By Izeth Hussain –
Izeth Hussain
I refer to HLDM’s attack on me in the Colombo Telegraph of October 13 under the title A- Izeth of Hussein’s Haram Politics. That title shows a highly eccentric use of the English language pointing to the ethnolunacy of which the whole attack reeks. By ethnolunacy I mean the extreme irrationality that is characteristic of extreme racists. HLDM has a wide notoriety, a richly deserved one, as an extreme Sinhala racist. Several of the readers’ replies to his article show that.
What is in question is sovereignty in the contemporary world. His prolix and rambling article fails altogether to address that question. I made two simple points that the average reader can understand without difficulty. The first is that after the Second World War there has been a steady erosion of state sovereignty. Anyone who disputes that well-established fact shows himself up as an utter ignoramus on international relations. The second point is that in the second half of the eighteenth century it came to be established that the people and not the wielders of power are sovereign. It follows that a UNHRC Resolution could be unfriendly to the sovereign state and friendly to the sovereign people. Instead of dealing with that argument HLDM rambles along at great length bringing in irrelevant issues such as globalization. He has failed to understand my simple and straightforward argument. So advanced is his state of ethnolunacy.
He charges that I proclaim myself to be one of the five best diplomats in the world. That was a statement made about me, not by myself, but by the late Indian journalist G.K. Reddy. I have clarified that fact in the past but HLDM prefers to ignore that. He claims that I was relegated to the position of a backroom boy by A.C.S Hameed. But that same Hameed got me appointed as Ambassador to Paris, an appointment that was aborted – I am reliably informed – because of representations made by Buddhist monks in Paris. It looks like he cannot get anything right about me because of his ethnolunacy.
There is something very odd about the hysterical hatred and mad dog rage that HLDM has shown against me now and in the past. It is a performance not matched by any other Sinhalese. I suspect that the explanation is that he is not a Sinhalese, but only partly one. I am told that his father was Malay. I am wondering whether his ultranationalism and Sinhala racism is a form of over-compensation for his incomplete identity as a Sinhalese. Hey Tuan Mahindapala – Is that it?
Lasantha Pethiyagoda / October 19, 2015
While I do not claim to have read what HLD Mahindapala has written about this writer, I agree that something seems quite amiss in the way he sees things and people that are different to his own views.
I remember him using the community radio around fifteen years ago in Melbourne, Australia on a weekly basis to rant against Ranil Wickremasinghe in the most uncouth manner while calling Tamils “terrorist” once virtually every few words in his usually ten minute spiel that can only be termed a repetitive racist rant at best.
It is possible that since he had to flee from his position at Lake House to Australia after the fall of R Premadasa he had become increasingly bitter about those whose philosophies did not jell with his own world – view.
I would like to suggest that the above writer try to understand and accommodate these weaknesses and perhaps not entertain him with public fights on these fora.
/
Thiru / October 19, 2015
Hey Tuan Mahindapala – I like that!
/
Viktor / October 19, 2015
His wife is Tamil contributing to his identity crisis. Shouldn’t it be Hey Tuan Mahindapalan
/
Native Vedda / October 19, 2015
Viktor
Is it Hosseini Latif Dada Mahdi Popala?
/
jansee / October 19, 2015
Sorry to be a bit nosy, does his wife, if a Tamil, still live with this “Tuan”?
/
Viktor / October 20, 2015
Yes, because his anti-Tamil rants are for the benefit of the Sri Lankan public while he maintains good relations with all communities in Australia where he and his wife live.
/
Pandaram / October 19, 2015
Every Sri Lankan Malay has the ancestor name Tuan.
If you happen to analyse the Sinhala racists, almost all of them are either CONVERTS or HYBRIDS. The best example is Mahindapala. To sustain their adopted Sinhala identity they have become more Sinhala then the original Sinhalese.
/
John / October 20, 2015
lest we forget, JRJ who infamously gave ” war or peace to Tamils ” just before July 83 riots had Tamil ancestry
/
BBS Rep / October 20, 2015
Correction John.
JRJ had more of Muslim ancestry besides others. His real name at birth was Thambimudiyanselage Junius Richard Jayawardena. When at University he simply dropped the Thambimudiyanselage part of his name. By the way Junius Richard is not really Sinhalese names either.
But then what matters is not the name but the person.
/
The Messenger / October 20, 2015
Correction BBS Rep,
J.R. Jayawardene’s great grandfather was Thambi Mudaliyar, a Tamil and NOT a Muslim. I do not know the reason why the Sinhalese call the SL Muslims as Thambi but it is the Tamils who had the name Thambi. When they (JR’s grandfather) got converted to Sinhalese, they changed their name to Thambimudiyanselage. Most of those who got converted to Sinhalese adopted the name ‘Mudiyanselage’ and added a part of their former name to it.
For your information, even the ‘Sinhala Only’ S.W.R.D.Bandaranaike was a direct decedent of Nilaperumal, a Tamil from South India who arrived in Ceylon in the early sixteenth century.
Talking of Sinhala ‘CONVERTS & HYBRIDS’, even the Hambantota Rajapakshes were Malays but they do not belong to the Tuan ancestry.
