{"id":59062,"date":"2016-09-24T02:08:10","date_gmt":"2016-09-24T09:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=59062"},"modified":"2016-09-24T02:09:03","modified_gmt":"2016-09-24T09:09:03","slug":"dr-harsha-de-silva-response-to-your-comment-on-our-diplomats-at-foreign-missions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2016\/09\/24\/dr-harsha-de-silva-response-to-your-comment-on-our-diplomats-at-foreign-missions\/","title":{"rendered":"Dr. Harsha De Silva: Response to your comment on our diplomats at Foreign Missions."},"content":{"rendered":"

Asoka Weerasinghe Kings Grove Crescent . Gloucester . Ontario . K1J 6G1 . Canada<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

23 September 2016<\/p>\n

Hon. Dr. Harsha De Silva, MP
\nDeputy Minister of Foreign Affairs
\nGovernment of Sri Lanka
\nColombo 1
\nSri Lanka<\/p>\n

Dear Dr. Harsha De Silva:<\/p>\n

I was quite intrigued to read the Daily News<\/strong> report on what you had to say at the Rotary District 3220 event at the Galadari Hotel on \u00a018th<\/sup> September.\u00a0 You said: I am sad to note that some embassies are not productive and we have decided to close them.\u00a0 Some top officials of embassies are only keen to educate their children overseas, enjoy a plush life and attend regular cocktail parties at Sri Lankan tax payer\u2019s money.\u00a0 For some, the Foreign Service is their retirement plan. This has to change.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Wow! Minister.\u00a0 Did little birds at these Mission compounds come to you with that information?\u00a0 It would have been nice if you had mentioned the embassies that were affected with possible closures.<\/p>\n

But the little birdies that came to you with these stories missed one important point. The Mission Diplomats had a habit of riding on the backs of expatriates, who had been working hard spending their own time and money for years to keep the good name of Sri Lanka afloat, to get Brownie points for their reason to be posted at these Foreign Missions.\u201d\u00a0 Like a Minister-Counselor at the Ottawa Mission quite proudly tells a party gathering one evening, We have been fighting hard for years to get the Tamil Tigers banned in Canada, but I managed to do it in two months since I arrived.\u201d\u00a0 <\/em><\/strong>\u00a0Phew! What a Do-do! \u00a0And I butted in by asking him, Come on, where the hell do we, who have been fighting the Canadian Government to ban the Tamil Tigers for years, fit into your conclusion\u201d<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 So some of them ride on our backs seeking Brownie points for their survival and to seek better diplomatic postings.<\/p>\n

But, to be fair on some of the Foreign Ministry Diplomats who are smart, dedicated and committed, and who are quite capable of performing their duties diligently as expected of them \u00a0by you and your Minister, I say to you two,\u00a0 honour their basic Labour Code – Give them the tools and they will get on with their jobs\u201d. \u00a0\u00a0Without that important provision in place, it is unfair to chide the few good and the smart Diplomats \u00a0at the Ministry.<\/p>\n

About the only interest they have, you said, is to educate their children abroad, and you know what, Minister?\u00a0 Your Ministry loses the productivity by at least 40% when the tour of duty of these Diplomats are approaching the end, when they are preoccupied trying to figure out how they could extend their tour of duty or stay back especially to educate their children.\u00a0 And that is an unwritten norm among diplomats and \u00a0a fact.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t blame you if you happen to ask, Who the hell are you, Asoka Weerasinghe,<\/em><\/strong> and how do you know all this?\u201d<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 Well, I was right there in the Mission in Ottawa from June 1989 until June 1994, appointed by President Ranasinghe Premadasa as a senior officer at the Mission.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t keen in accepting the invitation as I was already holding a permanent, senior position as an IS6 in Canada\u2019s Federal Government and completing my 20th<\/sup> year as an employee.\u00a0 Did I know President Premadasa personally!\u00a0 No I didn\u2019t know him from Adam.\u00a0 But he had the knack of picking up expatriates who he thought could help him and perform.\u00a0 By then I was active guarding the interest and good name of Sri Lanka, as the Chairperson of \u2018Project<\/em><\/strong> Peace for a United Sri Lanka.<\/em><\/strong>\u2019 and was working aggressively on the file and was exposed as an activist in the print and audio-visual media in Ottawa. I left Sri Lanka at age 19 and proceeded to London, UK, and then moved on to Ottawa, Canada, having been head-hunted as a liberal-scientist for a job at the National Museums of Canada. So my work experience and work ethics by then had been well entrenched from England and Canada and not Sri Lanka.\u00a0 Work ethics I said \u2013 like when I make an appointment to meet a client at 9:00 in the morning, I don\u2019t arrive for the meeting at 11:00 in the morning, especially when I know that this person had been driving from 4 in the morning from Toronto for a 9 o\u2019clock meeting.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It did happen at the Ottawa Mission and I certainly wasn\u2019t prepared to take up the role of a Foreign Ministry moulded \u2018Tin God\u2019 at the Mission.<\/p>\n

