After Ranil became the President, two articles were published in ‘Daily Mirror’ and ‘Ceylon Today’ newspapers. These two articles severely criticized the US ambassador to Sri Lanka, Julie Chung.
‘Daily Mirror’ had criticized the Twitter messages issued by Julie Chung for the struggle.’Ceylon Today’ had said that the time has come to start a struggle for Julie Chung Go Home. Out of these two newspapers, ‘Daily Mirror’ is a newspaper of Ranil’s uncle.’Ceylon Today’ is the newspaper of the minister in charge of police in the government. This shows that Ranil’s government is launching an attack against Julie Chang.
In this manner, during the government of Mahinda Rajapaksa, against former American ambassador to Sri Lanka Michael Sison, the state media launched a severe attack. Once, the lake house media had published her picture and captioned it as the common candidate for the opposition in the presidential elections. The ambassador had said that Gunaratne Weerakoon, state minister in Mahinda’s government, had alleged that she tried to bribe him if he opposed Mahinda.
Ranil, who was the leader of the opposition at that time, not only strongly criticized the state minister’s statement but also accused Mahinda’s government of clashing with America and marginalizing Sri Lanka internationally. Ranil who said so, is the president of the country today. Today, he is not only accusing Juli Chung of meddling in the internal affairs of the country, but he is also attacking her through his friendly media.
Then it was , Michael J. Sison, Julie Chung today talks about human rights and democracy. It was, Michael J. Sison who raised her voice against Mahinda’s government, the Rajapaksaists said that the United States was conspiring to divide the country by joining forces with the LTTE diaspora out of jealousy that Mahinda had won the war.
Rajapaksa is not in the presidential chair today. The ‘American pet’. This is how Ranil, was branded by the Rajapaksaists back then. When this American pet violates human rights, today the American ambassador is raising her voice against this American pet, just as the then ambassador raised her voice against Rajapaksa’s when they violated human rights. This shows that whether the President is a Rajapaksa or an American pet, it is irrelevant to America. It is the policy of America to raise its voice for human rights and democracy even if an American sympathizer is in the presidential chair.
During his stay in Sri Lanka, Michael J. Sison raised his voice about democracy and human rights in Sri Lanka. She was not a very popular figure in Sri Lanka. Mahinda’s government had planted doubt in the minds of people that she was fulfilling a wish of the Tiger Diaspora. But today, Julie Chang is one of the most popular characters in Sri Lanka. She quickly became popular as the brand ambassador of the struggle or the brand ambassador of democracy because of the Twitter messages she issued for the struggle since the day the struggle began around Gota’s house in Mirihana. Everyone joined the struggle regardless of party and color. There were people who voted for Rajapaksa during the struggle. Her tweets became popular among all of them.
The struggle saw her as the ‘Guardian Angel’ of the struggle. She skillfully destroyed the anti-Americanism that fed by the leftists and Rajapaksaists in Sri Lankan politics until 2021. Also able to destroy the belief among Sri Lankan’s that America is not a country friendly to Sinhalese but a country friendly to Tamils.
All these were done very carefully. First, she changed the image of the American ambassador in this country. She changed the majestic and proud appearance of the American ambassadors in Sri Lanka. Her Korean appearance may have made it easier for her to change that image. Dressed in a flowery dress, she showed herself as an ordinary woman, with a slim body, going to party offices in Sri Lanka.
Her biggest achievement was going to the JVP office. JVP calls America as a blood-sucking octopus of third world countries. The JVP was reluctant to meet the American ambassadors because of the label they gave to America, fearing that it would be politically suicidal for them to engage in a happy marriage with the bloodsuckers. But the JVP did not think so about Julie Chung because of the popular image that she had developed through the struggle without any color party distinction. The JVP realized that meeting her would be a political advantage and not a disadvantage.
When analyzed in this manner, Juli is a character who revolutionized Sri Lanka-US relations. Today, even the non-governmental organizations that receive aid from the United States do not speak against the suppression of Ranil’s struggle for their friendship with Ranil. But Julie speaks. There have been many occasions when governments went home from conspiracies within the four walls of American embassies in South Asia. But Gota was the first experiment in which a president was ousted by a popular uprising.
without shaking a drop of blood. Julie is a star in that struggle. In 2015, the Rajapaksas themselves said that America sent Mahinda home. But no one can say that America sent Gota home from the struggle. That is the success of Julie’s “twitter operation’.
Upul Joseph Fernando
