Muslim Bashing
Posted on April 4th, 2020

Chanaka Bandarage

Muslim bashing is fashionable in Sri Lanka.

Muslim bashing is considered politically correct in Sri Lanka.

Muslims are a minority in this country. They comprised less than 10% of the population.

Muslims congregate in groups. They wear garments that are specific to them. They live within closely knitted communities. They help each other out. They give priority to their religion and religious customs.

These characteristics have made them the envy of the Sinhalese.

There are many other reasons for enmity.

The rapid rise in the Muslim population has alarmed the Sinhalese. This has caused insecurity within the Sinhalese.

It is the Sinhalese who preached its people to produce fewer children (‘Punchi Pavula Raththaran’). Sinhalese do not run commerce as successfully as the Muslims (Muslims run their commerce exceptionally well). Many Sinhalese like to patronise Muslim shops because they receive good/friendly treatment.

The crux of the argument is that the Sinhalese have failed to realise that Muslims have never demanded a separate state in Sri Lanka. During the war, they provided men to our war efforts. Some of them sacrificed their lives and limbs for the country. Upon hearing Prabhakaran’s death, Muslim homes prepared Kiribath. They were overjoyed; sang and danced with the Sinhalese. Muslims are willing to learn the Sinhalese language and send their children to study in Sinhala medium schools.

Those who attack Muslims are dumbfounded about the racism engineered by Tamils against the Sinhalese in the North and the East.

The biggest threat to Sri Lanka’s sovereignty and territorial integrity is Tamil separatism. But, there is no discourse about this in the country. Sinhalese conveniently ignore the racism they encounter in the hands of the Tamils in the North and the East. This writer has written about them.

It seems that the Sinhalese have taken Tamil racism for granted. They tolerate the nonsense that the Tamil Separatists practice against them in the North and the East. It seems they have given up interest in the North and the East (1/3 of the country). Very few Sinhalese even travel to these provinces and show the areas to their children.

There is the saying that one cannot smoke out the real enemy until they truly identify them.

Again, the real enemy is the Tamil Separatists who have not given up their claim to carve out a separate nation for themselves in the North and East of Sri Lanka. That is why they constantly ill-treat the Sinhalese who live there (albeit a very few). They stop new Sinhalese from settling in the North and the East.

Since the dawn of this century (21st), periodic conflicts/tension have propped up between the Sinhalese and Muslims. Troubles have arisen due to the alleged Muslim land grabs in the East (eg Muhudu Maha Viharaya, Dheegavapiya, etc) and in Balangoda (Kuragala).

Most of these disputes could have been amicably settled, unfortunately, the recent governments have been slack.  Rather than solving the problems (eg nipping them in the bud), the governments have sometimes worked to exacerbate them. The governments mollycoddled certain clergy who had spread nothing else but ethnic disharmony/ethnic hatred.

In the past two decades, the Sinhalese have started to dislike Muslims more and more.  Certain Muslim activities have also contributed to this; they themselves have helped in the creation of the bad perception. Some examples include disobeying laws by  Muslim youth in the East, wearing of the niqab in public by Muslim women (even after the Easter bombings).  There are stories that some Muslims have been arrogant towards the Sinhalese.

In recent riots against the Muslims, their homes and shops were attacked in a systemic way. The attacks in Aluthhgama, Ginthota, Digana, Pujapitiya etc showed well organized/well-coordinated attacks.  Several innocent Muslim civilians died in these riots. The tension between the two communities came to the ultimate height when in April last year a group of radical Muslim youth attacked Sri Lankan Christian churches and 5-star hotels. More than 250 innocent lives were lost including foreign tourists.

Now, accusations are being made that Muslims may be deliberately spreading Corona among the country’s masses. This is a stupid and sometimes a hilarious accusation. To spread Corona deliberately, one needs to first infect the virus themselves.  Who would do that?  Also, how can they only choose the Sinhalese to spread the virus?

There had been false allegations that some Muslim shops were giving Sinhalese women sweet toffees that cause them infertile.  Anyone with a science knowledge knows that such methods do not work.

When the Sinhalese break curfew and misbehave, no one talks.  A small misdeed by a Muslim is highlighted as a major offense. In Social media, Muslims are constantly depicted in derogatory ways. People use obscene language to attack Muslims.

The writer states that the Muslim leaders’ demand that Muslims who die from Corona should be allowed to be buried in accordance with the Muslim religious customs is unfair and unreasonable. Even in Europe (eg Italy and Spain) Muslims who die from Corona are subjected to normal cremations.

We Sinhalese have made huge accusations against the Muslims. Some of them seem reasonable. But, we being the majority need to be more sensitive and careful; we must stop continuously pushing them ‘into the corner’. We do not want them to take up arms/forming their own ‘LTTE’.  The last thing we want is the Eastern radical Muslims ganging up with N/E Tamil Separatists.  But this is a possibility. If that happens, it will be Sri Lanka starting another civil war. We certainly do not want that.