And here\u2019s my experience at the Mission in Canada.\u00a0 Give them the basic tools and they will get on with their jobs,\u201d I said, and that has been my motto through out my working career.<\/p>\n

I reported for work on the 15th<\/sup> June 1989. I was escorted to my office and I looked around.\u00a0 Do I have a typewriter\u201d<\/em><\/strong> I asked the Chief Clerk. No\u2026.No\u2026No\u2026Sir.\u00a0 You don\u2019t have to type letters, we got steno-graphers to do that work.\u201d<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 Thank for letting me know\u201d,<\/em><\/strong> I said.\u00a0 The typewriter is my work horse and I need one,\u201d<\/em><\/strong> I said.\u00a0 The following morning when I arrived at the office, there was a brand-new Brother electric type writer sitting on the desk.<\/p>\n

I worked under H.C. Walter Rupesinghe and H.C. Walter Fernando, two very good and dedicated Diplomats, who worked extremely well and in my estimation they were as good as top Deputy Ministers of the Canadian Federal Government. And I worked extremely well with them as all three of us were appointees of President Premadasa,<\/p>\n

The work that was assigned to me was to look after the files on Communications, Media Relations, Human Rights, and Image building of Sri Lanka which was in tatters, spat at and torn to shreds by the Tamil separatists in Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal.\u00a0 No Canadian wanted to believe the words spoken by the Mission Diplomats, and it was a tough job to break that spell.\u00a0 But I accepted that challenge.<\/p>\n

I was appalled that this Mission which had been in existence for donkey\u2019s years had no files to provide me with bench marks on Communications or Image building.\u00a0 And furthermore, this Mission had sweet buggerall\u00a0 in the form of promotional props of Sri Lanka \u2013 artifacts, 35mm photo slides, videos, information kits, etc.\u00a0 But sure, they had tourist brochures. That wasn\u2019t good enough for me. And I was embarrassed. Nor was there a decent library.\u00a0 So the field was open for me to be creative and help President Premadasa who trusted me that I would deliver.\u00a0 And I did my best, \u00a0not only in Communications, Media Relations, Human Rights and Image Building, but also helped H.C. Rupasinghe to keep the Commerce files active for 14 months when the Canadian Government, quite rightly, refused to give \u00a0visas for a replacement of the Tamil Commercial Attach\u00e9 who stayed back with his family as refugees.\u00a0 And also took care of the pension files which were handled by the Chief Clerk which were in arrears of three months in payments even after him making it a cash-cow working over time.\u00a0 I was appalled.\u00a0 I had to deal with the letters that lawyers had sent to the High Commissioner\u00a0 on behalf of their\u00a0 Tamil\u00a0 clients in Scarborough and Halifax demanding immediate payment of their pensions.\u00a0 It took me two months to clear the back-log with the help of a young clerk sent from Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n

When I was hired by President Premadasa, it also meant that I provide the Mission access to my private Museum quality collections of Sri Lankan artifacts (masks, puppets facsimiles of heritage flags, wood crafts, my wife\u2019s antique jewellery, collection of gems, etc.) and also my extensive political library, and my papers and writings on the Eelam War, to fill the vacuum at the Mission which had zip in Image promotional \u00a0props and materials.\u00a0 I was shocked.<\/p>\n

