"The government of Sri Lanka must review its current policy of appointing such political and unethical media men to its foreign missions. Immediate measures must be taken to stop funding these individuals via the foreign missions and if this is permitted to continue indefinitely there is every possibility that it will multiply into disproportionate and uncontrollable proportions soon."
____________________________________
(March 19, Colombo, Sri Lanka guardian) Unprecedented levels of hullabaloos are spawning in some of the Sri Lankan foreign missions due to government decision to appoint pandankarayas (stooges) to important positions. Persons well versant in manipulative politics and engaged in the Sri Lankan sewer media are being awarded embassy positions by the government. These persons have very little knowledge or experience in public administration and are proving that they have no clues about subscribing to confidentiality conduct. The scale of the madness let loose is such that one wonders whether these elements ever had worked in any contractual jobs to understand the meaning of full time employment for an employer.
These new infusions are earning disgrace to Sri Lanka at a cost to the government by carrying out their campaign of hatred against their superiors. Staff confidentiality that governs sensitive missions have been systematically abused by these unethical, irregular and lopsided clumsy persons that very soon these missions will become ungovernable and even able civil servants reluctant to take on positions in the future.Sri Lankan missions in France, United Kingdom, Sweden, Holland and one in the Middle East are facing unprecedented campaign by these recent infusions.
The steering wheel for these trouble makers is said to be the editor of Asian Tribune K T Rajasingam, who is being pampered and panegyrized by the government of Sri Lanka. He is claimed to be in the monthly payroll of the government to carryout his own campaign in collusion with the pandangkarayas in the foreign missions.
All these new appointees are claimed to be done on the recommendation of K T Rajasingam. It is also possible that these officials have been asked to be loyal to KTR who is well known agent to prop up scurrilous and unbelievable stories in a highhanded manner in his Asian Tribune. Once news is published in the Asian Tribune, it will then filter through in other Sri Lankan horror websites like Lankaweb.com which are notorious for hate props like the LTTE gutter media.
The embassy contributors write in their own names and depending on the sensitivity of the matters, they conveniently use pseudonym names. Notorious of these embassy officials are Dayan Jayatilake in Geneva and the recently appointed Walter Jayawardena in London. Those who keenly monitor the hate campaign carried out by these government paid servants will be dumbfounded by the scale of the offensive onslaught carried out by them. The campaign has taken all forms and shapes and is expected to never end. The venom exhibited in these wrings display inbuilt hatred and inability of these individuals to conduct themselves as officials subscribing contracts of employments.
These men write in the pseudonym names such as Mahanama, Ira de Silva, Keerthi Godayaya etc. Walter Jayawardena arrived in London early this year from Los Angeles and is functioning as the media head in the Sri Lanka High Commission there. He has been heavily paid by the Sri Lankan government to carryout propaganda work and to engage with the western media give a better image about Sri Lanka. But his work is restricted to write news for Asian Tribune and the Lankaweb.com and leaking stories and internal documents of the High Commissions. What a waste of tax payer’s money? To what extent his writings in these websites will fulfill his role to project a better Sri Lanka in the wider world is everyone’s guess.
This consortium of these agent provocateurs i.e., Dayan Jayatilake, K T Rajasingam, Walter Jayawardene etc is inflicting greater harm to the image of Sri Lanka by their irregular and unwarranted campaign than the Tiger campaigners.
The government of Sri Lanka must review its current policy of appointing such political and unethical media men to its foreign missions. Immediate measures must be taken to stop funding these individuals via the foreign missions and if this is permitted to continue indefinitely there is every possibility that it will multiply into disproportionate and uncontrollable proportions soon
- Sri Lanka Guardian
Home Unlabelled Government Pandangkarayas playing hell in foreign missions
Government Pandangkarayas playing hell in foreign missions
By azad • March 19, 2008 • • Comments : 15
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This is very true and appropriate article.
since this Walter Jayawardena guy, a useless chap came to London it become really messy place. He did all those things what the author mentioned. Few people had meetings with him and turminated at some point because this sleepy guy started to sleep. They said it looks like walter works night shifts in a super market to earn extra money.
His appointmet is a political one. He has to show colours. He can not do what he has given, then this is his survival. There are lots of people in the UK suitable for this job. They have voulantarily done lots of active patriotic work for Sri Lanka for a long period of time. If they were asked by the Sri Lankan government one of those guys can be selected and will do a better job than walter J free of charge. they need no salary, they have their own houses and ect and do as a honourable duty.They have home ground experiances as well.`SL goverment spend lots of money for Walter, including wages, housing and other benefits for playing hell and to hold "pandama". What a waste of poor SL tax payers money.