25 Responses to “Muslim Bashing”

  1. DAYA HEWAPATHIRANE Says:

    පසුගිය දින දෙකතුන ඇතුළත සොයා ගැණුනු කොරෝනා රෝගීන් සහ ඔවුන් කටයුතු කර ඇති ආකාරය සැලකිල්ලට ගැනීමේ දී මුස්ලිම් ප්‍රජාවෙහි ඇතැම් සාමාජිකයන් තමන් ගේ විදේශ ගමන්බිමන් පිළිබඳ තොරතුරු වසන් කරමින්, තමන් ගේ රෝගී තත්වයන් පිළිබඳ තොරතුරු වසන් කරමින්, තම ප්‍රජාව තුළ හා රට පුරා යමින්එමින් කටයුතු කර ඇති බව පැහැදිලි ය. පොදු යහපත වෙනුවෙන් අනුගමනය කළ යුතු වත්පිළිවෙත් ගැන, තම වගකීම් හා යුතුකම් ගැන කිසිඳු හැඟීමකින් තොර ව කටයුතු කර ඇති බව පැහැදිලි ය. සමස්ත රටේ ම දෙකෝටියකට අධික ජනතාව වෛරසය පාලනය කිරීම සඳහා සිදු කර ඇති කැපකිරීම් සියල්ල මේ වගකීම් විරහිත ක්‍රියාකාරකම් නිසා අපතේ යන තත්වයක් උද්ගතව ඇත.

    මේ භයානක තත්වය හමුවේ පවා මුස්ලිම් ප්‍රජා නායකත්වය තම ප්‍රජාව ගෙන් සිදු කර ඇති විදේශ ගමන් පිළිබඳව, මතුව ඇති රෝග ලක්ෂණ පිළිබඳව, විදේශ ගතවූවන් හෝ රෝගීන් හෝ ඇසුරු කිරීම පිළිබඳව අදාළ සෞඛ්‍ය බලධාරීන් දැනුම්වත් කරන ලෙස ඉල්ලා සිටින බවක් දක්නට නැත. රෝග ලක්ෂණ මතු වූ විට තොරතුරු සඟවමින් තම ප්‍රජාව හා අවසානයේ සෞඛ්‍ය කාර්‍යමණ්ඩල පවා අනතුරට පත්වන ආකාරයට ක්‍රියා නොකරන ලෙස ඉල්ලා සිටීමට බරපතල ලෙස මැදිගත්වීමක් දක්නට නැත. තම ප්‍රජාව දැනුම්වත් කරමින් ඔවුන්ව ද පොදුවේ සමස්ත සමාජය ද මේ උවදුරින් ගලවා ගැනීමට දායකත්වය සපයනවා වෙනුවට, මියයන තම භක්තිකයන් ගේ අවසන් කටයුතු පිළිබඳ අනවශ්‍ය හා නුසුදුසු මැදිගත්වීමක් කරමින් සිටිනු දක්නට තිබීම කණගාටුදායක ය. තම ප්‍රජාව ගේත් සමස්ත රට වැසියා ගේත් ජීවිත සුරක්ෂිත කරගැනීමට නොපමාව මැදිහත් වන ලෙස අපි මුස්ලිම් ප්‍රජා නායකත්වයෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටිමු.

  2. PRIYAN WIJEYERATNE Says:

    Muslim religious racists have achieved what LTTE could not by killing and wounding more than 300 in just one day. Should Sinhalese tolerate these scum any different to Tamil racists? I think they are both the same. They are racists.

  3. aloy Says:

    Chanaka,

    “Muslim bashing is fashionable in Sri Lanka.”

    This was not so in SL up to about 2012 when organisations like Bodu Bala Sena (which perhaps become a Balu Sena today) appeared and created that situation when people realized what was happening.

    Indonesia is the largest Muslim country in the world with about 220 millions of which some 87% belong to it. How did that happen to a Buddhist/Hindu country?. That happened without firing a single shot or killing anybody. The Arabs who went there on the backs of South Indian Traders got connected with the ruling families and converted the subjects. At that time trading generated wealth and that gave them the advantage.
    They always look for loopholes in the system to take advantage to stay in top. The locals in those countries do not like the Arabs and they openly say so. That is the reason the Arabs do not have much clout even today and that country is ruled on the five precepts: pancha seela.
    In SL these guys use the loopholes in our import export systems and inland revenue to make their wares cheaper and that is the reason why our folks prefer to patronize their shops.

    “Muslim bashing is considered politically correct in Sri Lanka.”

    This is also not correct. The desire of any ruler is to crown their progeny. This is natural. But that should not be at the expense of a nation. Why handover national assets like forests (Wilpattu) and regions (east) to them just to get some votes or for helping to stay rich?.

    Sinhalese like to forget and forgive. Therefore, I believe there is still time to amend the ways.

  4. aloy Says:

    Unless the Sinhalese understand the above mentioned reality and select a set of people to rule the country they are doomed. What we see in media like Derana are mere theatrics to divert the attention, to my mind.

  5. Chanaka B Says:

    Dear Aloy

    Thanks.

    I shall reply to you as follows:

    “Muslim bashing is fashionable in Sri Lanka.”

    In 2012 we started a fight against the Halal food labeling system. That was a ridiculous fight. It is a universal labeling system. It exists in all developed countries. They only help Muslims to identify whether the food complies with Muslim (Halal) standards or not. Then only the Muslims could buy the particular food item for consumption. In Sri Lanka we fought a humongous fight over that; an issue that had no relevance to the Sinhalese at all.

    Examples of ‘Muslim bashing is fashionable’ in Sri Lanka –

    1. There was a very minor incident in Beruwela on Saturday. The PHIs sorted out the issue with the mosque authorities amicably. True there was a talkative Muslim man or two (such people exist everywhere). There was definitely no major fight. The Imam was very decent and polite. But the media made a ‘mole out of a mountain’ over that incident.

