Cutting a corner in Trinco
Editorial
The government has reportedly frowned on an agreement between the US embassy in Colombo and the Trincomalee Urban Council to set up an American activity and information centre in Trincomalee without first obtaining permission from the External Affairs Ministry.
An American corner will be a boon to the people of Trincomalee in that they will have access to a number of facilities that neither their urban council nor the Eastern Provincial Council nor the government for that matter has been able to provide them with. There are already two such centres in Kandy and Jaffna.
In fact, the US should have set up a fully-fledged library in the East. It could render a much better service to Sri Lankans if it establishes one library each in all provinces with its funds that go to some NGOs that squander their easy dollars on talk shows at five star hotels, wine and cheese parties and foreign trips. However, the US embassy and the Trincomalee UC should have known better than to sign an agreement without the knowledge of the External Affairs Ministry. Diplomatically speaking, such action amounts to cutting a corner.
If a local government authority in any other part of the country had entered into such an agreement with the US, perhaps, there would not have been objections from the government, we reckon. But, whatever the US does in Trincomalee causes concern to any Sri Lankan government because of the unusual interest the world powers have evinced in the Trinco harbour.
Sri Lanka’s experience with foreign pacts has mostly been bitter. Once bitten, twice shy! The Portuguese, having landed here, first obtained permission to secure an area about the size of a cow’s hide, but went on to build a fort and capture part of the littoral. The British violated the Kandyan Convention to expand their power throughout the country and there have been many such instances where foreigners took Sri Lankan rulers for a ride to further their interests. A person who has been hit with a firebrand, as popular Sri Lankan saying goes, is scared of even a firefly!
The US, we believe, may have wanted to be of some assistance to the people of Trincomalee in the post-war period by setting up an information centre. But, its history has been such that even its gifts are popularly viewed as Trojan horses. Even if a tippler drinks a glass of milk near a palmyrah palm, it is said, people think he is gulping down toddy.
It is hoped that the government will not act like a bull in a ‘China’ shop in handling the issue of the American corner to be set up in Trincomalee. The xenophobic mistrust of everything should be avoided. (After all, this country is governed by Americans to all intents and purposes in that the key UPFA politicians and top bureaucrats are US citizens!)
US information and activity centres, we repeat, will benefit Sri Lankans and nothing should be done that might discourage the US embassy from expanding that project. However, the fact remains that foreign missions engaged in such activities should desist from overstepping their diplomatic limits, appreciate the concerns of their host government and act accordingly. Diplomacy is a delicate art; a great deal of care and caution need to be exercised in practising it. Departure from established procedures and traditions is to be avoided.
One of the arguments against devolution under the Thirteenth Amendment is that there is the possibility of provincial administrations having direct dealings with foreign powers. The Trinco UC-US embassy agreement will be grist for the mill of the opponents of the Northern PC election which is likely to pave the way for a TNA-controlled provincial council in that part of the country.
