By Sena Thoradeniya

These days Julie Chung, the US Ambassador is in Jaffna peninsula. Her Tour de Jaffna, meeting families of the disappeared, female officers of CBSL regional office Kilinochchi, woman-majority workforce producing and packaging curry and chillie powder, people engaged in USAID- funded see weed cultivation, North Central Naval Commander (discussed challenges to maritime security in the area”),Bishop of Mannar and priests at the Shrine of Madhu, a hectic programme indeed!

On 23 August, 2023, she had a meeting with civil society” members in Jaffna to hear their concerns and perspectives”. There she had listened and met, to use her own words dynamic voices and partners” to support a democratic Sri Lanka”.  

On the same day she addressed Jaffna College First Leadership Training Programme,” fostering the potential in future leaders and equipping them with the skill for success”. What a miracle if she can achieve what was said in a one- off address!

Next she meets Jaffna-based LGBTQI+ rights activists (Jaffna Pride) who are working towards achieving a just, inclusive & respectful society for all Sri Lankans”. She writes: Inclusivity, diversity & equality are vital for a strong democracy”.  Fine safeguards to Chung-type democracy”!

We remind that prior to Galle Face protest Gay Pride Marches were organised by US- funded International Republican Institute (IRI) in the North of Sri Lanka and in Colombo in 2021. There was a strong presence of LGBTIQ activists at the Galle Face protest site. On June 25, 2022 LGBTQ activists marched to Galle Face from the Temple Trees precincts.

On 24, August, she met with brave families of the disappeared”, to hear about their continued quest for answers, transparency and accountability in the healing and reconciliation process”. Brave families of the disappeared”? No doubt she refers to perished armed LTTE combatants. How can their families become brave”? Do the disappeared” also mean thousands of Tamils who left the shores adding to the numbers alleged to have been killed by the security forces?  The good Ambassador has learnt something: she uses the word healing” instead of revealing”: what we have pointed out in our article posted on July 26, 2023.

On 25, August, Julie Chung attended the Pooja Day, wearing a saffron coloured cloth holding a flower tray at Thirukeeswaran or Thirukeeswaram Hindu Temple in Mannar. She says that Thirukeeswaran Hindu temple is one of the most venerated Hindu temples in Sri Lanka with a 2500-year tradition and history.” Is Chung re-writing the history of Sri Lanka?

What she says is that this Hindu temple was in existence even at the time of Vijaya and his companions landed in Sri Lanka. She attempts to provide some more evidences to the myth of Tamil Homelands in North and East, well-timed when there is a controversy over Kurundee Vihara.

Are we concentrating only on the macro picture, forgetting what is happening at micro level is the question we should ask looking at these acts of foreign diplomats who have been given a free rein in Sri Lanka? Igniting flames of dissension at micro level is equally or more dangerous.

Paul E. Pieris (1913/1983) says that Portuguese demolished the famous shrine of Tiuketiswaram in Mantota to supply materials for the fort and the Churches which were subsequently erected. From 1505 until 1658 Portuguese occupied substantial portions of the Maritime provinces of Lanka.  Pieris does not mention when this shrine was built. Chung does not mention that the shrine was demolished by the Portuguese.

Simon Casie Chitty in his The Ceylon Gazzetteer” (1834) under Manaar” mentions of a fort, a small Protestant Church, two reservoirs for water, a court house, several Roman Catholic chapels and the bazar. Strangely no mention of a Hindu kovil. He writes: With regard to pristine state of Mannar we are not in possession of any written accounts and are therefore compelled to rest on the traditions current among the natives.”  Phillipus Baldaeus’s book on Ceylon which has more than a dozen references to Mannar was first published in Dutch in 1672. In it also we do not find any reference to a Hindu kovil in Mannar. Readers are requested to refer Kamalika Pieris’s account on Thirukeetheswaran in her article posted on August 6, 2023 (Buddhist Viharas and Eaalam Part 5B”).