{"id":95871,"date":"2019-12-01T23:03:58","date_gmt":"2019-12-02T05:03:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=95871"},"modified":"2019-11-30T21:02:28","modified_gmt":"2019-12-01T04:02:28","slug":"international-reaction-to-election-of-sri-lankas-president-show-crass-hypocrisy-of-west","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/12\/01\/international-reaction-to-election-of-sri-lankas-president-show-crass-hypocrisy-of-west\/","title":{"rendered":"International Reaction to election of Sri Lanka\u2019s President show crass hypocrisy of West"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2015 regime change took place and common\ncandidate Maithripala Sirisena was elected as President. Democracy and\nelections were \u2018virtues\u2019 handed to former colonies by former colonial invaders.\nDiplomacy is part and parcel of international relations and enshrined in code\nof conduct via Vienna Convention\/Protocols. When a candidate is voted victor in\nan election it is only polite that a congratulatory message is issued even to\nthe most personally hated candidate. Isn\u2019t that gentlemen\u2019s behavior and part\nand parcel of the white man\u2019s \u2018civilizing\u2019 burden? No Western leader can boast\nof getting a mandate from their voters as the one given to President Gotabaya\nand it is very disappointing that Western world leaders have chosen to be\nshallow in their diplomacy by not sending a customary congratulatory message. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is how the world bodies and foreign\ngovernments reacted to Maithripala Sirisena becoming 6th<\/sup> President\nof Sri Lanka <\/p>\n\n\n\n

United\nNations<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

UN\nGeneral Secretary Ban Ki Moon<\/strong> congratulated the Sri Lankan people <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“on\nthe successful conclusion of the presidential election”, <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

UNSG praised the election commission for its “professionalism”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

European\nUnion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

EU Foreign\nAffairs High Representative Federica Mogherini<\/strong> issuing statement\non 9th<\/sup> January itself declared “EU\nlooks forward to working with him to further develop its relations with Sri\nLanka\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Australia<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Foreign\nMinister Julie Bishop<\/strong> on 10th<\/sup> January 2015 congratulated Sri\nLankans on a peaceful and orderly election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PM\nTony Abbott<\/strong> telephoned President Sirisena<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Norway<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prime Minister Erna Solberg<\/a><\/strong> on 9 January 2015\ncongratulated the Sri Lankan people and President Sirisena, saying she looked\nforward to working with the new government to “promote a peaceful, inclusive and democratic Sri Lanka”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

UK<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

PM David Cameron<\/strong> on 9 January 2015 congratulated President\nSirisena and encouraging him to co-operate with UN investigation into alleged\nwar crimes “so that the issues of\nthe past can be addressed and the country can move forward to a brighter,\npeaceful future where all Sri Lankans can play a role\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond<\/strong> issued a statement\ncommending the Sri Lanka people “on\nthe successful completion of their elections”<\/em>  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

USA<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Barack Obama<\/strong> on 9 January 2015 congratulated\n“the people of Sri Lanka on the successful and peaceful conclusion”\nto the election and Sirisena on his victory, saying that it was “a symbol\nof hope for those who support democracy all around the world”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Secretary of State John Kerry<\/strong> issued a statement\npraising Sri Lanka people “on the successful conclusion of their elections”,\ncommending Rajapaksa for accepting the resulting and saying that he looked “forward to working with\nPresident-elect Maithripala Sirisena”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now\nsee the above reactions against the reactions to Gotabaya Rajapakse\u2019s election\nvictory!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gotabaya Rajapakse was announced President on\n17th<\/sup> November 2019. But the reactions of international bodies &\ngovernments even for diplomacy sake has been dismal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its 1st<\/sup> of December 2019 and so\nfar <\/p>\n\n\n\n

UN\nSecretary General has NOT issued a congratulatory message <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

EU\nissued a statement <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\ncongratulate President Rajapaksa and look forward to working with him to uphold\nSri Lanka\u2019s commitments to implement international conventions on fundamental\nrights and to continue efforts aimed at improving governance, human rights and\nreconciliation\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

USA\nEmbassy has issued a statement <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We\ncommend the Elections Commission, civil society and government authorities for\npromoting a peaceful election. We are ready to continue our work with the new\nPresident and with all the people of Sri Lanka in supporting the country’s\nsovereignty through heightened good governance, expanded economic growth, the\nadvancement of human rights and reconciliation, and in fostering an\nIndo-Pacific region where all countries can prosper.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No\nCongratulatory message from US President Trump<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo congratulated\nPresident Rajapakse only on a tweet on 19 November 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives\nAlaina B. Teplitz said, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

we\nlook forward to working with President-elect Rajapaksa on issues of good\ngovernance, economic growth, the advancement of human rights and reconciliation\nin support of a strong, sovereign Sri Lanka.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No\nCongratulatory message from UK Prime Minister<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Sarah\nHulton OBE, congratulated Gotabaya on his election and “the people of Sri Lanka on a more peaceful election period than\never.” <\/em>and officially visited him on 26th<\/sup> November 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lord\nAhmad, Minister for the Commonwealth, UN and South Asia<\/strong>, congratulated\nGotabaya on Twitter<\/strong> said he looks “forward to the UK and Sri Lanka\nworking together constructively as Commonwealth partners.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No\nCongratulatory message from Australian Prime Minister or Foreign Minister<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Australia\nwelcomes the high voter turnout and historically peaceful day of polling for\n#SriLanka\u2019s Presidential Election. We look forward to building on the strong\nAustralia-Sri Lanka relationship,\u201d<\/em> tweeted Australian High Commissioner to Sri\nLanka David Holly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first countries to congratulate President\nRajapakse was India, China, Iran, Pakistan, Maldives, Singapore, Bangladesh,\nNepal, Afghanistan<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russian\nPresident Vladimir Putin<\/strong> congratulating President Rajapaksa said, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

it\ndefinitely meets the fundamental interests of our people and is in line with\nstrengthening the regional stability and security.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lord Naseby PC, President of the All Party British Sri\nLanka Parliamentary Group<\/strong>, has extended his congratulations to the newly-elected President (20 Nov)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Issuing twitter messages is not diplomacy and following diplomatic\nprotocols. These are only social media platforms and not official mode of\ndiplomacy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Courtesy, Respect and Professionalism are most important components of a diplomatic protocol\u201d –<\/em><\/strong> Tomasz Or\u0142owski<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shenali D Waduge<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 2015 regime change took place and common candidate Maithripala Sirisena was elected as President. Democracy and elections were \u2018virtues\u2019 handed to former colonies by former colonial invaders. Diplomacy is part and parcel of international relations and enshrined in code of conduct via Vienna Convention\/Protocols. When a candidate is voted victor in an election it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1498,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-shenali-waduge"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95871","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\/1498"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95871\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}