A Tale Of Two Diplomats
By Sanmugam Kanaga-Ratnam –FEBRUARY 23, 2019
“..It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way……” ~ from Charles Dickens’ Classic Novel, A Tale of Two Cities
Somasundaram Skandakumar
A Tale of Two Cities is a Charles Dickens fictional novel published in 1859 involving two cities, London and Paris during the period of the French Revolution.
There is nothing fictional about the story involving two Sri Lankan Diplomats, one about to retire as the High Commissioner for Sri Lanka to Australia, and concurrently accredited to Fiji, New Zealand, and Solomon Islands. Somasundaram Skandakumar was appointed in August 2015 and is getting ready to relinquish his post after serving his term and return back to his homeland, Sri Lanka.
The other Diplomat was appointed in 2008 as Sri Lankan Ambassador to the US and Mexico. He served as ambassador until the US government wanted his removal in 2014 pending charges being brought against him. Ambassador Jaliya Chitran Wickramasuriya stands indicted by the US Federal authorities of perpetrating serious financial crimes: money laundering; tax evasion; wire fraud. In addition this diplomat has also been charged with committing visa fraud in his application to the US authorities to become a permanent resident of the US. He is also considered a fugitive from justice in Sri Lanka.
So what went wrong?
Jaliya Wickramasuriya
Both were non-career diplomats at the time of their appointment; both were businessmen from the private sector of Sri Lankan commerce and industry with no prior government experience.
By all accounts, Somasundaram Skandakumar excelled during his tenure, put Sri Lanka on the map in the part of the world he served; made connections with industry leaders, politicians, charitable organizations, and sports organizations. He played a major role in Prime Minister Turnbull of Australia visiting Sri Lanka in November 2017. No one raised their eyebrows when Skandakumar was appointed as High Commissioner in 2015. He had impeccable credentials. Good family background with his father a preeminent civil servant who served in the Administrative Services of the Sri Lankan Government. Skandakumar was a cricket star from his high school days at Royal College, then at the University of Ceylon and finally The Tamil Union Cricket Club where he was President in 1998-2000, club’s Centenary year.
In his professional career, Skandakumar started as an executive at one of the British agency houses and rose to the rank of Managing Director at George Stuarts Group and at retirement was the Group Chairman of the Board of Directors.
It was therefore no surprise that Skandakumar’s tenure as High Commissioner for Sri Lanka in Australia was nothing but brilliant.
When Jaliya Wickramasuriya was appointed Consul General to the Sri Lankan Mission in Los Angeles in 2005 no one paid much attention. Sri Lanka mission in Los Angeles was a small office located on Wilshire Blvd. This office was responsible for mostly signing documents and notarizing affidavits and issuing visas etc. But when Wickramasuriya was appointed in 2008 as the Ambassador to Sri Lanka in the US it sent shock waves within the diplomatic, political and community circles. This office was previously held by Sri Lankan career diplomats and eminent academics and scientists including Jayantha Dhanapala (a former UN under Secretary General), Warnasena Rasaputra, Dr. Ananda Guruge, to name a few. Wickramasuriya with a high school education and limited business experience in the tea trade was clearly unsuited for the position at the time of his appointment. The only qualification, if you can call that, was his close connection to the then President Mahinda Rajapakse who appointed him to the position. Wickramasuriya is former President Rajapakse’s cousin Kamala Rajapakse’s son.
Wickramasuriya’s appointment came at a crucial time for Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka was engaged in a bloody war against Tamil Tigers (LTTE) being watched by the international community with mounting criticisms and allegations of war crimes being committed by the government forces in the prosecution of the war. One is not certain if the Rajapakse administration was naïve or could care less about the international community in boldly forging ahead with the appointment of Wickramasuriya to the most vital diplomatic position in Sri Lanka’s international relations and foreign policy. US sponsored UNHCR resolutions have urged Sri Lanka to conduct independent credible investigation into alleged war crimes committed by Sri Lankan forces against the Tamil community. Wickramasuriya has very little to show by way of any contribution he made to appease the US and UNHCR charges against Sri Lanka. By all accounts, Wickramasuriya appears to have run his tea business from the embassy premises in Washington, DC. He was busy organizing junkets for investor groups and tour operators and agents from the US to Sri Lanka.
