Let’s talk about Media Racism on Sri Lanka
Posted on March 10th, 2018

As Buddhists, we feel hurt & saddened at the manner mainstream media has been reporting on Sri Lanka. Every event is quickly turned into delivering headlines that specifically targets Buddhists & Buddhism and completely brainwashes the world against the majority populace in Sri Lanka. The owners, the paid journalists that carry the story, the editor who decides the headline & approves content are so hateful of Buddhists & Buddhism. Why? What have Buddhists or Buddhism done to them to be this vengeful with their pen? How can media be allowed to demonize a race & religion this way? When the Government & international bodies are clamping down on racism and going as far as to completely block social media, how fair is it for the print media to be allowed to publicly attack one party this way without an iota of evidence?

Take the headlines that have been relayed globally by mainstream media. Are these media fishing for catchy headlines to sell or are they truly serious about reporting truth & facts? We seriously have our doubts. Take each of the write ups and there is nothing factual except sensationalism which gets picked up by other media and after a few additional sensationalism is rotated as news once more. These are serious media ethic violations but then who can we raise objections with. It is apparent & clear that the global objective is to tarnish the image of Buddhists & Buddhism as Sri Lanka is geopolitically significant competition.

Reading below not a single would be able to grasp that the entire fracas arose from an isolated incident wherein 4 drunkards assaulted a truck driver for not allowing them to overtake him and the truck driver died after over 10 days in the intensive care.

It was secondary that the drunkards were all Muslim and the truck driver was a Sinhalese Buddhist. As everyone can see the drunkards did not drink because they were Muslim or the truck driver did not allow the drunkards to overtake him because he was Sinhala Buddhist! If Police had immediately arrested and charged the men with attack and murder and publicly stated this, there would have been no room for any mischief by any party.

Globe and Mail – Buddhist mobs sweep through Sri Lanka’s Muslim neighbourhoods

https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/buddhist-mobs-sweep-through-sri-lankas-muslim-neighbourhoods/article38247030/

The writer Bharatha Mallawarchi makes a sweeping statement alleging that the mobs were Buddhist. How can he ascertain this? Did they wear t-shirts carrying ‘I am Buddhist’?

Reuters – Buddhist mobs target Sri Lanka’s Muslims despite state of emergency

By Shihar Aneez and Ranga Sirilalt – the article has nothing whatsoever about the incident & is plugging various other past news with the obvious objective of declaring Buddhists as guilty.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sri-lanka-clashes/buddhist-mobs-target-sri-lankas-muslims-despite-state-of-emergency-idUSKCN1GJ0TJ

BBC – Sri Lanka struggles to curb Buddhist riots

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-43305453

Times of India – Buddhist mobs target Sri Lanka’s Muslims despite curfew https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/south-asia/buddhist-mobs-target-sri-lankas-muslims-despite-state-of-emergency/articleshow/63200233.cms

Let it be reiterated that the people of the area, the victims who had their houses & properties destroyed and attacked are in unison to say that it was a pre-planned attack and they have openly pointed fingers at the Government & the police for inaction. Please listen to this Muslim cleric (in civilian clothing) He does not make one reference or accuse Sinhala Buddhists of being the attackers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVPUF52oJkk

Let us also remind the world and media in particular that not one war has been waged by Buddhists on behalf of Buddhism which cannot be said of either Christianity & Islam. History is witness to how both these religions have waged wars in the name of their religion.

Let us also remind the world that Buddhism spread to Persia & Far East with millions of people embracing the teachings of Buddha not because a sword, missionaries or coercive tactics were used but purely because people found sense in the teachings and Buddhism could be scientifically proved. There were no requirement to indulge in myths, fairytales, mandatory rules & regulations and anyone could question and seek answers. Are these the factors that threatens others? Is this why a global campaign is out to denigrate Buddha’s teachings and ridicule the followers? We are also alert to how a subtle campaign is out to hijack Buddhas core teachings and repackage as being non-Buddhist. Mindfulness is one such attempt we notice is being promoted without any acknowledgement to Buddha. We really want to know why there is such a well-funded campaign lying in wait to use media to make sweeping generalizations and corner Buddhists into not defending their religion.

