Shenali D Waduge

when missionaries came we had the land, they had the Bible.
We closed our eyes for prayer and opened them,
only to find they had the land and we had the Bible”. –Desmond Tutu

Tamil leaders claim they represent the rights & grievances of the Tamils. Muslim leaders do the same. Religions from colonial invasions fund and represent their flock’s But, do Sinhalese Buddhists have any present day leaders that stand for and are proud of the Sinhala Buddhist heritage, who sincerely and genuinely wish to reverse the discriminations suffered by the Sinhalese? Do we have leaders to demand the return of the Sinhale nation that was taken over by colonial invaders while post-colonial systems are camouflaged to continue a neocolonial imperial drive that aims solely to replace Sinhala Buddhists in Sri Lanka marginalizing them through pro-Western rhetoric? It is only the patriotic few and the public who are today defending their nation. The Tamils have India to turn to. The Muslims have over 50 nations of the Muslim world, the Christians/Catholic have the Vatican and a network of other establishments all connected and linked to Western Governments. Do the Sinhala Buddhists have such support to protect an ethnic population that evolved in Sri Lanka and lives only in Sri Lanka and a pristine religion that Sri Lanka has guarded for centuries? Sinhala Buddhists can’t be on politicians ‘want list’ only when elections come. The people who built this nation and are fighting to preserve it deserve far better.

Give to Sinhalese the place they deserve. Give to Buddhism the place it deserves. It is their historical right.

Protect the status of the Sinhala Buddhist majority that built the Sinhale nation

1. Recognise Sri Lanka as a predominantly Buddhist country and uphold the Sinhala Buddhist civilization and its ethos constitutionally and legally. (for over 2600 years Buddhism was State religion invited by royal invitation and the compassionate nature of Buddhism ensured treatment of all sentient beings and even visitors with compassion)

2. Secure the foremost status of Buddhism and foster Buddhism both within and outside the country while ensuring the right to freedom of religious practice for all other religions (right to practice religion does not entitle the head offices of these religions based overseas to strategically change the pre- existing and current religious and cultural landscape of Sri Lanka to create one where their religion becomes majority with time)

3. Follow 70-30 representation – Majority Sinhala Buddhists must be assured of representation at all levels of Government, Legislature, Executive, Judiciary, Public Service etc. and across all systems, that reflects the 70% demographic ratio of Sinhala Buddhists in the country while only 30% of places in any system should be allocated to religious and ethnic minorities.

4. Allocation of housing (flats/housing schemes) & any state allocation to be based on the ethnic ratio of the country – 70% to Sinhalese & 30% to minorities to be divided at their discretion

5. Strive towards establishing a compassionate society in Sri Lanka which is all inclusive, protects all living beings and encourages peaceful co–existence between man and animal (a noble call no one can take objection to)

6. Protection of the rights of Sinhala Buddhists in particular the lower income groups and addressing their grievances on a priority basis. Tamils will have India to provide aid, Muslims have over 50 Muslim nations to provide aid, Christians/Catholics have Western Christian nations, Vatican and thousands of Christian NGOs – Sinhala Buddhists have only the State that built the nation.

7. No ethnic ghettos allowed anywhere in Sri Lanka to prevent potential uprisings in the future based on sectarian ideologies and separatist identities

8. No division or separatism to be allowed – legal action to be taken forthwith against any politician or person or entity advocating the division of Sri Lanka or laying the foundation for it under whatever nomenclature.

9. Recognize Ahimsa as a guiding principle in all endeavours of the State and discontinue state sponsorship of Buddhists to indulge in rearing animals for slaughter and export of meat products

Protecting heritage, history and natural environment

1. Legal provision to make it an Indictable for any individual/organization attempting to rewrite or fabricate the islands’ history to alien with foreign agendas and missions.

2. Declare Buddhist heritage sites as National Heritage sites providing both State protection and funds for preservation. Put an end to attempts to eliminate national heritage/history via bogey of multicultural/multifaith and internationalism using the excuse of reconciliation.

