Nalin de Silva

What does Mangala Samaraweera, the man who held a Buddha Statue at Punchi Borella while he was a minister, by the neck, showing that he has no respect at all for Bududahama, Budunvahanse or Sinhala Buddhism want? Apparently he is omniscient. He knows exactly what happened at Nolimit, Panadura. He told the press within six hours of the incident, how somebody had set fire to the building having entered from the top floor. It is still not known whether he knew that some people attached to the business venture were sleeping on the same floor.

He knows in detail what happened at Aluthgama Beruwala area and also of the role played by intelligence officers. He knows that the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) is responsible for the incidents, and asks why Ven. Galgodaatte Gnaasara Thera is not arrested. However nobody would ask why Mangala Samaraweera is not arrested for “revealing” the names of the intelligence officers, as everybody knows that the frustrated politician wants to be a hero by being taken into custody.

One would say that when there is a person of the calibre of Mangala Samaraweera who appears to be omniscient there is no need for a Criminal Investigation Department, but there are incidents such as the theft in his house on the banks of Panadura Ganga (Bolgoda Lake) where he did not know how it happened with the involvement of one of his errand boys.

Sri Lankan politics

It is clear from the days when Mangala Samaraweera formed the Ratavesi Peramuna with some present day patriots who were probably not that patriotic then, Mangala Samaraweera wanted to be in power. If he was instrumental in forming the parivasa (probationary) government with the JVP, during Chandrika days it was his ambition for power that made him come to some understanding with Somawansa Amarasinghe and his boys in red shirts.

Those were the days when Mahinda Rajapaksa was not heard of as the SLFP under Chandrika had no place for Medamulana. If Mahinda Rajapaksa did not become the President of the country, Mangala Samaraweera would still be in the SLFP, with most probably Prabhakaran being the ruler of the Northern and Eastern Provinces.

Mangala Samaraweera had his political avamangala, the day he joined the UNP, when he was not given the portfolio wanted by the President. People cannot be too ambitious especially in politics, and it is good to know the limitations.

Mangala Samaraweera does not know his limitations, and as a result he has no future in Sri Lankan politics. Now his anti Sinhala Buddhist attitudes have come to the fore and he wants to follow the devil who smashed the pots and pans before he left (yana yaka koraha bindagena yema). Mangala Samaraweera is now interested only in smashing and destroying Sinhala Buddhism (as a culture) before his political dead body is buried.

I am not a fan of Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), but I will defend it against people, especially those middle class enlightened hypocrite Sinhala Buddhists who accuse the organisation for so called aggressiveness. BBS is protecting Sinhala Buddhism, as a culture, and if not for such organisations and individuals, the “pious” Buddhists would not have been able to contemplate on Nibbana let alone attaining Nibbana. It is not difficult to store all the books on Bududahama in a library, may be the British Museum Library of all the libraries, without a Buddhist culture.

It may be good for enlightened middle class Buddhists to have a chat (is it a discourse) on Paticcasamuppada over a drink (not soft), but without a Buddhasasana nothing will come out of the discussion except a feeling of superiority over yakos like me. However, even in Paticasamuppada the enlightened would try their best to revise Vinnana paccaya namarupan, namarupa paccaya vinnanan, to satisfy the British Museum librarian and others claiming that it is cyclic and not logical!

Once I came across the problem of convincing a well known Professor of Sinhala who had obtained a Master’s degree in Buddhist Psychology that Paticcasamuppada contained this particular statement. He did not believe that Bududahama follows a cyclic Chinthanaya and not a linear Chinthanaya.

These enlightened “pious” Buddhists probably do not know that Ven. Mohottiwatte Gunananda Thera bicycled to Colombo in sarong, and carried Buddhist flags in iron bars when the perahera (procession) at Kotahena had to be organised amidst opposition. Anagarika Dharmapala also reminded the Sinhala Buddhists that they had no leaders, and that the suddas will go back leaving kalusuddas to rule them.

Aluthgama Beruwala incidents

Many enlightened Buddhists together with non Buddhists would accuse Ven. Gnanasara Thera for inciting the people at Aluthgama, and they have already come to the conclusion that it was the speech made by the Thera that contributed to the havoc in the area.

Mangala Samaraweera goes a step further pointing his fingers with which he held the Buddha statue by the neck, at intelligence officers as well. I do not want to go into a discussion on cause according to western philosophy following the Scottish Philosopher David Hume but some of these pundits who still debate on the cause of the Agrochemical Kidney Disease while the poor patients continue to die to maintain the supremacy of western medicine, when they can be cured by paramparika vedamahattayas, and unfortunately when Natha Deviyo is more interested in rice business than in curing the patients, have already come to the conclusion that Ven. Gnanasara Thera is the culprit.

It should be left to the Police to investigate whether the BBS as an organisation is involved with the Aluthgama Beruwala incidents and produce the office-bearers and others before a court of law, if necessary. Of course, one could say that the police is not impartial and one is helpless when the BBS goes on attacking innocent Muslims and others. However, I am at a quandary when people including the enlightened Buddhists accuse only the Sinhala Buddhists and their organisations over “ethnic” and “religious” violence.

The Aluthgama Beruwala incidents may have sparked off as a result of an incident involving a Bhikku going for a Dharmadeshana on the Poson Poya day. However, what is ignored is that there are problems hidden under the surface that are not discussed. There is resentment on the part of the Sinhala people not only the Buddhists but the Catholics as well over Muslim expansionism, Muslim cultural aggressiveness etc., that should be discussed openly instead of appeals by Sarvaagamika organisations to be calm after an incident.

The Sinhala Buddhists though always portrayed as racists are not racist at all. If that was the case the Muslim vendors would not have thrived in business over centuries in the country, and also people such as Bakeer Marker from Beruwala, Fowzie from Colombo central would not have been elected to the Parliament. Fowzie is sometimes called Ela Fowzie (as good as elakiri or cow milk) by the Sinhala people and it is with their preferential vote that he finds himself at the top end of the list of elected MPs. I wonder whether the phenomenon is reciprocal.

I have my objections to the BBS especially when they are pro western and it appears that there are currents within currents that have to be taken into consideration. However, Mangala Samaraweera is on a different wicket and it is very doubtful that he is pro Muslim countries when it comes to international politics. Incidentally it is not the Muslim countries that issued statements over the Aluthgama Beruwala incidents but the Western countries spearheaded by USA and England.

Mangala Samaraweera is only interested in tarnishing the image of the Sinhala Buddhism with the intention of destroying it. I am not sure whether he is an enlightened pious Sinhala Buddhist but he is expecting the avamangala (funeral) of Sinhala Buddhism in the country. He has to be reminded that he is neither the first person nor would he be the last person to work for the avamangala of Sinhala Buddhism, which has survived even after direct rule by the Europeans