Knee-Jerk Idiocy in Foreign Policy: The Present Government and its Vengeance-cum-Patronage Politics

Nanda Godage … with a title imposed by the Editor

India is without doubt the most important country to us not only because of her proximity and our blood relationship but also because she is developing into becoming a Super Power and because of her capacity to do us harm. Our security and development are our foremost national interests and, therefore, India is indeed the most important country to us on the planet. The Island on Sunday carried a front page report filed in an Indian newspaper to the effect that our High Commissioner described as ‘India friendly’ had been recalled. When the new administration took over we expected a professional approach to the management of our external relations, but some actions such as this are similar to those indulged in by the previous administration. We saw our foreign relations mismanaged in recent years with ‘relations of the rulers’ who had neither the qualifications nor the temperament nor knowledge nor understanding of diplomacy and international relations being appointed to promote our national interests; but there were indeed a few exceptions and one such was the appointment of Prof. Sudarshan Seneviratne as our High Commissioner to India. He obtained a doctorate from a prestigious Indian University and is a much respected man in Delhi and, above all, that had close friends in high places in the administration which is a tremendous asset and advantage to us; removing him merely because he was appointed by the previous administration is undoubtedly a stupid act and against the interests of the country. This practice of arbitrarily removing a head of Mission must stop. I don’t think the so called authorities here realise in the first instance the disruption they cause to the lives of the families of the persons recalled overnight. There should be a procedure for a recall; the person being recalled must be told the reason for his or her recall and if there be charges against the person. He or she should be given the opportunity to respond. I was myself the victim of such a callous recall. The President who had me recalled should most definitely known better for not only did I know him well and it was he who wanted me to come out of retirement and serve his government and, he himself knew of some of the work I had done. For instance, I had the Prime Minister of Malaysia speak to him on the telephone and assure him the Malaysia would abstain on the Resolution against us in Geneva in 2012. To revert to the matter of Recalling our High Commissioner in Delhi, there must definitely be ‘due process’ as is the practice in all civilised countries. A recall of a head of Mission is a serious matter and this should not be done ‘willy-nilly’. In this instance, as stated before, in this instance we are recalling a High Commissioner who is a much respected intellectual, who understands India, speaks Hindi and has above all, contacts at the highest levels of the Indian administration, this is a foolish act and not in our national interest. I inquired from a VIP of this administration the reason for the recall and his response was “he was appointed by the last government”, I told him that it was stupid to do so and told him that members of his party who were members of the High Posts Committee of Parliament had approved his appointment. I do hope that the Foreign Minister who is a sane and balanced person will reverse this order in the national interest K Godage godage10@yahoo.com