BCIS Pipes A New Tune

By Darshanie Ratnawalli –September 28, 2016 

Darshanie Ratnawalli

In meeting the present Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies (BCIS) Director Dr. Harinda Vidanage, ostensibly to interview him, I have an ulterior motive. I go to judge him. The BCIS is a tertiary educational institute offering study programmes in international relations. BCIS programmes promise to be potential gateways to careers in the Sri Lankan Foreign Service, foreign missions and international organizations. Leaving aside his dynamism, energy, leadership – standard baggage for any good administrator – how good is Harinda Vidanage’s discernment of international relations? Could he be a good mentor to students whose future career may involve interacting with the world to further the interests of Sri Lanka?

Test 1 – India- Sri Lanka Bridge

As the appointee of a government whose Prime Minister is reliably credited with numbering among his favourite projects, a land bridge between India and Sri Lanka, how would Dr. Vidanage interpret this issue? Would he use fancy footwork to remain elusive and non-committal or would he stand and bite the bullet like the Southerner that he is?

“So what do you think of this bridge between India and Sri Lanka?” I ask. “I have no idea” he retorts. Such instant evasion isn’t promising, I think discouraged. Perhaps if one were to approach him as a woman of the world on the subject of bridges… “I am not asking whether it’s going to be built or not. I am asking your opinion. All these bridges, the first time they are proposed there’ s always opposition, for example even for the Channel Tunnel, between France and England, when it was proposed 100 years ago, it was opposed. But eventually it was built. Even the Korea-Japan Tunnel, it’s opposed now because of nationalistic and xenophobic concerns, but don’t you think all these bridges will be built eventually?”

Harinda Vidanage places his answer at a midpoint between the two extremes that are polarizing the current debate. He doesn’t say the bridge is bad down with the bridge, nor does he say the bridge is the greatest thing since the World Wide Web, let’s have it. He tells me that he is trying to answer my question in a unconventional way. His answer has three parts.

Part one – The real issue is connectivity with India. For connectivity with India, a bridge is not really necessary. You have enough means of connecting these two countries already.

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