, he was the Counsellor at the United States Embassy there.

Mario Pansa, the Italian, was in some ways the most interesting of the three. He had lived close to Mussolini and had had his wings scorched. He was educated at Harrow, the English public school of Churchill, Nehru and Baldwin, among other famous men. He played polo and lived the life of an aristocrat.

The Fascist regime was never popular among the intelligentsia in the British colonies. In Ceylon the press was generally hostile to it and held up Mussolini to ridicule. Mario Pansa, who lived at “Tillingham”, in Guilford Crescent, poured out his troubles to me. He was, as far as I can remember, the first Italian I had ever spoken to. Tall and elegant, he had great charm like many Italians of his class. It was no doubt for this reason that Mussolini had chosen him to be his Personal Secretary.

Pansa accompanied the Duce to the Lausanne Conference in the early ‘twenties which decided the destines of the Middle Eastern countries. Had Mario succeeded in retaining the confidence of Mussolini he could, without doubt, have received quick promotion. The Ceylon appointment was a blind alley to a man of his accomplishments and promise.

He played more than a secretarial role when he went to Lausanne with Mussolini. It was his job to see that the Duce was correctly dressed. Mussolini was given to bizarre sartorial effects. He sometimes wore breeches and top boots, a black jacket, wing collar and tie, and a yachting cap. Such liberties could not be permitted at an assembly which included such sticklers for propriety as M. Poincare, ex-President of France, the Marquis of Curzon, British Foreign Secretary, and Ismet Pasha of Turkey.

The selection of Mussolini’s ties, shirts, shoes and other items of the wardrobe was Mario Pansa’s responsibility. Curzon, the punctilious ex-Viceroy of India, called “Britannia’s Butler” by a satirist, found Mussolini’s ways very trying. He did not approve of the Duce’s brown bowler hat, nor did he like to be kept waiting. The conference was timed to begin at 11 o’clock but there were no signs of the Italian Prime Minister.

Harold Nicolson, who was Curzon’s secretary, has written: “From time to time, I would return to Lord Curzon’s room and assure them all that M. Mussolini was on his way, I would then resume my talks with Mario Pansa, whose gay Harrovian chatter relieved a situation which but for him I would have found a trifle tense.”

Lord Curzon had his own troubles. He travelled in state as became a former proconsul, and his minions carried a foot-rest which French journalists called “le trove de Bagdad”. He had engaged a new valet by the name of Arketall just before he left London. This man provided the comic relief at the Conference, at least for the British delegation, with antics which could not have been improved by the Marx brothers.

Arketall was once mistaken for Lord Curzon in the streets of Lausanne and he acknowledged the cheering by repeatedly raising his bowler hat. He helped himself freely to whatever liquor was going. On the second morning of the conference, Arketall, in helping his master with his socks slipped and fell. “Arketall” his lordship remonstrated “you are either very ill or very drunk”. “Both m’lord.” Arketall answered.

The incident which terminated their association had still to come. There was a State Ball in honour of the delegates. Lord Curzon, who did not dance, was persuaded to watch the proceedings. Leaning on his ebony cane, he smiled amiably at the couples as they passed him. He observed an American lady of great distinction, wearing among her ornaments a stomacher of diamonds, in the arms of a distinguished looking man in evening dress.

“Surely” he told Nicolson as he peered more closely, “surely, that can’t be Arketall”. Arketall, it was indeed. It was decided then and there that he should leave Lausanne the first thing next morning. Arketall left, but it was not the end of his lordship’s troubles.

Starting next morning to dress for the conference meeting, Curzon sent for Nicolson immediately. “That unspeakable Arketall”, he said, “has stolen my trousers”. “Not all your trousers?” asked Nicolson in some confusion. “Yes all, except these”, said Lord Curzon who was wearing the trousers of his dinner suit of the night before.

There was still an hour before the conference. Telephone calls were made to the frontier but Arketall was already in France. The manager of the hotel and other members of the staff made a frantic search for the missing trousers. When Nicolson, tired by his efforts, sat down on Arketall’s bed, he found the Foreign Secretary’s trousers in a press under the bed clothes. “Thank you”, said Curzon when informed of the discovery. “I shall now complete my toilet. And as a reward I shall give my celebrated imitation on Tennyson ,reciting.” “Tears, Idle Tears”.

He kept his promises with eclat. “Ah yes, I know”, he sighed when it was all over, “all that was years ago when I was a young man and could still laugh at my elders. But all young men are remorseless. You will go upstairs this evening and chaff behind my back. You will give imitations in after-life of the old buffer imitating Tennyson. And so it continues.” He sighed deeply, “I am sorry for Arketall. I liked that man”.