Rajapaksa’s are born Catholics of Malaccan (a state in Malaysia) origin. Their Malaccan relatives were banished by Islamic Rulers of Malacca for helping the Portuguese conquest of Malacca. By looking at the physical (Mongoloid) features of the Rajapakshe siblings one cannot deny the fact that their ancestors were Malay migrants. In Sri Lanka they converted to Sinhala-Buddhists for Political mileage. President Mahinda Rajapakse’s poor ancestor became an informant to the British during the late 19th century anti-British local uprising around the Hambantota salterns. This information led to the capture of Karava Mudaliyar Amadoru and other leaders. The British rewarded the informant with the name Rajapakse (British gave this name to people in who helped them), appointed him as an Arachchi and granted him 600 acres of land at Hungama for his service. The area was a Veddah territory of Giruwa pattu and the name of the land was Degampotha. This land was sold off in stages by Rajapakse Arachchi’s descendants to finance their indulgences leaving only Medamulana. Later, the land owning Sinhala-Buddhist Rajapakse family hailing from the south joined the Govigama caste around 1930s, long after D. S. Senanayake and other aspiring political families acquired the Govigama identity created by the mudaliar families of the De Saram clan and emerged as the dominant political force in the Hambantota district.
The so called ‘Patriots & Nationalists’, the champions of Sinhala Racism who claim the ancient Sri Lankan civilization as their own ‘Sinhala’ heritage are mostly these recent immigrants from South India (Kerala, Tamil Nadu & Andara) who got converted to Sinhalese adopting either the Sinhala names such as ‘Mudiyanselage’ or the Portuguese surnames like ‘de Silva’, ‘Fernando’, and so on to hide their original South Indian identity.
/
Stanislaus / October 21, 2015
Dear Messenger:
How do you know all this information?Can you please give us some sources?
/
John / October 20, 2015
BBS rep,
I was told, correct if I am wrong,
JRJ’s great great grand father was one Thambiah (Tamil: தம்பையா) from Coromandel coast in Southern India , came to Thalaimannar , north Lanka with Portuguese sailors as their shoe maker.
Name Thambiah sounds Muslim in Lanka / in Sinhala , but as a matter of fact he was a Tamil.
JRJ was happy people mistook & confused , so he tried level best to hide it & was successful
/
Suresh / October 20, 2015
It is hilarious that these Sinhala racists either do not know or pretend not to know that they are either converts or hybrids, a highly mixed race. The Sinhalese slept with everything that landed on the Sri Lankan shore and created this highly mixed race called Sinhala. Now they are acting like pure Sinhalese, blood relatives of Dutugemunu.
The Kandyan Sinhala Buddhist monks had to overlook every Sinhalaya in the country and imported a Dravida blooded South Indian Nayaka prince from Madurai (Tamil Nadu) to sit on the Kandiyan throne because the Sinhalese mixed up with everyone who landed in Sri Lanka and lost their ritual purity.
Many coastal Sinhalese are still proud of their mixed heritage of Portuguese ancestry. However, some of the same coastal Sinhalese (de Silvas, Fernandos) are claiming to be the descendants of Dutugemunu to fool the Sri Lankan masses now and these are the extreme racists. How hilarious!
/
John / October 20, 2015
Suresh,
South Indian Nayakkar prince (a relative of Kandyan Sinhala Kings wife- Queen – a Telugu – Dravidian, not Tamil) were brought in because there was no successor (son or daughter) to Last native Sinhala king, besides by that time Queens came from South India (from Gampola era, before Kandyan era)
This is understood even today in 1950’s Crown Princess Elizabeth got married to Greek Prince Phillip, not beacuse of lack of men in England, but they didn’t get married to commoners, so same thing happened 500 years ago in Lanka.
/
Suresh / October 20, 2015
John,
The Nayaka (or Vaduga) dynasty (originally Telugu) was ruling Tamil Nadu with Madurai as their capital from around 1529 until 1736. The last four kings of Kandy were also from the Nayaka (or Vaduga) dynasty brought to Sri Lanka from Madurai (Tamil Nadu).
If there was no successor (son or daughter) to the last native Sinhala king, the Maha Sangha (Asgiri and Malwathu) and the Kandyan aristocrats could have either looked for one from the neighboring kingdoms such as Kotte or appointed one from the aristocracy of the Kingdom of Kandy. Why a South Indian Dravidian of Telugu origin from the ruling dynasty of Tamil Nadu?
Because, even the native Sinhalese aristocracy has lost their ritual purity.
/
John / October 21, 2015
Suresh,
Perhaps we should look at from another angle,
It would have been disastrous if any body from a aristocracy was appointed king, they would have fought against each other, if a prince from other Lankan kingdoms was brought in , it would have been annexed to that Other Kingom in Lanka, those separate 03 kingdoms had their own rivalry , so Chief Priests thought it was safe to get down Nayakkar price from Telugu who already had given Queens to Kandyan Kings.
On the other hand why there wasn’t any such Queens in Kandy from other Lankan Sinhalese kingdoms at that time ? Wasn’t it rivalry ? they did not trust each other
So, when native Sinhalese Kandyan king, Sri Narendra Sinha, died without an offspring, the Brother of his Madurai Nayakkar queen succeeded the throne in 1739 under the coronated name of Sri Vijaya Raja Sinha.
