Unchecked and open-ended NGOs are a disaster to this country.
Posted on July 6th, 2010

Herold Leelawardena

According to a write up to transcurrents.com, Mr.J.C.Weliamuna says ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Civil society is rejected and hated ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” that is the opinion created in Sri Lanka.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ According to him all NGOs are Samaritans; NGOs are a part and parcel of just and a legitimate feature of our democracy; NGOs are the bulwark against dictators. In no uncertain terms Weliamuna says; the doctrine that set by NGOs on human rights should be our criterion for good living.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Without being specific, Weliamuna level a charge at all elected leaders of Sri Lanka; he says they are dictators. He sounds as if NGOs are inherently against dictators. On those and many more counts he points out that regulating NGOs is an illegitimate affair. Fine, for those that benefit from the so-called NGOs and those that has other agenda and good hiding for NGO bashers.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ I am no lawyer. So, leave the legality aside, common sense tell me that regulating NGOs is a good thing. In my opinion, arguments such as ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-regulating NGOs is an illegitimate affairƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ that Weliamuna put forward are totally bias if not false. He must be reminded that it is the NGOs themselves that are to be blamed for being ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-rejected and hatredƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Why do I say so? For one, NGOs didnƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t care two hoots about the views of majority. For another, NDOs deliberately undermined our history, our religion and our culture. It is the Caucasian trivia that Weliamuna bragged to defend his associate NGOs and their benefactors that prompted me to write this essay. I say, all those NGOs that Weliamuna refers to in his write-up are hypocrites, fakes and anti-nationals that aim to divide this country.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ But first, as Weliamuna says; I accept there may be hundreds of thousands of good NGOs all over the world. And there are very many good NGOs in Sri Lanka. The ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Maranadara SamithiyasƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ that we find in almost all our villages are such a set of good NGOs.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Why do I say they are a good set of NGOs? Let me name few reasons: The agenda of all ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Maranadara SamithiyasƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ is known to everyone and not just to its members. None of them have a hidden agenda. All its beneficiaries know who the benefactors are and their aims. All its officials work in honorary capacity and present accounts at annual general meetings.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Now, in so far as I can see, Mr.WeliamunaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s debriefing had not about the NGOs of ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Maranadara SamitiyaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ type. Without doubt, he was defending the rights of the International NGOs that preach us the human rights, religious rights, womenƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s right, etc and etc hat we come hear day in day out. My question to Mr.Weliamuna is; how many NGOs that you are defending can boast the dignified stand of those ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Maranadara SamitiyasƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢? If any, can he name them?

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ I am not suggesting for a moment that any of those rights that NGOs allegedly say, they strive hard to defend are bad. All I am saying is; those NGOs have ulterior motives and hypocritical benefactors with double standards. And we knew those human rights, religious rights, womenƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s right and etc long before they even dreamt them.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Why do I pick on the benefactors of their NGOs? Because; it is the one who pays the piper that call the tune. There is another point: Weliamuna said; ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Oldest independent societies were typically religious. The philosophical enlightenment of the 17th and 18th centuries resulted in the emergence of free and independent associations with no economic, religious, or royal (government) connections.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ Here, Mr.Weliamuna must have been referring to the so-called exuberant era of the European renaissance. And this is where Weliamuna undermines our history.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Let me dig in to the era that Weliamuna had referred and enlighten him on how the ancestors of his present day benefactors had promoted those rights we were talking about. It was the time that the Spanish and the Portuguese monarchs appointed insane buccaneers like da Gama as explorers of the day. It was the era that they sailed the world over in search of loot and ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”FranciscanƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ and ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”DominicanƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ missionaries joined them to carry their complex burden of prejudices that was central to their Christian identity.

What identity? Just to give a hint, let me say; these ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”FranciscansƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ are the priestly lot that were put in charge of killings called the inquisitions in 1237 by the Council of LƒÆ’†’ƒ”š‚©rida. Make no mistake; it is one of them that washed up to our shores with a clique of Portuguese pirates in 1505. From that day onwards, for almost two centuries, Catholic Padres assisted the murderous Portuguese to raid and rob the wealth our nation. Not that only, these padres destroyed the very culture that firmly endured over two-millennium in this land. None had ever confessed for their sins. Yet, their descendents wanted to impose human rights on us. What a joke, Weliamuna.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Then came the Dutch; their motives were rather strategic if not worse than Portuguese. ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Jubilee memorials of the Wesleyan Mission South of Ceylon 1814-1864ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ published in Ceylon in 1864, plainly spelled out their resolve: ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚¦ were convinced that it was the intention of the missionaries to destroy Buddhism and place Christianity in its stead.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ If that is their ancestor behaviour, on what moral grounds Weliamuna, which your benefactors tell us about religious rights?

