By Charles.S.Perera

Maithripala Sirisena  re-enacts  his anti Mahinda Rajapakse Nadagama meticulously prepared for  the  17 Ausust, 2015 Parliamentary elections, once again  before the scheduled May Day rally.  In view of this annoying Nadagama,  it is well worth asking how much of a Buddhist Maithripala Sirisena is, not forgetting that he still owes President Mahinda Rajapakse for the Hopper he ate that night before turning traitor to SLFP.

Is  being a Buddhist compatible with turning against his friends for personal gain ? We are not speaking of an  ordinary Buddhist but about a Buddhist who takes the reins of leadership of a Theravada Buddhist Country. However, Sirisena’s actions vis à vis his former political mentor and companion  since taking reins of leadership as President belies his Buddhistness.

In Matugama addressing a gathering President Maithripala Sirisena had said  that the

Buddhist philosophy has been instrumental  in molding a righteous society in the country and a moral society could be built based on the Buddhist philosophy.  But it is unfortunate that Maithripala Sirisena had not been molded  either as a  righteous person nor as a moral person in the  sense of Buddhist philosophy.

Maithripala Sirisena lacks ordinary moral principles civilised men and women are expected to follow. One such is  shared secrets , and personal information  amoung friends.  A psychologist says, We use our friends as sounding boards for the big decisions and the small decisions in our lives. We trust them with our secrets, because we know that they won’t tell a soul.. ” .

But Maithripala Sirisena takes a pleasure in telling unpleasant things, secrets, and confidential information he only knows about his one time friend, Leader of the political party in which he was the General Secretary.  Sirisena lashed at the former President at  a meeting of heads of print and electronic media. Sirisena said   their past regime was corrupt  and oppressive and I knew what the Rajapakse clan was planning if they won the election.  Out of sheer fear and contempt  and in the interest of the country , I decided to resign  and join hands with the Common Opposition  for a change  despite having opposed UNP for 48 years.”

What a shameless drivel. The people knows that he is telling blatant lies.  He  never resigned from the Party , but walked away like a thief in the night of the 13th  of November, 2014 after eating hoppers with  his leader Rajapakse whom he unashamedly- like Judas Iscariot down grades and sells to his enemies.

Sirisena was in fact roped in by Chandrika to become the Common Opposition Presidential Candidate not because of his aptness for the office , but because  he is influenceable,  according to Chandrika’s  own statement. Chandrika approached him to declare her intention  as  she knew that Sirisena was depressive  not having been made the Prime Minister.

If it was so distasteful being with the past corrupt Regime of  Rajapaksa, as he says , why did not he resign before instead of waiting to be called by Chandrika Kumaratunga to be the common Presidential Candidate ?

Now he can tell lies at round tables to open mouthed naïve listeners.  Of course the UNP Ministers and UNP sympathisers like him very much because never would they have been able to form a UNP Government  if  it had  not been for Maithripala Sirisena betraying his political party in which he had been for 48 years  and leaving his friends who had trusted him as the General Secretary of his party.

But in his unprincipled behaviour Maithripala Sirisena  shows to what an extent he is not suitable to be the President of Sri Lanka a predominantly Buddhist country. His motivation  for this degrading behaviour, as we see it, is that he is suffering  from an unfathomable  inferiority complex vis à vis the former President Mahinda Rajapakse.  The only way he finds to make up that defect is by inventing  and dispensing defamatory information about his former leader.

He shows not only his lack of moral principles, but also his ignorance of the teachings of the Buddha being a  Buddhist of no consequence, who knows next to nothing of the deep philosophy of Buddha Dhamma.

His random  tribute to Buddhism is false as he fails keeping even the five Buddhist precepts , and having no moral principles. He gave into temptation for power, betraying those who had placed their trust in him.  He was not content with his simple situation in life as a Minister and a General Secretary of an important political Party, and threw his  Buddhist philosophy under the table to walk away from his friend in the night of the 13 November,2014, to join his enemies to satisfy his unbridled greed for power.