Let me tell this. actually What Walter has done prior to this pandang appointment. Just write articles to Asian Tribune and few Sri Lankan papers and web sites. That's all. Then how on earth this man can approach western media? What a joke.
We challenge him to prove any kind of active work he has done during his long stay in USA and any capabily of achiving western media and his previous work published in western media.
walter J this challenge is for you. now show your colours or pack your bags and go back to USA before you spoil the incoming High Commissioner in London.
Shame on you such a matured man aged nearly 70, doing 3rd class work and became a bump sucker
This is an appropriate article. This Rajasingham is an unknown person who wants to gain some publicity from a website everyone knows is just a paid propganda tool for a set of jokers in the srilankan government. He is writing vicious articles and helping a government that has been accused of hukman rights, torture and abductions by UN agencies and also cited as sponsoring armed groups in the latest US country report. Media reports have said Rajasingham is being taken to courts by Bruce Fein in America.
Asian tribune is a piece of sewerage and only mouth piece for a despotic government nobody takes that website seriously why you bother even talking about that foolish website
Thank you for your article. Mahinda using all public money for these types of things and going on trips and people in Sri Lanka can't even find next meal. This Rajasingham must be kicked out of that place. Walter well known stooge also all this fools eating up our monry should be kicked out and proper people bruoght with proper education.
K T Rajassinghe is a not only a Pandangkaraya but also a cheat who had played out many people. I am glad to see him trying to take legal action against your paper. How could this scruge paisa counter spend his ill gotten money for legal case.
Walter thinks he is Voltire. He is paid for writing petty stories on these rubbish websites.
These fellows are truly behaves like agents of Praba. These fella's are crazy.
Appu
Appu I agree with you, our missions abroad are filled with uneducated goons of the Rajapakses and the government is using Rajasingham also to do thier dirty work
There are many people who are affected by K. T Rajasigham,
His method of ransom:
1) Publish a good article about a famous person:
2) Contact that person and ask for money
PLEASE EXPOSED THIS MAN!
You have published many critical news about Kalla Thoni Rajasingam and his Asian Tribune in the past. The man seems desparate now as his pagar's (kick backs) are going to be affected due to this publication. Please expose him more. It is Mahinda's fault. This Naaki Polanga must go to Himmalaya to get Nibbana. Until then write about him. Make him to go to Himmalaya or even Vanni.
Carolis Aiyah
"Pandang" Walter Jayawardena got this job through Rajasingham. But Duglus Wickramaratne was looking for this media post. He did lots of donkey work to be a adviser at Sri Lanka High Commission. He held such a post during J.R. Jayawardena/R. Premadasa UNP government period. Why cann't he get this again in SLFP government.
Sadly, Walter was appointed and Dugluse's dreames was shattered by Rajasingham's infuenses with the SLGo.
I don't know why Duglus, not trying his best to kick this man out of the SLHC-London.
If Rajasingham don't think twice working with these goons like Walter his credibility also in shattered very soon.
sorry, actualy does he has any credibility left?
Dear Editor
Please behave yourself by safeguarding the honor of the profession by using clear, lucid language avoiding filth like GON PART, GONI PISSA etc.
Please respect the quality of language than your master.
Thanks
Editor
You are right. Call a spade a spade. Likewise call the ghoni pissa a ghoni pissa until the ghoni pissa change.
Thank you for educating me about the ghoni pissa. I will always call him a ghony pissa.
He belongs to the pissu club. Send him to Angoda or Muleriyawa.
You may be right about the current High Commissioner. But how about the people who was appointed before. They did not do a deserving job either. That is why we are in this position in the world. Somebody is crying that he can do that job for no salary. May be a part-time job, and wants to rob what ever Sri Lankan embassy is left with. We want some person who is reasonably compensated doing a honourable public service in this mission and other missions worldwide.
Unfair attacks on professional foreign service and career diplomats
by K. Godage
The relentless attacks on members of the foreign service, who are heads of Missions, have gone without a response for only one reason, namely because the persons subjected to these vitriolic attacks cannot reply; not because what has been unkindly stated is true but because, they being public officials, cannot, in terms of the AR and the Establishment Code that governs all persons on the payroll of the state, reply on their own.
Certain persons, not understanding this, have come to the conclusion that what has been said is true; they have been called "snakes under the grass" --- God knows whether they were pretending to be friendly but indulging in throat cutting (which is the meaning of the proverb) or whether these abusive references were made without understanding the meaning of the proverb, which is most likely; however that maybe, the attacks were scurrilous and in bad taste. It was incumbent on the Ministry to have set the record straight, which they, not surprisingly, have failed to do.