As for Mario Pansa, he returned to Rome with his master, who no doubt suspected the old Harrovian of doing just what Curzon thought his secretaries would do. But Mussolini did not have the sense of humour with which the British Foreign Secretary was blessed despite his public image as “Britannia’s Butler”. I asked many of his friends at the Palazzo Chigi, the then Italian Foreign Office, about Mario. Without exception they spoke well of him. He was drowned at Fumicino, a bathing resort near Rome. It was not clear whether he risked death deliberately. He had fallen out of favour with the men around Mussolini.

(First published in January 1976)

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Features

Misinterpreting President Dissanayake on National Reconciliation

Published

3 hours ago

2026/02/10

Sahan Weerasooriya

President Dissanayake

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has been investing his political capital in going to the public to explain some of the most politically sensitive and controversial issues. At a time when easier political choices are available, the president is choosing the harder path of confronting ethnic suspicion and communal fears. There are three issues in particular on which the president’s words have generated strong reactions. These are first with regard to Buddhist pilgrims going to the north of the country with nationalist motivations. Second is the controversy relating to the expansion of the Tissa Raja Maha Viharaya, a recently constructed Buddhist temple in Kankesanturai which has become a flashpoint between local Tamil residents and Sinhala nationalist groups. Third is the decision not to give the war victory a central place in the Independence Day celebrations.

Even in the opposition, when his party held only three seats in parliament, Anura Kumara Dissanayake took his role as a public educator seriously. He used to deliver lengthy, well researched and easily digestible speeches in parliament. He continues this practice as president. It can be seen that his statements are primarily meant to elevate the thinking of the people and not to win votes the easy way. The easy way to win votes whether in Sri Lanka or elsewhere in the world is to rouse nationalist and racist sentiments and ride that wave. Sri Lanka’s post independence political history shows that narrow ethnic mobilisation has often produced short term electoral gains but long term national damage.

Sections of the opposition and segments of the general public have been critical of the president for taking these positions. They have claimed that the president is taking these positions in order to obtain more Tamil votes or to appease minority communities. The same may be said in reverse of those others who take contrary positions that they seek the Sinhala votes. These political actors who thrive on nationalist mobilisation have attempted to portray the president’s statements as an abandonment of the majority community. The president’s actions need to be understood within the larger framework of national reconciliation and long term national stability.

Reconciler’s Duty

When the president referred to Buddhist pilgrims from the south going to the north, he was not speaking about pilgrims visiting long established Buddhist heritage sites such as Nagadeepa or Kandarodai. His remarks were directed at a specific and highly contentious development, the recently built Buddhist temple in Kankesanturai and those built elsewhere in the recent past in the north and east. The temple in Kankesanturai did not emerge from the religious needs of a local Buddhist community as there is none in that area. It has been constructed on land that was formerly owned and used by Tamil civilians and which came under military occupation as a high security zone. What has made the issue of the temple particularly controversial is that it was established with the support of the security forces.

The controversy has deepened because the temple authorities have sought to expand the site from approximately one acre to nearly fourteen acres on the basis that there was a historic Buddhist temple in that area up to the colonial period. However, the Tamil residents of the area fear that expansion would further displace surrounding residents and consolidate a permanent Buddhist religious presence in the present period in an area where the local population is overwhelmingly Hindu. For many Tamils in Kankesanturai, the issue is not Buddhism as a religion but the use of religion as a vehicle for territorial assertion and demographic changes in a region that bore the brunt of the war. Likewise, there are other parts of the north and east where other temples or places of worship have been established by the military personnel in their camps during their war-time occupation and questions arise regarding the future when these camps are finally closed.

There are those who have actively organised large scale pilgrimages from the south to make the Tissa temple another important religious site. These pilgrimages are framed publicly as acts of devotion but are widely perceived locally as demonstrations of dominance. Each such visit heightens tension, provokes protest by Tamil residents, and risks confrontation. For communities that experienced mass displacement, military occupation and land loss, the symbolism of a state backed religious structure on contested land with the backing of the security forces is impossible to separate from memories of war and destruction. A president committed to reconciliation cannot remain silent in the face of such provocations, however uncomfortable it may be to challenge sections of the majority community.

