{"id":47332,"date":"2015-08-26T18:45:31","date_gmt":"2015-08-27T00:45:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=47332"},"modified":"2015-08-26T01:20:24","modified_gmt":"2015-08-26T08:20:24","slug":"the-post-of-high-commissioner-in-london-an-open-letter-to-sanga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2015\/08\/26\/the-post-of-high-commissioner-in-london-an-open-letter-to-sanga\/","title":{"rendered":"The post of High Commissioner in London An open letter to Sanga"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0<\/strong>Mario Perera<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

Dear Sanga,<\/p>\n

Just a few days ago, speaking at the farewell offered to you on the cricket field, H.E.The President, made to you a generous offer, being the post of High Commissioner in London. Later in the day, at a press conference when questioned on the topic, you assessed your situation. You humbly mentioned your lack of experience in that particular field, and the need to discuss the issue further with President Sirisena. The latter clause indicated that you intended to pursue the matter.<\/p>\n

As one who has followed your cricketing career from the beginning, as well as your tremendous personal development in the process, I have few comments to make regarding the subject. I for one would thoroughly dissuade you from accepting the presidential offer. You are totally capable of functioning in that post with dignity and honour, having all the trappings to emerge as an outstanding diplomat. That is not the issue. What is in issue is the price you will have to pay for it. What is it then? Well to my mind, should you take that post you will be confronted with situations compelling you to renounce to the noble ideals you set for himself throughout your cricketing career, which are profoundly embedded in the unique declarations you made during the \u20182011 MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture\u2019. Here are the relevant paragraphs of your famous speech:<\/p>\n

In our cricket we display a unique spirit, a spirit enriched by lessons learned from a history spanning over two-and-a-half millennia. In our cricket you see the character of our people, our history, culture and tradition, our laughter, our joy, our tears and regrets. It is rich in emotion and talent<\/em>. My responsibility as a Sri Lankan cricketer is to further enrich this beautiful sport, to add to it and enhance it and to leave a richer legacy for other cricketers to follow.<\/p>\n

I will do that keeping paramount in my mind my Sri Lankan identity: play the game hard and fair and be a voice with which Sri Lanka can speak proudly and positively to the world. My loyalty will be to the ordinary Sri Lankan fan, their 20 million hearts beating collectively as one to our island rhythm<\/em> and filled with an undying and ever-loyal love for this our game.<\/p>\n

Fans of different races, castes, ethnicities and religions who together celebrate their diversity by uniting for a common national cause. They are my foundation, they are my family. I will play my cricket for them. Their spirit is the true spirit of cricket. With me are all my people. I am Tamil, Sinhalese, Muslim and Burgher. I am a Buddhist, a Hindu, a follower of Islam and Christianity. I am today, and always, proudly Sri Lankan<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

I was deeply impressed by an impassioned anonymous comment in this regard that I read in \u2018Cricinfo\u2019. Here it goes: Please Kumar, do not accept the offer that you have received from the politicians. You don’t need their crumbs, you are bigger than any of them, regardless of which side they come from. Keep your dignity, keep your ethics and keep your principles that you so well adhered to all this time. Never even think of getting into politics, there are so many other noble ways that you can serve this country that you are so proud of. All the best.<\/em> This view I whole-heartedly endorse.<\/p>\n

Indeed politics is NOT the place for you as a Srilankan international beacon. A diplomatic post be it of the highest category would make you, our \u2018one in all and all in one\u2019 star, a partisan individual voicing the principles elaborated within a government ministry. They will make you espouse a political ideology, forcing you to twist and turn facts to suit your political mentors. You will be compelled, though unintentionally and unwittingly, to play which could seem to those with entrenched views, to be even racial and religious cards. You will have to take positions that compromise your status as the voice of Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n

Furthermore you will by necessity find yourself in company of peers in the trade wallowing in the same quagmire. You gloriously proclaimed yourself to be Buddhist, Hindu, a follower of Islam and Christianity, and really and genuinely being a true Sri Lankan.<\/em> The moment you accept to be a High Commissioner, you will be clothed by the very same tailors, though reborn in another time and clime, who once out-fitted up a legendary emperor for a parade among his subjects.<\/p>\n