The plan may work with a lot of people but we would like to play straight and ask directly what it is that the anti-Buddhist and anti-Buddhism lobby find so hateful?

Whether it is the global media or even local media great pains are taken to pinpoint every blame to Sinhalese Buddhists. The 1964 Press Commission Report will reveal how media has been playing politics with communication. The unabashed lengths media owners, the editors and the journalists go to is shocking when extracts of this report is read. These are no exaggerations and come with examples and proof. A content analysis of present media outlets and the editorials and journalists will further reveal that the malady has not changed.

 

Press Commission Report 1964 – Some extracts http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2014/05/04/the-press-commission-report-1964-some-extracts-and-a-brief-commentary/

Denigration of Buddhism by Sri Lanka’s Mass Media – Commission of Inquiry urgently needed – http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2017/06/30/denigration-of-buddhism-by-sri-lankas-mass-media-commission-of-inquiry-urgently-needed/

Press Complaints Commission – Buddhism bashing in newspapers in Sri Lanka http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2014/06/24/press-complaints-commission-buddhism-bashing-in-newspapers-in-sri-lanka/

Sri Lanka needs a national media commission to steer journalistic ethics https://www.onlanka.com/news/sri-lanka-needs-a-national-media-commission-to-steer-journalistic-ethics.html

Is Sri Lanka’s Media promoting peace https://www.onlanka.com/news/is-sri-lankas-media-promoting-peace.html

These are all violations of the Code of Professional Practice (Code of Ethics) of The Editors Guild of Sri Lanka and Free Media Movement adopted by the Sri Lanka Press Institute.

https://samsn.ifj.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Sri-Lanka-Code-of-Ethics.pdf

  • 1 The media must take all reasonable care to report news and pictures accurately and without distortion.
  • 3 A journalist shall not knowingly or wilfully promote communal or religious discord or violence.

Why is everyone against Sinhalese Buddhists – the West hates them because the West needs to use the minority tag to advance their agendas for which Tamils have been useful for 3 decades and now with the West’s pivot to Asia both Sri Lanka & Myanmar are being targeted with Islamic fundamentalists with media going on a crying campaign about Rohingyas without ascertaining the true facts on where Rohingyas actually belong to and not asking why these Muslim refugees are not taken in by Muslim majority countries, India hates Sinhala Buddhists because Tamils are key to advancing their agendas but none of the minorities seem to realize that all these external ‘friends’ are simply using the minorities to advance their own agendas.

It is only when the majority feel safe that they have the strength to protect the minorities. This is why all external forces are out to weaken the majority. In weakening the majority the foundation of the country is affected. We all know that none can rely on politicians and it is the politicians that have brought great damage to the nation with their irresponsible and power-hungry governance. The minorities of Sri Lanka bear witness to how the Sinhalese have protected them. King Senarath sent his envoy Attapattu to the North to fight the Portuguese and sacrificed his life in defending the land, the same King gave refuge to the Muslims who were being hounded & killed by both Portuguese & the Dutch. The present Muslims in Kandy are sons & daughters of those Muslims the Sinhala king helped resettle saving them from death & danger. In every riot that has had government backing it was the Sinhalese who provided safe haven, food and protection to the minorities July 1983 is one such example of many. Can the minorities please come out and admit this without allowing the media & vested parties to get away with their lies.

It is commended that many Muslims at least have realized the larger plan and the bigger picture. Perhaps it is one reason why social media was blocked. While social media allows free and unrestricted expression of opinion, it also enables people to counter lies and falsehoods which is not possible on print media for even right of replies are rarely entertained if it means a Sinhala Buddhist is trying to get the true story across. Even poya day supplements are now being used to contest the teachings of Buddha by non-Buddhist writers while a bevy of non-Buddhist regular writers are given columns to write what they like against Buddhists and there is no room for response. Now even the state print media is being used to convey the message by so-called historians who are indirectly asking all minorities to gang up against the Sinhala Buddhists!

