Colombo Clans, Goon Squads and the Church

Sarath Bulathsinghala

Today Sri Lanka is again at the cross roads. It is time to take a look back into happenings of the last two decades. The puppet masters, the Colombo Clans ( Wijewardhanas and Bandaranaikes), and the Christian Church, who nurtured Tamil racism are out in the open in a last ditch attempt to save and give respectability to the genocidal LTTE and their erstwhile leader – Prabhakaran – the man who styles himself as the sole representative of the Tamils in Sri Lanka. In the aftermath of the September 11th attack, no effort is to be spared to make him another Yasser Arafat and to save him from facing charges at the Hague for crimes against humanity, genocide and ethnic cleansing. If the world gives into this masquerade it will shame all civilized society.

It is common knowledge that it was UNP goondas who attacked and killed Tamils in Colombo during the July ’83 riots. It is also common knowledge that it was the then President J R Jayawardene who allowed the riots to continue unabated for a full day before a curfew was called to stop the rioting. On this day J R Jayawardene was under severe pressure from the army after the killing of the 13 soldiers in Jaffna , to take effective action against the LTTE terrorists in the North. His solution was to use his Goon Squads to attack and kill the Tamil residents in Colombo and other major cities and thereby avert the wrath of the army.

It is also common knowledge that after his victory at the General Elections in 1977, Jayewardene wanted to remain in power for an extended period, if necessary by terrorizing the general electorate. For this purpose every minister in his administration was encouraged to form and develop their Goon Squads with the idea of intimidating the electorate prior to any subsequent election in Sri Lanka. In this fashion R Premadasa his Prime Minister, Gamini Dissanayake, Lalith Athulathmudali, Ranil Wickramasinghe the present Prime Minister, Ananda Tissa de Alwis,Cyril Matthew, M H Mohammed and others went on to form their own Goon Squads. These Goon Squads were used most effectively in subsequent elections to intimidate, terrorize, maim or kill political opponents. Viz; the 1980 District Development Council Elections, and the 1982 infamous “ the Pot and the Lamp Referendum. How the democracy in Sri Lanka deteriorated during this period is also common knowledge and is a subject that is well researched and documented. These Goon Squads were equipped with electoral lists and they knew in advance where their political opponents lived.

It is now common knowledge that the mini riot that originated at the Borella Kanatta on the day of the funeral of the 13 soldiers ended at Narahenpita around mid night the same day. However the systematic torching of Tamil trading establishments and residences commenced the following morning at Borella junction. The riots and the burning continued throughout the day through Punchi Borella, Maradana, Pettah and finally on to Fort, and unabated till they reached the Ambal Café in the heart of Fort at 4:00 PM – just a few meters away from where the now infamous President of Sri Lanka had his office. It took Jayewardene 10 hrs to impose a curfew and get his Goons off the streets. Goon Squads armed with electoral lists went from house to house, this time looking for Tamil residents. Goon Squads saved the day for Jayewardene by taking the army who was breathing fire on his scrawny neck.

Once the curfew was in place, in four consecutive days, four very significant statements were made over the Television – Rupavahini Channel. While a shocked populace waited for the Executive President to address the nation, the UNP government and the Church plotted behind the scenes to place the blame entirely on the shoulders of Sinhalese Buddhists. This is how it was done.

Most Ven Madihe Pannaseeha Maha Nayake Thero was asked to address the Nation first. Naturally the Mahanayake Thero requested the Nation to have patience and be calm. The nation was angry but it was in no mood to go on a killing rampage. By getting him to address the nation J R Jayewardene got the world to believe that the Mahanayake Thero was really addressing the Sinhalese Buddhists and that they were responsible for the pogrom.
The second was made by J R Jayewardene (the man with the professional mourners face)himself, , as the President of Sri Lanka. He justified the riots as the justifiable anger of the Sinhalese for the killing of the 13 soldiers in Jaffna. Here he clearly laid the blame for the pogrom on the Sinhalese. It must also be noted that UNP Goon Squads and every shade of hooligan, Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim and other took part in the universal phenomenon of looting that followed throughout the island. In many instances old scores were settled, regardless of ethnicity, taking advantage of the deplorable and unfortunate situation.
The third statement was made by R Premadasa the Prime Minister a servant of the Wijewardhana clan. He said that behind the riots was a coup organized by a Naxalite Terror Group. This was a diversionary attempt to put the blame on the pseudo socialist group led by Vijaya Kumaranatunge at that time.
The fourth and final statement was made by Ananda Tissa de Alwis the then Minister of Communications and Constitutional Affairs. He said the next stage of the coup would be for Sinhalese Buddhists to attack Sinhalese Christians. His was the voice of the Christian Church who would finally go to convince the world that Sinhalese Buddhists were responsible for the carnage. With this they killed two birds; firstly the blame for the pogrom was laid firmly and squarely on Sinhalese Buddhists and secondly they set up the Christians against the Buddhists.

