C. Wijeyawickrema, LL.B., Ph.D.

I saw an Ada Derana video clip of April 10, where Dr. J was talking in Sinhala at the meeting of Sri Lanka Young Journalists Movement. First he asked whose country is Sri Lanka.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  And he said all kinds of Bala Senas and Ravayas are telling it is the country of the Sinhala Buddhists. He said, on the face of it that is true. But the question, he said is, whether it is the country of the Sinhala Buddhists only (pamanak). He said Sri Lanka should be for all and the minorities must feel secure. This kind of utterance is forage to HR cows.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  In the history of Sri LankaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s 2600 years who said that Sri Lanka is for the Sinhala Buddhists only? This kind of talk is new strategy by black-white or Eurocentric Colombo crowd who got really scared by the Bodu Bala Sena.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  If he is referring to Bodu Bala Sena he is deliberately making false statements. BBS never said that in Sri Lanka other minority people have no right to live. The only cases we can think of this rule was violated with regard to ethnic or religious groups were when Portuguese chased out Muslims from coastal areas and when the Dutch chased out the Catholics. In both cases the Sinhala Buddhist kings allowed them to settle down in the Kandyan Kingdom (imagine of modern day UN refugee camps!) The latest such ethnic cleansing was by Prabakaran who chased out Muslims from Jaffna within 24 hours.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Dayan should know that by making even a spoon made out of coconut shell ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ a halal item, Islam Talibans in Sri Lanka created a situation similar to what had happened after the 1962 Christian-Tamil police-navy coup. The Buddhist National Force led by L.H. Mettandanda was a direct result of that coup. BBS did not begin because of halal certification but it certainly acted as a catalyst to wake up lazy and sleeping Sinhala Buddhists. Halal-Taliban plan and covering a womanƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s face (not head) leaving only two holes for the eyes are divisive actions. Specially, the gonibilla face cover is a security risk as one does not know if behind it is a man, woman or a terrorist.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Prohibiting these are reasonable decisions that a weak government worried about MP votes did not act upon. Does Dayan say this demand to change Taliban Islam behavior by BBS is an act of making Sri Lanka only for the Sinhala Buddhists?

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Depending on where Dayan wants to use the word ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”onlyƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ (pamanak) in a sentence he can get different meanings. For example, Sri Lanka is the ONLY real estate available for the Sinhala Buddhists. Tamils have Tamil Nad, Muslims have Arabia and Christians have Vatican as mother/source regions to depend on for funds etc. But Sinhala Buddhists did not say Sri Lanka is ONLY for Sinhala Buddhists. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Gen. Sarath Fonseka, before he became a victim of international king makers (Robert Blake and Co.) said this so clearly: He said ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Sri Lanka is a Sinhala Buddhist country, and minorities have equal rights to live in Sri Lanka with equal opportunities, but minorities should not make unreasonable demands.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  A Colombo Friday Forum member Devanesan Nesaih wrote a thesis on the subject of discrimination with reason using USA, India and Malaysia as case studies in which discrimination is allowed if reasonable. Indian Constitution is full of such discrimination favoring castes and tribes. In Sri Lanka it was Buddhists who suffered discrimination for 500 years. Certain reverse discriminations as in USA were needed. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Removing discrimination based on English was an example from Sri Lanka. Ten percent of the people used English.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  This was corrected allowing room for the reasonable use of Tamil but politicians in Colombo ruined the spirit and purpose of it. One could say that, Colombo crowd turned English-Sinhala problem into a Sinhala-Tamil problem. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ In the 1920s there was even a fear that Sinhala as a language could vanish soon. See what a white American said about it. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Sinhala [language]ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s survival as a clearly Indo-Aryan language can be considered a minor miracle of linguistic and cultural historyƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ James W. Gair, Studies in South Asian Linguistics: Sinhala and other South Asian languages, 1998, Chapter 14: How Dravidanized was Sinhala phonology? Pages 185-199). Tamil had no such problem.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  When will Marxists-Christians get into their head that the ONLY thing came from a group of Tamil Christians who wanted to divide Ceylon into two in the 1920s. The Donoughmore Commission (1929), Soulbury Commission (1946), and even the Sansoni Commission spoke against this demand for Tamil separatism. M. C. Sansoni summarized the negative sufferings the ordinary Tamils underwent due to this behaviorƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬‚if the TamilsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ cry for separatism is given up, the two communities could solve their problems and continue to live in amity and dignity (Sessional Paper No. 7 of 1980).

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Dayan is now exposed due to his own words at the Derana 360 interview that he added to UNRHC Geneva 2009 the separatist plan of 13-A without asking MahindaR.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Thus he is now like the proverbial cat trying to use ONLY word to hide the divide word. Bodu Bala Sena needs to expose this game. BBS follows the principles of the Lichchavi Republic in Buddhist India in 500 B.C. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Just like the Buddhist rule about religion ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Come and examine (not come and believe in Islam and Christianity) the Lichchavi rule was ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Come and discuss.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  This is why BBS has nothing to fear.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  It will be good therapy for Dayan and others if they read the 550 Jataka Book on which Sinhala-Buddhist heritage is built. See What Gunapala Piyasena Malalasekara said:

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-The Buddhists wishƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬‚and quite rightlyƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬‚that in this country where they form 70 percent ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  of the population, Buddhism should be recognized as the predominant religion of the ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  people. In the rest of the world, Ceylon is regarded as essentially a Buddhist country, and ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  they want this claim established here as wellƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚¦They will not be content to remain in the ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  position of inferiority to which they have been reduced by 450 years of foreign ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  occupationƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚¦ TheyƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  have no desire to make Buddhism the State religionƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬‚in spite of the cry raised by self-seeking politiciansƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬‚ but they want the State to help them rehabilitate ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  themselves and undo some, at least, of the injustices perpetrated against them during ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  the days of their subjection.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚

(quoted from a speech by Professor Gunapala Malalasekera, President of ACBC reproduced in Times of Ceylon, January 15, 1956, and ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ referenced on page 196 of the book, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Ceylon: Dilemmas of a New Nation,ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ by W. H. Wriggins, Princeton Univ. Press, 1960)

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