    2. A Muslim woman had entered Nagoda hospital for confinement. She had given a false address. This was an isolated incident. She may have thought that that was the best way to get admitted (she was about to deliver a child!). Though the media tried to portray it as a well orchestrated/well planned plot by the Muslims at large, there was nothing like that.

    3. We know that Corona was brought to this country by Sri Lankan Italians. They are all Sinhalese. If by chance they were Sri Lankan Muslims, the Sinhalese would have ‘gone to town’ about it.

    4. On Saturday, a PHI on Corona duty was stabbed in a Sinhala village in Rambukkana. Imagine if this happened in a Muslim village in Rambukkana?

    5. The Sri Pada Nayaka Thero invited pilgrims to climb the mountain despite Corona. What if this was stated by a Muslim Imam?

    6. In Hatton, Tamils were found playing cricket during curfew. No one in Social Media criticised them. Imagine if they were Muslims?

    7. Easter bombing – it was done by Zaharan with his family members and close relatives. It was the Muslim community at large that condemned the bombing and helped security forces to apprehend the culprits. True Zaharan’s bomb killed in excess of 350 people. Zaharan was a terrorist, but he was not ‘Prabhakaran’. We do not have a Muslim LTTE in Sri Lanka.

    Basically, we tend to nitpick Muslims and attack them viciously. We do not do this to the fellow Sinhalese and Tamils. This shows our insecurity about ourselves.

    It is easy to attack the weak (they are less than 10% of the population); also difficult to attack the powerful. We keep silent about the discriminations that we face in the North and the East. No other country would tolerate such nonsense (I have written about them). Basically we act as if we only have 7 provinces in the country. In the East Buddhist artifacts are found almost on a daily basis, but the East is categorised as a traditional Tamil area.

    You are spot on about Indonesia.

    Fortunately we did not have Arabs of that kind coming to Sri Lanka, around 9 BC. In any case Buddhism was firmly cemented in Sri Lanka (then Sinhale) by King Devanampiyatissa (not tissam!). Along with him, the entire country became Buddhist (100%). Today we are about 60% Buddhist. In 25 years….. , I would say about 50%. We are a dying race. We are confined to this tiny island. We fight against the ‘wrong enemy’. It is time that Sinhalese start living in the North and the East. We need a massive voice generated for this.

    “Loopholes”

    Yes Muslims are accused of using loopholes to enrich themselves. I think all communities are doing this, I agree they may be doing this better. Prima facie, using loopholes is not illegal. It is up to the governments to close them. As you know the politicians are inactive. The 225 in the parliament only think about themselves – how to stay in power, how to make money and how to do all other misdeeds/mischief.

    “Muslim bashing is considered politically correct in Sri Lanka.”

    The term ‘political correctness’ has absolutely nothing to do with political systems or politicians. ‘Political correctness’ can be illustrated as follows –

    The Sinhalese think that they are socially/economically disadvantaged to Muslims. There are other reasons too. So they attack/criticise Muslims (not physically); and it is accepted by the wider Sinhalese society. If a Sinhalese criticises Muslims, that is generally accepted; if a Sinhalese praises Muslims, that is generally disliked.

    This is due to ‘political correctness’.

    This attitude is wrong. We must take each case on its merit. Of course Muslims are advantageous in relation to marriage laws and we should strenuously criticise that. It is an anomaly in our legal system (like the Thesavalamai law). Muslims overall cannot be blamed for that. We cannot blame the Muslims for every evil of the country. A single bad act done by a Muslim, we should only blame that person; not the whole community. That is how developed nations operate in relation to race relations. Unfortunately in Sri Lanka we tend become too emotional and irrational.

    You said “Sinhalese like to forget and forgive.” Sure thing, there is no doubt about this. The Muslims know this; that is why they are still with us. They have not aligned with the Separatists. But, in the future; no one knows.

    You said “Therefore, I believe there is still time to amend the ways.” Fully agree. Both communities must amend and adjust. I have set this out in the article.

    You said “Unless the Sinhalese understand the above mentioned reality and select a set of people to rule the country they are doomed….. “ I agree.

    You said “What we see in media like Derana are mere theatrics to divert the attention, to my mind.” Agree, but I do not think Derana incident is serious. What Chathura stated during the break can be interpreted in many ways (basically, he only knows what he meant; it is unfair for us to make analogies).

  6. Charles Says:

    May be Chanaka Bandara reads everything in Lankaweb. The following is an article published in Lankaweb by a Muslim.

    ගෙයින් ගෙට ගොස් වෛරසය පතුරුවන තබ්ලික් ජමාත් – ආරක්ෂක අංශ, රජය නොදන්නා තිත්ත ඇත්ත.
    Posted on April 1st, 2020
    එම්. නජීම් උපුටා ගැන්ම Clombotoday
    බණ්ඩාරගම අටළුගම ප්‍රදේශයේ කොරෝනා ආසාධිතයකු හමුවීමත් සමගම එම පුද්ගලයා ප්‍රදේශයේ නිවාස රැසකට ගොස් තිබූ බැවින් කිසිදු පුද්ගලයෙකුට එම ප්‍රදේශයෙන් පිටතට පැමිණීමට හෝ පිටතින් එම ප්‍රදේශයට යාම තහනම් කිරීමට බලධාරීන් ක්‍රියා කරන ලදි.

