{"id":101146,"date":"2020-04-14T17:22:19","date_gmt":"2020-04-15T00:22:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=101146"},"modified":"2020-04-14T17:22:19","modified_gmt":"2020-04-15T00:22:19","slug":"canines-and-the-moving-caravan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/04\/14\/canines-and-the-moving-caravan\/","title":{"rendered":"Canines and the moving caravan"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Rohana R. Wasala<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

This article was partly inspired by\nOrpheus Perera\u2019s commendable writeup under the title \u2018Open letter from the\nChinese embassy to the Editor of the Wijaya Newspaper\u2019\/Posted April 11, though\nmy subject is not the same as his. As Perera\u2019s article suggests, there are more\nplausible explanations of the actual origin of the novel Coronavirus than what\nthe West-controlled media want us to believe. At the moment the Chinese\ngovernment appears to be playing it cool (perhaps because they know, and want\nto show, that they are blameless), while trying to combat and contain the\nunexpected COVID-19 outbreak and its fallout in and outside China. Dr Palitha\nKohona, our former UN Ambassador, described how the Americans tried to\nprematurely pin the label of perpetrator on China in an informative article\npublished here in Lankaweb a month or so ago. The Americans’ apparent\nprescience was a clear giveaway on their part. Neutral websites are awash with\nfactual articles that direct suspicion in the same direction. The Canadian Global\nResearch – The Centre for Research on Globalization has already published a\nnumber of papers on the subject. We have also enjoyed reading a few interesting\ncontributions dealing with the subject from some fellow Lankaweb writers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a different note, Perera’s\nmention of a so-called faith healer named ‘Digana Kumara’ deserves a comment\ntoo. The fellow must be the same person known elsewhere as ‘Deegala Kumara’,\nnot Digana Kumara, unless the latter is another potential religious crook of\nthe same kind or an alias for the former. I think Deegala Kumara was reportedly\nin police custody over the incident involving the bread allergic child brought\nto him for faith healing. There were You Tube videos of this man’s faith\nhealing gatherings attended by unimaginably large crowds of  patients, who\nwere overwhelmingly Buddhists as could be guessed (nominal, no doubt). Of\ncourse, the videos could be spliced ones of unrelated masses of people like\nelection rallies, meant to exaggerate the numbers. But, again, DK’s videos may\nbe showing authentic numbers, considering the largeness of the bovine\npopulation among Sri Lanka’s rural Buddhists; their participation in such\nunbuddhistic rituals is a disgrace to their Buddhist identity; these idiots who\nare mesmerized by mere talk will be more vulnerable to the non-viral\nnon-bacterial mad cow disease than to Corona. Plainly the mass meetings, in\ntone and substance, are non-Buddhist events, while nevertheless externally\nexhibiting Buddhist symbols like the multicoloured Buddhist flag, and the\npicture of the lotus, which are actually misappropriated by the organizers as\ndecorative camouflage. There is no faith healing in Buddhism. Of course, there\nare charlatans who claim to effect cures through occult powers, but these are not\noffered as Buddhist practices.  It looks like that there is some well\nfunded evangelical movement behind this superstition vendor’s activities. He\nkeeps the venues of the meetings secret. It is up to young You Tubers to expose\nhypocrites like this. There is another very musical evangelical\npreacher\/stalker who suddenly exclaims \u2018Jesus is the Supreme Truth\u2019 in the\nmiddle of his speeches to large crowds of mostly Buddhists with yellow robed\nmen in the guise of Buddhist monks on the stage (which is reassuring to the\nlargely gullible audiences). He affirms or asserts his personal religious\nbelief among Buddhists thus maybe because of his implicit faith in Buddhist\ntolerance. But it is no compliment to Buddhist tolerance, but really an\naffront. This man might do the same in front of an Hindu audience without\nmishap. But he must ask himself if he\u2019d dare wear his religious heart on his\nsleeve before non-Buddhist (or non-Hindu) audience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Probably, in answer to the well\nknown characterization of Buddhism as a wholesome practical ethical philosophy\nthat agrees with modern scientific thinking and as an antidote to the evil of\nreligion, the very idea of religion being rejected as delusion, superstition in\nthe Buddhist teaching, this sly zealot has lately begun, tongue in cheek, to\ndenounce religion (!) as I heard him doing in a video interview recently. It is\nno harm if he shares his wisdom with people in public speaking engagements for\nwhich he gets paid as probably he is a professional in the field. But his\nproselytizing zeal should not transgress the borders of others\u2019 religious\nspaces. It is possible that he justifies his tresspasses as aimed at religious\nreconciliation. However, religious reconciliation is an