{"id":200902,"date":"2019-04-25T23:56:01","date_gmt":"2019-04-25T18:26:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=200902"},"modified":"2019-04-28T10:09:16","modified_gmt":"2019-04-28T04:39:16","slug":"an-open-letter-to-the-us-ambassador-in-sri-lanka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/an-open-letter-to-the-us-ambassador-in-sri-lanka\/","title":{"rendered":"An Open Letter To The US Ambassador In Sri Lanka"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Liyanage Amarakeerthi<\/a> –<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Prof. Liyanage Amarakeerthi<\/p><\/div>\n

Ms. Alaina B. Teplitz,<\/p>\n

Us Embassy in Sri Lanka<\/p>\n

Galle RD<\/p>\n

Colombo<\/p>\n

Dear Madam Leplitz,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Knowing that you are not worried about hyperbolic formalities, I did not call you \u201cYour Excellency\u201d and so on. When I wrote to the Chinese Ambassador<\/strong><\/a> last year when we tried out a new prime minister for just fifty two days, I kept all my decorum because I did not want to anger the most powerful ambassador in the region. Now I am writing to the ex-most powerful ambassador, and I will be informal.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So Madam, Let me to cut to the chase \u2013 to use a typical American idiom whose origin, perhaps, has in Hollywood. Do you know Wada Pitiya<\/i>? It is a popular TV Talk Show in a channel named Derana<\/i>. Yes. That is the one – the main media outlet busy trying to make one of your compatriots the president of Sri Lanka. Well, if he becomes the president he will be your ex-compatriot; right? Oh! The \u2018chase\u2019! Let\u2019s cut to it again. This Wada Pitiya<\/i> means \u201cthe debating ground\u201d and it is an arena where our verbal gladiators fight each other. We watch them fight and go to sleep happily. It is almost like American wrestling shows but in this we can only see muscular words instead of bodies.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On 23rd<\/sup> of April, 2019, a couple of days ago, one of our national heroes- a known verbal gladiator debated with Mr. Azath Salley<\/strong><\/a>, the governor of Western Province.\u00a0<\/span>The topic was Easter Sunday terrorist attacks about which you had gracefully expressed your sorrow. It is terrorism; it must not be tolerated in the name of cultural diversity or religious pluralism. In their very names, this terrorism must be defeated. Sally represented Muslims. The hero represented us.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So, in that TV debate our hero Wimal Weerawansa<\/strong><\/a>, whose words can drive Sinhala people crazy with nationalist fervor and make them brave enough to break even into your embassy,- perhaps the most secure building in our mother land, was deflated and wordless. Mr. Salley instantly exposed several lies Weerawansa told in that debate, and demonstrated that moderate Muslims in the country had done all they could to warn Sri Lankan government of the threat of Islamic terrorism. Dear Madam, the debate is on YouTube; please take a peek at it; you can see our hero ashamedly keeps looking at his cell phone. If he could dive into that phone and disappear, he could have done so. He was trying to exploit the debate to advance the cause of your compatriot\u2019s presidential ambition but failed miserably.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n