Further by that time Kandy kings received military support from the Nayaks of Madurai and the Tanjore Nayak dynasty to fight off the Portuguese & alliances between Kandy, Madurai and Tanjore were already established.
Nayakkar Kings excelled in warfare , able to keep Kandyan Kingdom & it’s Buddhist heritage in tact when all other kingdoms fell to Portuguese , Dutch & English in succession.
Added to that (most important thing) today many Sinhalese say Kandyans betrayed the country when they handed over Kingdom to English in 1815 under Kandyan convention , but THEY FORGET KANDYANS PROTECTED COUNTRY FOR 310 YEARS & WERE NEVER DEFEATED by any body when all OTHERS were DEFEATED by Europeans & even English were defeated militarily by Kandyans; Period.
/
Dr. Gnana Sankaralingam / October 20, 2015
No one in Srilanka could claim pure ethnicity as proved by recent genetic studies. In the same manner that Izeth is calling HLDM a hybrid with an incomplete identity, Izeth also has an incomplete identity being a hybrid between Indian Tamil Man and low country Sinhala woman. He must change his name to Marakkalage Thambiaiya.
/
Rizwan / October 20, 2015
Izeth is not the one being racist.
/
The Messenger / October 20, 2015
Dr. Mudiyanselage Gnana Sankaralingam,
You are saying, Izeth also has an incomplete identity being a hybrid between Indian Tamil Man and low country Sinhala woman.
In that case his mother tongue should be Sinhala, am I right?
/
Dr. Gnana Sankaralingam / October 21, 2015
Messenger please give your name if you want to make comments.
Muslims adopted Tamil as their mother tongue because religious texts were only available in Tamil brought down from Tamilnadu. Only Muslims in Southern and South-western parts had a Sinhala maternal ancestry, while Muslims in Northern and North-western parts had a Tamil maternal ancestry. Muslims in Eastern regions were settled there by King Senerath, who had been persecuted by Portugese and sought asylum in Kandyan Kingdom. These people speak fluent Tamil unlike their counterparts in the south.
/
Brian Senewiratne / October 20, 2015
Hahaha Hey Mr.Tuan Mahindapala -That’s a lovely barb by Mr.Izeth Hussein an English hours graduate of the 1950s under the legendary EFC Ludowye and one of Sri Lanka’s finest diplomats.He was also widely acclaimed as the author of the innovative Colombo Declaration of the Non Aligned Conference of 1976,by so many heads of state.Mrs Sirimavo Bandaranaike was exteremely proud of him as her Director in the Ministry of External Affairs.
As for HLDM,the less said the better.He was and is a mediocre journalist,who who specialized in picking the falling crumbs from the table- the last occasion been under President Premadasa who appointed the man to Lake House , I in recognition of his gutter journalism.
By the way since HLDM is married to a Tamil ( he is for some reason always secretive about this) should we not honor that by calling him Tuan Mahindapalan (note the M at the end of surname please!!)
/
Samare / October 21, 2015
Mr. Hussain,
not only Mahinda the modapala of the nation, but also his twin brother -Dayan Jayathilaka often adds the kind of public statements that are really fanatic, nationalistic, racialminded etc. But we are lucky not many would support them than the fraction led by Wimal Buruwanse/Gonmanpila. However, the days ahead of us, I hope will work for dramatic changes of thinking of the majority. Modapala et al will survive somehow but for sure, he has more enemies than friends. He is more or less like the kind of people akin to former ITN man -Hudson Silva.This men have no brains at all.
/
Spring Koha / October 19, 2015
HLD and Izeth H are very much yesterday’s men who now take time in their retirement to entertain us with stories of little consequence. But this latest spat is high comedy.
My vision as I read this is one of Izeth running down a long and winding road, beads of sweat on his forehead, his kufi at an angle….and HLD chasing him with a thuppahi beret on his head, sarong held high with one hand, and a pen dripping vitriol in the other. And there is poor me, singing (loudly), Run Izeth, Run Izeth, run run, run……
Where is Aubrey Collette when you need him?
/
Native Vedda / October 19, 2015
Spring Koha
“Where is Aubrey Collette when you need him?”
Seriously, are you that old?
Wish you a very very long life.
/
Spring Koha / October 19, 2015
Native Vedda
My God’s have been kind to me; for why, I cannot tell.
But, I survived the Japanese bombs of Easter 1942, saw the Duke of Gloucester take their flag down, watched Harold Macmillan take down the last flag at the Katunayake base, and all the shitty internecine mayhem in the years that followed, thanks to our devious political scum. Can I look forward to an ‘old’ age of peace and tranquillity? Only time will tell!
Thank You for your kind wishes.
/
Native Vedda / October 19, 2015
Spring Koha
It must have been an interesting past. Not many people can claim to have witnessed the pre and post independent Sri Lanka.
As a keen observer of political events, good and bad have you ever attempted to chronicle them for the benefit of future genenerations?
If you have, many thanks to you. Will you publish them here in CT?
If you haven’t I am really mad at you.
/
Spring Koha / October 20, 2015
Native Vedda
You are too kind. I have indeed seen much, sometimes too close for comfort, but survived relatively unscathed.
