{"id":91367,"date":"2019-07-13T16:25:28","date_gmt":"2019-07-13T23:25:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=91367"},"modified":"2019-07-13T16:28:55","modified_gmt":"2019-07-13T23:28:55","slug":"listen-to-the-roaring-lambs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/07\/13\/listen-to-the-roaring-lambs\/","title":{"rendered":"LISTEN TO THE ROARING LAMBS"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0 <\/span>Rohana R. Wasala<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

It would probably not be an exaggeration to say that more outrage\nwas expressed by interested parties at an incidental comment made by the Most\nVenerable Warakagoga Gnanarathana, the Mahanayake Thera of the Asgiriya\nChapter, during an anusasanawa (homily) than at the April 21 Easter Sunday\nsuicide bombings by Wahhabi Islamists. He was presiding over a religious event\nconducted at the Dodamwela Diyakelinawela Kitsirimewan Raja Maha Viharaya on\nJune 15, 2019. The social and printed media were immediately awash with\ncondemnations of the senior monk\u2019s remarks taken out of their context. They\ntried to stress the monk\u2019s alleged pro-Sinhalese Buddhist extremism and his\nanti-Muslim hatred. They have decided that the Mahanayake Thera has committed\nan offence that is worse than what the Islamist suicide bomber Saharan did and\nwhat the doctor at Kurunegala hospital is accused of having done, put together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An Indian website (The Wire) reported that hundreds of Muslim\nrefugees fled Negambo as communal tensions flared up, following the Mahanayake\nThera\u2019s speech (Since no Sri Lankan source confirmed it, this could very well\nbe a fabrication). The same website quoted  Mangala Samaraweera, minister\nof finance, as having stated that \u2018true Buddhists\u2019 should unite against the\n\u2018Talibanization\u2019 of the religion. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu of the NGO known as\nthe Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) lodged a complaint with the Acting\nInspector General of Police C.D. Wickremaratne against the monk, wanting him to\nbe arrested for allegedly saying, according to Saravanamuttu\u2019s interpretation,\nthat a certain Muslim doctor should be stoned to death for the crime of having\nsurreptitiously sterilized a large number of Sinhalese mothers without their\nprior knowledge and consent by restricting the fallopian tube during cesarean\nsection operations that he had  performed at a hospital in Kurunegala.\n(The problem is that this racist NGO Tamil with no following even among his own\npeople refuses to recognise the gravity of the allegations against the doctor.)\nThe CPA also made a complaint to the UNHCR High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet,\nwho, in an immediate response during her address to the organization\u2019s 41st\nSession, has expressed concern about statements made by \u2018certain religious\nleaders advocating violence\u2019. The Dalai Lama (obviously fed with false news\nfrom similarly biased sources) has condemned the Asgiriya Prelate\u2019s alleged comment\nwithout reservations, and his criticism is likely to have a negative impact\neven on Buddhist opinion around the world regarding the senior Sri Lankan\nmonk\u2019s random remarks and more importantly, on their impressions about\ninter-communal  and interreligious relations in Sri Lanka, which, in\nreality, remain quite healthy. The case represents one tragic aspect of Sri\nLankans\u2019 present sorry plight. They are reported on by local and global media\nthat don\u2019t or pretend not to, understand them or their problems, or their\ndifferent ethnic identities; most unfortunate of all is their deliberate\noversight of the real existential threats that Sri Lankans as a nation are\nactually facing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part of the problem is the fact that only a person who knows the\nsubtly expressive Sinhala colloquial idiom well and is familiar with the sort\nof speech context in which the words were uttered can be expected to understand\nwhat the monk really said without misconstruing his meaning. Non-Sinhala\nspeakers who depend on translations (often distorted) naturally miss out what\nthe speaker left unsaid to be inferred by the immediate listeners. The\ndifferent English translations I saw in the media deliberately misinterpret the\npassionate  but peaceful message of the monk. The occasion for such\nmisreporting arises from these monks\u2019 own remissness in being careful about\ntheir language, particularly at a time like this. The language they habitually\nuse could convey unintended meanings to those unfamiliar with their\nidiom.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Saravanamuttu\u2019s complaint, the Mahanayake Thera is reported to\nhave spoken these words in a \u2018sermon\u2019 implying that he preached violence. An\n\u2018anusasanawa\u2019 is not a sermon, but an informal homily that suits the occasion.\nBy that mistranslation, the NGO activist was probably implying that the Thera\nwas giving a religious imprimatur for the violent actions he mentioned in his\ncasual remarks to be actually carried out  (though ethnically Tamil\nSaravanamuttu knows that Indian religions do not advocate violence on any grounds);\nof course, it is possible that the error is due to his ignorance of the real\nmeaning of the Sinhala term \u2018anusasanawa\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Like on a previous occasion that involved the Ven. Anunayake\nThera of the same Asgiriya Chapter in a similar, but more private context, who\nbecame a target for attack as an advocate of Hitlerism, a regrettable  verbal\nfaux pas<\/em> has led to this present furore among anti-nationalist forces over\nalleged racism and religious intolerance led by Buddhist monks against Muslims.