I would hate to see you demean yourself by joining a service that has long lost its luster. Just look at it squarely and you will appreciate what I state. It is a refuge for everyone other than quality individuals. The highly publicized brawl at a diplomatic gathering which ended with the previous High Commissioner in London being slapped and kicked (while on the ground) by the official supervisor of the foreign Ministry, a man not worth his salts and with a proven criminal record, now languishing in the dungeon. This same Foreign Service was clustered with individuals posted there for everything else other than capacity and competence. Even amorous relationships with higher echelon politicos was deemed sufficient ground for such appointments. Things might take a more positive turn in the years to come, yet the service itself will bear its stains far beyond your lifetime. We would not want our brightest sporting star to be incorporated into such a scarred body.<\/p>\n

I could go on and on on this theme. Just permit me a few more observations. The word \u2018High Commissioner or Ambassador\u2019 would set many a mind awhirl, especially that of being Sri Lanka\u2019s representative to the Court of St. James. Yet when the initial fluttering subsides and the oasis vanishes from our visual horizons, what remains is the desert. A country cannot become bigger than what it is through its extensions in foreign capitals. When the American \u2018sun\u2019 shines its rays spread over and affect the entire earth. What radiation does the Sri Lanka \u2018sun\u2019 have? This lack of importance, significance and relevancy affects the morale and the working of all our embassies, and naturally our ambassadors. The basic sentiments that assails one and all are neglect and boredom. They meet that menace each his own way: some do sight-seeing and tourism; other feather their nests in every conceivable way. One very famous ambassador to a country among the top four had a table tennis set up installed in a public place of the Embassy, and spent his time playing pim-pom with whomsoever was available to partner him. To tell you frankly partners were never missing. Given the size of our embassy buildings, please get rid of any nascent idea of constructing a cricket pitch in there for your pass-time activities. I do not think you intend going there to bowl a maiden over!\u201d<\/p>\n

What I and like-minded persons expect of you is that you be a living icon of the aspirations the country holds most dear to its heart. You should continue to aspire to being the man you projected before the world in your \u2018Cowdrey\u2019 speech, as above race and religion. Entering diplomacy is entering politics. Make no mistake about it. You will be compelled to take sides and very soon be submerged in race and religion controversies. Over there you will be batting against and battling vicious even murderous spin especially the illegal deliveries of the \u2018diaspora\u2019. You will be forced to hear as Kipling once wrote, the truth you have spoken, twisted by knaves to be a trap for fools<\/em>. Do not put yourself in a position where you will have to watch the things you gave your life to, broken, and stoop and build \u2019em up with worn-out tools<\/em>. Once that happens, there is no escape, no redemption. They will leave indelible marks on your character and personality. Do not forget that it is the evil that men do that lives after them<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Sanga, abide your time. As the Latin adage says: festina lente (make haste slowly). You have already achieved international glory, recognition, and fame. You have added luster and glamour to the name of the motherland. Your star is on the rise. Do not turn yourself into a falling star by accepting this post, though the offer in the mind of the giver was generous and gracious. Offers will come your way that will meet your aspirations. Your role in life, indeed your destiny, is to help this country shed its racial and religious tags and rise to the sense of being one nation. Your role is that of a healer of minds and hearts. You yourself could not have put it better than when you said: With me are all my people. I am Tamil, Sinhalese, Muslim and Burgher. I am a Buddhist, a Hindu, a follower of Islam and Christianity. I am today, and always, proudly Sri Lankan<\/em><\/strong>. Sanga, your destiny is not to become entrenched in partisan positions. Your destiny is to display a unique spirit, a spirit enriched by lessons learned from a history spanning over two-and-a-half millennia. <\/em>Your destiny is to make the world see the character of our people, our history, culture and tradition, our laughter, our joy, our tears and regrets.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sanga, my final words to you are those of the Latin poet: prospera, procede, et regna<\/em>: prosper, proceed, and emerge victorious. You bear on your shoulders the deepest aspirations of your motherland the realization of which is beyond the scope of politics and diplomacy.<\/p>\n

Mario Perera<\/p>\n

Kadawata<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Mario Perera Dear Sanga, Just a few days ago, speaking at the farewell offered to you on the cricket field, H.E.The President, made to you a generous offer, being the post of High Commissioner in London. Later in the day, at a press conference when questioned on the topic, you assessed your situation. You humbly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mario-perera"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47332\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}