So I embarked on my Sri Lanka\u2019s Image building exercises<\/strong>, with no support material at hand. Remember, I told you that the Ottawa Mission had \u2018sweet buggerall\u2019 of such support material, and I relied on my private artifacts collection that was started in 1970.\u00a0 I am a Museologist.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. My First exercise<\/strong> in Sri Lanka\u2019s Image building<\/strong> was to write to the Carleton Board of Education and the Ottawa Board of Education mentioning that I was from the Sri Lanka High Commission and will be willing to speak on Sri Lanka with Show and Tell subject video tapes and artifacts to students if there was a need for such a presentation.\u00a0 Principals from 13 Primary and Middle Schools in the National Capital Region invited me to speak to Grade 4, 5 and 6 students.\u00a0 So I did with artifacts and video tapes.\u00a0 All what I asked them \u00a0to provide me with were a Globe and a VHS Tape player.\u00a0 What were hits with the students were the Pinnawela Elephant orphanage video and placing Sri Lankan gems on their palms and identifying them.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    And here is the bummer Minister.\u00a0 I wanted to hand each Principal of the schools that I visited a Sri Lanka National Flag as a gift from the Sri Lankan High Commission to be hung when they celebrated the Commonwealth Day.\u00a0 So I requested your Ministry to provide me with 12 large National flags. I was disappointed when your diplomats in Colombo didn\u2019t cooperate.\u00a0 But, you know, Minister, there are many ways to skin a cat, so I asked my sister in Colombo to do me a favour. I asked her to go to Laksala and buy me 10 large National Flags and get it over to me.\u00a0 Bless her, and she did.\u00a0 And 10 of the 13 schools I visited were presented with the Sri Lanka flag from the Sri Lanka High Commission.\u00a0 Before I presented them to the Principals, I explained the symbols and colours in the flag to the students.<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. My second Sri Lanka\u2019s Image building exercise<\/strong> was to produce a series of nine (9) 30 minute TV shows called – Songs of Sri<\/em><\/strong> Lanka<\/em><\/strong> for MacLean-Hunter Cable TV in Ottawa\u00a0\u00a0 I scripted, edited and produced these shows highlighting our cultural vignettes \u2013 Dancing:<\/strong> The Tea Pluckers Dance, Gajaga Vannama, Harvest Dance and Bharatha Natyam; Kavi Maduwa; Sinhala and Tamil New Year celebrations; Kataragama Festival; Tea plucking and the production of the Ceylon\u2019s Best Orange Pekoe; Gem mining, gem cutting and faceted gems and jewellery; Kolam and Sanni masks and ceremonies; Puppetry; Elephants and the influence on folk art; an interview with Air Commodore Leonard Birchall; my Poetry on Sri Lanka \u00a0recited accompanied with appropriate images on 35 mm. slides to school children, et cetera.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      The artifacts in the shows were from my private collection.\u00a0 The video clips were provided by Rupavahini, courtesy of Mr. A.J. Ranasinghe.\u00a0 I sent him a couple of blank VHS tapes with my requests and he very kindly sent them back with recorded clips of my requests.<\/p>\n

      And here is another bummer.\u00a0 Although promised, I was not allocated an entertainment allowance by your Ministry, when school children were brought in buses to the Mission at Range Road accompanied by their teachers for my presentations on Sri Lanka in the library, complemented with visuals on 35mm slides. from my personal library as\u00a0 the Mission had none. I had to ask High Commissioner Rupasinghe to help me out by providing these students and teachers with Orange Juice and doughnuts.\u00a0 He was kind and accommodated my request.\u00a0 There were about 25 students in each batch accompanied by a couple of teachers.<\/p>\n

      The Malaysian Diplomat responsible for Communications invited\u00a0\u00a0me for lunch at Haveli a \u00a0classy Indian Restaurant one day.<\/p>\n

      He wanted to find out what entailed in producing the TV Show\u2013 Songs of Sri Lanka<\/em><\/strong>, as he too wanted to produce one to high-\u00a0light Malaysia.\u00a0 When I explained the process he abandoned the\u00a0idea admitting that he was not capable of doing it.\u00a0 Of all the\u00a0foreign Missions in Ottawa it was only Sri Lanka that used the\u00a0community TV station to highlight vignettes to promote their\u00a0respective countries.<\/p>\n