I have only since ‘retirement’ these last few years taken to the keyboard. Your suggestion is flattering but, for now, I am giving the family, spread far and wide, a little time. In a few days time I am off (with the missus) to Toronto for three weeks, then a shorter visit to lovely Cuba. See, time just flies! But I shall never say never, and who knows? one day I might settle down and recall everything before the inevitable.
All good wishes.
/
Justice & Fairplay / October 20, 2015
Spring Koha’s despairing remark “Where is Aubrey Collette when you need him?” does not make him as old as you think Native.
It is just that he was aware or well informed of Collette’s brilliance and ability at taking a satirical tilt at this spat, which unfortunately the younger lot misses – be they young Colombians or Veddahs.
/
alex / October 19, 2015
Izeth, I don’t know why you are responding to the Sinhala Chauvinist lobby. For HLD in particular, Dayan Jayatilike is too left wing. I think even Dayan is embarrassed by some of HLD’s rubbish. His articles usually say – ‘its unfair little sri lanka is under the spotlight for killing Tamils as other countries kill people too’ – aside from how moronic that argument is (also used by Dayan btw, albeit in a more refined manner than HLD), it shows how futile it is to engage with them? They are both (Dayan and HLD) Chauvinist fanatics …. who Churchill once elegantly described as ‘people who won’t change their mind and can’t change the subject’.
/
AVB / October 19, 2015
Dear Izeth,
Please don’t take seriously whatever Mahindapala says.. He is forth kind of fool according Buddha teachings.. a fool who doesn’t know that he is a fool, perhaps worse than that, he thinks he is very intelligent and have good skills of analysis..
/
Bensen Berner / October 19, 2015
Suffering from an inferiority complex Tuan HDLM is not only an ethno lunatic he is also an ethno idiot. Bensen
/
omran / October 19, 2015
Wow! What an apt rebuttal. And an apt term for the HLD (LSD?)ethnolunatic, too!
/
Plato. / October 19, 2015
HLDM[Edited out]His targets range from the Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan,Arunachalam brothers to a whole host of respected Tamils!
In fact the late SWRD,labeled Lake House as the Gutter Press when he was PM.HLDM may have not been at Lake House then,but in the 90s his essays belonged to that gutter style.
Mr.Hussain.
Your line…..
I am told that his father was Malay..I am wondering whether his ultra nationalism is a form of over compensation for his incomplete identity as a sinhalese.
Spot on! That says it all!
/
Vetmahadeva / October 19, 2015
Hi, Highly Lunatic Dissident Malay Pala
Dissident of Normal thinking!
/
Native Vedda / October 19, 2015
Plato.
“I am wondering whether his ultra nationalism is a form of over compensation for his incomplete identity as a sinhalese.”
Ultra nationalists always have had something to hide. It helps them to fit in with others.
/
Afzal / October 19, 2015
LOL Tuan Mahipala,
best HDL could do now is to explain his roots to clear up this “Tuan” tag if he has got the balls to do it, failing to do so we can hang is around it neck.
whichever way it is going to be fun, Congratulation to I. Hussain for the short and sweet counter punch !
There is always some dirt if u dig.
/
confu tao / October 19, 2015
Izeth, This [Edited out] is demented and senile and has been ranting racist slogans for a long time. CT readers have flushed his comments down the toilet as can be seen from the numerous comments readers make on this joker. The guy is [Edited out] and not aware that the the general public perceive him as a sad specimen of humanity closer to the simian family. He can only spit forth disgusting and perverted words to satisfy his sick ego. Tuan’s grouse with the Tamils and now with Muslims is probably due to the circumcision that went wrong, too much lip was taken off.
/
Nauffer / October 19, 2015
Tuan Mahindapala rings good. Is it Jihadi Izeth too? You are a respected old retired official. Do not get upset at uncouth people. But if you have the courage like Hilmy, you will come out and openly condemn Saudi Wahabi ARAB terrorists of Islamic State. They call themselves Islamic for a reason. Be nogt afraid and condemn them and their savagery. Hilmy did.
/
Bertram Wicks / October 19, 2015
Mahindapala is a ‘has been’ reporter who has the habit of sucking up to anyone who can throw him a few pennies. This, added to his rabid chauvinism and racism makes him a nasty piece of work , as his writings will attest to.
Best is to ignore the scum!
/
curtis hellfire / October 19, 2015
What is it about these Sri Lankan cowards who live in modern western country who make comments about what goes on in this godforsaken ethnically racked country.
Australia is the country it is today is because no Sri Lankan was allowed anywhere near its constitution. For if they were it would be the racially divided shithole that Sri Lanka is today.
How someone can live in a modern inclusive country and mouth this 1956 mantra, surely shows that western governments should beware of letting some Sri Lankans into their societies.
Because they are fundamentally racist and deserve no right to live in advanced societies. Do come back home to the land of racism and majoritarianism. Coward
/
Billa / October 19, 2015
Guess Mr V.Kanthiya can help us cure HLDM’s sickness with his own style of sarcastic verses! Izeth may be served with some satanic verses.
Both are equally irritating specimen of a kind.
Where are you Mr .V.Kanthaiya ? Long time no see :) Missing you for sure…
/
curtis hellfire / October 19, 2015
You HLDLM are a racist [Edited out] who wants to hold back this country like the rest of the Sinhalese fascists.
