{"id":93699,"date":"2019-10-09T13:09:53","date_gmt":"2019-10-09T20:09:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=93699"},"modified":"2019-10-09T13:09:53","modified_gmt":"2019-10-09T20:09:53","slug":"kusal-and-akusal-of-a-friday-freak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/10\/09\/kusal-and-akusal-of-a-friday-freak\/","title":{"rendered":"KUSAL AND AKUSAL OF A FRIDAY FREAK!"},"content":{"rendered":"

H. L. D. Mahindapala<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Kusal Perera (KP),\na Senior  Journalist writing a Friday Colum to the Daily Mirror<\/em><\/strong>\nand Jehan Perera, CEO of the National Peace Council. are two underdeveloped\npeas of the same anti-Sinhala-Buddhist pod. They can be categorised as\nminoritarians because they believe that the most  evil force in Sri Lanka\nis the Sinhala-Buddhist majority. Jehan Perera\u2019s minoritarianism is somewhat\nsubtle and subdued because it helps him to mask his anti-Sinhala-Buddhist\nstance. On the other hand, Kusal Perera\u2019s (KP) anti-majority sloganeering \nis somewhat loud and raucous. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His latest tirade\nagainst Sinhala-Buddhist majority (Daily Mirror<\/em><\/strong> – 4\/10\/2019) was\nover the top. He thinks  that everything  has gone wrong in Sri Lanka\nbecause of Sinhala-Buddhist majoritarianism. But if he had a better education\nto grasp the diverse dimensions and the multifarious factors that interact and\nmesh to determine the winding, zig-zagging course of history in time, he would\nnot have written the bilge he wrote last Friday (DM – 4\/10\/19) blaming only the\nSinhala-Buddhists for everything that has gone wrong and goes wrong in Sri\nLanka. For instance, he argues that only the Sinhala-Buddhists would idolise\nmilitary heroes and pick them as presidential candidates. So can he tell us how\nmany Sinhala-Buddhists voted to elect General Eisenhower as President of\nAmereica after World War II? And how many Sinhala-Buddhists voted for General\nSarath Fonseka in the North when he fronted up us as the presidential candidate\nin the election of 2005? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His piece also\nmakes it clear that his knowledge of history is limited to what the\nanti-Sinhala-Buddhist propagandists had broadcast loudly before. In it he\npontificates as if he is the sociological Einstein of Sri Lanka revealing\nprofundities never uttered before. In short, to believe in a mono-causal\nhistory is to believe that a fish curry is made of only fish with no other\ningredients added to it, not even a drop of water.. Obviously, he plugs the\nmono-causal theory because that is the only way he can demonise the majority in\norder to white-wash the subhuman and criminal politics of the minorities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The spectre that\nis haunting contemporary global politics is the ideological and the violent\nconflicts between the majorities and the minorities. The rise of aggressive\nminorities challenging the traditional rights of the majorities is the new\nphenomenon that has replaced the reds-under-the-bed ideology that dominated the\nCold War phase. At one end of this spectrum is Donald Trump saying that the\nfuture is with patriots and not with the globalists\u201d. At the other end are the\nKusal and Jehan Pereras, the self-proclaimed human rights activists, trying to\nrewrite history and the boundaries of geography for the benefit of minoritarian\nheroes like Prabhakarans and Zaharans. The main objective of these half-baked\nideologues is to manufacture a revised political morality that would glorify\nand justify minority racism as an inviolable human and political right. In this\nwhacky morality the majority is always wrong and the minority, however brutal\nand violative they are of the larger interests of human rights, and peaceful\ncoexistence, is always right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KP and his\nanti-Sinhala-Buddhist gang of Friday freaks who rule the Friday forums revel in\ntrumpeting minoritarianism, however evil it may be, as a secular soteriological\nforce. Contemporary history has  proved that minoritarianism has surfaced\nas the most destructive ideological perversion that has generated violence to\nend centuries of peaceful co-existence  The Sri Lankan experience provides\nexistential proof of the failure of violent minoritarianism glorified to pursue\nelusive goals of the brutal megalomaniacs. Glorified minoritarianism is the\noxygen that sustained and energised Prabhakarans