A ‘Buddhist’ upasaka ruler assaults ‘Buddhist’ monks in a ‘Buddhist’ land

Today is a sad day for the Buddhists in Sri Lanka. It was like the day the Kalinga Magha completely demolished the ancient Anuradhapura kingdom; the day that Portugese burned down Veedagama Raja Maha Vihara; the day that King Rajasinghe I, banned following Buddhism on the advices of his purohita Aritta Kee-vendu. Today, a ruler of our times took away his white clothes to play the role of Kalinga Magha.

Which Buddhist does not feel regretful when their religious leaders are physically beaten by the Police-wallahs without showing any sympathy? Wouldn’t the Catholics feel sad if Catholic priests were tear gassed and baton charged? Wouldn’t the Muslims feel sorry if their Mowlavis were physically harassed by the Police? Shouldn’t we feel twice sorry as this happened when a leader who had promised to save Buddha Sasana ruling in Sri Lanka? Shouldn’t we feel thrice sorry when this happened at a time a political party representing Buddhist Bhikkus is a major player in the government?

Please don’t get me wrong. I do not endorse what the student Bhikkus have done. It is also no secret that these Bhikkus were motivated by JVP. Religion and politics is a dangerous mix. It would have been good for everyone if the Buddhist Bhikkus stayed out of politics. On the other hand, no denial that they are part of the society. Like any citizen they have rights to protest as long as such protests are peaceful. There are better ways to address such activities. Beating and tear gassing Buddhists monks will not be taken lightly by the Buddhists in Sri Lanka who daily take the wow “Sangan Saranam Gachchami”.

We have seen similar things happening in Burma – but there is a difference. Though Burma is country with Buddhist majority, it is not governed by a Buddhist leader. On the other hand Sri Lanka is governed by a leader who loses no opportunity to portray his ‘Sinhalese Buddhist’ image, from carrying ‘mal vatti’ at temples to publicly listening sermons at Temple trees at every Poya day. Is it the same individual who ordered this assault against Maha Sangha today? Can we think that the ‘Upasaka Mahattaya’ in white clothes can be so ruthless to beat the Maha Sanga he worships publicly?

This is not the first time Buddhist monks have protested. They protested during the Chandrika Kumaratunage government and also Ranil Wickremasinghe government. Those leaders, perhaps showing more wisdom, faced them in intelligent manner.

During the two years when Ranil Wickremesinghe was in power – and when protests by JHU and JVP at their height – no Buddhist mink was ever beaten by Police.

However, it is not possible to expect such wisdom from every ruler. There are rulers who know nothing but fighting. Like Choppes Pachcha Siras in Maradana, all they can do is to show their muscle. They never consider whether it is a journalist, an innocent citizen or a religious leader. Physical violence is used at maximum for anybody who comes against them. That is what Hitler did, Mussoloni did, Marcos did and Musharaff and Robert Mugabe doing currently. That is exactly what happens in Sri Lanka too.

Perhaps this is a good opportunity for the so called JHU Buddhist monks also to come up and express their opinion about Kurakkan government physically assaulting Buddhist priests. Do they condemn this attack? Or do they endorse it? We are happy to listen to them. Mr. Champika Ranawaka, you have anything to say?

පිල්ලායන් වඳින ගාථාව

 

ප්‍රභාකරන් අති භයංකරං

පිල්ලායන් ඉෂ්ඨ දෙවතා

පිල්ලායන් සරණ මාගම්ම

සබ්බ දුක්ඛො විනස්සතු

 

බෞද්ධ මහෝපාසක පිල්ලායන්තුමාගේ පින්තූරයක් අභියස වැඳගෙන දවසට තුන් වතාවක් මේ ගාථාව මැතිරීමෙන් ඉෂ්ඨ ඵල සංසිද්ධි වන බව ජාතික හෙළු උරුමය කියා සිටී.

 

සාදු! සාදු! සාදු!

 

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War mongers’ Vesak: Today SIL, tomorrow KILL!

We live in a strange society. The logics of ‘Sinhalese Buddhist’ society are difficult to understand.

For 364 days most ‘Buddhists’ in South - encouraged by the government itself - invariably monger war. They see absolutely nothing wrong in killing human beings (Yes, Tamils too are human beings – in case someone has forgotten) More the numbers, more jubilant they are. ‘200 TIGERS KILLED’ makes a reason for celebrations, as if the killing gives them a sort of eternal joy. They may never feel Tamils too are made of flesh and blood and prone to suffering just like themselves. It will be surprising if they actually understand some of these so-called ‘tigers’ are innocent civilians (one of the obvious targets of any war) or even armed – they were forced to take arms largely because that was the only means of survival. (Most militant Tamil youth have not joined LTTE on their free will. They were forced to join at the gun point, mosty as children)

Many Budhists dress in white today –  for Vesak - visit the temples and promise “Panathipatha Veramani Sikkha-padam samadiyami” – that they do not harm even a fly. Even those who promote war for 364 days do so.

For 364 days they revere machine guns. For one day they take ‘Nava Guna Vela’ and chant ‘Karaneeya Metta Sutta’ – which tells that one needs to love any other living being with the kindness of a mother towards her only son. Strange. Isn’t it?