(If one has access to Rupavahini Archives the veracity of these 4 statements can be verified.)

The essence of the above four statements show the way J R Jayewardene and his administration manipulated the media to put the blame, for the riots by his Goon Squads, on Sinhalese Buddhists. It is doubtful even today if the Mahanayake Thero knows how he was manipulated to lay the blame on the Sinhalese Buddhists. The subsequent propaganda by the State media and the Christian Church convinced the world that it was the Sinhalese and especially the Sinhalese Buddhist who were responsible for the July ’83 Riots.

As Sinhalese and mainly as Sinhalese Buddhists, we should not harbor any guilt complex about the happenings of July ’83 or those Racial riots of 1958, and thereafter. These were carried out by thugs affiliated to the two main political parties the UNP and the SLFP. To the Western Christian World, this was just the opportunity to denigrate the Buddhists in Sri Lanka. Since July ’83 dozens of provocative actions have been carried out in Sri Lanka. Even though hundreds of innocent Sri Lankan civilians have been bombed, maimed, killed, driven away from their lands, their places of worship desecrated and destroyed, their leaders assassinated the nation has just looked on with hope that ultimately justice would prevail. They have waited with timeless patience for their elected leaders to take appropriate action to curb terrorism, eventually eliminate racism from Sri Lanka and put an end to the meddling by externally funded church affiliated NGOs, inimical to the culture and life in Sri Lanka. This is yet to happen.

The Terrorist war that ensued has consumed much of Sri Lanka and her resources. Tamils in droves left the island crying genocide, many seeking greener pastures. Yet for all there are more Tamils now living in the South than in the North of Sri Lanka. The Western World and the Christian Church accepted them with open arms. Various Terrorist groups were funded, nurtured, and covertly trained initially by India and then later by others. Hundreds of Church funded NGO’s descended on Sri Lanka in various guises, but intent on division of the country and the unethical conversion of Sri Lanka to Christianity. On Sri Lankan soil they were ably assisted by the Church affiliated Wijewardhana clan and the Bandaranaike clan. These two clans outwardly masquerade as Buddhists, but their loyalties lie with the Christian Church.

At the moment the subjugation of Sinhalese Buddhists is going on various fronts. Unethical conversion of Buddhists is going a pace unabated. The land of the Sinhalese is up for grabs. Sinhalese Buddhists have neither voice left nor any representation in the proceedings in the so called “Peace Process” in Sri Lanka. A Lutheran Christian nation, and one time Nazis, who practiced open racial discrimination against their own indigenous people – the Inuit or Lapps, who aided and abetted with the LTTE are now in the garb of the mediators. (We should have been better off getting the TULF to mediate than these unknown foreigners with agendas of their own for South Asia.) The Buddhists are left largely friendless in the world due to years of diplomatic mishandling. The media has been in the hands of the Church affiliated Wijewardhana clan for decades. The audio- visual media are on a frontal attack on Sinhalese Culture. What is seen, heard and covertly imposed on the minds are all foreign values and ethos. While the Puppet Masters are now on open stage for everybody to see, a helpless nation is waiting its dismemberment.

Today with one time leader of one of the Goon Squads– Ranil Wickramasinghe of Batalanda fame as the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, Tyronne Fernando as the Foreign Minister, John Amaratunge as the Minister of the Interior and Home Affairs, Jayalath Jayewardhana the LTTE spy as the Minister of Rehabilitation and Refugees, Joseph Michael Perera as the Speaker of the House, the Christian Church is well and truly enthroned in Sri Lanka. The LTTE never had it any better.