http://www.dailynews.lk/2018/02/26/features/143898/cycles-history

There’s a political space that’s been left empty. The UNP has taken advantage of this, to a point. Let’s look at the mathematics of it: if you get the Sinhalese Christians, the Muslims, and the Tamils together

When these truths are told openly and bravely, the response is to get some pseudo Sinhalese to call the messenger all sorts of names – racist, fundamentalist, extremist are generally terms that are thrashed across media to bury the message and prevent anyone from reading and understanding the message. This tactic has worked in the past but people are now waking up and realizing the truth. They are not suckers for lies any more. Anyone is welcome to tag people by name calling but they must come out and challenge where and which line racism prevails instead of indulging in a maligning campaign simply to hide the truth from the readers.

The public is advised to verify print media reports without accepting every story on print. Media is paid to only report not to claim to be the sole witness, judge, jury & executioner.

 

 

Shenali D Waduge

 

 

 

12 Responses to “Let’s talk about Media Racism on Sri Lanka”

  1. Lorenzo Says:

    Someone by the name Sajith Kavinda made this comment in My3’s FB page. Excellent!!

    “https://www.facebook.com/maithripalas/”

    It is in Singhala. Can someone PLEASE translate to English. A lot of good merit for doing so. I can understand.

    (1) රටේම මිනිස්සුන්ට හෙල්මට් දාල මෝටර් බයික් පදින්න ඕනයි කියලා නීතියක් තියෙනකොට එක්තරා ජාතියක් හෙල්මට් නැතිව බයික් පදින්න ගත්තා.

    (2) රටේම මිනිසුන්ට පොදු ස්ථානයන්හිදී මූන පෙනෙන්න තියෙන්න ඕනයි කියලා නීතිය කියනකොට එක්තරා ජාතියක ගැහැනු මූන වැහෙන්න ලෝගු දාන්න ගත්තා.

    (3) රටේම මිනිස්සුන්ගෙ ආහාර වලට පොදු ප්‍රමිතියක් තියෙනකොට එක්තරා ජාතියක පිරිසක් අමුතුම ප්‍රමිතියකින් කෑම ඉල්ලන්න ගත්තා.

    (4) රටේම මිනිස්සුන්ට වනාන්තර කැපීම නීතියෙන් තහනම් වෙනකොට එක්තරා ජාතියක් රක්ෂිත එළි කරලා ජනපද හදන්න ගත්තා.

    (5) රටේම මිනිස්සුන්ට විවාහයට සුදුසු අවම වයසක් නීතිගත කරලා තියෙද්දි එක්තරා ජාතියක පිරිමි බාල වයස්කාර දැරිවියො සහේට ගන්න ගත්තා.

    (6) රටේ හැමෝම එක අධිකරණ පද්ධතියක් යටතේ යුක්තිය පසිදලනකොට තවත් පිරිසකට ශරියා නීති ඕන වුනා

    (7) රටේ අනිත් හැමෝම එක විවාහයක් කරගන්නකොට, ඒ විවාහය ලියාපදිංචිය හා දික්කසාදය එක පොදු නීතියකට කරගන්න හදද්දි තවත් පිරිසකට ගෑණු 4ක් විවාහ කරගන්න, කාති උසාවි මගින් ඒවාට අවශ්‍ය නීතිමය රාමුව සකසගන්න ඕනවුනා

    (8) රටේ හැමෝම හෙල්මට් ජැකට් ගලවලා බැංකුවලට, රජයේ ආයතනවලට, වෙලද ස්ථානවලට ඇතුළුවෙද්දි තවත් පිරිසකට ඇස්දෙක විතරක් ඉතුරුවෙන්න ඔලුවේ ඉදන් පොරවගෙන කිසි කෙනෙක්ට අදුරගන්න බැරි විදිහෙ ඇදුම් අදින්න ඕන වුනා