In what ever situation a person who can stand by a moral code, without giving into temptation  for power respecting the trust his friends had placed on him is a moral person. In that sense Maithripala Sirisena is  not a moral person, therefore he has no right either to speak of righteousness, nor that of  morality.

A man who speaks of Buddhist philosophy may yet sin against the moral codes of Buddhism, but what is unpardonable is  not the  act of treachery against those who had placed their trust in him and go in stealth to join their enemies, but  what is unpardonable is  being  in the enemy camp planning  revenge against those to whom he became a traitor. This is what Maithripala Sirisena is now doing sitting safely and comfortably with his former political enemies against whom he fought political battles along side his former political companions.

But Maithripala Sirisena is a man boiling  with anger, hatred and vengeance. An angry man is not fit to be a President of a Nation. In Anguttara Nikaya it is, said: As a log from a pyre, burnt at both ends and fouled in the middle, serves neither for firewood in the village nor for, timber in the forest, so is such a wrathful man.  ”

Srisena from his revengeful conduct against his one time political friends shows that he is not suitable to lead the nation as its President. A man in whatever manner he has been brought to hold the office of the President of Sri Lanka should respect the teachings of the Buddha  he had rightly or falsely followed as a Buddhist to be worthy of being a President of  this predominantly Buddhist nation. In terms of Buddhist philosophy one should love even his enemies. Buddhist teachings expect a very high standard of  universal love, respect and the highest degree of patience .

In Kakacupama Sutta in Majjhima Nikaya, Buddha tells his monks: Suppose some bandits catch one of you and sever his body limb from limb with a two-handed saw, and if he should feel angry thereby even at that moment , he is not a follower of my teaching.

That is what it is to be a follower of the teachings of the Buddha, and people expect their President to be an example at least to some extent of the teachings of the Buddha.

But Maithripala Sirisena is  a sad example of a very bad Buddhist.  We saw during the General election of the 18 August, 2015, how Sirisena went all out to make his former leader Mahinda Rajapakse looses at the election by sending a letter expressive of his anger hatred, which was undoubtedly prepared with a  fear of an election victory for Mahinda Rajapakse.  In that letter he warned Mahinda Rajapakse that even if he were to win the election he will not be appointed the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka.

Sirisena shamelessly abused his Presidential power  by sacking the General Secretaries of  the SLFP and the UPFA  just a few days before the election appointing his own cronies to carry out his vicious plan to oust the former President Mahinda Rajapakse from politics.

Maithripala Sirisena invented lies to make  Mahinda Rajapakse  unpopular. He said that before the Presidential  election  he was frightened for his life, because he was sure that if he lost the presidential elections he and his family would have been six feet underground in an unknown cemetery. Even after election the fear of what Mahinda Rajapakse is capable of doing did not leave his mind.

But Mahinda Rajapakse is far from what Sirisena  insinuates.  Mahinda Rajapakse respects people and he helped not only the people of Sri Lanka but he fought for the people of Palestine. People point to Sarath Fonseka as an example of Mahinda Rajapakse’s vengeance against people.  But Sarath Fonseka’s downfall was of his own making, and there was a reason at the time of the arrest to believe that he had a secret agenda after the terrorist war. It is the same with the White Van culture some speak as if it is the making of Rajapaksas. It was not so and no one has really proved it as a fact.

Sirisena knew that despite his  victory at the  Presidential election, Mahinda Rajapakse remains much more popular than him.  Hence he uses his Presidential powers  primarily to eliminate the good image of the former President Mahinda Rajapakse in the minds of the people. Hence other matters such as countries administration and Ranil Wickramasinghe’s mismanagement of Yahapalanaya take a secondary place in his priorities.