attractive but\nultimately meaningless slogan; striving for so-called religious reconciliation\nis not an actual necessity, because, there has to date been no discernible\nenmity among people of different religions in Sri Lanka, where the extremely\ntolerant and accommodating Buddhist and Hindu religious cultures dominate,\nexcept for the deliberate irritation or provocation caused to some young\nBuddhist monks by the outrageous invasive activities of a handful of religious\nextremists associated with, but not representative of, the two traditionall\nmainstream Christian and Muslim communities. The tragic reality is, though,\nthat the moment the monks point out these atrocious acts of aggression with\ndocumentary evidence and firsthand accounts of  witnesses from among\ntraditional Christians and Muslims themselves who have suffered at the hands of\nthose fanatics, the monks are misinterpreted and attacked as intolerant\nmischief makers, thugs, racists, xenophobes, etc. The way the outspoken Bodu\nBala Sena leader Ven G. Gnanasara was treated by the previous regime was despicable\nto say the least. An allegedly large contingent of armed police on the\ninstructions of the now virtually disgraced former IGP Pujith Jayasundara tried\nto intercept the monk and arrest him like an escaping bandit or terrorist or\nmurderer around 10 o\u2019clock at night oneday when he was returning to his\nmonastery tired and exhausted after a busy day having participated in a series\nof religious events; only the enraged intervention of the passing-by drivers\nand local residents prevented the police from arresting him there and then (to\nbefit the rogue image falsely and criminally attributed to this upright monk by\nthe religious fanatics and minority racists that he angered by opposing them.\n(There was, at that time, a You Tube video of this incident from which I\ngathered this information years ago; even then I was living abroad). No main\nparty politician in or out of power, has ever uttered a word in support of this\nmonk\u2019s genuine dedication to his extremely legitimate cause – protecting the\ncountry and the Buddha Sasana from religious fanatics and vandals – except for\nGotabhaya Rajapaksa (who was not a politician) when he was Secretary of\nDefence. GR, engrossed with countless responsibilities on his shoulders as the\nlive wire between the political leadership and the military during the decisive\nfinal phase of the war on separatist terrorism, first shouted at him and drove\nhim away, as the monk claimed only recently, when he went to see him once with\nhis complaints. But, later he relented and listened to him patiently; he\nunderstood the justness of the monk\u2019s previous outbursts, and even implemented\nlawful practical solutions (e.g., removal of unauthorized structures from the\nKuragala archaeological Buddhist site in the Balangoda area. Lawless enemies\nand political opportunists fabricated stories about a secret liaison of a\npolitical nature between the monk and Gotabhaya. This was in order to undermine\nthe pre-2015 Rajapaksa administration. There was not an iota of truth in those\nstories, but they did a lot of unimaginable damage to the country,\nfacilitating, among other evils, the growth of  unprovoked Islamic\nterrorism that culminated in the devastating Easter Sunday suicide bomb blasts\non April 21 last year (2019) that left over 270 dead and 500+ injured, some grievously.\nTowards the end of the former Rajapaksa government, Gotabhaya had promised Ven.\nGnanasara that he\u2019d fix the Islamic extremist problem within three months\n(which would have involved nothing more than the fearless assertion of the\ncountry\u2019s laws in the relevant context), when the unexpected exit of that\ntriumphant administration in January 2015 was engineered by local reactionary\nforces in collusion with global geopolitical meddlers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Corona outbreak seems to have\ngiven these treacherous elements new hope and the gumption to think of\nrekindling the doused fires of minority racial and religious extremism against\nthe nationalist camp. There is an FB video of a group of militant sounding\nMuslim activists called \u2018Safeguarding the rights of Muslims in Sri Lanka\u2019,\nwhich must have drawn the attention of the security forces. Its threats are too\nopenly menacing to be ignored. What about the stockpiles of knives and swords\nhidden in mosques discovered in searches conducted after the Easter bombings\n(as shown in TV newcasts over a few days following the atrocity? Remember how\nthe then army commander made light of these unheard of hauls of knives and\nswords, some of them freshly imported from somewhere (China?), claiming that he\nhimself had four or five swords at his house, something not likely to be true?