    (9) මෝටර් සයිකලයක යද්දි තමන්ගේ ආරක්ෂාවට දාපු ෆුල්ෆේස් හෙල්මට් එක ජාතික ආර්ක්ෂාවට තර්ජනයක් කියල තහනම් කරද්දි තවත් පිරිසකට ඔලුවේ ඉදන් වහගෙන විභාගවලට සහභාගි වෙන්නයි, ජාතික හැදුනුම්පතේ ඡායාරූපයට පෙනී ඉන්නයි ඕන වුනා

    (10) රටේ හැමෝටම සාමන්‍ය බැංකු ක්‍රමයකින් ගණුදෙනු කරන්න පුළුවන් වෙද්දි තවත් පිරිසකට ශරියා බැංකුවලින් ගණුදෙනු කරන්න ඕන වුනා

    (11) රටේ හැමෝම රටේ ආර්ථිකයට බරක් නොවන ලෙස ජනගහණ වර්ධන වේගය නියතව පවත්වාගෙන යද්දි තවත් පිරිසකට ඇදික ජනගහණ වේගයකින් ලමයි හදන්නත් අනෙක් ජාතින්ගෙ ජනගහණය පාලනය කරන්න වද බෙහෙත් , මත්ද්‍රව්‍ය, කූඨ උපක්‍රම භාවිතා කරලා ජන සංයුතිය විකෘති කරන්න ඕන වුනා

  2. shenali Waduge Says:

    Here you go…

    1. When it was mandatory for all citizens to wear a helmet when riding motorbikes, one ethnic group started riding bikes without helmets
    2. When it was mandatory for all citizens to show their face in public places, one ethnic group began wearing robes that covered even face.
    3. When common quality standards for food was applicable, one ethnic group began a new standard based on their religious belief which all had to comply with
    4. When it was illegal for citizens to cut forests, one ethnic group began raping forests and settling their people
    5. When the law declared a minimum age for marriage, one ethnic group demanded to marry children
    6. When all citizens had to come under one equal law, one ethnic group is demanding a separate Shariah law for them above that of the common law
    7. When marriage/divorce is registered & comes under one common law, another ethnic group wants to marry 4 women and have separate Quazi Courts
    8. When anyone entering a public & state offices has to remove helmets, jackets another group of people demand to wear a robe that covers everything but their eyes making distinction and recognition impossible
    9. When motorists were asked to remove full face helmets citing threats to national security, another ethnic group demanded to cover themselves from head to toe including sitting for public exams and having their NIC photos taken in that manner
    10. When a common banking system prevailed for all citizens, another group of people demanded Shariah Banking
    11. When people were asked to follow planned parenthood to assist in developing the nation by controlling population growth, another group of people began encouraging more children and has been accused of in promoting drugs and other subtle means of controlling population of others.

    Guess these are a good list for this said group to self-question and realise these may be the irritants that cause threats to peaceful coexistence… certainly none of these features existed before 1990s

  3. Nanda Says:

    Have Sri Lankan Muslims discovered these privilages ( shameful) are essential to Islam after 1990 ?

  4. ranjit Says:

    Hats off to Shenali for his courage and brave writings and comments regarding any subject concerning our country and its citizens. We need to know the truth not lies. This government always try to hide the truth. I do not know being in a sinhala buddhist country why our leaders and the local and foreign media continuesly putting the blame on sinhala buddhists for every small incident happened in our soil. Why they hate sinhala buddhist so much? We Sinhalese are worried about our country’s future and the way it is moving because of the foreign interferences. We thought everything was over after the war but now it has become worse due to bad governance and dirty politics by all political and non political groups. We should have a sinhala buddhist leader to listen to our grievances and demands as we do not have any other sauce to get answers for our own problems facing us today. Buddhist priests must come forward to educate our people and give advice in matters related to Sinhalese community. We should have freedom to voice our concerns without fear. We are not barbarians as media describes. Sinhala buddhists are very peaceful people and always there to help others in need. So give us a break without labelling us as evil people. Our media should promote sinhala buddhists more than anybody because this is our land SINHALA buddhist land our homeland.