This has indeed been a vicious slander campaign and even the press appears to have gone overboard by publishing letters from spurious sources without verifying the facts. The most recent incident related to some unknown individual alleging that a certain career officer who has been appointed to head a mission had got into the Service because his father worked for President J.R. Jayewardene. This man's father never worked for or under JR, there may perhaps have been someone else by the same name, a fact that can be easily verified either from Mr. Menikdiwela or from the head of the JRJ Centre, Mr. Mapitigama. This particular officer was the first in his batch and his work has been commended by no less a person than the late Lakshman Kadirgamar.
The aspersions caste on career officers during the recent cowardly 'Email campaign', were horrendous and much of it spiteful; believe it or not, there were Emails being sent under the name of the late "Lakshman Kadirgamar" (Lakshman Kadirgamar @yahoo.com)! The scum did not even let the spirit of the late minister rest in peace; need anything more be said to illustrate the fact that many of the Emails came from lowest of the low who would find their level in a cesspit.
Some of the criticisms were born of ignorance of the rules governing the 'diplomatic game' and the functions of a diplomat. A relevant question has arisen in the light of certain appointments made by this government, namely as to who is a diplomat? Is anyone appointed for whatever reason also considered a real diplomat? When one refers to a 'diplomat' one generally refers to a professional diplomat, one trained in the art of diplomacy, not to some monkey appointed to a diplomatic post for some dubious reasons. I raise this issue as the Island of March 31 has a news report captioned "Corrupt diplomat thwarts cheap bus deal". Inquiries reveal that the individual concerned is not a career officer but a political appointee; further this is some old story. Not surprising at all, for in the penod 1978 - '94 all sorts of vagrants were appointed to our missions.
But what is unfortunate is that the Foreign Service gets tarred as people associate 'diplomats' with the Foreign Service whereas many in our missions, once again (after the Kadirgamar era) are only 'pretenders' not professional diplomats.
Professional diplomacy is the conduct of our relations with foreign countries, international organizations, other international institutions, regional organizations, business corporations etc etc. Besides bilateral diplomacy there is the emergence of multilateral diplomacy which is today another specialized field. The expansion, scope and substance of diplomacy has enlarged to such an extent that it is most complex and challenging. The mind boggling advancement of communication technology only makes the task at hand of a diplomat most demanding. Besides international political relations one would need to follow the international economic situation, the monetary and financial developments promote educational and cultural exchanges, scientific and technological cooperation, promote trade, investment and tourism and above all, in our situation, we need to keep a tab on the activities of the LTTE abroad and report on matters relating to national security.
Conventional diplomacy is a thing of the past and the wide range of activities (the expansion is both qualitative and quantitative) of a state calls for specialization and training. Training is an absolute imperative. There is no such thing as a free lunch in this business any more.
Sending untrained clueless people to promote the interests of this country is a crime against the state and the people of this country. If the exigencies of service require that we recruit temporarily from officers with an abiding interest in international affairs, until permanent cadre are fully trained, the government should advertise and recruit from the department of Commerce, the AG's department, which has excellent material, from the most competent in the SLAS and from the private sector; recruitment from the latter sector is particularly important for the promotion of trade, investment and tourism. What has been done and is being done today is wholly indefensible.
There appears to be a perception in some quarters that the work of a diplomat is essentially PR and the efficiency of a diplomat representing Sri Lanka is measured in terms of how he or she has related to the more vociferous members of the Sri Lankan community. With the community being polarized because of the war with the LTTE, it is often forgotten that a Sri Lankan diplomat has to serve all those citizens of this country who are domiciled abroad, irrespective of which community they belong to, so long as they retain their Lankan nationality. It is by being in touch with Tamil nationals who are not supporters of the LTTE that valuable information has been obtained on the activities of the LTTE in many western countries.
As indicated above, after July 1983, Sri Lanka missions had a new factor to contend with consequent to the thousands of Tamil nationals who migrated to the West and Australia - namely countering anti Lanka propaganda. There were also the Sinhalese migrants particularly in Canada, UK¸ Australia and the US who took an abiding interest in the happenings in the home country and exerted various forms of pressure on the missions: quite often their involvement was most constructive and helpful. There were however misguided elements who thought they knew how to manage the affairs of the mission better than the professionals appointed for the purpose.
It is also necessary to flag another situation of recent years, namely the fact of thousands of immigrant workers in the Middle East and Italy; they do need to know that the Mission of Sri Lanka is their 'home away from home' and that the mission would pay special attention to their needs and well being. The heads of these missions perform essentially a consular function in terms of the Vienna Convention of 1963.