    ඉතා කෙටි කාලයක් තුල නිවාස විශාල ප්‍රමාණයකට අදාළ පුද්ගලයා ගමන්කිරීමට හේතුව තබ්ලික් ජමාත් ආගමික සම්ප්‍රධායක් බව බහුතර සමාජය නොදන්නා මුස්ලිම් සමාජය දන්නා රහසකි. ඇඳිරි නිතිය ක්‍රියාත්මක වුවද මේ මොහොතේ පවා මුස්ලිම් ගම්මානවල තබ්ලික් ජමාත් ආගමිකයින් ගෙයින් ගෙට යමින් සිටියි.

    තබ්ලික් ජමාත් අනුගාමිකයින් රටින් රටට, නගරයෙන් නගරයට, ගමින් ගමට, නිවසින් නිවසට ඉස්ලාම් ආගම ප්‍රචාරය කිරීම සඳහා ගමන්ගන්නා පිරිසකි. ඔවුන් සාම්ප්‍රධායික සුෆි මුස්ලිම්වරුන් තමන්ගේ මතවාදයට හරවා ගනියි. සාම්ප්‍රධායික මුස්ලිම් පල්ලි ක්‍රම ක්‍රමයෙන් තම අනසකට ගනියි. නිවසට පැමිණ පල්ලියට පැමිණෙන ලෙසට හොඳින් හෝ නරකින් පවසයි. කොරෝනා රෝගීන් වාර්තා වී දැනට වසා දමා ඇති බණ්ඩාරගම අටළුගම, මහනුවර අකුරණ, පුත්තලම කඩුමයන්කුලම තබ්ලික් ජමාත් බහුතරයක් වෙසෙන ස්ථානයන් වේ.

    මේ අතරින් බණ්ඩාරගම අටළුගම ප්‍රදේශය තබ්ලික් ජමාත් රාජධානියක් බව කිව යුතුය. සිංහල ජාතිකයෙකු හා විවාහ වීම හේතුවෙන් පසුගිය වසරේදී අබ්දුල් හසන් ෆාතුමා හයිෆා” නැමති කාන්තාවට විරුද්ධව ෂරියා නිතිය ක්‍රියාත්මක කර ගල් ගසමින් පාරේ ඇඳගෙන ගියේ මේ කියන අටලුගමදිය. ෂරියා නීතිය ක්‍රියාත්මක කීරීමට පෙර මරාව පල්ලියේ පිරිස් උදේ හවස නිවසට පැමිණ මුස්ලිම් ජාතික කාන්තාව හා විවාහ වූ සිංහල ජාතිකයාට මුස්ලිම් ආගමට පැමිණෙන ලෙස බලපෑම් කර තිබේ. එයට අවනත නොවූ තැන මුස්ලිම් කාන්තාව දික්කසාද කරගැනීමට උත්සහ කර ඇත. එම උත්සාහය ද සාර්ථක නොවීම හේතුවෙන් මුස්ලිම් කාන්තාවට විරුද්ධව ෂරියා නීතිය ක්‍රියාත්මක කර ඇත. ඒ සඳහා මුලිකත්වය ගෙන තිබුනේ ද අටළුගම මරාව මුස්ලිම් පල්ලියයි. ඊට සම්බන්ධ බවට චෝදනා එල්ලවූ මරාව පල්ලියේ සභාපති හැර අනෙකුත් සියලු දෙනා අත්අඩංගුවට ගෙන අධිකරණයට ඉදිරිපත් කරන ලදි. එලෙස ඉදිරිපත් කරන ලද පුද්ගලයින් විසි දෙදෙනෙකුගෙන් තිදෙනෙක් තවමත් සිටින්නේ රක්ෂිත බන්ධනාගාර ගතවය. ඒ අතර එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂ ප්‍රාදේශීය සභා මන්ත්‍රීවරයෙකු වන ඉමිතියාස් හාජියාර් නැමැත්තා ද වේ. කෙසේ වෙතත් පල්ලියේ සභාපතිට විරුද්ධව නීතිය ක්‍රියාත්මක වීම අලස ස්වරූපයක් ගෙන තිබේ.

    ආරක්ෂක අංශ මුස්ලිම් ගම්මාන තුලට පැමිණ පරික්ෂා නොකරන බැවින් ඇඳිරිනීතිය පනවා ගමනා ගමනය තහනම් කර තිබුන ද තබ්ලික් ජමාත් අනුගාමිකයින් උදේ හවස මුස්ලිම් ගම්මානවල ගෙයින් ගෙයට ඇවිදීම තවමත් සිදු කරමින් පවතී. රජයෙන් කෙතරම් උපදෙස් දුන්නද ඔවුන්ගේ අන්ධ භක්තිය ඊට වඩා විශාලා ප්‍රමාණයකින් වැඩිය. එබැවින් ආරක්ෂක අංශ මුස්ලිම් ගම්මාන තුලට පැමිණ මෙම තත්වය වැලක්වීමට වහා ක්‍රියා මාර්ග ගත යුතුව ඇත.