The politicians who push war with unceasing force probably never know, or perhaps pretend not to know, those who get killed (from both sides) are largely boys and girls of the age of their own children. (who may be enjoying the overseas life.)

For Vesak the government bans selling meat for a week, at least thinking it would decrease the number of cows and hens that get killed, but never thinks of declaring a ceasefire in the war front for the period. Why? Is this because our war mongers give a higher value to the life of a cow than the life of human being?

When we were small our parents, specially the strict Buddhists, never brought us guns as presents. Today guns and those who carry them are hero worshipped. At exhibitions military weapons are demonstrated to students the big way. Pregnant women are expected to get up and offer them seats in public transport. How low our society has gone!

The poets in Sri Lanka few decades ago described ‘Budu Guna’ in their work. The poets of today demand Tamil blood. There was one ‘monk’ who wrote a song,  few years back, that sure way to attain Nibbana is to go to war carrying a weapon!   

This is the damage the 30 year old war has done to our society.  

The Sinhalese Buddhist society we see today is not the one most of the adults saw when we were children. We see a very different society where the only doctrine is ‘KILL, KILL and KILL’. That is all our children are taught. Through media, at schools and most unfortunately at some temples too.

Many talk about the low levels the lay society has gone into. Hardly anybody seems to understand how pathetic  the Sanga society has become now, largely because of politics. Bhikkus entering politics could have been the worst ever happened to Buddha Sasana for its claimed 2,500 years of history. No other period in Sri Lankan history have seen such a detriment in Sanga society. Not even the Kandyan period where the Buddhist monks started living semi-lay lives as ‘ganninanses’. Thanks to few opportunistic leaders of Jathika Hela Urumatya.

The above photograph tells it all. It was taken at a JHu protest. Can anyone assume this ‘monk’ saying ‘Suvapath Veva!’ as he is supposed to say?

We celebrate Vesak in the middle of an ongoing civil war. Many ‘Buddhists’ in South today are in ‘Sil’ mode, but tomorrow surely they will change to ‘kill’ mode. This is the reality of our lives.

At least may this Vesak day bring some wisdom to these war mongers!

May they understand the futility of war and the need to enter into a political solutions without making more and more people miserable!

May they understand the power of ‘ahimsa’ against the power of ‘war’!

May they chant ‘BUDDHAM SARANAM GACHCHAMI’ instead of ‘YUDDHAM SARANAM GACHCHAMI’!

Siyalu sathvayo niduk vethva, neerogi vethva, suvapath vethva!

Before Pillayan kills me…

Arugam Bay, May 03

As I wrote earlier, election campaigning is fun, but nothing can be compared to what we are doing in the Eastern province now.  This is far too dangerous than anybody in Colombo can ever think of. Though not so obvious in first looks the ominous smell of Pillayan is everywhere. It is a reality that anybody who dares to campaign in the East should live with.

I keep asking questions from myself what Pillayan could do. How strong is Pillayan’s terrorist network? How many armed cadre he has? (I saw it in papers he has about 700 gunmen but it can be more) Where are they positioned? Finally how far they would go to stop a rival winning the elections? (which is obvious by now) Will they just stop at rigging the polls with the kind assistance of the current government leaders (who will be happy to provide that support) or perhaps failing that go further and try a mass genocide?

These are some simple questions to which we have no answers.

The fact that disturbed us most is that Pillayan is no ordinary terrorist. HE IS A LICENSED TERRORIST, if I were to coin a term. In any society, no citizen is allowed to bear guns without the approval of the state. But Pillayan and his terrorist goondas bear guns, though they are not part of the security forces. The government not just shows a blind eye, but happily endorses this terrorist bearing guns and using them in the territory the government claims to be ‘LIBERATED’ as well.

The weak excuses provided by senior government ministers justifying Pillayan’s terrorist group bearing and perhaps using arms is amusing. According to them, it is for their safety from LTTE. My foot! If LTTE is still so strong in Eastern province why call it ‘LIBERATED’? No, the only reason why government happily keeps Pillayan armed is for rigging. They know they have no chances of winning without mass scale rigging.

The possibility of butchery by Pillayan cannot be ignored. He has guns and he has men trained to use them. Nobody would give evidence against him. Government’s least resistance path too will be covering up such a killing (easy to blame LTTE) than finding the real culprits. So why he should not?

The only consolation is I work in a Sinhala dominated area where Pillayan does not work directly but comes only through other political parties. JHU Akmeemana Dayaratne thero used few Pillayan’s terrorists in their campaign, but it did not look too dangerous. They just sat in the front seat of government vehicles.  Anyway JHU has stopped campaigning now. They might have given up after seeing it a dead end for them.

My only hope is the polls will be peaceful and there would be no election violence. Still it is difficult to think Kurrakan boy will let us win so easily. He knows what defeat means. That is why we should be ready for any obstacle.

Still I am optimistic that DEMOCRAY will win over Pillayan’s (government sponsored) terrorism on May 10.

Election campaigning…….…in the land of rising sun

I am at Lahugala, in the Ampara district. Write this just after finishing another round of campaigning and conducting pocket meetings.

