The Island Editorial

A heart of gold stops beating

Tuesday 10th November 2015

 

There wasn’t a dry eye in this country when sad tidings came on Sunday that Ven. Maduluwawe Sobitha Thera had breathed his last in Singapore. His loss will be felt for many more years to come. The government has declared Thursday, when the venerable Thera’s funeral is scheduled to take place, a day of national mourning. But, unofficially, it will be decades of mourning for Sri Lankans who will be left without an honest, courageous Buddhist monk to battle social evils and take up the cudgels for their rights.

Ven. Sobitha Thera was known for his iron will, nerves of steel and, above all, his heart of gold which stopped beating on Sunday. Besides being a preacher nonpareil he led many a socio-political struggle from the front for the benefit of the voiceless masses. What made him a real standout among other activist monks and lay social reformers was his refusal to get involved in dirty, partisan politics which he obviously detested. He remained a fiercely independent, saffron firebrand to the last! Numerous were the occasions when he incurred the wrath of the high and mighty; he was even roughed up under the JRJ government for standing up to that oppressive regime. But, nothing would deter him.

It is a supreme irony that even his detractors who had once vilified him began to shower praise on him towards the last few years of his life, especially when he stood up to the previous government. He was instrumental in mobilising the people to put the brakes on the Rajapaksa juggernaut—a task which many considered unattainable at that time.

Ven. Sobitha Thera was never a darling of those at the levers of power. For, bold and outspoken, he would tell them what they did not want to hear. He was never known for pulling his punches or mincing his words out of fear of anyone. Having failed to realise one of his cherished goals–electoral reforms–he faulted President Maithripala Sirisena in public for having failed to fulfil that pledge. The Thera said: "We heated the griddle to make rotis, but he is now using it to warm himself." By rotis he meant electoral and political reforms including the abolition of the executive presidency, which was his main bugbear. Nothing hurts an honest man given to altruism and dedicated to a noble cause than to go the way of all flesh, leaving his mission unaccomplished and/or to be troubled by a gnawing sense of having been used.

Since Jan. 08, 2015 it has been a case of gravy train for those who had been reduced to penury by their protracted stay in the political wilderness. Today, mediocrities continue to ride the coat-tails of their thick-skinned siblings in power. The progeny of the powers that be are seeing the world at the expense of the public. Ministers are accusing one another of benefiting from racketeers’ largess. Personality clashes at the highest echelons of the government are threatening the fragile unity of the ruling coalition. Political rejects are appointed to Parliament via the National List. The economy is in a bad shape. Some ministers are accused of interfering with the state prosecutor to take their cronies off the hook. The late Thera may not have taken kindly to the government’s pitiful capitulation in Geneva in the name of winning over the international community.

However, there were signs of Sobitha Thera’s age and failing health having a mellowing effect on him during the latter stages of his life. He was less vocal in demanding the abolition of the executive presidency and electoral reforms. It looked as if he had come to terms with the sobering political reality; politicians, unlike statesmen, go by the Machiavellian principle that the promise given was a necessity of the past and the word broken is a necessity of the present.

If the politicians who benefited from the Jan. 08 regime change and are currently going places had been grateful and considerate enough to make good their solemn pledges to abolish the executive presidency which Sobitha Thera considered a fountain of evil and introduce electoral reforms, the prelate would have died a happy man with his mission accomplished. They must, at least, now honour their promises to the late Thera, without whose help, they would never have been equal to the task of toppling the Rajapaksa government and savouring power ever again. That will be a far more fitting tribute to the great monk than shedding copious tears and eulogising him.