Leave the comfortable life in civilized Australian society that you enjoy and come back to the racial mayhem you wish to advance.
I am so sick of reading these comments from deeply concerned reluctantly patriotic Sinhalese living abroad.
Do come back to our wonderfully inclusive country. Only you can take us back to 1956 and the road that led to the rest of the world laughing at us.
Do come back please, we so need bigots, Dayan & Wimal are just not enough. We truly need people like you, god you have such Intellect.
I worship you like all Sri Lankan patriot5s do. Please come back to the Motherland soon.
We need you so much, the rest of t5he World will be able to laugh at Sri Lankans even More!
Although is that really possible in a Country that doesn’t know right from wrong.
Ho, hum
/
Plato. / October 19, 2015
Spring Koha.
Your comment made me to refer Tarzie Vittachis[flybynight] work TRIALS OF TRANSITION in the island in the sun.Aubrey Collette has written the Introduction and all the cartoons are by him.Interestingly,I picked this up on the pavement on the 23rd Dec:1994.Obviously,the person who parted with this did not know the value of this.
Your responses on CT belies your age.I do hope that there is also a SPRING in your step.
Cheers.
/
Spring Koha / October 20, 2015
Plato,
You are as smart as your name! To acquire a little classic on the pavement is both good fortune, and the mark of someone who can separate wheat from chaff. Was it at one of the booksellers at the Darley Road/McCallum Road junction in Maradana? Tarzie Vittachi and Aubrey Collette were both giants of their time, and now legends that we recall with gratitude. My copies of their work will never leave my bookcase.
Age is only a number, and I just try to keep the few active grey cells interested in everything going on. The bones creak from time to time but nothing that an easy swim cannot cure. There is always an after-dinner cognac that is guaranteed to cure many an ache.
Thank You for your kind words, and all good wishes to you.
/
Mallaiyuran / October 19, 2015
Izeth Hussain, Go for the match, call him for a match.
” I suspect that the explanation is that he is not a Sinhalese, but only partly one. ”
Well said, based from a real ID of Mahinda-pala, the small Mahinda, can not bite, only barks.
Many hybrids are more patriotic to hide their truth, or sacred of Sinhalese that they may deport these to back to their countries. That is not a racist statement, anyway. Sorry!
/
Goraka / October 19, 2015
Don’t insult the Tuans.
He looks more like a Nuwan or a Boooooovan than a Tuan.
/
Bandu de Silva / October 19, 2015
Yes, Hussain is correct when he says that he was appointed as Ambassador to Paris, that was to succeed me.That it was cancelled later through the intervention of Buddhist monks in Paris may not be exactly correct. The man behind was Ananda\Guruge who was then Sri Lanka’s Permanent delegate to UNESCO, a post to which he promoted himself through connection with Prime Minister Premadasa. His ambition to get the post of Ambassador was a long term plan. He tried to step in there soon after Ambassador Balasubramanium. This was thwarted when I was appointed over which he could not protest but he kept on spying on me through my house boy which I discovered, to report any week pints to the Prime Minister.He finally conveyed to Mr Premadasa that I was siding with one particular temple where he himself had been a patron.
That he had conveyed through Mr.A.J.Ranasinghe who in turn informed me that he carried the message.The Dayaka sabha expelled him with his protegee monk,whose dissertation for the first degree at University of Paris was written by him.
I also found he had obtained the Embassy seal from my staff to send a letter to the Municipal Prefecture to say that the Embassy did not recognize the first Buddhist temple, for which misdeed the particular Embassy official was penalised by me through disciplinary procedure.Foreign Minister Hameed was informed of these happenings.
My actual taking over itself was delayed by six months for which I kept on blaming Hameed but I can understand why by looking at these train of events.
After my departure,former Governor of the Central bank Visva Rasaputra took over but he was moved out after a few months through the machinations of the same individual and he stepped in. Rasa was very bitter about it. There was no match with Rasa but that he had an Indian wife was enough ammunition to go gunning at him.
Perhaps it was this protege monk of Guruge who may have been used to lead the protest campaign against Hussain’s appointment.
Bandu
/
Pandaram / October 20, 2015
This one is also a CONVERT and a well known racist not second to Mahindapala.
/
bandu de Silva / October 20, 2015
Apart from my friendship wih Mahindapala, I must come to the defence of my former senior diplomatic colleague Hussain on the disputed claim that he was one of the top five diplomats in the world. Yes, that was when sri Lankan diplomats were not second to anyone else in he world. Reports he sent from his posting overseas were not only informative very informative and were roll –models of what Prime Minister DS Senanayake had expected. He derived informationfrom the very sources rather than through media reports as against what most other diplomats/Ambassodors did. I read with great care /attention his reports sent from Cairo where he had cultivated two top journalists, one of whom was the much acknowledged journalist, el-Haikel who had direct access to President Nasser and whom Nasser consulted often to monitor foreign responses and for advice. Haikel was privy to Nasser’s mind before even his Cabinet Ministers as events over Suez natiionalisation indicated. It was then a rare privilege for any diplomat to associate such a personality.
Hussain’s reports were compulsory reading for us new recruits to Foreign Service, as former Civil Servants who ran the External Affairs Department demanded.