\nDid the Sinhalese  make any unnecessary noise about these lethal weapons\n(whose potential target was not difficult to guess in the circumstances,\nleaving it to the security and law enforcement authorities to deal with\nwhatever was amiss if that was the case? Some Buddha statues were vandalized by\nsome young Muslims in Mawanella, but Buddhists did not take the law into their\nhands against them. A secret hoard of weapons believed to belong to a suspected\nIslamic terror outfit was discovered by police in an abandoned coconut estate\nin Wanathawilluwa in the Puttalam district, before last April attacks, but\nnothing apparently was done about the discovery. The bombings took place. The\nforeign NGOs and media were unpleasantly surprised when it was found that it\nwas not the work of Buddhists. Groups of shocked citizens, the majority of them\nBuddhists queued up to donate blood, and to help injured survivors and bereaved\nfamilies. This haphazard catalogue of  atrocities that didn\u2019t provoke any\nretaliatory violence from the constantly slandered Buddhists is to show that\nthis long tradition of Buddhist bashing is very unfair. Even the scattered\nincidents that took place elsewhere than where the Islamic attacks took place, that\ntoo about a month after those incidents, were found to have been the work of\nmischief makers brought from other areas just to try and implicate Buddhists in\nviolent incidents against Muslims; as those miscreants were strangers to the\narea they just targeted the houses and business places of both communities\nindiscriminately. The victimization of Buddhists wherever there was violence\nusually went unremarked or unreported by the biased media. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is because the Sinhalese who\nhave an unbroken spiritual tradition with a recorded history of over two\nthousand three hundred years are nevertheless a global minority with few\nfriends around the world. They are therefore obliged to fall back on their own\ndefences and ensure their survival themselves. It will be a constant struggle\nfor ensuring the survival of our distinct  race ennobled by the heroic\ndeeds of our ancestors of yore, our unique linguistic heritage, our Buddhist\nspiritual tradition, our inalienable motherland of countless millennia. Sinhalese\nBuddhists, as a patriotic Buddhist monk said recently, stop living in their\ncountry as if they were mere boarders there, but as its owners, which they\nreally are. When the Sinhalese Buddhists flourish, the racial and religious\nminority communities sharing the same land and the same resources in perfect\nharmony and goodwill ensured by the most humane and inclusive Buddhist culture\nwill automatically flourish too. Asserting this historical reality should not\nbe identified as racism. There cannot be a Sri Lankan nation without due\nrecognition being given to this fact. It is only when the citizens are inspired\nby this nationalist fervour that they make sacrifices in the name of the\ncountry in critical situations, be they outbreaks of terrorist violence or\nglobal pandemics like what we are going through at this moment.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, the Buddhist monks who are\nalways roundly condemned for their alleged violence do not, in reality, try to\ngrab land or anything else belonging to others; they don\u2019t mean to convert\npeople of other faiths; they do not discriminate against anyone on the grounds\nof religion or race when they come to them for help in any critical situation.\nYet, monk bashing has become a tradition in Buddhist majority Sri Lanka today;\nnay, it is a long standing tradition that is now intensifying, because \u2018the\nworm has turned.\u2019 This must stop.  All Sri Lankans have a responsibility\nto look into their genuine grievances if any and implement remedies as\nappropriate within the framework of one country, one state, and one law. The\nsame must apply to the minority racial and religious communities as well\nwithout any discrimination. All Sri Lankans remaining as one nation is the only\nway we can survive as an independent sovereign country. What would be the\nsituation today in the face of the COVID-19 epidemic if the country had been divided\ninto nine provincial administrations each with separate land and police powers?\nUnless the non-racist, non-fanatical, absolutely democratic nationalist camp\nthat comprises the sensible Sri Lankans belonging to all communities win the\nnext general election and form a stable government with Gotabhaya as the\nexecutive president and become able to reinforce its unitary status as an\nindependent sovereign state, the majority community will remain in the doldrums\nfor the foreseeable future, but are bound to rebound with might and main,\nsooner or later, sooner than later. The caravan that is the inclusive\naccommodating cosmopolitan Sinhale nation will move on though dogs bark.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Rohana R. Wasala This article was partly inspired by Orpheus Perera\u2019s commendable writeup under the title \u2018Open letter from the Chinese embassy to the Editor of the Wijaya Newspaper\u2019\/Posted April 11, though my subject is not the same as his. As Perera\u2019s article suggests, there are more plausible explanations of the actual origin of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[91],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-101146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rohana-r-wasala"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101146\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}