      Do you know what Minister?\u00a0 Your Foreign Ministry left me\u00a0embarrassed as I did not have an entertainment allowance to\u00a0reciprocate the courtesy lunch to the Malaysian Diplomat. \u00a0\u00a0I\u00a0 certainly wasn\u2019t going pay for it out of my pocket.<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. My third Sri Lanka Image building exercise<\/strong> was to collaborate with the Canadian Parliamentary Spouses Association<\/em><\/strong> to produce a 30 minute video on Sri Lanka to be sent to all their Riding offices to be used during the National Literary Week.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
          \n
        1. My fourth Sri Lanka Image building exercise<\/strong> was to participate in exhibitions using my private collection of artifacts as the Mission had \u2018sweet buggerall\u2019 for such an exercise:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          The Art if Healing: Ritual Masks of Sri Lanka<\/em><\/strong> at the Canadian Museum of Civilization;<\/p>\n

          Festival of Masks: Sri Lankan Ritual Masks <\/em><\/strong>at the Museum of Quebec;<\/p>\n

          Sri Lankan-Canadian Writers, <\/em><\/strong>in Edmonton, Alberta;<\/p>\n

          Focus on Sri Lanka <\/em><\/strong>at Algonquin College, Ottawa;<\/p>\n

          Sri Lankan Heritage Flags, Puppets and Masks <\/em><\/strong>at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa;<\/p>\n

          Sri Lanka\u2019s Kolam Masks <\/em><\/strong>at the National Art Gallery in Ottawa.<\/p>\n

          Mr. Minister, by now you may have noticed that there is a commonality threading right through these four Sri Lanka Image building exercises.\u00a0 Without my personal collection of Sri Lankan artifacts and props, I couldn\u2019t have participated in any one of them, as the Mission in Ottawa, had \u2018sweet buggerall\u2019.\u00a0 Thus to chide the good, smart, bad and the ugly Diplomats at your Ministry for not being productive, is blatantly unfair. \u00a0\u00a0They couldn\u2019t have done it. As I told you in my preamble, Provide them with the basic Labour Code \u2013 Give them the tools and they will get on with their job.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0 Although there is an ethnic slant on this comment it boils down to,No ticky, No<\/em><\/strong> washy!\u201d<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0 And that is a reality check for you parliamentarians and Ministers who are too quick to smack diplomats accusing them being unproductive.\u00a0 Yes, if they have been provided the necessary tools to work with and still not being productive, then you have a good reason to not only rap their knuckles but also recall them as Sri Lanka cannot afford to have deadwood in Missions abroad. It shouldn\u2019t matter whether it is a brother, sister, nephew or a niece of the President or a Minister, recall them.\u00a0 Give a break to the Tax payer and stop such nepotism.<\/p>\n

          Let me now embark on my handling the Communications and Media Relations files.<\/strong><\/p>\n

            \n
          1. The period when I was at the Mission 1989-1994 was a time when the Tamil Diaspora were intense in their \u00a0negative commentary about Sri Lanka\u2019s Eelam War, the alleged discrimination and persecution of their clan back home and the killing of their people by the Government\u2019s armed forces. The active word \u2018genocide\u2019 they would spit out at every opportunity. The print media columnists were supportive of their cause spinning their griping and wanting their mono-ethnic, racist, Tamil state Eelam.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            My responses on behalf of the High Commissioner, to anti-Sri Lanka comments appearing in newspapers, I wanted to land on the Editor\u2019s desk within 36 hours after they hit the newspaper stands.\u00a0 My responses were vetted by the High Commissioners, and edited and approved.\u00a0 Each letter to an Editor went out within 36 hours.\u00a0 I had absolutely no time to dilly-dally and waste time sending a draft to Colombo and waiting for an approved copy.\u00a0 The time was the essence.\u00a0 If the letter did not pick up ink in seven days, I called the Chief Editors of the news papers and demanded our right of reply.\u00a0 I managed to get 56 letters out of 64 published in the newspapers.\u00a0 The newspapers were The Ottawa Citizen<\/em><\/strong>, The Globe and Mail<\/em><\/strong> (Toronto), The Toronto Star<\/em><\/strong> (Toronto), The Toronto Sun<\/em><\/strong> (Toronto), Surrey\/North<\/em><\/strong> Delta Leader<\/em><\/strong> (British Columbia), The Whig<\/em><\/strong> Standard <\/em><\/strong>(Kingston, On.), Sri Lanka Abroad<\/em><\/strong> (Toronto), Star India<\/em><\/strong> Journal<\/em><\/strong> (Toronto) and India Journal<\/em><\/strong> (Los Angeles, US).<\/p>\n

