Ambassador Amza: A Savvy Diplomat and a Gentleman

I was with a group of distinguished British parliamentarians, representing both Houses of Parliament – the House of Lords and the House of Commons – some UK-based diplomats and a significant number of Sri Lankan expatriates on Monday, who gathered at the Commonwealth Parliament Association Room at the British Houses of Parliament in Westminster, London, to bid farewell to Mr P M Amza, the outgoing Deputy High Commissioner of Sri Lanka.

The reception was hosted by Rt. Hon. Lord Naseby, the Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Sri Lanka (APPG-SL) in the British Parliament. Since it was the first time that a Sri Lankan diplomat had been hosted to a farewell at the Houses of Parliament, the two-hour event was a unique occasion, both for the Sri Lankan diplomatic community and the well-attended audience - representing a cross-section of the Sri Lankan expatriate community - to be proud of.

The peers who attended the farewell from the House of Lords were Rt. Hon Lord Naseby, Lord Hussain of Luton, Lord Dholakia, Lord King of Westbromwich, Lord Loomba and Lord Rogan. There were several MPs from the House of Commons as well: Mr. Stephen Hammond, Mr. David Amess, Mr. James Wharton, Mr. Mike Gapes, Mr. Andrew Rosindell, Mrs. Heather Wheeler, Mr. Nick de Bois and Mr. Mark Pritchard also took part in the event.

In addition, there were several London-based diplomats and officials from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to enliven the occasion, held in a pleasantly-warm atmosphere at the quaint Houses of Parliament, when the surroundings were battling against sub-zero temperatures - brought about by a severe cold spell.

While proposing a toast, Lord Naseby paid a glowing tribute to Mr Amza for the role he played in bringing the various sections of the Sri Lankan community together at a very difficult time during his 30-months tenure in London, as the Deputy High Commissioner, Acting High Commissioner – and, then, of course, back as the Deputy High Commissioner.

Lord Naseby, in his address, took a stroll down the memory lane, by telling us how he came to know Mr Amza during his first official visit to Sri Lanka, when the latter was the Chief Protocol Officer at the Foreign Office in Colombo: “Mr Amza left me in the company of a lady officer while promising to see me at a later time, to make sure that all steps were taken to make the visit a success," fondly recollected Lord Naseby. Then he went on to say that, not only did Mr Amza keep to his promise, but also made sure that every important issue was addressed in time, while highlighting a noble personal trait of Mr Amza - stubborn determination to honour his word.

Mr Amza was appointed as the Deputy High Commissioner at the Sri Lankan Mission in London - just after the war was won – with the full blessings of President Rajapakse, who by then, was fully aware of the pragmatic approach adopted by Mr Amza, when it came to very serious bi-lateral issues involving India and Sri Lanka during the last phase of war. Mr Amza was the Deputy High Commissioner in India at that time and was based in Chennai.

In this context, it is not necessarily coincidental that The Hindu, the English daily with the largest circulation in the state, started analysing the conflict from the Sri Lankan government’s point of view too, which had been taboo during Mr Amza’s time In India.'

Despite the strategic achievements for his motherland, Mr Amza admitted to me that it was the most difficult period of his professional life, when I met him at the High Commission in London, a few weeks ago. I could visualize the human equivalent of a sandwich, when he explained his role while dealing with two ominous fronts simultaneously.

On one front, it was the issue of fishermen who blatantly violated our maritime borders in order to venture into Sri Lankan waters under the pretext of ‘being lost’; then, there was the political front consisting of hyper-emotive Tamil extremists, who chose to resonate themselves with every single pulse of their respective political masters, even if it was tantamount to making a mountain out of a molehill.

Moreover, there were pressing humanitarian issues involving Tamil refugees: citizenship problem; lack of education for the children; inability to maintain savings accounts for what was left with them.

Combine the number involved in the case of refugees – almost 28500 – and the notoriously lethargic local bureaucracy, the picture that emerges is far from rosy.

However, Mr Amza was instrumental in giving kids an opportunity to sit for their GCE –OL exams inside the refugee camps – for the first time in Sri Lankan history to sit for local exams outside the country. He extended his service further by facilitating the openings of bank accounts with the Bank of Ceylon for thousands of refugees.

On the political front, things were not made easy by self-serving politicians in Tamil Nadu whose manoeuvres were often unpredictable, at best and infectiously-malicious, at worst.

To make matters worse, there was Mr Muthuvel Karunanidhi, the political Supremo of Tamil Nadu during the turbulent period, who time and again, proved that the political principles can co-exist with uninhibited impulse.

By stretching out the noble Gandhian spiritual tool to the periphery of ridicule - staging a Satyagraha in the vicinity of an air-conditioner during the last few days of the war – the octogenarian equated the fast-unto-death with fast-unto-partial-dehydration. His critics, however, seized the opportunity to brand him as opportunistic, when Mr Karunanidhi drank some lemon juice to wind up the whole exercise on a rather sour note – all within a period of 24 hours.

Mr Amza reacted to these frighting developments, which at times bordered on self-contradiction, with calm and dignity in the face of menacing humiliation, while digging in his heels in the presence of unprincipled politicians and their henchmen.

However, he was forced to pay a heavy price for dealing with the issue with the unwavering attitude – my motherland first: he was warned about a possible attack on his way to work in Chennai and compelled to use different cars for staying a step ahead of his potential tormentors.

Back at home, things were not any better either. Since he was a high-profile target of the LTTE, he had to stay in hotels in Colombo rather than visiting his native Batticoloa.

Mr Amza, who was always proud of the free education that he received in Sri Lanaka, took the catalogue of setbacks in the chin, as it was, according to him, the best way to pay back his debt to his motherland. The audience – British parliamentarians and the members of Sri Lankan expatriate community - who took part in the farewell was in unision, not only in proposing the toast on behalf of the diplomat, but also in heaping praise on him for the tireless service he rendered on behalf of Sri Lanka.

Ven Bogoda Seelawimala Thera, the Head Priest of the London Buddhist Vihara in Chiswick, summed up the rare qualities of the diplomat when I spoke to him on Friday. “Mr Amza was a skilled, efficient diplomat who always extended his fullest cooperation in the matters involving the temple, in particular and the country, in general – in the hour of need,” said Ven Seelawimala while paying a glowing tribute to Mr Amza for his tireless work.

Mr Amza came to London at a time, when our High Commission in London bore the brunt of criticism for its failure to counter the anti-Sri Lankan lobby in Britain. It was true that some – not all, of course – who held the levers of power at the place, quite mistakenly, thought the rules of the PR game can only be won by their charm – much to the horror of the expatriate community here.

The approach adopted by Mr Amza and his team in a relatively short time clearly showed that the PR battle can only be won by taking diplomacy, pragmatism and human factor in equal measure on board .

As someone who attended the farewell, I could see that we have more influential friends on our side than ever before. Therefore, Mr Amza will be can taking up his next assignment as the Sri Lanka's Deputy Ambassador in Berlin with his head held high.

- Asian Tribune –

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