High-minded leadership

The controversy regarding the president’s Independence Day speech has also generated strong debate. In that speech the president did not refer to the military victory over the LTTE and also did not use the term “war heroes” to describe soldiers. For many Sinhala nationalist groups, the absence of these references was seen as an attempt to diminish the sacrifices of the armed forces. The reality is that Independence Day means very different things to different communities. In the north and east the same day is marked by protest events and mourning and as a “Black Day”, symbolising the consolidation of a state they continue to experience as excluding them and not empathizing with the full extent of their losses.

By way of contrast, the president’s objective was to ensure that Independence Day could be observed as a day that belonged to all communities in the country. It is not correct to assume that the president takes these positions in order to appease minorities or secure electoral advantage. The president is only one year into his term and does not need to take politically risky positions for short term electoral gains. Indeed, the positions he has taken involve confronting powerful nationalist political forces that can mobilise significant opposition. He risks losing majority support for his statements. This itself indicates that the motivation is not electoral calculation.

President Dissanayake has recognized that Sri Lanka’s long term political stability and economic recovery depend on building trust among communities that once peacefully coexisted and then lived through decades of war. Political leadership is ultimately tested by the willingness to say what is necessary rather than what is politically expedient. The president’s recent interventions demonstrate rare national leadership and constitute an attempt to shift public discourse away from ethnic triumphalism and toward a more inclusive conception of nationhood. Reconciliation cannot take root if national ceremonies reinforce the perception of victory for one community and defeat for another especially in an internal conflict.

BY Jehan Perera

Features

Recovery of LTTE weapons

Published

3 hours ago

2026/02/10

Sahan Weerasooriya

Sri Lanka Navy in action

I have read a newspaper report that the Special Task Force of Sri Lanka Police, with help of Military Intelligence, recovered three buried yet well-preserved 84mm Carl Gustaf recoilless rocket launchers used by the LTTE, in the Kudumbimalai area, Batticaloa.

These deadly weapons were used by the LTTE SEA TIGER WING to attack the Sri Lanka Navy ships and craft in 1990s. The first incident was in February 1997, off Iranativu island, in the Gulf of Mannar.

Admiral Cecil Tissera took over as Commander of the Navy on 27 January, 1997, from Admiral Mohan Samarasekara.

The fight against the LTTE was intensified from 1996 and the SLN was using her Vanguard of the Navy, Fast Attack Craft Squadron, to destroy the LTTE’s littoral fighting capabilities. Frequent confrontations against the LTTE Sea Tiger boats were reported off Mullaitivu, Point Pedro and Velvetiturai areas, where SLN units became victorious in most of these sea battles, except in a few incidents where the SLN lost Fast Attack Craft.

Carl Gustaf recoilless rocket launchers

The intelligence reports confirmed that the LTTE Sea Tigers was using new recoilless rocket launchers against aluminium-hull FACs, and they were deadly at close quarter sea battles, but the exact type of this weapon was not disclosed.

The following incident, which occurred in February 1997, helped confirm the weapon was Carl Gustaf 84 mm Recoilless gun!

DATE: 09TH FEBRUARY, 1997, morning 0600 hrs.

LOCATION: OFF IRANATHIVE.

FACs: P 460 ISRAEL BUILT, COMMANDED BY CDR MANOJ JAYESOORIYA

P 452 CDL BUILT, COMMANDED BY LCDR PM WICKRAMASINGHE (ON TEMPORARY COMMAND. PROPER OIC LCDR N HEENATIGALA)

OPERATED FROM KKS.

CONFRONTED WITH LTTE ATTACK CRAFT POWERED WITH FOUR 250 HP OUT BOARD MOTORS.

TARGET WAS DESTROYED AND ONE LTTE MEMBER WAS CAPTURED.

LEADING MARINE ENGINEERING MECHANIC OF THE FAC CAME UP TO THE BRIDGE CARRYING A PROJECTILE WHICH WAS FIRED BY THE LTTE BOAT, DURING CONFRONTATION, WHICH PENETRATED THROUGH THE FAC’s HULL, AND ENTERED THE OICs CABIN (BETWEEN THE TWO BUNKS) AND HIT THE AUXILIARY ENGINE ROOM DOOR AND HAD FALLEN DOWN WITHOUT EXPLODING. THE ENGINE ROOM DOOR WAS HEAVILY DAMAGED LOOSING THE WATER TIGHT INTEGRITY OF THE FAC.