    මෙරට ක්‍රියාත්මක වන සමස්ත ලංකා ජමයතුල් උලමා සංවිධානයේ ප්‍රධානියා ලෙස සැලකෙන මුෆ්ති නියෝජනය කරන්නේ ද තබ්ලික් ජමාත් ඉස්ලාම් ආගමික කණ්ඩායමයි. පල්ලි වසා දමන ලෙසට ප්‍රසිද්ධ නිවේදන උලමා සංවිධානය සිදුකල ද තබ්ලික් ජමාත් කණ්ඩායම් සිදුකරන ගෙයින් ගෙට යෑම නැවත්වීමට ඔවුන් ක්‍රියා කරන්නේ නැත. එනිසා තත්වය පාලනය කිරීමට ඔවුන් දක්වන සහයෝගය විශ්වාස කල නොහැකිය. වෙනත් ආගමික සංවිධාන විශ්වාස නොකොට වහා නිතිය අකුරටම ක්‍රියාත්මක කර කොරෝනා වෛරස ව්‍යාප්තිය පාලනය කිරීමට ආරක්ෂක අංශ සහ රජය වහා ක්‍රියා කල යුතුය.

    එම්. නජීම්

  7. Charles Says:

    It is not all Muslims who are subjected Bashing but those followetrs of Saharan and Thablighi Jammat coming fro India and those Arabic teachers coming from Egypt

  8. Chanaka B Says:

    Charles, if M Najim’s story is true and තබ්ලික් ජමාත් is breaching the curfew they should be arrested and prosecuted. The law should apply to all equally. I have noted a Muslim bashing.

  9. aloy Says:

    Chanaka,

    There was no way the Arabs could have taken over SL (or Sinhale) by force. But they tried the same trick they played on the rulers in Malay peninsula. They tried to cure the king in Kandy when he was having some medical issue. It did not work. However it may be the Europeans that prevented SL going the same way.

    Our current situation when we are in a economic soup and politicos are having so much infighting gives a perfect opportunity to trap our leaders. The same thing had happened in Iberia when the nation was divided and the regional rulers were fighting e

  10. aloy Says:

    Sorry to continue: fighting each other when a powerful muslim ruler from North Africa had offered to help one ruler with a force of only 7000 Burbers. One ruler had struct a deal and the Arab ruler got in and offered conciliatory term if the immediate opponent sided with them. This way they had expanded their influence until the whole area covering the present day Spain and Portugal come under their rule and stayed that way for over seven centuries.

    Now our rulers want to get Arab money and opened up the Central Bank even more than what Ravi and them did for them to bring in money. We all so what happened when CB allowed people like Hisbulla et al to get donations from Saudi for various purposes. They think that the deals they strike now will liberate us from the massive burden of loans. In my opinion these people have no love for our country or religion to behave this way. What more the Mahanayakas want to realize the danger we are in?. We must not allow our rulers to get any money from ME even if it means we have to bring back all domestic workers. Our country has enough resources and we can survive without help from anywhere.

  11. aloy Says:

    Portugal itself give us a very good example how we can do this. They liberated their country only in 1492 from the Arabs, but by 1505 they had conquered many countries on the way and were knocking on our door. For that what we need is someone who has a good foresight. I like to continue on this in a new thread. Hope it will have a space in this forum.

  12. Chanaka B Says:

    Aloy, Islam was introduced in Indonesia by Arabs (Saudi Arabians) and Sufi merchants based in Gujarat, India. Bali never succumb, it remains Hindu to this day.

    Around 7 BC Arabs (Saudi Arabia) invaded Persia (Iran). Thereafter, Afghanistan and parts of Pakistan fell to them. All populations (mostly Buddhist) converted to Islam.

    At that time, the Arabs were disinterested in propagating Islam in Sri Lanka, mainly due to the strong Buddhist foothold we had here.

    Instead, they focused on the East, Indonesia (and Malaya). Before 9 BC they landed in those countries. The Arabs did not conquer Indonesia (and Malaya). The spread of Islam in those countries was slow and gradual.

    Muslims conquered India in 1526 and had a foothold there closer to 300 years. The Indian Moghul Empire was founded by the Warrior Babur (of Uzbekistan). He was a relative of Genghis Khan. Akbar the Great was a grandson of his. Babul’s seat was held in Afghanistan.

    The Indian Moghul Empire extended up to South India’s Deccan plateau (Andra Pradesh). They could not capture Thamilnadu, partly due to the strong British presence there. Also, parts of Kerala was governed by the Portuguese (eg Goa).

    When Akbar the Great was ruling India, the Portuguese had landed in Sri Lanka. When the last Moghul King (Shah Jahan’s son) Aurangzeb was ruling India, Thamilnadu was firmly administered by the British East India Company.

    You are right; the colonial presence in Sri Lanka (Portuguese, Dutch and the British) may have saved Sri Lanka from an imminent Moghul invasion. If that happened, we could all be Muslim today!

    So, let’s thank the colonials!

    But, we have such a firm Buddhist foundation here, even the powerful Moghuls may have found it difficult to infiltrate here.
    _______

    Re your last two Comments above-

    There is no other politician than JR Jayewardene who had done so much harm to this country. Between 1977 to 1989 he played havoc. We are suffering so much as a result. He created an Executive Presidency, failed to control the war, introduced 13A (provincial councils), introduced PR system/chit MP system, introduced open economy thus destroyed the local industries and also introduced mass scale corruption (starting with Mahaveli). Overnight, he revoked Sirima – Shastri Pact and gave citizenship to more than 100,000 upcountry Tamils.

    Due to the increase in the number of districts/electorates, Tamils and Muslims hae become Kingmakers of Sri Lanka. The leaders from Chandrika onwards were all failures.

    In 1977 Thondaman (Snr) was the 3rd MP for Nuwara Eliya-Maskeliya. Today, there are about 4 or 5 up country Tamil Mps. That’s thanks to JR.

