Reply to prof. Rajiva Wijesingha

As a former Fulbright scholar I read with interest Ramya Jirasinghe's article that appeared in the Sunday Times of 29 July, 2012.

I then read with dismay Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha's inaccurate reference to Ramya Jirasinghe as “an employee of the US government”, “a staffer” and the like in his latest diatribe in the Daily Mirror of 8 August, 2012.

Had Wijesinha read the byline that appeared in the Sunday Times as closely as he seems to have for his narrow purposes the article itself, he would not have made this significant error. Jirasinghe makes it clear that she works for and at the bi-national US-SL Fulbright Commission.

A cursory glance at the Fulbright Commission website would reveal that the Commission has been functioning in Sri Lanka for the last 60 years, governed by a board comprising of equal numbers of Sri Lankan and US government officers and citizens as its members, with neither government having veto power. The programme is funded by both governments with the aim of providing academic opportunities for Sri Lankan and US citizens. To date, over 1030 US and Sri Lankan academics (mainly Sri Lankan university cardre, completing their Master's and postdoctoral research that is required for tenure positions) have received the opportunity to study and research in each other's countries.

Wijesinha's error makes us lesser mortals wonder whether our professorial academics turned politicians are unable to read with comprehension though they be literate. Attention to detail, we are told by our university teachers, is the hallmark of a responsible academic. Perhaps those academics turned (appointed not elected) politicians like Wijesinha are not concerned with timehonoured values that true academics uphold. Perhaps for him and his fellow-travellers, ends will ever justify the means!

I wish to share a passing thought with the academic community in general. Should not we demand from politicians such as Wijesinha, who at the end of the day are accountable to us citizens, that they think before they write vituperative and inaccurate stuff that they frequently do?

Comment may be free but are not facts any longer sacred?