and Zaharans. Kusal and Jehan\nPereras lived off the misery caused by the minoritarian heroes. Counting\ncadavers left behind by the minoritarian megalomaniacs was the sole means of\nbuttering both sides of the Pereras\u2019 daily bread. They shed crocodile tears for\nthe victims  of minoritarian violence that failed to bring  the\nsalvation promised by Prabhakaran and Zaharan. The Eelam promised by\nPrabhakaran was as realistic as the 72 virgins promised to Zaharan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is the\nrationalising and  the sloganeering of the Pereras that helped to\nprolong  the war declared by the Tamil leadership in Vadukoddai in May\n1976. It could  have been  finished earlier and saved the lives of\ntens of thousands if the Pereras knew how to read history and  its impact\non contemporary times. But they undermined their own cause and prolonged the\nfutile war by distorting reality, or wallowing in half-truth or outright lies,\nor glorifying racist minoritarianism as a human right. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This also leads to\nanother question:<\/strong> If racist minoritarianism is a valid right for\nPrabhakaran and Zaharan to pursue their violence in the hope of establishing\ntheir mono-ethnic  or mono-religious enclaves why  isn\u2019t it valid for\nracist majoritarianism to maintain and preserve a pluralistic and democratic\nSinhala-Buddhist nation with all its infirmities, of course? But the Pereras\nbelieve that human rights are only on the side of racist minoritarianism and\nnot on racist majoritarianism, however conducive it has been to maintain a\ncohesive nation with diversity and pluralism throughout  the  greater\npart of its history, until G.G. Ponnambalam unleashed aggressive and\nprovocative racism which caused the very first Sinhala-Tamil riots in\nNavalapitiya and neighbouring  towns in June 1939. The Pereras tend \nto  withdraw into a state of denial when  it comes to facing the\nliving proof under  their noses. More than ever, in the current state of\naffairs, truth telling is a sine-qua-non for us to escape the prevailing\ndespondency and find new directions. It is also vital for us to attain the\nhighest ideals prioritised in today\u2019s political agenda:<\/strong> peace and\nreconciliation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those who violate\nthe fourth precept in the Buddhist panchseela<\/em><\/strong> are the enemies of\npeace who will drag us down further into depths of despair. After reading KP\u2019s\npunditry (DM \u2013 4\/10\/19) in which he liberally prescribes his kokathat\nthailya<\/em><\/strong> for the ills of the nation I could not help but come to the\nconclusion that his penchant for musavadas<\/em><\/strong> takes away the\ngoodness and the value in his first name \u201dKusal\u201d (meritorious). He is more\nentitled to be called Akusal\u201d than Kusal. (KP will agree to this, no?)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though he pretends\nto be an ideological maestro firing devastating salvos against the\nSinhala-Buddhists he is merely expectorating the usual anti-Sinhala-Buddhist\nvenom that has ruined inter-ethnic relations ever since G. G. Ponnambalam\ntriggered the first ever Sinhala-Tamil riots in Navalapitiya in June 1939 by\nattacking the Mahavamsa <\/em><\/strong>and the history of the Sinhala-Buddhists.\nThe rest, of course, is history. There isn\u2019t a single original thought in his\ntirade against the Sinhala-Buddhists that has not been bruited by the\nanti-Sinhala-Buddhist lobbies before <\/p>\n\n\n\n

KP poses as a\nchampion of minority rights. His idea of defending minority rights is to\ndemonise the Sinhala-Buddhist majority. In the current new phase where\nreconciliation is raised to the highest level in the national political agenda\nKP\u2019s cheap and threadbare tactic is disgustingly repulsive. Nor will it be a\nviable means of calming the shattered nerves of a traumatised nation. In the\npost-Prabhakaran period where the emphasis is on reconciliation, on forgiving\nand forgetting to pave the path for a new future, the strategy should be to\nmove away from demonising one community to appease another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides,\nexonerating one ethnic community and blaming the other is counter-productive\nfor peace and reconciliation. At this stage when committed peace-makers are\nmoving away from the dreadful past, he will have to explain how his brand of\ndemonising the Sinhala-Buddhists can promote reconciliation. Is it not this\nkind of demonization that hardened the racial prejudices that exacerbated\ninter-ethnic relations in the past? Was it not the bloody political tactic that\nled to Nandikadal, via Vadukoddai? His pretentious claim to be a righteous\nhuman rights defender is exposed by his visceral bitterness against the\nSinhala-Buddhist, all of which is wrapped in distorted human rights and other\nvalues. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The need of the\nhour is to analyse the available facts as objectively as one can in the hope of\narriving at rational conclusions, however unpalatable they may be to both sides\nof the divide.  Most of all, he must explain how he could exclude the\nmultifarious factors that interacted with each other in a complex history,\noften colliding with each other, and blame only the Sinhala-Buddhists for the\nfutile Vadukoddai War which lasted for 33 years (from 1976 declaration of War\nin Vadukoddai to the humiliating  defeat in Nandikadal in 2009). The\nVadukoddai War (aka Eelam War) was the ultimate expression of futile and\nfascist violence initiated by Tamil extremism.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the root of the\nfailure to co-exist in peace has been the mono-causal theory of blaming the\nSinhala-Buddhists only when, in reality, all parties should accept\nresponsibility for the breakdown of inter-ethnic relations. But the ideological\nblinkers worn by KP prevent him from viewing the broader picture in all its\ninter-twining complexities. Neither his fundamentals nor his arguments differ\nfrom that of C. V. Wigneswaran, the former Chief Minister of Jaffna, or\nVisuvanathan Rudrakumaran, the legal advisor of Prabhakaran, now the fake prime\nminister of a non-existent Tamil government in exile. The least I can say for\nKP is that he seems to be somewhat of a good man fallen among a bunch of\nunredeemable Wigneswarans and Rudrakumarans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I must also concede that\nhis ability to parrot the anti-Sinhala-Buddhist jargon is excellent. If there\nwasn\u2019t this thing called Sinhala-Buddhism\u201d someone would have had to invent\none for him to keep his adrenalin flowing. This obsession has obviously reduced\nhis cognitive powers to observe faithfully the fourth principle in the panchaseela<\/em><\/strong>.\nNow let us consider a few of Kusal\u2019s akusals<\/em><\/strong> (sins) one by one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Musavada 1<\/strong>: He rails against Sinhala-Buddhists\npicking their heroes  in military uniforms as presidential candidates. He\nsays (T)his craze for \u2018war heroes\u201d \u2026\u2026.runs deep into the primitive mindset of\nthe urban middle-class more than into rural polity.\u201d Is this true? What are the\nfacts? Every rural school girl or boy walking across miles of paddy field\nhero-worshipped their rana viruvos\u201d because those in the front lines consisted\nof their brothers and sisters, or their fellow village lads and lasses.\nThousands joined the front lines from the villages and not from the urban\nmiddle-class. The urban middle-class either migrated into greener pastures\nabroad or stuck to safer white-collar jobs in the cities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The urban middle-class\ndominated the security forces from the beginning (1949) to roughly 1970 when\nthey were basically a ceremonial force, saluting and marching to the drum beat\nof Sandhurst. Besides, the urban-middle class cadres were drawn from Royal, St.\nThomas\u2019, St. Joseph\u2019s, St. Peter\u2019s colleges. They were accustomed more to imitate\nthe elitist rituals of the British colonial army than fight the bloody wars in\nMullativu. The war was won by the rural cadres with officers drawn from\nAmbalangoda  and Ibbagamuwa central colleges and not  from Royal, St.\nThomas and Trinity colleges,  In fact,  the Royalists (e.g., Ranil\nWickremesinghe) ridiculed the achievements of the village lads who liberated\nthe nation from the brutalities of Tamil terrorism. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The heroic psyche generated by winning wars\nagainst enemies of the Sinhala-Buddhist state was instilled genetically in the\nminds of the rural polity from time immemorial The Colombian-type (like\nAkusal\u201d) were happy only when our rana viruvos\u201d were sacrificed on the human\nrights guillotine at Geneva. They refused to accept that ending the beastly\nwar, under the courageous and war-winning leadership of commanders like\nShavindra de Silva was, by far, the optimum means available to protect, promote\nand serve human rights. War was the only strategy available to those engaged\npragmatically and constructively in saving human rights and peace from an\nintransigent war-monger like Prabhakaran. His elimination was a primary\nnecessity for the Tamils to escape the tyrannical and fascist brutalities of\nthe Tamil Pol Pot. Gen. Shavindra de Silva turned out to be the greatest\nsaviour of human rights by ending the war swiftly, with the least amount of\ncasualties, as revealed by Lord Naseby. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, the anti-Sinhala-Buddhist lobbyists\nrefused to accept that it was the ONLY means of saving human rights from a tin-pot\nTamil Pol Pot who intransigently rejected all peace offers, including those\nwith international guarantees. These theoretical humbugs posed pompously as a\nnew breed of pundits who believed that they were superior moralists by\nappeasing an armed tyrant who was guilty of killing more of his own people than\nthe others put together. When the futile palliatives of peace-mudalalis in NGOs\nfailed to cure the evils of violent fascism of the Tamil minority the only\noption was a surgical operations to save human rights by restoring peace. Gen.\nShavindra de Silva\u2019s surgical operation that cut across the broad terrain from\nthe West to the East was a brilliant tactical manoeuvre that liberated the\nnation, particularly the Tamils from oppressive, Pol Potists fascism<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Musavada 2<\/strong>: KP accuses the Sinhala Buddhists\nof dressing up \u2018patriotism\u2019 in military uniform to win elections. In short,\u201d\nhe concludes, the UNP and the JVP helped militarise the social mindset within\nSinhala Buddhist \u2018patriotism.\u201d According to the logic of Akusal\u201d, it is\ningrained in the Sinhala-Buddhist mindset to go for Sinhala-Buddhist\nmilitarism. They can think of no other alternative, according to him. But the\nhistorical facts prove that the intransigent and arrogant Tamil leadership\nrejected offers for peaceful co-existence from the thirties. When G. G.\nPonnambalam demanded 50 \u2013 50 the Sinhala-Buddhist government of the day offered\nhim 46 \u2013 54. Twelve per cent minority of Tamils getting a power share of 46\nfrom a Sinhala-Buddhist population (75%) is a unique gift that the Tamils never\ngave their oppressed minority who were refused even water from their\nupper-caste wells. Ponnambalam rejected it like the way Prabhakaran rejected\nChandrika Kumaratunga\u2019s and Ranil Wickremesinghe\u2019s offers to appease him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides.TNA and the other\nminorities backed Sarath Fonseka to the hilt in the 2005 election. So in voting\nfor Sarath Fonseka was the TNA dressing up Tamil nationalism in\nSinhala-Buddhist uniform? Most of all, when the Jaffna Tamils were crawling\nbefore Prabhakaran, without any right to dissent, weren\u2019t they dressing up\ntheir patriotism in Tamil military uniform? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So how and where would the\nwonky theories and logic of KP fit into the historical realities? Does he think\nthat he can serve the minority rights by demonising the Sinhala-Buddhists? Does\nhe think that he can serve human rights with his musavadas<\/em><\/strong>? \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t want to exceed the\nspace limit by going into his other musavadas<\/em><\/strong> on 3. devolution,\n4. the private sector and 5. his bleeding concerns for the Sinhala-Buddhist\npeasantry. I shall stop at this point  hoping  that  the Editor,\nDaily Mirror will give us space to continue the debate under the vaunted\nprinciple of the right of reply pursued religiously by the Times Group. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

H. L. D. Mahindapala Kusal Perera (KP), a Senior  Journalist writing a Friday Colum to the Daily Mirror and Jehan Perera, CEO of the National Peace Council. are two underdeveloped peas of the same anti-Sinhala-Buddhist pod. They can be categorised as minoritarians because they believe that the most  evil force in Sri Lanka is the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-93699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-h-l-d-mahindapala"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93699","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=93699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93699\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}