    The Election Commission has added a further (new) seat to Badulla (taken from Galle).

    We should blame ourselves for where we are today. The minorities have taken advantage from our failures. We cannot blame them. They know we act very irresponsibly and basically we are stupid. They know they can mainpulate us. We have thrown away our Bhumiputra rights. We created a situation where we cannot even live in the North and the East (but, we won the war!). Now with this Corona, we will be further doomed. Our economy could be in shambles.

  13. Gunasinghe Says:

    This author must be insane to put out this BS. Islam is an another pandemic spreading the world. I do not want to waste my words on this sinhala basher. Shame on him.

  14. Charles Says:

    Chanaka Bandarage says; Now, accusations are being made that Muslims may be deliberately spreading Corona among the country’s masses. This is a stupid and sometimes a hilarious accusation. To spread Corona deliberately, one needs to first infect the virus themselves. Who would do that? Also, how can they only choose the Sinhalese to spread the virus?

    But how can you explain a father sending his two sons and his daughter-in-law as suicide bombs with live bombs on their back to blast in two churches and two Hotels. For such a person contacting the virus and then spreading them by visiting homes or spitting into drinks they serve to some one may be a simple act in the name of their God.

  15. Charles Says:

    There is also constant bashing of Sinhala which often go un remarked.

  16. jay-ran Says:

    All these TERRORISTS-MUSLIMS & TAMILS WILL BE PUNISHED BY THE GREAT PREACHING BY LORD “BUDURAJANANG WAHANSE”, THOUSANDS OF YRS AGO,THAT:
    “DHITTA !,
    “DHAMMA!!”
    “VEDANEEYA!!!”
    “KARMA!!!!”
    WILL BEFALL ON ALL WHO TRY TO DESTABILISE THE SRI LANKAN SINHALA BUDDHISTS AND ALL LIVING IN THIS WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    THIS IS THE GOSPEL TRUTH,I BELIEVE!!!!!!!!!!!
    MAY ALL BEINGS BE HAPPY AND THE ENTIRE WORLD LIVINGS BE SAFEGUARDED BY THE GRACE OF THE”NOBLE TRIPPLE GEM”

  17. Vaisrawana Says:

    “Around 7 BC Arabs (Saudi Arabia) invaded Persia (Iran). Thereafter, Afghanistan and parts of Pakistan fell to them. All populations (mostly Buddhist) converted to Islam.”, says Chanaka Bandarage.

    The founder of the Muslim religion, Muhammad ibn Abdullah, lived between the 6th and 7th centuries (570-632 CE), that is, he died only 1388 years ago. To talk about Muslim Arabs invading Persia, Afghanistan, parts of Pakistan (!) in “7 BC” (Bandarage means 7th century before Christ, that is, 2700 years ago) is hilarious. This shows how ignorant this person is. Obviously, the writer is either a mischievous liar or a malicious person who is abysmally ignorant about the utterly savage history of the conversion of the highly civilized nonviolent Buddhists and Hindus to Islam in the Persian and Indian region (Arab Muslims invaded India in the 12th century) (Historians estimate that eighteen million innocent Hindus and Buddhists including Hindu holy men and Buddhist monks were put to the sword in the process for not abandoning their far more intellectual original faiths.) He also tries to promote a deliberately distorted characterization of Buddhist activists (particularly, monks) who express their legitimate worries about fundamentalist activities against Buddhists (The authorities’ failure to listen to them led to the April 21 Easter bombing). Arguing with this person is a waste of time, true, but commenting on his insane writing reveals him and the like of him more and more.

  18. aloy Says:

    Point of note regarding the Berbers which I mentioned above: Berbers are Moroccans (Marakkala) who had arrived in this country long before Islam appeared. They had traveled upstream on Kalu ganga in search of precious stones. They must be the ideal people to face the rough and tumble in seafaring as well as in war. They may have settled in Beruwala and married local women. Their handlers must have thought that they are the ideal people for the job in SL as well.

    Any idea how the name Beruwala derived?.

  19. Chanaka B Says:

    There are people angry about this article. I am not surprised. That is why I stated that it is fashionable and politically correct to attack Muslims. I have criticised Muslims in the article too. I ask people to carefully read it including what I have stated in the comments to Aloy.

    I standby what I have stated.

    If you do not like it I am sorry.

    Voltaire said:

    “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”

    People are writing under pseudonyms (they do not want to identify themselves and ‘show face’) and make character assassinations. These are the acts of cowards. They are the type of people I have mentioned in the article. In Sinhala Social media under pseudonyms people write comments in scurrilous and obscene language. They do not understand that small children could also be reading them and learn such bad language. As a nation we cannot go forward when such attitudes are so dominant. The fact that these people who write in pseudonyms attack writers personally and ‘want to kill the messenger’; show that they detest frank, fair and intellectual discourse.

    Charles

    I have clearly stated that Zaharan was a terrorist. No point of dwelling about this. I think both you and I hold same views about this.

    Zaharan though was a terrorist was no Prabhakaran. His Movement was very small – confined mostly to his family members and close relatives. His Movement was not big as the LTTE. Zaharan operated within one or two Terrorist cells. To my belief all members of the cell/s are either dead or apprehended. The purpose of my article is to stop creating future Zaharans.

    Vaisravana

    I draw your attention to Wikipedia;

    Wikipedia under ‘Muslim conquest of Persia’:

    “The Muslim conquest of Persia, also known as the Arab invasion of Iran,[2] led to the fall of the Sasanian Empire of Iran (Persia) in 651 and the eventual decline of the Zoroastrian religion.”