            Minister, here is another bummer.\u00a0 I was invited for lunch at the Chateau Laurier by the Indian Embassy\u2019s First Secretary in-charge of Communications and Media Relations. He tells me Mr. Weerasinghe, every time we open an important news paper we find a letter from the Sri Lanka High Commission written by you.\u00a0 We have lots of difficulty to get one of our letters published.\u00a0 What is your secret?\u201d he asked.\u00a0 So I coached him how to do it.\u00a0 I was disappointed not to be give an entertainment allowance from your Ministry thus was unable to reciprocate his diplomatic courtesy and invite him for a working-lunch and discuss our Communications strategies to deal with newspapers that spin stories of our countries which are false.\u00a0 I had no intention to pay for a meal out of my pocket. C\u2019est la vie!<\/em><\/p>\n

            I sent out 223 Press Releases <\/strong>and 54 Sri Lanka News Letters<\/strong>\u00a0 during my contract period between 1989 and 1994.<\/p>\n

            6,\u00a0\u00a0 Since the Ottawa Mission was not provided Information Kits by the\u00a0 Foreign Ministry nor by the Government Information Department\u00a0 I decided to produce our own as there was a great need to educate\u00a0 Canadian Sri Lanka watchers who were fed information by the\u00a0Tamil Diaspora which were detrimental to Sri Lanka.\u00a0 So I decided\u00a0to ask the two High Commissioners to find me $600 to produce a\u00a0set of 100 kits which had a look of professionalism.\u00a0 They obliged,\u00a0and so the following Information Kits were produced.<\/p>\n

            Sri Lanka \u2013 Human Rights<\/em><\/strong> (July 1991);Sri Lanka – A Mosaic at a<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 Glance<\/em><\/strong> (January 1992) and Sri Lanka: A Hidden Secret \u2013 Quick<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0Facts<\/em><\/strong> (January 1994).\u00a0 I was too impatient to wait for things to\u00a0happen from Colombo so I got on with it, like going \u00a0to Grand and\u00a0Toy a large Stationary Store and purchased 100 silver coloured\u00a0 kit\u00a0folders,\u00a0 a roll of quarter-inch wide crimson ribbon from\u00a0 Fabricland and had the printing done by Commoners Publishing.<\/p>\n

            The kits that I put together looked presentable, professional and\u00a0classy.\u00a0 As an example the Information Kit, Sri Lanka: The Hidden Secret<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0contained Quick Facts information on the following topics, each on\u00a0 individual sheets:<\/p>\n

            Map of Sri Lanka<\/em><\/strong>; Introduction;
            \nDemo<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0graphics;
            \nHistory; Land and its People;
            \nDemocratic Ideals and<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0Values for Good Governance;
            \nConstitution; Guide to Sri Lanka\u2019s<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0Foreign Policy;
            \nEconomy; The Ethnic Conflict; Human Rights;
            \n<\/em><\/strong>Implementation of Recommendations of Amnesty International;
            \n<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0All Part Conference (APC); Sri Lanka Health and Education;
            \n<\/em><\/strong>Environment; Sri Lanka: Women in the Work Force; Sri Lanka;
            \n<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0The Vision of a NIC by year 2001; Free Trade comes to<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0Sri Lanka; Investing in Sri Lanka and Shelter.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