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Then came the British; they too had promoted apostasy. In his book, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Buddhism in Ceylon under the Christian powersƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢, eminent professor and a historian Tennakoon Wimalananda points out that all colonial governments wanted to ruin Buddhism. With ample statistics, it shows how Christian education was uplifted with lavish subsides while Buddhist Pirivena monasteries were deprived of it. It also pointed out; the manner that evangelists coerce the British rulers to withdraw all subsidies due to Buddhist monasteries under submission agreement with the sole aim of ruining Sinhale culture. Yet, only few years back NGOs and Evangelists organised marches against a proposed anti-conversion act demanding right to proselyte.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ For thirty years, LTTE suicide bombers that had bombs wrapped in their bosoms and in their bellies had bombed our buses, trains and public places. They killed tens of thousands of the young, the old and the sick. All our former Presidents tried to rid of them but failed to because of their wrong attitude, wrong approach and wrong policies. When President Rajapakse was elected in 2005, he faced the problem squarely and vanquished LTTE for good. Consequently, there are no bastings anywhere in Sri Lanka for past fifteen months. And anyone could roam around happily anywhere. And now NGOs and their benefactors (the so-called International Community or IC) are trying to make a hue and cry for ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”human rightsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ of the dead masters of human bombs. They claim LTTE leaders carried white flags and not bombs when they were killed.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Assets (WTO, London tube and etc.) of the benefactors of the NGOs (IC) were also blasted by another set of terrorists called Al-Qaida. ItƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s another matter; Al-Qaida is their own making to beat the Soviets, and also that they had been pursuing Al-Qaida in Afghanistan since before the blast. Then Iraq was carpet bombed and invaded by IC in 2003 on the pretext of having WMD. Somehow, the terrorists barged in to Iraq as well. Now IC is stuck with the terrorists both in Iraq and Afghanistan. IC continues to kill the terrorists as well as the old, sick and the children to date. Some analysts say, over a million people had been killed in both places. Apathy is; no NGO checks on the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”human rightsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ of Iraqis and Afghans. It reminds me the Sinhala adage: ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-naduth hamuduruwange, baduth hamuduruwange.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ Nearest meaning; ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”plaint is of the boss and the goods are also of the boss.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Compare the two paragraphs above. What more double standards of NGOs and their benefactors than that? Should we allow Weliamunas to support the benefactors of NGO to barge here and force on us their so-called rights? I say; our religion, our history, our culture could guide us not just on human right but animal rights and all other rights. What we need is the backup to organise more and more temple base organisations to propagate them.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ I also say, unchecked and open-ended NGOs are a disaster to this country. So, the government must enact laws to check them without delay. The sooner the government do that the better for all.

5 Responses to “Unchecked and open-ended NGOs are a disaster to this country.”

  1. Nanda Says:

    Very true. We are yet to see any control measures, although the government is awre of it.

  2. A. Sooriarachi Says:

    Very true article exposing the hypocrisy of NGOs funded by Former Colonial Powers, Evangelist and trouble makers like Norway. However, they themselves know that they are lying and will carry on with their distortions, as each derogatory statement made by them is carefully preserved and reproduced and recycled by their network of NGOs, to justify their future actions. Since the West cannot invade independent nations without finding an excuse, as they did in Iraq and Afganistan (and Iran lined up for the next kill), they also have these NGOs to act as their fifth column in nations too independent for their comfort.

  3. S de Silva Says:

    I could not agree with you more, particularly on the urgency of implementing your last paragraph. The GoSL should act on this subject with great speed while it has the support of the vast majority. Who is this Weliamuna anyway !!? –
    S de Silva – London, England

  4. jay-ran Says:

    GOSL and the citizens of Sri Lanka observed at what height many of these treacherous INGOs were involeved helping LTTE in putting up binckers,earth bunds, providing arms and ammuitions, communications equipments, providing vehicles etc etc during the last lap of the war.
    Therefore strict regulations needs to be laid down to monitor their sinister activities.

  5. Fran Diaz Says:

    INGOs & NGOs need to regulated, and fast ! After 500 yrs of Colonial Rule, and gaining Independence from the British in 1948, we are still trying to get things right here in Lanka. Remember that America too gained independence from the British (1776), and this vast democracy is still in the process of setting things right within itself. Let’s all get it right !

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