    Wikipedia under ‘Islam in Afghanistan’:

    “Islam in Afghanistan began to be practiced after the Arab Islamic conquest of Afghanistan from the 7th to the 10th centuries, “

    The only mistake I made was that I inserted BC, instead of AD. The minor mishap happened when responding to Aloy in a hurry.

    Under the Muslim conquest of Afghanistan, parts of current day Pakistan was Islamised.

    Just because of this minor mishap, you have alleged that I am a ‘mischievous liar or a malicious person’. This is a very serious derogatory accusation that could be made against a person, and you have made it.

    You have also made other serious accusations against me:

    You say that I “try to distort characterization of Buddhist activists (particularly, monks) who express their legitimate worries about fundamentalist activities against Buddhists”. I have never stated/done anything like that. I challenge you to show.

    You say that I stated that ‘The authorities’ failure to listen to them led to the April 21 Easter bombing’; I never stated that and I challenge you to say show.

    These are very serious fraudulent accusations that can be made against another person. You have made them.

    An immediate apology is sought.

    I know why you are saying these against me.

    I have dealt with you before in my article ‘Distortion of our History’ published last month. Immediately after the article was published, you made nasty comments about me. You were very angry in those comments. In the article, I showed how our new school history books have distorted our history. You were angry and were concerned that Raj Somadeva may have been implicated. I now openly say that he is implicated because he is a Chair of the Editorial Committees that prepared the books. He has publicly stated that it was with great effort that he was able to change the history books. He has raised doubts about Vijaya and Mahavansa. Instead, he has highly promoted Homo-sapiens. I have shown that his findings that we (Sinhalese) may have invented iron and that we may have grown rice paddy 49,000 years ago are wrong. There are many other findings that I have contested and have questioned their credibility. I am happy to argue this with both you and Raj Somadeva (if by any chance both are the same, then of course with one).

    You were very concerned then, I can see you are attacking me here.

    Your pseudonym has rawana, this shows you are a Ravana worshiper; what else needs to be stated about you.

    I please await your reply Vaisravana.

    Again, I have raised an issue that no one would dare to raise. I have the courage to raise it. I did it for the greater good of the nation. I do not want to see a Muslim LTTE formed in the future. In the mid 1970s when Tamil youth were agitating our then governments, they totally disregarded them. That struggle grew into a huge Terrorist Movement.

  20. Chanaka B Says:

    Aloy

    You have done very good research!

    Beruwala is a Sinhala name. It means ‘ the place where the sail is lowered’.

    Yes, Beruwala is regarded as the spot where first Muslim settlement was established in Sri Lanka. I thought it was by a Somali Sheikh?

  21. Vaisrawana Says:

    CB makes the following wrong assertion in his reply to my comment.

    “You say that I stated that ‘The authorities’ failure to listen to them led to the April 21 Easter bombing’; I never stated that and I challenge you to say show.”

    Please read it again if you’d like. No, you need not bother to do that by scrolling up. What I wrote was: “He also tries to promote a deliberately distorted characterization of Buddhist activists (particularly, monks) who express their legitimate worries about fundamentalist activities against Buddhists (The authorities’ failure to listen to them led to the April 21 Easter bombing). Arguing with this person is a waste of time, true, but commenting on his insane writing reveals him and the like of him more and more.”. So everyone can see that I (Vaisrawana) wrote ‘The authorities’ failure to listen to them led to the April 21 Easter bombing’, not you CB. The context makes it very clear that the pronoun ‘them’ refers to those lay Buddhist and monk activists who are raising a legitimate and staging protests against religious extremists who are posing a threat to the Sinhalese and Sinhalese Buddhists in particular. I should have elaborated the phrase ‘April 21 Easter bombing’ by adding ‘by Islamic terrorists’. Why should I tender apologies for your false statements?

    By the way, I should have written ‘… a distorted characterization of Buddhist activists….as terrorists’; also, it is good to note the name Vaisrawana is not a combination of Vais + Rawana/Ravana. (I am not a Ravana worshipper. I am not a believer in mere legends or fairy tales, whether they come in the form of folk tales or religion.) Vaisrawana/Vaishravana is a Sanskrit name that occurs in the Ravana legend. He was a brother of Ravana.The name Ravana is rendered as Ravulu in Sinhala poetry and history. This is common knowledge. The name Vaisrawana appears in Sinhala as Vesamuni.

    Cheers!

  22. Chanaka B Says:

    Vaisravana

    In your reply to my last comment, you now say ‘CB makes the following wrong assertion’.

    If you were referring not to me but others, why did you attribute them to me?

    Why did you visit my article to make such wrong comments about me?

    You doctored and manipulated my article and my comments to Aloy to lunch a malicious attack on me. You are a Pathological liar, a despicable person.

    I have demonstrated that there exits bad blood between us. The readers will make their own judgment.

    You have severely insulted me.

    I shall initiate legal action against you in defamation, seeking damages.

    You still have time to apologies me, until close of business today. It has to be unequivocal.

    Also, what is your real identity, Confirm now – your name.

    Why do you hide behind a pseudonym and make malicious comments against me? You must be doing this to lots of innocent people. You are nothing else but a coward.

    By taking ravana as part of the Pseudonym (now you say, it is Ravana’s brother!) you have proven that you are a Ravana worshipper. People are not stupid.