            You know what Minister, if the Foreign Ministry had the where\u00a0withal to provide the Ottawa Mission the Communication tools to\u00a0get on with my job, I wouldn\u2019t have spent one whole weekend \u00a0writing these Quick Facts sheets for a much wanted Information\u00a0Kit.\u00a0 The drafts of these Quick Facts sheets were approved by the\u00a0High Commissioner and gave me the green light to proceed with\u00a0the production.\u00a0 When these Information Kits were presented by\u00a0HC Rupasinghe to the Sri Lanka-watching MPs, the response was\u00a0positive. I recall one Parliamentary Secretary to a Minister saying,<\/p>\n

            \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Good, now I can deal with these separatist Tamils intelligently <\/em><\/p>\n

            \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0who keeps writing to me almost every day seeking my support for<\/em><\/p>\n

            \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 their separatist cause.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

            \u00a0<\/em>To establish the true story on Sri Lanka and to go on record at an\u00a0academic level in Canada, I managed to convince a British\u00a0Masters student at Carleton University\u2019s Patterson School of\u00a0International Studies to adopt Sri Lanka as her country Seminar\u00a0Topic and that I will provide all the research material from my\u00a0Political library. \u00a0She did and it was a success story.<\/p>\n

            She presented HC Rupasinghe with a copy of the audio tape of her\u00a0presentation which started as\u00a0 Good afternoon Ladies and Gentlemen, I am Walter Rupasinghe, the High Commissioner for<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0Sri Lanka in Canada\u2026..\u201d <\/em><\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0She defended Sri Lanka extremely \u00a0\u00a0well, and HC Rupasinghe was very pleased.\u00a0 His question to me\u00a0 was Asoka, how did you manage it?\u201d<\/em><\/strong> \u00a0She was marked on the\u00a0 Seminar by three External examiners sitting at the back of the\u00a0Lecture Theatre who were retired Foreign Ministry Diplomats.<\/p>\n

            My personal home political Library came to our rescue as the\u00a0 Mission had sweet buggerall\u201d to help me to explore such a\u00a0venture.<\/p>\n

              \n
            1. During the summer, selected High School students from across<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

              Canada congregate at the parliament in Ottawa to participate in the National Youth Commonwealth Forum.\u00a0\u00a0 One year two students from schools in British Columbia had been assigned to represent Sri Lanka as their Commonwealth country. They met me at the Mission wanting some brochures to familiarize about Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n

              Having heard the reason why they were collecting brochures I asked them, If you wish me to coach you, I will gladly do it for you!\u201d\u00a0 <\/em><\/strong>They couldn\u2019t believe their luck and took me on my offer.<\/p>\n

              Having coached them for two afternoons at the Mission, they returned home with the Best Country Presentation Trophy.\u00a0 As a<\/p>\n

              Thank You, the two students with their teacher took me out to dinner at the Chateau Laurier near the parliament.\u00a0 One has to grab these unforeseen opportunities to help Sri Lanka, and I did.<\/p>\n

                \n
              1. As the Mission had sweet buggerall as a research library, I provided from my personal political library research material, my published essays and critical writings on the Eelam War for graduate and undergraduate students at Carleton University (Ottawa), University of Ottawa, McMaster University (Hamilton), Brock University (St. Catherine\u2019s), Brad College (New York, US), McGill University (Montreal), Concordia University (Montreal), Simon Fraser University (Burnaby, B.C.), Wilfred Laurier University (Waterloo),\u00a0 University of Victoria (Victoria, B.C,), University of British Columbia (Vancouver) and University of Manitoba (Winnipeg).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                These University students approached, quite rightly, the Sri Lanka Mission seeking help for their term papers and theses on present-day Sri Lanka which had been a hot topic because of the Eelam separatist war.\u00a0 The Mission in Ottawa was lucky that I provided the students access to my personal home political library.\u00a0 If not the Mission\u2019s Communication\u2019s Officer would have been holding his head between his palms in embarrassment.<\/p>\n

                It would be easy for the diplomats to get out of that awkward situation by saying We are not here to provide research material for University students.\u00a0 I wouldn\u2019t buy that.\u00a0 Minister, let\u2019s get this straight, we are here not just to play diplomacy but also as a public service agent, and parry every time the Tamil Diaspora provide false information for these University students whose final work will go into print.\u00a0 That is exactly what was happening.<\/p>\n

