Columns

When Donald Trump ordered troops into Venezuela and captured the country’s president and his wife, taking them to New York under custody, the world stood in shock.

Not that the world thought such a loudmouth as President Trump was incapable of such callous disregard for international law and civilised conduct. Rather, he was too well known since his first term in the White House for his greed for power and assets—never mind whose it is. That was unquenchable.

What shocked a civilised world still struggling to survive against odds of lawless leaders steeped in their own sanctimonious ethic is the sheer manner in which the abduction was carried out and the boldness with which the action was defended as one of justice which should be welcomed by the world, not condemned as a crass violation of international law and civil conduct.

For Sri Lankans there is still another reason why the reaction of the NPP/JVP government comes as a matter of serious concern, as the country guilty of this brigandage is the very same nation that over the years has tried to push Sri Lanka into signing an agreement that would have turned this island nation into a lackey of the United States.

What sticks in the craw when going over the remarks of our government is that when it joined other world nations in condemning an irascible, unreliable and convicted political leader, the Sri Lanka government maintained a deathly silence as to who was guilty of this despicable act.

While several nations, including some in the western hemisphere, such as Cuba, much smaller than our own island, had no compunction about nailing the guilty leader, we seemed to have been lost for words.

We all knew the perpetrator and international bully, for he did not refrain from claiming responsibility for turning this one-sided military assault into what, in his view, seemed as victorious as capturing El Alamein by himself.

In fact, he did not fail to accept somebody else’s Nobel Prize as though it had been specially carved out for him, though such inhuman and despicable activity is still to qualify for a Nobel award that the Nobel Prize Committee is ever likely to descend into making, even if Donald Trump lives to be as old as Methuselah.

Though the Nobel Award was meant for another and presented for a different purpose, President Trump’s craving for a prize – any prize, it would appear – is typical of a world leader who seems to have lost his thinking cap, if he ever had one.

Some might suggest that he deserves an award of some sort for his persistence in wanting to clean up the Western Hemisphere when there is much more important work ahead, such as the United States of America, a task that needs to be undertaken by the American public before this marauding pestilence thinks of trampling on the country’s constitution – an idea he is playing around with.

What a great military achievement from a cowardly leader who in his day famously avoided the draft for the Vietnam War five times in the 1960s and 1970s but would make derogatory remarks about soldiers in NATO forces as though he was capable of defeating the Red Army or a whole Israeli brigade by himself.

Trump’s adventurous military exploits, launched from what some thought was the White House Ballroom, ran into such international castigation that it made one wonder why the Sri Lankan government was pulling its punches. It was clear enough from the fact that the Trump fiasco extracted two separate statements from the two main parties in the NPP/JVP coalition.

When Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath was asked about it by the media, he came up with an answer that might have passed muster if it was not so jocular for a seasoned, long-time member of the JVP. Foreign Minister Herath’s reply was that the JVP is a separate party in coalition with the NPP.

All well and good, foreign minister, but coming from a senior partner in the coalition and said to be a senior member in the JVP, it sure behoves Mr Herath as foreign minister – along with some other appellations such as tourism etc. – to explain where he stands, particularly because he is the foreign minister. It would look rather confusing to decide where he stands, especially when he represents a government that continues to avoid naming guilty parties when others have no qualms about it. Remember where we stood when it came to chastising Israel for the killings of Palestinian people in Gaza.

It would surely be more truthful and appreciated if the foreign minister read out the government’s edit and, when required, answered the question on exactly where he stands because he cannot cling to both positions like a monkey on a tree.

I remember hearing some time back that Vijitha Herath is a senior member of the JVP. I cannot account for that, as I do not know. But because there is a fundamental discrepancy between the two and it is possible for the world to make mistakes, is Mr Herath standing by the JVP statement that surely castigates Trump or not? That, of course, is if he is a JVP frontliner.

But what is more important is where the Anura Kamara Dissanayake-led government stands on foreign policy issues. If failing to condemn those like Trump and Israel’s Netanyahu government for the persistent killing of Palestinians and other citizens without compunction appears to be the growing habit.

Yet Sri Lanka claims to pursue a “balanced” foreign policy. If balanced means ignoring those who violate international laws and human rights concerns and damning the perpetrators, then perhaps it is time for the NPP government to buy another balance, for the NPP balance has lost its balance.

Maybe one could always ask our friendly IMF visitors, who make constant visits to our nation like no other, to bring a few balances when they make a journey to value our handiwork.

We would sure need some, seeing how the world is turning on some stupid axis.

(Neville de Silva is a veteran Sri Lankan journalist who was Assistant Editor of the Hong Kong Standard and worked for Gemini News Service in London. Later, he was Deputy Chief-of-Mission in Bangkok and Deputy High Commissioner in London.)