Sri Lanka will only survive if we see ourselves as Sri Lankans
Posted on December 2nd, 2018

Nirmala de Soyza 

It is very sad to read some of the comments people post and realize that there are still people out there who think they are patriots solely because they label themselves as ‘Sinhala Buddhists’.  They insult and make ungrounded allegations against Sri Lankans of other religions and other communities as if they alone are the guardians of this country.

I would like to ask these people on what facts they base their prejudices.  Can they claim that Sinhala Buddhists never desecrate their country by –

Throwing their garbage in the oceans and rivers, in he wilderness or on the roadside?

Encroaching into wildlife reserves?

Misbehaving and disrupting the habitat of wildlife when they visit nature reserves?

Engaging in illicit sand mining?

Killing or entrapping protected species for sport or gain?

Cutting down forests for personal gain?

Circumventing the laws of the land, for personal gain?

I could go on, but this should suffice to make my meaning clear.

These activities all physically destroy our country, so if Sinhala Buddhists also engage in such vandalism, they are no better than anyone else.  They can have no greater claims on the country.

We should all just try to understand that we are nothing more and nothing less than citizens of this country called Sri Lanka, and be proud to call ourselves ‘Sri Lankans‘.  The actions of those who call themselves ‘Sinhala Buddhists’ only serve to alienate our brothers and sisters of other communities.  They weaken our Sri Lankan family.  They destroy our Sri Lankan home.

It should not be of any importance to you or to anyone else that you belong historically to the Sinhala, Tamil or Muslim community.  Keep your Sinhala Buddhist -ness, your Tamil Hindu -ness or your Muslim or Christian -ness for your festivals and weddings and funerals.  Keep that part of your identity for your private life alone.

Do not put the accent on these minor differences – they are tearing our country apart.  All of us are the losers when we start fighting among ourselves.

When we highlight our differences we invite foreigners to once again plunder and pillage our country, our sovereignty.

Be clever, Sri Lankans!

3 Responses to “Sri Lanka will only survive if we see ourselves as Sri Lankans”

  1. NeelaMahaYoda Says:

    Nirmala

    1. As you can see from the articles published on Lankaweb, quite number of Muslims and Tamils also contribute to the discussion forum.

    As the Cricketer Muralitharan pointed out recently, the majority (more than 77%) Sri Lankans are Sinhala Buddhists, and we all should learn to respect the aspirations of the majority and appreciate their legitimate rights.

    The country is the people, the land, and the culture. There is no harm in identifying oneself as Sinhala Buddhist, or Sinhala Christian or Tamil Christian

    If you’re going to complain about aspirations of the majority, why do it with an intolerant attitude? At least, make your complaints civil.

    2. If you really want to analyse who are the people who encroaching into wildlife reserves? According to newspaper reports It is evident that some Muslim politicians are involved in illegal settlements in the wildlife reserves in the North and East.

    3. Misbehaving and disrupting the habitat of wildlife when they visit nature reserves? Majority Sinhala Buddhists do not engage in illegal fishing and hunting in the national reserves. Muslims and Christians are responsible.

    4. Engaging in illicit sand mining? Don’t blame Sinhala Buddhists for this crime. It is politician.

    5. Killing or entrapping protected species for sport or gain? Majority Sinhala Buddhists do not engage in illegal fishing and hunting in the national reserves. Muslims and Christians are responsible.

    6. Cutting down forests for personal gain? Don’t blame Sinhala Buddhists again. Christian and Buddhist Politicians are responsible

    7. Circumventing the laws of the land, for personal gain? Christian and Buddhist Politicians are responsible

  2. Randeniyage Says:

    Well pointed out by NMYoda. Thank you.

    May I add some facts to No. 2.

    Jassim City opened November 2014 just before elections. Before presidential elections ALL Sinhala politicians promote this concept of seeing ourselves as Sri Lankans but take horrible actions behaving extremists Muslim or Tamil extremists.

    Despite the claims by Rishard Badaudin, evidence shown before the courts in the form of satellite photographs that there were no Muslim settlements there but virgin forest. Even if we assume some small village existed ( with the old place of worship) it is not right to clear an enormous amount of forest and construct highway like facilities and reserve all that land for Muslims only.

    Survival has nothing to do with destroying identity of races. In Singapore and Malaysia, identity cards and passports always classify according to race, Chinese, Malays, Indian and Others. These countries are doing much more than surviving. These countries also do continual stock taking of what percentages of races exist real time.
    Lee Kuan Yew said “We must keep racial balance” of the country. Electoral boundaries, allocation of flats ,even jobs and University places are being done based on this concept.

    Ref. “https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/5058/d1bc358fe18944e8aaa399e422f74d0fed75.pdf”

  3. Ratanapala Says:

    As I always say, what needs to be discussed in greater detail are the implications of giving into Eelam. The general populace should know these, beginning with a non-enforceable border -( see Eelam borders of 1980 and that of today), unimpeded kallathoni influx, water wars, next phase of Eelam to join up with hill country Tamils to secure Mahaveli waters and endless war for Sri Lank for the foreseeable future and eventual annexation by India and if not a fate similar to Libya, Iraq, South Sudan and Syria!

    The above should be the main discussion and not just simply say no to Eelam! All Sri Lankans and the world must know of this impending treachery! Tamils and Muslims are better off if they leave the belligerent and self destructive path they have outlined for their people and get on amicably with the majority Sinhalese.

    Most importantly, Sinhalese must leave both the UNP and the SLFP and form a government without minority assistance that will no room for the Shylocks asking for their pound of flesh. Samabandans, Hakims and Baithurdeens keep their people impoverished for their personal gain.

    For Sri Lanka to have a stable government the Sinhalese must unite leaving aside old party affiliations.

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

 

 


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