  5. SA Kumar Says:

    *You gave 3 meals to 297,000 Tamils ( this must be true. other wise until now no Tamil complain about (Manik- Vavuniya) IDP camp) condition )

  6. Fran Diaz Says:

    Is Sri Lanka too multi-ethnic for such a small nation ?
    Japanese people manage their country far better due to mono-ethnic & mono-culture, in spite of bombing of Hiroshima & Nagasaki during WWII and consequences.

    Also, why have Laws if they are not implemented ?
    E.g. 6-A, in addition to other Laws.

  7. Lorenzo Says:

    Thank you.

    SL is a funny country with,

    DIFFERENT LAWS for DIFFERENT ETHNIC GROUPS
    DIFFERENT NATIONAL ANTHEM for DIFFERENT ETHNIC GROUPS
    DIFFERENT OFFICIAL LANGUAGES for DIFFERENT ETHNIC GROUPS
    DIFFERENT PROVINCES for DIFFERENT ETHNIC GROUPS (north Tamil CM, east Muslim CM, others Singhala CMs)
    DIFFERENT SHRINES within the SAME LOCATION for DIFFERENT ETHNIC GROUPS

    How can such a DIVIDED COUNTRY have peace???? The natural outcome is DIFFERENT ETHNIC GROUPS pull the nation in DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS.

  8. Nanda Says:

    Don’t forget
    EVEN THE NAME OF THE COUNTRY IS DIFFERENT for DIFFERENT ETHNIC GROUPS

  9. Fran Diaz Says:

    Sri Lanka National Anthem sung in two languages !
    Wow ! What an achievement for such a small country, 25,000 sq miles in size !

  10. Dilrook Says:

    Some excellent observations above.

    How can people not fall into racism when the law of the nation is racist and racially discriminatory! Conflict arise when different people have different legal rights within the same country. This is the plight of Sri Lanka. Going by our racist law system, racial violence will only increase in the future.

    This begs the controversial question, are the island and its people better off in a chaotic single nation or in separate nations. The north and most parts of the east are no go zones for Sinhalese and this will only worsen. In addition, parts of Colombo, Beruwala, Negombo, Kandy, Akurana, Ginthota, Puttlam, Nuwara Eliya and Badulla are also no go zones for Sinhalese. These no go zones also keep expanding and increasing in number.

    Either racist and racially discriminatory laws must be removed (obvious preference) or the island must be divided into three nations (not the preferred outcome) so that their separate legal systems can be peacefully managed. This way at least the most part of the island will have civility and equality while terrorism, racism, barbarity, over-population and caste discrimination can be confined to just two. Otherwise the obvious losers are the Sinhalese, civility, peace and the entire island.

  11. Nanda Says:

    Police spreaded rumours that this man was killed when his own hand granade was exploded. His family says he is not a perosn who can do such a thing. I am sure this was one of the bombs thrown by Muslims, one hit a temple. Racially biased governement asking police to to tell lies.

    පූජාපිටියේ අත් බෝම්බයෙන් මියගිය සිංහල පුද්ගලයාගේ අවසන් කටයුතු අද

    මහනුවර නොසන්සුන්තාව අතරතුර අත්බෝම්බයක් පිපිරීම හේතුවෙන් මියගිය ගුණරත්න බණ්ඩාගේ අවසන්
    කටයුතු පූජාපිටිය ප‍්‍රදේශයේදී අද

    (09) සිදු කිරීමට නියමිතව තිබෙයි.
    29 හැවිරිදි එක්දරු පියෙකු වන ඔහු රැකියාව ලෙස පෙදරේරුවෙකු ලෙස කටයුතු කළා.
    මියගිය පුද්ගලයා සිටි ස්ථානයට මීටර් 8 ක් දුරින් අත්බෝම්බය පුපුරා ගොස් ඇති බව පරීක්ෂණවලදී අනාවරණය වී තිබේ. සිද්ධිය සම්බන්ධයෙන් පුද්ගලයන් හය දෙනෙකුගෙන් පමණ මේ වනවිට ප‍්‍රකාශ සටහන් කර ගෙන ඇත.

  12. Christie Says:

    Most of the Media in the West have Indian Journos working for them.

    They run r=the agenda.

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