THE PROJECTILE WAS LATER HANDED OVER TO THE NAVAL WEAPONS EXPERTS WHEN THE FACs RETURNED TO KKS. INVESTIGATIONS REVEALED THE WEAPON USED BY THE ENEMY WAS 84 mm CARL GUSTAF SHOULDER-FIRED RECOILLESS GUN AND THIS PROJECTILE WAS AN ILLUMINATER BOMB OF ONE MILLION CANDLE POWER. BUT THE ATTACKERS HAS FAILED TO REMOVE THE SAFETY PIN, THEREFORE THE BOMB WAS NOT ACTIVATED.

Sea Tigers

Carl Gustaf 84 mm recoilless gun was named after Carl Gustaf Stads Gevärsfaktori, which, initially, produced it. Sweden later developed the 84mm shoulder-fired recoilless gun by the Royal Swedish Army Materiel Administration during the second half of 1940s as a crew served man- portable infantry support gun for close range multi-role anti-armour, anti-personnel, battle field illumination, smoke screening and marking fire.

It is confirmed in Wikipedia that Carl Gustaf Recoilless shoulder-fired guns were used by the only non-state actor in the world – the LTTE – during the final Eelam War.

It is extremely important to check the batch numbers of the recently recovered three launchers to find out where they were produced and other details like how they ended up in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka?

By Admiral Ravindra C. Wijegunaratne
WV, RWP and Bar, RSP, VSV, USP, NI (M) (Pakistan), ndc, psn, Bsc (Hons) (War Studies) (Karachi) MPhil (Madras)
Former Navy Commander and Former Chief of Defence Staff
Former Chairman, Trincomalee Petroleum Terminals Ltd
Former Managing Director Ceylon Petroleum Corporation
Former High Commissioner to Pakistan

Features

Yellow Beatz … a style similar to K-pop!

Published

3 hours ago

2026/02/10

Sahan Weerasooriya

Yes, get ready to vibe with Yellow Beatz, Sri Lanka’s awesome girl group, keen to take Sri Lankan music to the world with a style similar to K-pop!

With high-energy beats and infectious hooks, these talented ladies are here to shake up the music scene.

Think bold moves, catchy hooks, and, of course, spicy versions of old Sinhala hits, and Yellow Beatz is the package you won’t want to miss!

According to a spokesman for the group, Yellow Beatz became a reality during the Covid period … when everyone was stuck at home, in lockdown.

“First we interviewed girls, online, and selected a team that blended well, as four voices, and then started rehearsals. One of the cover songs we recorded, during those early rehearsals, unexpectedly went viral on Facebook. From that moment onward, we continued doing cover songs, and we received a huge response. Through that, we were able to bring back some beautiful Sri Lankan musical creations that were being forgotten, and introduce them to the new generation.”

The team members, I am told, have strong musical skills and with proper training their goal is to become a vocal group recognised around the world.

Believe me, their goal, they say, is not only to take Sri Lanka’s name forward, in the music scene, but to bring home a Grammy Award, as well.

“We truly believe we can achieve this with the love and support of everyone in Sri Lanka.”

The year 2026 is very special for Yellow Beatz as they have received an exceptional opportunity to represent Sri Lanka at the World Championships of Performing Arts in the USA.

Under the guidance of Chris Raththara, the Director for Sri Lanka, and with the blessings of all Sri Lankans, the girls have a great hope that they can win this milestone.

“We believe this will be a moment of great value for us as Yellow Beatz, and also for all Sri Lankans, and it will be an important inspiration for the future of our country.”

Along with all the preparation for the event in the USA, they went on to say they also need to manage their performances, original song recordings, and everything related.

The year 2026 is very special for Yellow Beatz

“We have strong confidence in ourselves and in our sincere intentions, because we are a team that studies music deeply, researches within the field, and works to take the uniqueness of Sri Lankan identity to the world.”

At present, they gather at the Voices Lab Academy, twice a week, for new creations and concert rehearsals.

This project was created by Buddhika Dayarathne who is currently working as a Pop Vocal lecturer at SLTC Campus. Voice Lab Academy is also his own private music academy and Yellow Beatz was formed through that platform.

Buddhika is keen to take Sri Lankan music to the world with a style similar to K-Pop and Yellow Beatz began as a result of that vision. With that same aim, we all work together as one team.

“Although it was a little challenging for the four of us girls to work together at first, we have united for our goal and continue to work very flexibly and with dedication. Our parents and families also give their continuous blessings and support for this project,” Rameesha, Dinushi, Newansa and Risuri said.

Last year, Yellow Beatz released their first original song, ‘Ihirila’ , and with everything happening this year, they are also preparing for their first album.