Vernon Mendis -the end of an era in Sri Lankan diplomacy

by Jayantha Dhanapala

(July 04, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Deshamanya Dr.Vernon Mendis passed away on 23 June. On 2 July his family and friends participated in a Service of Remembrance at the Cathedral of Christ the Living Saviour where Vernon worshipped regularly when he was alive. It was a service to celebrate the life and work of Vernon Mendis. But it was also natural and normal to mourn his death.

For me, as a junior colleague and a friend, in addition to mourning Vernon’s passing away Vernon’s death symbolized the end of an era in Sri Lankan diplomacy. It was an era when Sri Lanka’s national interest was pursued relentlessly and her sovereignty jealously safeguarded. But this was achieved through a diplomacy of trained professionalism and sophisticated finesse.

Shirley Amerasinghe, Glannie Peiris, Neville Kanekaratne and Vernon Mendis were among the giants of that era who matched the best and the brightest that Foggy Bottom, the Quai d’Orsai, Whitehall, New Delhi’s South Block or Beijing could produce. They were fired with a patriotic zeal, a loyalty to the elected Government of the day and a sound grasp of Sri Lanka’s objectives in her foreign relations.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Oscar Arias, now President of Costa Rica, once said," Negotiation is not about winning. It is about finding solutions that work for everyone." It was in that spirit that Vernon Mendis and others sought and obtained benefits for Sri Lanka – benefits that were not ephemeral but enduring.

Vernon was a multi-faceted personality. First and foremost he was a pioneer career diplomat having been placed first in the 1949 competitive examination to recruit the first batch of career diplomats for the recently established Ceylon Overseas Service. He went on to serve his country in Washington DC, Tokyo, Paris, Moscow and New Delhi and then headed our missions in Ottawa, London and Paris. On his postings in Colombo he served as the youngest Chief of Protocol, Counsellor/Foreign Relations and Director-General. Retiring prematurely at 55, Vernon went on to a career as an international civil servant with UNESCO serving in Cairo which suited his interests in culture and history perfectly. Throughout his career he was ably supported by his wife Padmini – the daughter of the Central Bank’s D.W.Rajapathirana – whom he met while her father worked at the IMF in Washington.

I regard Sirimavo Bandaranaike’s stewardship of our foreign affairs as the golden era of Sri Lankan foreign policy. Unsurprisingly Vernon Mendis was her closest adviser. She respected his expertise and was willing to listen to him unlike her successors who were uncomfortable with an official whose ability and experience dwarfed theirs. In 1976 when the Non-aligned Summit was held in Sri Lanka she appointed Vernon, then our High Commissioner in London, to be Secretary-General of the Conference in what was surely one of Sri Lanka’s finest hours in international diplomacy. Vernon’s organizational skills ensured a smoothly run conference.

But Vernon was not only a distinguished professional diplomat. He was also an outstanding teacher of diplomacy beginning with his mentoring and guiding junior colleagues like myself. He created traditions which others followed. In 1970 Vernon devised a training programme for the 1970 intake of Foreign Service recruits. It was so comprehensive and thorough that the Commonwealth Secretariat adopted it for implementation throughout the Commonwealth. Later. on his return to Sri Lanka from Cairo, Vernon headed the Bandaranaike Diplomatic Training Institute (BIDTI) to extend his training in diplomacy not only to the Foreign Service recruits but also to the armed forces and the general public of the country so that the importance of diplomacy in international relations was more widely appreciated. Vernon had a passion for passing on the torch of his knowledge. That was his métier and he will be remembered for his contribution to education and training in diplomacy.

Another facet was Vernon the scholar. Sri Lankan history was his special field in which he researched and published prolifically obtaining an M.Phil. from the University of London and a doctorate from the University of Colombo. He saw Sri Lanka’s role against the broader canvas of global history. Thus the book on the "Advent of the British to Ceylon 1762-1803" analyzed the currents of European history influencing Sri Lanka’s future while "Currents of Asian History 1000-1500" examined Sri Lanka’s interaction with India, South-east Asia and East Asia especially China. Vernon’s approach to history was similar to that of Edward Gibbon and Arnold Toynbee identifying the broader trends.

Vernon was also a great orator who held audiences entranced by his flights of rhetoric, his grasp of the English language and the subjects on which he spoke.

Vernon Mendis remained deeply rooted in the soil of his native Sri Lanka at all times. Not only was he profoundly knowledgeable about the history and culture of the country but he also studied Buddhism and spoke on the subject abroad.

Sri Lanka has lost an outstanding diplomat, a scholar and a patriot. He will remain a role model for Sri Lankan diplomats of the present and the future.

(Based on a tribute paid to Dr.Vernon Mendis at the Service of Remembrance on 2 July in Colombo)