Even the devil must be given his due. Hussain has not lost the style even long after retirement. One can contest his arguments but please, please give him credit for his pervasive writing.
Bandu
/
Foggy / October 20, 2015
@Mr. Bandu de Silva
A superbly articulated observation by another distinguished diplomat of our country.He too , like Mr Hussein, has not lost his superb style even though long retired.
/
baludeen / October 20, 2015
another rubbish article..[Edited out]
/
Govi / October 20, 2015
Hi all
Sometime back I read the following somewhere.
A person:
knows not and knows not he knows not is a fool – ignore him
knows not but knows he knows not is simple – teach him
knows and knows not he knows is asleep – awake him
Knows and he knows he knows is wise – follow him
I have added one for people like DJ and HLDM
Knows not and knows not he knows not and think he knows a lot – an idiot
– ignore him.
/
H. L. D. Mahindapala / October 20, 2015
I welcome my friend Bandu’s defence of his colleague Hussein. However, he fails to defend Hussain’s claim that he was one of the top five diplmats in the world. That is the crux of the issue. Instead my friend Bandu has gone on to defend his abillity to write. So am I to assume that writing a good report, after picking the brains of the local journalists, makes Hussain one of the top five great diplomats of the world?
I agree with Bandu that the quality of writing in any profession is a commendable asset. But writing reports in a bureaucracy, unlike in journalism which reaches a wider public,is an in-house exercise which is appreciated as a professional skill by the insiders. What is more important than the style is the contents of messages delivered by the diplomats abroad. Style does not go to make policy or change policy. It is the contents / information that make policy in whatever form it comes to the policy-making centre.
At the critical level of policy-making accurate information plays a more decisive role than style. Style is a luxury. Information is an indispensable necessity. The ultimate tests of a diplomat is the contribution he/she makes for the security, prosperity, integrity and the image of the nation. With the anti-Sinhala-Buddhist attitude of his colleague does he think that Hussein could have served the national interest? Hussein says that the Muslims too contributed to the “Sinhala idiocies”. According to Hussain’s ilk the “Sinhala Buddhist idiocies” began with the Bandaranaiakes. Now Hussain was a diplomat during the time of the Bandaranaikes. Could he have represented the Bandaranaiakes with his anti-Sinhala-Buddhists paranoia? Or does my friend Bandu think that his colleague was playing the proverbial role of “Thambigay thoppiya”? (No racist slur attached. I’m only using a common Sinhala idiom)
/
backlash / October 20, 2015
Poor Izeth Hussain (IH) at his advanced age should be taking things lightly in his retirement. Instead, he chooses to go into print making enemies almost every week. The trouble could be he has to somehow fill the columns of a fastly declining daily – on a weekly basis. So he gets into controversy after controversy writing sweet nothings. And to make matters worse, he is of a truculent nature. He responds to constructive criticism with undue venom and vitriol – losing sympathisers by the score thereby. Strangely, by his angry reactions he believes he “punishes” the other – a favourite description of his.
I am no particular fan of HLDM, who, despite a Tamil wife, is a notorious Tamil-hater in the guise of being anti-LTTE.
This is not the first time IH has been called “a born liar…lying through his teeth” in these very pages. When he was caught lying about his earlier “advise” to GoSL to starve Tamils as a means to break the backbone of Tamil resistance, the proper and decent thing for him to have done was to admit his enormous mistake and apologise. In these very pages he denied this for years until evidence was produced he was lying – arguably, a congenital cultural trait.
Many of us treat his responses as entertainment in the line of what the American and the global audience presently think of Donald Trump. GK Reddy was one of the most sought after senior journalists in this region and a world figure at his time. If at all he called IH one of the 5 best diplomats in the world he was surely talking in jest – in as much that Indian Senior official Narayanan fooled Sarath Fonseka calling him, with a sarcastic smile, as “one of the greatest Generals in the world” Narayanan by that time knew of Fonseka’s learning and IQ. Fonseka fell for it and still boasts about this.
There is no question “only mediocrities go around proclaiming their own greatness” It is in his customary prejudice against India IH claims “India (and USA) were behind the Resolutions against Sri Lanka” The truth is, on more than one occasion India came to our defence in Geneva. Senior Sri Lankan leaders openly thanked India for the courtesy.
Admittedly, IH is knowledgeable and writes well. Even at this late stage, he should cultivate the polite art of diplomatic speech, writing and demeanour. Or else, he will continue to attract, once too often, such epithets as a “rabid dog growling of a tailless canine” – certainly not my words.
Backlash
/
Gramberg / October 20, 2015
I say Mahindapal, getting a thrashing on the web, No?
Why don’t you beat a hasty retreat and join Dayan Jay in oblivion?
You are not wanted here, as you can well see…!
/
Tuan Miskin / October 20, 2015
By calling H.L.D. Mahindapala a Tuan, Mr Izzeth Hussain is not only insulting the Sri Lankan Malay Muslims but also unnecessarily creating a division among the Muslims (no offence to Mr. Mahindapala).
First of all, the Malays should not be even drawn into this argument and the distinction drawn between ‘Malays’ (as low breed) when compared to ‘Moors’ is absolutely unwarranted.
