Dayan, Gunaratnam et al

April 22, 2012

By Lasanda Kurukulasuriya

Lasanda Kurukulasuriya Events during the past two weeks took a turn that was out of character for the typically laid-back New Year season, with some dramatic developments occupying the media’s attention. Most unfortunate among these events has been the attempted vilification of Dayan Jayatilleka, Sri Lanka’s ambassador in Paris. The pettish, nit-picking nature of the allegations leveled against one of the most able and articulate emissaries serving the country in these troubled times, is indeed regrettable, having emanated from within the Ministry of External Affairs itself (though not from the Minister’s camp, as Jayatilleka’s comments would indicate). The missive sent to the ambassador accusing him of ‘actions punishable under the Penal Code,’ threatens him over procedural lapses in a matter as mundane as refurbishing the chancery building. The episode smacks of simmering internal jealousies manifesting in a devious attempt to oust Jayatilleka, rather than any serious misdemeanor on his part. In the wake of the allegations the ambassador has responded to the inevitable media flurry in his usual forthright manner. “This ministry’s bureaucratic apparatus has a decades-long history of harassing those they consider to be outsiders,” said the non-career diplomat in a newspaper interview. “In my case however there are added factors. There is the resentment that a mafia of powerfully networked or ‘connected’ cut-throat mediocrities instinctively has towards someone who is neither a crook nor a mediocrity.” It is sad but true that the pertinence of this observation extends to other spheres of public life as well, so much so that one might ask, is it a national malady?

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