    Readers will judge who is insane.

    I have listed and carefully categorized many lies and fraudulent statements by Raj Somadeva. They are so many. I am happy to debate him publicly or in writing here in Lankaweb (during this lockdown period).

    Readers, please contact me in confidence: srilankasuppotgroup@bigpond.com. Please provide me with full Particulars you may have in confidence. Thank you.

    Raj Somadeva?

  23. Kosala777 Says:

    Vaisrawana,

    In your reply to CB’s last comment, you now say ‘CB makes the following wrong assertion’…….. So, you are now admitting your faults and that you are wrong.

    In your harrsh comments to CB if you were referring not to CB but others, why did you attribute them to CB? Who is insane?

    If you were not referring to CB, why did you visit CB’s article to make such wrong comments about him?

    In your comments, you doctored and manipulated CB’s article and his comments to Aloy in order to lunch a masive, malicious attack on him. You are a Pathological liar, a despicable person.

    CB demonstrated that there exits bad blood between you and him. He showed the reasons – ‘Distortion of our History’ article. The readers will make their own judgment about this.

    You have severely insulted CB.

    Unnecessarly you castigated an innocent man.

    CB should initiate legal action against you in defamation, seeking damages. Unless you apologise to him immidiately.

    By taking ravana as part of the pseudonym (now you say, it is not Ravana but his brother!) you have proven that you are a Ravana worshipper. People are not that stupid.

    Readers will judge who is insane.

    Raj Somadeva has made many lies and fraudulent statements to Sri Lankan people about our history. They are so many.

    You Vaisrawana is Raj Somadeva.

  24. Kosala777 Says:

    Muslims are constantly being attacked on Sri Lankan social media (Sinhala) in very bad, filthy language. They are largely despised by the Sinhalese in everyday life. There are lots of very good hearted, patriotic, very decent Muslims in Sri Lanka. They will give their life to Sri Lanka. Mr Chanaka Bandarage wrote a well balance good article titled ‘Muslim Bashing’. He asked his fellow Sinhalese to give these good Muslims a chance. Mr Chanaka Bandarage also forewarned that disgruntled Muslim youth in the East could one day take up arms. Mr Chanaka Bandarage is very brave to write it, especially given the current Corona Virus and post Easter 2019 situation. No one wants to touch on such a sensitive issue. In the mainstream and Social media all are attacking the Muslims. Then, they are taken in high regard. This is very bad. Mr Chanaka Bandarage undertook this task for the country’s sake. It is clear from the article he wrote it to improve the ethnic relations between the Sinhalese and the Muslims. There was nothing negative there, all positive. As expected some Sinhalese began to attack Chanaka Bandarage personally, extremely viciously, hiding behind pseudonyms. This is their typical way. One such Sinhalese is Raj Somadeva using the pseudonym Vaisravana. In a previous article Mr Chanaka Bandarage exposed few of Raj Somadeva’s lies and fabrications about Sri Lankan history. Chanaka Bandarage was decent enough not to mention Raj Somadeva by name then. He should have exposed him at that time. When the vultures were attacking Mr Chanaka Bandarage hiding behind pseudonyms, Raj Somadeva thought it is the best time to take his revenge from Mr Chanaka Bandarage. He concocted a story that in his article and comments to readers Chanaka Bandarage attacked Sri Lanka’s Maha Sangha and that Zaharan blasted bombs because the government authorities refused to listen to him. Chanaka Bandarage did not mention anything like that at all. Raj Somadeva wanted to cause a split between Chanaka Bandarage and Ven Maha Sangha and also him against the government authorities. In a response to a reader, when referring to ancient history, by mistake, Chanaka Bandarage instead of placing AD typed BC. For this, Raj Somadeva attacked Chanaka Bandarage stating he is a ‘mischievous liar or a malicious person’. Raj Somadeva maliciously attacked Chanaka Bandarage saying he is insane. Now everyone could see who is insane, that is Raj Somadeva. Raj Somadeva did all this hiding behind his pseudonym Vaisravana. Now he is well exposed. Raj Somadeva has done so much damage to our history uttering lies. He stated Buddhism was here before Ven Mihindu arrived. He stated Kuweni had Tamil blood. He has promoted Ravana the King. He is a man who tells different things in different forums, to suit the audience. With lies, he tries to make people happy. A historian cannot act that way. His marvelous findings have no international credibility/acceptance. His hidden, underlying agenda is to attack Sinhala Buddhism. The way he deliberately and unashamedly concocted lies against Chanaka Bandarage is a good example for everyone to understand what a bad historian he is. This shows he would manipulate Sri Lanka’s history to his own desired agenda. He has been entrusted with very high positions in archeology and history. Raj Somadeva seems not willing to say sorry to Chanaka Bandarage. Chanaka Bandarage will definitely embark on the next stage – initiating Court action against Raj Somadeva to recover a large sum of money as damages. This is a good lesson to all those who attack innocent patriots hiding behind pseudonyms.

  25. aloy Says:

    Can we know with 100% accuracy whether Raj Somadeva is the one who was instrumental in taking out Kuweni legend and Mahavansa out of school history books (if at all that has been done)?.

    I was listening to one of his programs last night and was thinking that he cannot be this vaisravana. There are people with different political affiliations and philosophical viewpoints. And we should be ready to take their brickbats as well as bouquets, when we post here, I believe.

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

 

 


Copyright © 2024 LankaWeb.com. All Rights Reserved. Powered by Wordpress