Entire Eastern province has caught the election fever.

Election campaigning is fun. What adds to our enthusiasm is the awareness of the impending danger.

Pillayan’s henchmen are waiting to kill us. He is a terrorist and should not be trusted. The only shield we have against his arms is the support of the people. Whatever the powers this terrorist has we do not think he can just shoot anyone and flee. But the danger is there, everywhere. We have got over with is now. Pillayan’s terrorism should not stop us in our fight for democracy.

Just a brief background of the work I do.

I am in charge of six villages in Lahugala. They are Panama North, Shastrawela, Panama West, Lahugala, Pansalgoda and Hulanuge. My job is to campaign but I take pleasure in educating them on the danger of electing an armed terrorist – or more precisely letting his get elected through inaction. (That is what Pillayan tries to do. Massive pool riggings are expected on May 10th. That is why I said this is a fight for democracy. If Pillayan wins the losers will only be the people of this country.)

The areas I cover are predominantly Sinhala. Lets say 80%. But there are Tamils and Muslims as well. Travel few kms away the composition changes. For example the nearby Pottuvil area is predominantly Muslim (more than 90%)

JHU tries to do some campaigning here, with the backing of Pillayan’s gunmen, but without much success.  JHU MP Akmeemana Dayaratne thero is using 16 government vehicles. (This is illegal but there is little we can do. Baduth hamuduruvange, naduth hamuduruvange!) We see these government vehicles run everywhere with Pillayan’s henchmen in black sit in the front seats. They do not show arms openly but surely they are under the clothes.

People themselves have started responding to JHU campaign negatively. Villagers ask where were all JHU supported when they were in trouble. JHU had to give up their initial idea of having a political meeting at the Lahugala temple, because villagers vehemently opposed it.

There is no sign of JVP – either faction.

I am still not sure exactly what sort of tricks Pillayan will pay in pool rigging, but even with that I am sure we would win Ampara with a significant margin. That is the level of support we receive at ground level from poor people who no more want to live under the twin tragedies of war and rising cost of living. People are determined to end the suffering and I do not think even the guns of Pillayan can stop that kind of determination.

Finally, this is a beautiful area. I wish I am on vacation. (More about the area on my next posts)

නැණස පෑදේවා! පිල්ලිය දුරින් දුරු වේවා!

The choice in Eastern province is not between a Muslim Chief Minister and a Tamil one. It is also not between Rauf Hakeem and Pillayan. It is between DEMOCRACY and TERRORISM.

Violence has been common in ever election in Sri Lanka, but the level of violence used in Eastern province provincial council is unprecedented.

This is the first time in Sri Lanka history an armed group fights and election battle.

This is the first time one party visits house to house with guns in their hands and threaten voters. Even in 1989 Provincial council elections, which JVP (then and armed group) boycotted this level of violence was not seen.

Poll rigging will be unprecedented. What happened in North Central (Wayamba) provincial council elections in 1998 will be nothing compared what will happen in East in the next week.

The good news however is, even with that Pillayan the shortie terrorist will not be able to prevent the victory of DEMOCRACY in East.

 

JHU accuses “MUSLIM TERRORISTS” in Eastern province robbing Sinhalese Buddhist heritage

The Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), an extremist political party in South, also a key affiliate of the present government, is accusing “MUSLIM EXTREMISTS” in East taking over the lands belonging to Sinhalese Buddhists also hinting the possibility of “MUSLIM TERRORISM” in the Eastern province.

JHU spokesman Nishantha Sri Warnasinghe charges Muslims for initiating ‘Otu’ (Arabic) terrorism in areas such as Potuvil, Panama, Akkarapattu, Samanturai, Kinniya, Mutur and Kalmunai.

Mr. Warnasinghe has made these comments when an online news site queried him. 

 Image: JHU leader Ven. Ellawala Medhananda is a vociferous advocate of the ‘Sinhalese Buddhist’ heritage in Eastern province currently destroyed by the Muslims, as claimed by JHU. Once he also requested all Muslims in eastern province to move to Arab where they really belong, according to him, leaving the land for Sinhalese Buddhists

Muslim terrorism will end up in another armed struggle, this time by Muslim youths, for a separate state, the JHU spokesman warned. The east will come under the grip of al-Qaeda terrorism if this situation continues, he said.

Eastern Muslim youths had, at one-time, been very close to Tamil Tiger terrorism, Mr. Warnasinghe said.

JHU earlier accused Eastern province Muslims physically attacking Sinhalese villages through pro-JHU web site www.sinhala.net.

Image: Minister Chamipika ‘Chandi Putha’ Ranawaka of JHU chased off poor Muslim families from their agricultural lands around the Dheegavapi temple.
 
JHU was also instrumental in chasing off a large number of poor Muslim villagers living around the ‘Dheegavapi’ temple, claiming archeological value of the land early this year.

It is surprising how unashamed People Alliance have to be to beg for the Muslim votes in Eastern province while one of its key partners insulting the Eastern province Muslims by making such serious accusations against them.

Image: These poor innocent people were among the farmer displaced by the acts initiated by JHU, which did not have any concern even for the children.