{"id":103120,"date":"2020-06-02T16:13:06","date_gmt":"2020-06-02T23:13:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=103120"},"modified":"2020-06-02T16:13:06","modified_gmt":"2020-06-02T23:13:06","slug":"who-are-the-real-victims-of-ethno-religious-extremism-and-bigotry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/06\/02\/who-are-the-real-victims-of-ethno-religious-extremism-and-bigotry\/","title":{"rendered":"Who are the real victims of ethno-religious extremism and bigotry?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Rohana R. Wasala<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

One Shiffer Mohammed (SM) in an article published in a mainstream\nnational paper on May 27, 2020 expressed his apprehensions about what he called\n\u2018another ethno-religious war\u2019 breaking out in Sri Lanka, blaming it on alleged\nracism, religious extremism and bigotry prevalent against Muslims in Sri Lanka.\nHe may be genuinely concerned about his people\u2019s and others\u2019 right to be free\nfrom such threats. But it looks like he has been seriously misled by false\npropaganda targeting the peaceful, democratic, law abiding majority of the\nmultiethnic multi-religious Sri Lankan people, who are at the receiving end of\nexcesses perpetrated by certain murderous religious fundamentalist sects\nsponsored, as may be suspected, by well funded sources both domestic and\nforeign. However, why does SM talk about \u2018another\u2019 ethno-religious war? \nWhen did Sri Lanka ever have an \u2018ethno-religious war\u2019? As SM himself says, the\n30 year conflict was a \u2018terrorist war\u2019; it was not an ethnic or ethno-religious\nwar. But no one can be sure if SM\u2019s crying wolf is completely devoid of meaning\nin the present circumstances. Eastern province Muslim politician M.L.A.M.\nHisbullah also threateningly pointed out that disgruntled Muslim youth would\ntake up arms if their alleged grievances were not answered. His warnings were\nuttered some time before last year\u2019s April 21 terror bombings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be that as it may, we need not feel that alarmed. Please rest\nassured, SM. The story\/stories that led you to imagine that an ethno-religious\nwar is imminent in Sri Lanka cannot be true, whatever you may have heard or\nread to the contrary. I think you are labouring under a misapprehension\nregarding intercommunal and interreligious relations in Sri Lanka which remain\nas cordial and peaceful as ever. People of diverse faiths coexist peacefully\nunder the umbrella of the extremely tolerant and accommodating moral spiritual\nculture of the island that has evolved due to the benign influence of Buddhism\n(which itself is not a religion, though, in the ordinary sense) during the past\ntwenty three (23) centuries. Unfortunately, however, the recent incursion of a\nvariety of forms of non-Buddhist religious extremism, particularly over the\npast half century, has put a strain on this accustomed placidly salutary state\nof affairs. Anti-Sri Lanka propaganda abroad and elsewhere disseminated by\nfundamentalist sympathisers and selfish shortsighted local politicians\nexploiting them to advance their own anti-nationalist political agendas \nseems to have misled SM. It is they who want to create disharmony between the\nmainstream Muslim minority and the majority Sinhalese Buddhists. False\npropaganda of this nature is a far worse virus that is infinitely more harmful\nto the multireligious multicultural Sri Lankan people than the raging, global\npandemic causing, novel coronavirus that collective human ingenuity  will\ndefinitely overcome with the discovery of a proper remedy sooner or later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though SM has allowed himself to be misled by misinformation,\nthese days it is easy for any Sri Lankan living abroad like him to be fairly\naccurately informed about what is actually happening there through the main\nlocal media channels (not all of them, however) and the impartial independent\nsocial media networks that are available. But this is somewhat difficult if one\ndoes not have sufficient empathy with average Sri Lankan citizens. It must not\nbe forgotten that Western corporate media Al Jazeera and CNN are hopelessly\nbiased against Sri Lanka. Of course, the profusion of news on offer must be\nintelligently analysed before jumping to unwarranted conclusions such as that\n\u2018They can prolong their corrupt rule with the pretext of protecting the country\nand the Sinhala Buddhist nation, by having another so-called ethno-religious\nterrorist war\u2019, where \u2018They\u2019 refer to alleged \u2018corrupt politicians\u2019\n(presumably, of the present administration\/caretaker government). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last is a deliberately misleading statement. Some members of\nthe former Yahapalanaya are the ones who deserve such denunciation. They\ninclude some notorious characters who helped the infamous FCID to frame false\ncharges against political opponents. It is only recently, after GR became\npresident, that independent police investigations, relating to dozens of cases\nfiled against certain corrupt ministers of the previous Yahapalana regime\nduring its four and a half year term, began in ernest, free from any interference\nor undue pressure from those in power. Among the former ministers facing\ncorruption and power abuse investigations are some powerful but opportunistic\nMuslim politicians who cannot survive in politics without the help of\ncommunalism, and they are raising a hue and cry about non-existent racism and\nreligious extremism among Sinhalese Buddhists. SM is unwittingly and\naccidentally throwing a lifeline to these corrupt Muslim politicos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, there is a thick smokescreen of false propaganda against the\nSinhalese Buddhist majority island nation, which is just emerging or struggling\nto do so from a period of unprecedented threats to its independence,\nsovereignty, and territorial integrity. November 2019 produced an eagerly\nawaited change in the form of a new executive president being elected.\nPresident Gotabhaya has not been a politician before. He has a clean,\ndistinguished track record as a decorated military officer of twenty years, and\nas an efficient civil administrator for ten years during the presidency of his\nbrother Mahinda (2005-15). Five years of witch-hunting by the Yahapalanaya\nfound no evidence of corruption against them. It is completely unjustified for\nSM to claim that the  ruling politicians today want to prolong their\n\u2018corrupt rule\u2019 under the pretext of \u2018protecting the country and the Sinhala\nBuddhist nation\u2019. The pre-poll minority government finds itself\nconstitutionally handicapped. President GR is unable to implement his well\nconceived plans for the restoration of good governance and sound economic\ndevelopment because of the absence of an elected parliament. The Covid-19\nemergency has made the situation worse. However, the pandemic is being\ncontained and controlled with commendable efficiency.  