\nIn each situation, the speaker narrowly focused on the audience before him and\nfailed to take into account the public outside of that context, much less the\nglobal community waiting to condemn the Sinhalese Buddhist majority on the\nslightest pretext that emerges for them to denounce their alleged racist \nand religious extremism against minorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 In reality though, the monk\u2019s controversial remarks were\npartly meant to let the steam off among the Sinhala community shocked by \nthe genocidal implications of forced sterilization allegations raised against a\nMuslim doctor in a Kurunegala hospital by the name of Shafi Shihabdeen. These\nsterilizing allegations, along with some similar earlier allegations made in\ndifferent unrelated contexts, have been pooh-poohed by government authorities,\nbut are claimed to be supported with evidence by non-political activists \nincluding an internationally recognized medical science professor. The\ngovernment could have easily allayed people\u2019s fears by having these allegations\nduly investigated in a credible transparent manner. But, going by media\nreports, this does not seem to be yet happening. Hence, there is no let up in\nthe societal tension that has been created by the uninvestigated complaints\nagainst the doctor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lanka C News online journal in an exclusive news report (July\n4, 2019) said that an internal investigation conducted by the Kurunegala\nhospital has confirmed the sterilization and other allegations such as illegal\nLRT surgeries done without the consent of the mother or father raised against\nthe Muslim doctor. The same source carries another report where it is said that\nthe Police CID has informed the Defence Secretary that since no evidence at all\nhas been found to show that the doctor is a member of the National Thawheed\nJamat (NTJ) or of any other terrorist group, it is not justifiable to detain\nhim any longer. Young activist Professor Channa Jayasumana who features in the\nfirst report (i.e., the one about the investigation done by the Kurunegala\nhospital) has placed the authentic information that he has before the public.\nHowever, it is usual these days for patriotic monks and lay activists to be\nbranded as racists and extremists by inimical anti-nationalist agents, who\nequate nationalism with racism for their convenience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is against this background that UPFA MP of the Joint Opposition\nRomesh Pathirana, himself a doctor, urged in Parliament (July 11) that an\nepidemiological and statistical study be conducted in response to these\nallegations. Over 1000 complaints received against Dr Shafi after 4,732\ncaesarean section operations done by him suggest that about 25% of the mothers\nhe had operated on could have developed secondary subfertility. This figure is\nunusually high when compared to the world average of 10%, MP Pathirana pointed\nout. Meanwhile, the Sinhala daily \u2018Divaina\u2019 (July 12) reported that the\nKurunegala magistrate (July 11) ordered the Dean of the Colombo University\nMedical Faculty to provide suitable recommendations on the correct methodology\nto be adopted in holding the HSG (Histerosalpinogram) Test for Blocked\nFallopian Tubes through a committee comprising five professors of the faculty.\nAll this reflects the seriousness of the sterilization allegations that was one\nfactor that coloured the mental preoccupations of the senior monk and his\naudience in that particular context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 As reported in the online Lanka C News (July 3, 2019), at a\nspecial press gathering held at Kirulapane Bodhi Bauddha Mandiraya a day\nbefore, Ven Galaboda-Aththe Gnanasara Thera, leader of the Bodu Bala Sena,\nrevealed where in reality racism and extremism exist. He illustrated his point\nby having a 38 year old Muslim woman from Bandaragama Atalugama named Abdul\nHasat Fatima Haifa who is married to a Sinhalese Buddhist man explain to the\nmedia the ordeal that she and her two children aged 11 and 7 were subjected to\nby her parents\u2019 family and her Muslim neighbours in their hundreds for marrying\na Sinhalese Buddhist man. They allegedly pushed the mother and her children\nalong the road to the police station, she claimed. She blamed the Bandaragama\npolice officers for failing to do enough to protect them from assault and\nharassment by Muslim men. The Thera stated that every man and woman must have\nthe right to marry any person (of their choice) belonging to any race or\nreligion. This, he stressed, should hold for Muslim women as well. The press\nbriefing was prior to the BBS convention which was to be held in Kandy on July\n7, 2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A number of other individual monk and lay activists and groups\nhave done a lot of work to expose the growing Wahhabist scourge in Sri Lanka\nand to alert the authorities, but, to date, in vain. A well known young\nactivist named Amith Weerasinghe, who was jailed in connection with the\nincidents at Kundasale that took place about a year ago is reported to be on\nconditional bail. He headed an organization, now banned, that he claims had a\nmembership that comprised some 273,000 young men and women. (This fact alone\nmakes him an invaluable potential asset to politicians. But he vows he will\nhave no truck with them; he says they have shown no genuine concern with the\nIslamist problem that he has been trying to raise public awareness of.) He had\ngathered a lot of information about the clandestine activities of Islamic\nextremists; he also had reported to the authorities a Muslim-owned pharmacy in\nthe neighbourhood of Kandy with a number of outlets in other places that sells\nexpired drugs, though without success. Weerasinghe is 28 years old, married,\nwith two children. He has twenty-five cases pending against him, all filed\nagainst him in the course of his work for the nation done without any ulterior\nmotives and against Islamic extremism, as he claims. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ven. Ampitiye Sumanaratana Thera (50) is known as \u2018Madakalapuwe Hamuduruwo\u2019,\na hero, who is an intrepid campaigner constantly threatened with assassination\nby Islamists, but he provides refuge to poor people of all three communities,\nwhile  living among a community that is being terrorised by extremists\nwhere he often berates publicly some of the government employees there\nincluding some police officers for failing in their duty by the people. During\nthe war, this monk looked after wounded LTTE cadres as well as wounded SL army\nsoldiers brought to his temple for help, he claims. The biased media have\nprojected him as a violent monk. He is not. Only his speech is violent, and\nthat is directed at errant government officers, who, he alleges, are guilty of\ndereliction of duty under the influence of Wahhabists enriched by oodles of\npetro-dollars coming from their sponsors in the oil-rich middle-east. Ven.\nSumanaratana has been able to do a lot of work for the dispossessed Sinhalese\nminority suffering discrimination even at the hands of certain corrupt\ngovernment officials at the beck and call of Islamic extremists who oil their\npalms. The monk performs his service with the help of donations received from\npatriots working abroad. He does not exclude the poor of other communities in\nthat impoverished corner of eastern Sri Lanka, which is covered with ruins of\nthe island\u2019s ancient Buddhist civilization (The deliberate destruction of\narchaeological evidence of Sinhalese Buddhist history in the eastern and\nnorthern provinces has gone on for decades).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At a mass rally held at Nugegoda on July 4 by the National\nMovement against Wahabi Extremism, Ven. Professor Medagoda Abhayatissa Thera\nmade a startling revelation. It was that more than twenty people had been\nexecuted under the sharia law in Kattankudy in the eastern province for various\nalleged offences including leaving Islam and being a member of the government\narmy. Another instance when the problem of Islamic extremism was raised was\nwhen Ven. Athuraliye Ratana Thera MP said, during a heated exchange with a\nMuslim MP in parliament (July 10), that Wahhabi extremists have prohibited\neducation for girls in the same area, thereby violating their basic human\nrights. Both monks claim that they have verifiable information to support their\ncomplaints.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bodu Bala Sena Convention that took place in Kandy on July 7,\n2019 was for ensuring the survival of Sri Lanka as a single sovereign state,\nwhere the various majorities and minorities can live in peace and harmony as\nequal citizens without mutual discrimination on any grounds, under one common\nlaw. The key to that ideal is the time honoured Buddhist cultural foundation of\nthe country. It is an inclusive accommodating culture most compatible with\nsecular democratic governance. One of the immediate threats to the nation built\non that cultural foundation is the scourge of Wahhabist Islamic extremism,\nwhich is apparently being used as a smokescreen by Western imperialists to\nconceal their secret operations for destabilizing and ultimately destroying Sri\nLanka in pursuit of their own selfish geopolitical ends.  The passionate\nsentiments that the Most Venerable Asgiriya Mahanayake Thera expressed were\nintended to caution the whole nation to that wolf at the door. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The proposal for the democratic restoration  of the Sinhala\nBuddhist State that was ceded to Britain in 1815 through the so-called Kandyan\nConvention (actually through intrigue) should be seen as a natural reaction to\naggressive attempts by external and internal forces to destroy the Sinhalese as\na sovereign nation both politically and culturally. Buddhist  monks cannot\nlook on passively until such an eventuality takes place. They have been the\nGuardians of the land of the Sinhalese, the Sinhala language and the\nBuddhasasanaya from the time of King Devanampiyatissa of Anuradhapura (307-267\nBCE). The monks always protected and guided the Sinhalese kingdom in their own\nrighteous way. They were above the king, who paid obeisance to them. They never\nadvocated violence in any form, but they were not averse to even fighting as\nsoldiers, when it was found unavoidable in countering invasions (For example,\nKing Dhatusena of the 5th century CE was a monk before he led the country to\nvictory against invaders; King Senerath of Kandy of the early 17th CE was also\na monk before assuming kingship and he too led operations against foreign\noccupiers; both of these monks turned monarchs were trained warriors. It was\nKing Senerath who settled Muslims persecuted by the Dutch in Baticaloa. There\nwere no Muslim settlements in that part of the Sinhale kingdom before. What is\nhappening today is a historical irony.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Genuine Buddhist monks whether mentioned or not mentioned in this\nessay are representative members of the Maha Sangha {Community}. They symbolise\nnonviolence, renunciation and victory over samsaric suffering. In terms of\nChristian symbolism, they are Lambs. The Lamb of God symbolises the identical\nvirtues of innocence, self sacrifice and ultimate triumph. Hence the title of\nthis article. With apologies to Christian readers. I beg that you don\u2019t take\noffence.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0 Rohana R. Wasala It would probably not be an exaggeration to say that more outrage was expressed by interested parties at an incidental comment made by the Most Venerable Warakagoga Gnanarathana, the Mahanayake Thera of the Asgiriya Chapter, during an anusasanawa (homily) than at the April 21 Easter Sunday suicide bombings by Wahhabi Islamists. […]<\/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-91367","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\/91367","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=91367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91367\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}