For those who do not know much about the Muslim community in Sri Lanka, let me say a few words. The Sri Lankan Muslims are the third largest ethnic group in Sri Lanka. Basically the Sri Lankan Muslim community comprises the Moors who speak Tamil as their mother tongue and the Malays who speak Malay as their mother tongue.
The Malays came as soldiers during the Dutch period and mostly settled in the coastal areas like Hambantota, Beruwela, Galle, and Slave Island in Colombo.
On the other hand, the ‘Moors’ in Sri Lanka came from South India (Kerala and Tamil Nadu) before the colonial period. The fact is that Islam had come to South India direct from the country of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) in the 7th century, while it reached North India very much later. The earlier converts to Islam in South India were called ‘Sonakar’. The fact is that the Muslims who settled down in the South-Western and North-Eastern Coasts of Sri Lanka as traders were all Tamil speaking Muslims from the Malabar and Coromandal coasts of South India. This has been testified to by Marco Polo and by Barbosa in his account of the Island in 1519. Both these agree that large numbers of ‘Moors’ from the Indian coasts resorted constantly to Sri Lanka. Barbosa speaks of their heads covered with handkerchiefs and of their earrings so heavy that they hang down to their shoulders. A handkerchief was necessary to cover their shaven crowns, while the earrings indicated most emphatically their South Indian origins. The Sri Lankan Moors lived primarily in coastal trading and agricultural communities, preserving their Islamic customs and the South Indian language/culture (Tamil as their mother tongue).
Today, the Sri Lanka Moors falsely claim that they were Arab settlers who came as traders and settled by marrying Sinhalese women. If that is true, then their mother tongue should have been either Sinhala or Arabic and not Tamil. All the Moors of Sri Lanka (Marakkala Minissu or Sonahar) had come over from South India (Kerala and Tamil Nadu) and settled down as either traders or skilled workers. Their home language however continues to be Tamil, as originally the majority of these Moors were South Indian Tamil Hindus who embraced Islam in the latter part of the century when South India was under Muslim rule. . It is only religion that divides the Tamils and Moors. By ethnicity Tamils and Moors are one. Tamil speaking Moors (Mother tongue Tamil, not Sinhala or Arabic) do not have the slightest resemblance to an Arab in stature or complexion. There are no indications what so ever to believe that the Sri Lankan Moors are the direct descendants of Arabs.
If Mr Izzeth Hussain, a Sri Lanka Moor (South Indian Tamil Hindu convert) believes that he comes from a higher breed than the Tuans/Malays, he is only living in a fool’s paradise.
/
Rumad / October 20, 2015
“The Malays came as soldiers during the Dutch period”???
Or, is the historical reality the then rulers of Batavia (Indonesia) Dutch Colonialists brought them to Ceylon as Slaves in the event of any
possible conflict. As a consequence of a West European marriage at that time Ceylon was gifted by the Dutch to the British as part of the dowry (?) The Brits were now loaded with a hot potato, which they unloaded into a seedy section of Colombo that became Slave Island – and remains so to date. True, until recently most of them spoke in Malay but things have changed since then and very few families do so now. The Brits, recognising they were more brawn than otherwise, recruited them into the Police, the army and the Fire Service at the lower rungs. Many of them have assimilated into the wider Muslim community and yet are, as they should be, proud of their distinct ancestry.
Rumad
/
Nimal / October 21, 2015
Why are we Sri Lankans so divided?
The Sinhalese are divided into Udarata (Up-country) Sinhalese and Pahatharata (Low-country) Sinhalese, the Tamils are divided into NorthEast/Jaffna (Ceylon) Tamils and Up-country/Estate (Indian) Tamils, the Muslims are divided into Moors and Malays, the Burghers are divided into Portuguese/Parangi Burghers and Dutch/Lanci Burghers.
Looks like racism begins within their own community and then spreads to others. Both race and religion are an individual’s private/personal matter and should be kept to thyself. A person’s race and religion should not be discussed in public. Others have no right to comment about a person’s race/religion. When are we going to become a race/religion free civilized society?
/
James / October 21, 2015
In 1995, a research project carried out by Dr. R. Jayasekara and his team from the Human Genetics unit, Faculty Medicine, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka in collaboration with the Department of Human Genetics, University of New Castle collected blood samples in Colombo and surrounding areas from 102 Sinhalese, 100 Tamils, 103 Burghers, 100 Muslims (Moors) and 103 Muslims (Malays) who were healthy, normal and unrelated individuals. Altogether 608 blood samples were collected and transported by air to the department of Human Genetics, University of New Castle. In the final analysis, the Sinhalese and the Tamil (including the Moors) Population of Sri Lanka appear to be the descendants of a single genetic group that had occupied this country. The DNA of Tamil Nadu Tamils is matching the Sinhalese, Sri Lankan Tamils and Muslims (Moors). There are no indications to believe that the Sinhalese are direct descendants of North Indians (Aryans) and Sri Lankan Muslims (Moors) are the direct descendants of Arabs.
The people of Sri Lanka irrespective of whether they are Sinhalese or Tamils or Muslims/moors, all of them are historically believed to be the migrants of India. The three major religions in Sri Lanka (Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam) practiced by the Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims have also come to Sri Lanka from India. The two major languages Tamil (Dravidian) language and Sinhala (Indo-Aryan) language also originated from India and from very early times the culture of Sri Lanka has been one imposed by successive waves of Indian cultural contacts. It is naïve to argue that the Sinhalese are natives because they have a unique language and culture where as the Sri Lankan Tamils and Muslims are migrants because their language and culture still exists in other countries.