This short essay would not be complete unless one stresses the fact that our missions operate on shoe-string budgets. Funds are allocated for recurring expenditure such as salaries, rents and traveling expenses. Hardly any funds are allocated for substantive operational work; money has not been allocated even for the maintenance of buildings owned by the government; more than one of our premises have gone to ruin as a result and the government has had to incur billions to construct new premises as in Geneva, Washington and London.
The point I wish to make here is that unlike the LTTE which appears to have huge war chest, our missions are starved of funds and have meager resources to counter the propaganda of the LTTE and their supporters. In Washington for instance a well known lobbyist who prostitutes himself to the highest bidder is said to be paid USD 40,000/- a month for the services he renders for the LTTE. How could any third world government such as that of Sri Lanka match that? It is our missions that are blamed for not matching the efforts of such well paid lobbyists and heads of missions are referred to as eunuchs. The lack of funds, needless to say has seriously impeded the substantive work of missions and hence their efficient functioning.
Meanwhile, the expectation from our missions, particularly by the non-Tamil Diaspora in Western countries, is very high. But this expectation unfortunately is unrealistic because of the paucity of resources and the lack of trained manpower. Instead of trained manpower our missions are staffed with political 'catchers' who have no understanding or knowledge necessary for the discharge of duties expected of them.
Most criticize without understanding; unlike a politician appointed to head a mission, officials do not need or seek publicity for the work they do. To many critics, the political types who make the loudest noise are the achievers, the others to them are eunuchs, for they do not know of what has been achieved through quiet diplomacy. To cite an example, the proscription of the LTTE in Europe would not have come about but for a coordinated effort by our Ministry of Foreign Affairs and our heads of missions in Europe, who had to counter not only the LTTE's Diaspora organizations but also LTTE sympathizers in Parliaments and even in Foreign Ministries of some EU countries.
A tremendous amount of work was put in quietly by the missions in Europe to have the LTTE proscribed. It is probably not known to outsiders that our missions have been working with certain intelligence agencies and this was how many LTTE operatives came to be arrested. In one country in the heart of Europe the first and second level operatives of the LTTE were nabbed and the mission did make a significant contribution to achieving this. The missions in New York and Delhi have indeed done us proud. The point the writer wishes to make is that in the management of foreign relations much is achieved discreetly, without fanfare; their actions speak louder than words.
I have in this article sought to sketch a few of the problems our missions face to show that it is easy to criticize and denigrate without real understanding of the complexities involved in managing relations between states. An envoy of a small country serving in a big country needs at all times to build 'support groups' for his or her country. This goodwill building exercise is not an easy one if the situation at home is being projected in a negative light and political support and understanding from home is not forthcoming.
It must be understood that vitriolic attacks on foreign countries are counter-productive. In our present situation, where powerful forces are seeking to alienate our country, we need all the support we can muster; we cannot afford the luxury of being abusive; "There is no counter to a factually accurate intelligent defence" stated the editor of the Island recently. He also stated most wisely, "aggressive diplomacy is not a luxury we can afford".
The brutal vilification of certain career diplomats and comparing them to what Ambassador Dayan J in Geneva is doing in a multilateral station (he is one of a kind, he has a sharp mind and an equally sharp tongue and is keeping our flag flying in his own inimitable way), is not only unfair but is baseless. The work of a diplomat is first and foremost the management of bilateral relations with the country he or she is posted in and this, it appears, is not understood even at the highest levels of government today.
It appears that our career officers are damned if they do and damned if they don't. A line must be drawn; let us hope that criticism will be based on fact and is constructive not destructive, for we are indeed cutting our nose to spite the face. Yes, some are over-reacting and doing something quite foolish.
Washington to New York and New Delhi where the millions "have done us proud"
(The writer is a former ambassador who retired as Additional Secretary to the Foreign Ministry)
Mr K. Godage makes valuable contribution here but unfortunately he fails to blame the government for recruiting cronies to the mission. The guys who receive government funding and who are in its pay packets are causing havock. These elements having received pandang money are involved in the destabilzing activities against the genuine officials. The writer also appears to patronise Dayan. Whatever may be his abilities it is common knowledge he is involved with other pandangs to wreck the international missions.
We must blame the Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka. He is not strong enough and wilfully allowing the dangerous creapers to play hell.
The government must appoint JVP's Somawanse as Ambassador for USA and Weerawanse as High Commissioner for UK. Just imagine what will be the fate of Sri Lanka?
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