It is now\nnationally and internationally appreciated that, had it not been for Gotabaya\nand Mahinda at the helm, the challenge would not have been met so quickly and\nwith such success. People are convinced that a parliament must be elected that\ncan work with the president without being a stumbling block to him. The corrupt\npoliticians of the opposition who are stoking communalism through false\npropaganda do so because they fear elections to be held before they have had\nenough time to demonise those who stand to win. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What SM imprecisely and misleadingly calls \u2018Protecting the country\nand the Sinhala Buddhist nation\u2019 is a much misconstrued subject among Sri Lanka\nbashers.  But, in reality, it is a supremely worthy cause for the\nnationalists of all communities who make Sri Lanka their home. Nationalists do\nnot talk about a \u2018Sinhala Buddhist nation\u2019, but a country of the Sinhalese\n(Sinhale) whose age-old religious cultural core is Buddhist; a geographical or\nterritorial entity where people of diverse races and religions live peaceably\nas equal citizens without suffering discrimination of any kind; The dominant\nhost  culture which is Buddhist and hence ideally democratic is the cement\nthat gives cohesiveness to this whole. Throughout their history the Sinhalese\nhave fought for the Buddhist religious establishment and the country whose\nheart it is as a single cherished object. That is why historians maintain that\nfor the Sinhalese jaatyalaya or love of the nation has always been territorial\nand not racial. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Detractors of the national endeavour to protect the country and\nthe nation (people whose home it is) wrongly assume that Sri Lanka\u2019s\nnationalism is an exclusive anti-democratic totalitarian Sinhala Buddhist\npolitical ideology. It is not. Sri Lanka has been the inalienable homeland of\nthe Sinhalese from time immemorial. In ancient times it was known as Sinhale,\nthe country of the Sinhalese. They had been a civilized people long before\nBuddhism arrived in the 3rd century BCE. The Sinhalese have had an unbroken\nhistory of over two thousand three hundred years (since the official\nintroduction of Buddhism) of having been shaped by the extremely accommodating\ninclusive Buddhist religious culture. Tamil and Muslim minorities have lived in\npeaceful harmony with the majority community for the last one thousand years of\nthe country\u2019s long history. No religious culture in the world better\naccommodates diverse other religions and allows them to coexist with it in\ncomplete freedom and safety  than the Sinhalese Buddhist culture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore the reality is that there is no widespread racism or\nreligious bigotry in Sri Lanka as alleged by SM. This false charge of racism\nand religious bigotry arose principally because some young Buddhist monks and\nlay persons who decades ago became aware of the unacceptable activities of\ncertain extremist religious groups funded from abroad, started peacefully\nprotesting against them, and appealed to the authorities (of the government and\nthe Mahanayake officialdom). These activities include forced conversions,\nvandalizing and encroachment of ancient Buddhist places of worship, and other\nalleged hostile acts against Buddhists. The fundamentalist groups have been a\nproblem to traditional Muslim and Christian mainstreams as much as to Buddhists\nand Hindus. Politicians in power have to date avoided getting involved in\nfinding solutions to this problem because they fear unpopularity among minority\nvoters who are under the sway of certain communalistic minority politicians who\nthemselves succumb to the secret coercion of the few fundamentalist elements\nusually sponsored from moneyed sources abroad. Money and media have turned\nthese monks into terrorists and lawless mischief-makers. Had they had been\ntaken seriously, the April 21 tragedies last year would have been avoided.\n(These are not frivolous assertions; they are based on evidence as can be found\nby anyone interested enough.)  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Racism and bigotry charges against Buddhists are  being\nrepeated with increasing vehemence these days, partly because general elections\nare in the offing. This has also been indirectly triggered by extremists\nexploiting the fact that restrictions imposed by health authorities on the\nperformance of last rites and disposal of dead bodies of Covid-19 victims in\naccordance with WHO guidelines have touched a raw nerve among people of\ndifferent religious faiths experiencing bereavement. In some countries these\nrestrictions can be and are relaxed or modified without violating the mandatory\nprecautions prescribed (eg., as to the mode of disposal: burial or cremation)\ngiven available options; but where Sri Lanka is concerned, choices are\nextremely limited. That situation should not be interpreted as discrimination\nagainst the adherents of a particular religious persuasion. But political\nopportunists cash in on those unalterable circumstances. Opportunistic Muslim\npoliticos do this because there is no real \u2018ethno-religious cauldron in Sri\nLanka\u2019 for them to benefit from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tragic plight of the real victims of these offences is\nthat they get labelled as the offenders around the world through false\npropaganda, and their cries of protest are not heard even in the mainstream\nmedia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Rohana R. Wasala One Shiffer Mohammed (SM) in an article published in a mainstream national paper on May 27, 2020 expressed his apprehensions about what he called \u2018another ethno-religious war\u2019 breaking out in Sri Lanka, blaming it on alleged racism, religious extremism and bigotry prevalent against Muslims in Sri Lanka. He may be genuinely concerned […]<\/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-103120","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\/103120","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=103120"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103120\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}