                So you need to make a serious attempt to provide the diplomats with the basic Labour Code \u2013 give them the tools and they will get on with their job.<\/p>\n

                  \n
                1. I was also invited as the Communications Officer of the Sri Lanka High Commission to address the public on the following topics, which I was happy to accept to promote Sri Lanka.\u00a0 They were:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                  Sri Lankan Healing Masks: The Delicious Nightmares<\/em><\/strong> at the Canadian Museum of Civilization;<\/p>\n

                  Claim for Separate State in Sri Lanka: The Eastern Province whose<\/em><\/strong> Home Land? <\/em><\/strong>at the Sri Lanka United National Association (SLUNA) in Toronto,\u00a0 This talk became the basis for an \u00a0excellent editorial in the Ottawa Citizen, and<\/p>\n

                  Buddhist Spirituality in Meditation<\/em><\/strong> at the Sai Baba 20th<\/sup> Anniversary celebrations in Ottawa.<\/p>\n

                    \n
                  1. And finally my efforts to deal with the Human Rights File. <\/strong>My desk was flooded with questions and complaints about alleged human rights violations of Tamils in Sri Lanka.\u00a0 Almost all prompted by Amnesty International.\u00a0 But I kept on top of the file and replied to each and everyone of them.\u00a0 They never received a form letter,\u00a0\u00a0 If I had difficulty answering a letter, I sought help from Mr. Bradman Weerakoon, who was President Premadasa\u2019s Advisor on International Affairs, I believe.\u00a0 When I sent him a Telex during the day, I always had a response the following morning by telex sitting on my desk.\u00a0 And I loved his promptness and sincerity..<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                    I may have had about a dozen letters from individuals thanking me for the response and pointing out to me that it was only the Sri Lanka High Commission who made an effort to respond to his or her letter on human right violations in that country.\u00a0 In my work ethic, this I believe was my effort on public relations on a difficult subject which always spelt anger.<\/p>\n

                    My responses to AI Lobbyists in numbers were \u2013 235 letters (1989); 649 (1990); 1223 (1991); 872 (1992); 426 (1993) and 257 (1994).\u00a0 All these responses were typed by me and sent out as a response within three days of receiving the human rights enquiry or complaint.\u00a0 And now you know why I wanted my own typewriter, as it was my workhorse,<\/p>\n

                    And before I conclude, I wish to point out that every year, since I was not given an entertainment allowance, HC Walter Rupasinghe and HC Walter Fernando, helped me out of the humiliating embarrassment by entertaining the media personnel and others who were my contacts on the job, for a dinner once a year at the High Commissioner\u2019s residence. This generosity helped me erase my humiliation because of the cussedness of your Ministry.\u00a0 Quite a few media people paid for my working-lunches at the Press Club.<\/p>\n

                    And, by the way, working for the Sri Lanka Governmnt for five years of my life was when I wore my British University tie day in and day out.\u00a0 I had three of them, and they solicited respect from the Canadian Foreign Ministry personnel.\u00a0 They recognized the ties alright.<\/p>\n

                    And remember, Minister Dr, Harsha De Silva, it is easy to chide the diplomats for their unproductivity.\u00a0 But then it is only fair that you recognize their basic Labour Code needs\u2013 give them the tools and<\/strong> they will get on with their jobs<\/strong>.\u00a0 They are only human and they are not trained as magicians. I was lucky as I had my private political library and artifacts collection to tackle my demanding assignments – to look after the Communications, Media Relations, Human Rights and Image Building of Sri Lanka Files.<\/p>\n

                    Sincerely,<\/p>\n

                    Asoka Weerasinghe (Mr.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                    Asoka Weerasinghe Kings Grove Crescent . Gloucester . Ontario . K1J 6G1 . Canada 23 September 2016 Hon. Dr. Harsha De Silva, MP Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Government of Sri Lanka Colombo 1 Sri Lanka Dear Dr. Harsha De Silva: I was quite intrigued to read the Daily News report on what you had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-asoka-weerasinghe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59062","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=59062"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59062\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}