Maithripala Sirisena has no vision or political intelligence to be vigilant about matters that concern the country as a whole and the people.  He seems to be blissfully unaware of the precipice to which his PM Ranil Wickramasinghe and his cronies are pushing Sri Lanka. He is not concerned with the ECTA agreement with India, Hanuman Bridge proposed to be constructed connecting north of Sri Lanka to Tamil Nadu. To date Sirisena has not made a statement  on these important issues. Because his preoccupation is the fear of loosing his popularity to the former President Mahinda Rajapakse whose rise in popularity amoung the ordinary people of Sri Lanka, seems unstoppable.

If Sirisena is a true Buddhist he should not restrict  Buddhist morality to words to fool the people, but should  be genuine in follow the Buddhist precepts every day at every moment to be a true Buddhist leader, without discrimination against religion , communality or nationality. He should also not distinguish between his friends and his enemies. He should accept every one equally well.as his friends.

Being the President of a Buddhist country, there is a high moral code  to follow. After all a President is different from rest of the people and one expects a very high moral conduct from him. If not he should  either submit his resignation, or change his mental attitude .

Venerable K.Piyatissa thera says in an article ….. teaching of the Buddha ….includes the reflection: “Others may be harmful, but I shall be harmless, thus should I train myself.” We must not forget that the whole spirit of Buddhism is one of pacification. In the calm and placid atmosphere of the Buddha’s teaching there is every chance, every possibility, of removing hatred, jealousy and violence from our mind.”

There is  a Buddhist verse in Dhammapada which reads :He abused me, he beat me,he defeated me, he robbed me of my property.  Whosoever harbour such thoughts  will never be able to still their enmity.

Even in  the  Bible St Luke  verse 27 reads: But I tell you who hear me : Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you..”

About the May day rally, the argument put forward by the SLFP Ministers is that the division of the SLFP will result in the formation of a UNP Government.  But despite a so called National Government,  the SLFP plays a secondary role and it is really a UNP Government in place  with the  UNP Leader Ranil Wickramasinghe as the Prime Minister implementing his own projects that would cause irreparable damage to Sri Lanka and its sovereignty.

The SLFP Ministers within the Government of Ranil Wickramasinghe   are unable to stop this dangerous march towards disaster.  Therefore a division in the SLFP with  a divided  SLFP one having a May day Rally in Galle and the other in Kirulapone will make no difference. Ranil Wickramasinghe will carry on with his calamitous caravan  whether SLFP barks”  united or divided.

The ECTA agreement with India, the Hanuman Bridge connecting India and Sri Lanka, the PM  the leader of the UNP has promised sign in June. The first Bond scam was not investigated . The President’s demand to remove the Governor of the Central Bank, has fallen on deaf years. And a second Bond scam had taken place in March this year.

But the SLFP in the Government had been helpless to stop these scandalous affairs taking place.  So why continue with a National government when it is apparent that Sri Lanka is not being governed well in the interest of the country and its people.

Sirisena has not the gumption to be  the leader of the SLFP, because he is not made” for leadership.  To day as the President of Sri Lanka he plays only a secondary role to Ranil Wickramasinghe his Prime Minister.

That may be one of the reasons why  he has made running down and making false accusations against Rajapaksas his official duty, leaving the running of the Yahapalanaya government to the UNP Prime Minister. Ranil Wickramasinghe  runs the country the way he wants  subordinating it to the West and India, and finally inviting China to provide economic help and start  new projects which would never come from the West or India.

If Maithripala Sirisena is wise he would stop his continuous vengeance against the former President Mahinda Rajapakse.  He should forget the past, and try to be independent taking a Buddhist view, developing compassion and being an indiscriminate benefactor of the people of all religions , nationalities, without  differentiating friends and foes. That is in fact what a President should be.

The present Yahapalanaya government is supported by the separatist Tamils and Muslims and  some of the Sinhala Colombians, UNP sympathisers, JHU,  JVP and others who had  failed to get benefits from the previous Government, and  hope to be seen in a good light by the Yahapalanaya leadership hoping that they will benefit from their support of the President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister  Ranil Wickramasinghe.

But  a larger number of ordinary people remains with Mahinda Rajapakse and if Maithripala Siriseana would not change the  Mahinda Rajapakse’s popularity will increase.