/
Bandu de Silva / October 20, 2015
I thank my friend Mahindapala for commenting on my defence of Hussain as diplomat. I am sure he understands former colleagues in a profession wanting to stand by each other. Not an unusual thing. For me the issue was Hussain’s professionalism as a diplomat. I took up only his reporting capability through writing, the ability to articulate alone is not what marked a competent diplomat.
Mahinda is not satisfied with my discussing this aspect alone. I can understand. I also agree with him that writing official reports is only an in-house job and style is not the important issue but the contents.
Here let me pause to look at some of the bureaucratic reports written by British civil servants in India and Ceylon. I have read dozens of these reports at the Ratnapura, Anuradhpura and Trincomallee Kachcheris and at Archives They were written following a tailor-made model prescribed by senior administrators and any variation was resented. The Govt.Agent of Jaffna who was the superior of the AGA of Anuradhapura was seen reprimanding the latter like Rhys Davids, for not giving sub-titles, placing commas and semi-colons at the correct place. There was no room for them to display individuality. This was the case even with much acclaimed Woolf Diaries of Hambantota.
In contrast, Diaries written by British Civil Servants like McCaualy in India which I read in the University the 18th century history class for contents, and I now re-read merely for reading pleasure for the beauty of language and style in which they are couched. It is rarely such writings are found today.
I have written reams and reams of bureaucratic reports, following a model prescribed by the first P.M, D.S.Senanayake which I know may have ben drab reading to those outside the F.O. I recall Jayantha Dhanapala who was the head of the Political Dept lately remarking that my reports were so regular and copious that they were lying unread/un analysed not because of paucity of content but because present day officials were unable to comprehend the language and idiom etc employed. That is another problem.
The journalistic writing emphasise style even more than content because they are meant for ordinary reading public. Similarly, academic writing which are meant for content also combine style without which the reading could be drab.
I am sorry for this rigmarole. I said Hussain’s diplomatic writing which combined content with style as a benchmark to judge his role as a diplomat. This may not be sufficient. Representation and capability of negotiation are also equally important, but writing is an indicator of one’s ability to argument a case which is important to put across a point of view on behalf of the representing state.
How far a diplomat’s writing from an overseas station goes to make policy which Mahinda laments is lacking in Hussain’s (present day) writing, is debatable point. It is at the F.O that the contents of reports are analysed to make foreign policy decisions. There may be rare cases, like that India’s JN Dixit trying in Sri Lanka to direct policy which led to disastrous consequences for India.
/
H.L. Seneviratne / October 21, 2015
From Bandu’s comments, and on other evidence, Izeth Hussain was a patriotic public servant who had internalized the professional ethic of public service to an extraordinary degree. To question his commitment to Sri Lanka and to carrying out his duties as a public servant only displays the feudalism and pettiness of Mahindapala’s mind, and his inability to understand the principles of modern bureaucracy. Intelligent readers welcome Mr Hussain’s analytical skills as well as the elegance of his writing, and hope he keeps writing.
/
ruwan / October 21, 2015
HLDM’s simean aura reminds me of one with a similar brain and manners.
/
kali / October 21, 2015
Mr.Izbeth Hussain:
*** I do not want to get in the way of your private battle with the Lunatic. But to do justice to your claim to be among the top 5 ( I know it is not self proclaimed ) I am struggling to make sense out of the following and perhaps you will help me prove the Lunatic that he is wrong.
1) What is in question is sovereignty in the contemporary world. His prolix and rambling article fails altogether to address that question. I made two simple points that the average reader can understand without difficulty. The first is that after the Second World War there has been a steady erosion of state sovereignty. Anyone who disputes that well-established fact shows himself up as an utter ignoramus on international relations.
*** During the Second World War Sri Lanka and many other Countries were Colonies and therefore not Sovereign. But it was after Second World War these Countries became Independent and reclaimed their Sovereignty. It was further strengthened when Sri Lanka became a Republic for Example the Sri Lankan Judicial System became wholly Indigenous. So how can you say that after Second World War there has been a Steady EROSION of Sovereignty.
Surely you will admit that there was a pooling of Sovereignty through the UN for reasons we all know.
2) The second point is that in the second half of the eighteenth century it came to be established that the people and not the wielders of power are sovereign.
*** During the time period you are talking about Sri Lanka and many other Countries were Colonies and therefore not Sovereign meaning people. It looks like you were not an Inhabitant of Mother Earth.
3) It follows that a UNHRC Resolution could be unfriendly to the sovereign state and friendly to the sovereign people. Instead of dealing with that argument HLDM rambles along at great length bringing in irrelevant issues such as globalization. He has failed to understand my simple and straightforward argument.
*** Just like the last one on Sri Lanka you are 50 % Correct and 50% Wrong( I dont want to upset some people) . Unfriendly to Sri Lanka and Sinhalese but 50% friendly to Tamils who are not yet Sovereign
4) So advanced is his state of ethnolunacy.
*** The above is debatable.
Perhaps you will enlighten me during Festival of Lights.
/