3. No other religion that can with evidence claim to have existed prior to 2600 Buddhist history can demand joint-heritage claim status Stop well planned moves to identify and declare historic Buddhist sites as multi faith sites e.g. Sri Pada. Kataragama, Dambulla etc.

4. Moratorium on construction of new places of religious worship via foreign funds coming from sources out to create ethnic/religious tension combined with their imperial expansion ideologies

5. Introduce anti-conversion bill and ensure foreign-funded conversion of Buddhists and Hindus are legally dealt with

6. Foremost place to Buddhism via Article 9 must require Buddha Sasana Ministry to task panels to regularly produce reports covering media distortions/other manipulations by western funded-NGOs (content analysis of current media to denigrate Buddhists), incursions of heritage areas/sites, brainwashing of children towards multiculturalism/multifaith in an effort to get them to abandon their links to heritage and denationalize them. Christianity has $170billion / Wahhabi slam has $87billion to promote their faith worldwide.

7. Constitutional provision that forbids political parties (elected for only a term of office) to barter heritage sites, space and historical sacred sites for their own petty political gains.

Language

1. Sinhala to be only official language of Sri Lanka

1. Tamil to be secondary language and English link language

1. Mandatory for all citizens to speak and write basic Sinhalese

1. Curriculum for non-Sinhalese to be made practical and limited to use of every day Sinhala so as to generate simply dialogue between communities.

Rights of citizens

1. Equal land rights & ownership in any part of Sri Lanka for its citizens. No law should deny the right of citizens to purchase land & live in any part of Sri Lanka (this will address current demands for only Tamil land / only Muslim land while Tamils and Muslims claim mono-ethnic enclaves while also securing right to live in all parts of Sri Lanka while Sinhalese will not have right to land or right to live in North or East. It highlights dangers of Sinhalese losing land rights in the parts they currently live when using external money Tamils and Muslims start purchasing land leaving Sinhalese a landless majority)

2. Special regulations for dual citizens/citizens marrying foreigners to ensure that land ownership (title deed) does not fall into hands of foreigners.

3. Illegal immigrants to be returned to their place of origin or wherever they came from. They have no place in Sri Lanka.

4. No ethnic based political parties as these represent only one ethnic group and are aligned to foreign sources that use these ethnic groups to cause communal and religious tension and discord in the country. No reconciliation efforts can take place with such political parties.

5. No foods to be labelled according to the religious preference of one minority religion only and applicable to all. If export foods warrant labelling such should be done for export foods only. No consumer should have to pay for food preferences of a minority religion.

6. One law applicable to all – no two laws to be allowed (civil or criminal). No sub-laws per different religions to be entertained as such did not exist pre-colonial or even post-colonial.

Education must give prominent place to National History

1. History of Sri Lanka (endorsed by a patriotic panel of educators/historians who are proud of their heritage and wish to preserve it) must be taught in every school (public, private, semi-govt & international) as a compulsory subject in the syllabus from pre-school to O/L.

2. Foreign Service and other public service must include briefings on the pre-colonial history and the real patriots/heroes of Sri Lanka not the pseudo-heroes created by foreign invaders.

History cannot disprove the fact that it was always the Sinhalese who defended the nation and its people. 1818, 1848 rebellions are prime examples of such. When 14.8million make up Sinhalese in a 20milion population, it is always the Sinhalese who come forward to save the nation. We must at this juncture be grateful for the handful of minorities who came forward to join the Sinhalese during LTTE terrorism. Unfortunately most of these minority heroes have been shot dead by the LTTE. It is only when the majority is safe that the minorities will invariably be safe as well.

Today, there are western funded militant groups tasked to destroy histories in countries and remove artefacts that end up sold for millions as collector’s items. This was how colonial invaders looted nations of Asia and Africa. These nations make money out of displaying our stolen items as exhibits in their museums.

The multicultural / multifaith initiatives are movements funded by entities who wish to create people who have no roots to their heritage and that jealousy inspires them to create systems to denationalize people and nations that are proud of their civilizational heritage and fighting to preserve what has been passed down from one generation to the other.

The nations that have civilizational histories cannot remove their histories just because some nations do not have history, heritage or cultures/value systems to be proud of or are jealous of them. 

Shenali D Waduge