Sunday Island Editorial

Rabble rousers in robes

20 November 2016

 

Over 350 citizens including several university academics and other respected personalities wrote to IGP Pujith Jayasundera last week complaining about police inaction against some Buddhist monks who have been making hate speeches inciting violence against minorities. Many of these speeches have been carried on various websites and created alarm in senior political and other circles who suspect with good reason that there is an organized and well funded attempt to create a communal conflagration in the country. Both the president and the prime minister have spoken out in public about this situation, expressing views that have resonated among right thinking people including good Buddhists abhorring the disgraceful behavior and rowdy antics of a small number of robed individuals hell bent on unleashing mayhem in the country.

We as a nation have learned nothing if we did not learn the lessons from Black July of 1983 which blackened Sri Lanka’s image internationally, created untold misery among minority Tamils driving some of the best and the brightest among them out of the country. Prabhakaran and his terrorists drew oxygen from those events to sustain a civil war for close to 30 years. The Diaspora thereby created was a powerful force able to mobilize international opinion against this country and played no small part in raising funds to support the terrorist war. Despite the war being ended in 2009, there is a remaining rump pushing to make further trouble for Sri Lanka with demands for war crimes investigations and whatnot. President J.R. Jayewardene’s grand plan to develop the country lost much of its steam due those events for which some blame even elements within his own party. The then president’s failure to nip those events in the bud created consequences and damage that defy quantification.

The complaint to the IGP, copied to the president, prime minister, law and order minister, the foreign minister, the attorney general, the heads of the police and human rights commissions, the Mahanayakes of Malwatte and Asigiriya and other concerned authorities has been meticulously compiled with attributions to the sources that published the extracts quoted. It is indeed a damning indictment and deserves close and immediate attention. Admittedly the authorities are confronted with a tricky situation because there is no doubt that arresting the perpetrators, hauling them before the courts and seeking remand may well be what these rabble rousers desire. Some members of this yellow peril

have been soliciting baton charging and tear gassing and are even known to have asked police "why aren’t you beating us?" and "at least use tear gas if you can’t beat us." No less than the president is aware of such exchanges and the intention of these elements is abundantly clear.

The people did this country an injustice by electing several (nine?) Buddhist monks to parliament under the Jathika Hela Urumaya banner some years ago. Earlier Ven. Baddegama Samitha of the LSSP, who we must say is no rabble rouser but a committed leftist, was elected to the previous short-lived Parliament being the first Buddhist priest to enter the legislature. He remains a member of the Southern Provincial Council. Thankfully the number of bhikkus in Parliament today has been reduced to one. But there is every possibility that given the immense rewards that a seat in the House entails, undesirables in yellow robes may well be engaging in attracting attention to themselves by whatever despicable means with their eyes on plums that are well worth the picking. Whether especially Buddhist electors will take the right decision if such elements seek election to the legislature remains to be seen. Hopefully at least the big political parties and grouping will in the future think long and hard about nominating Buddhists clergy on their lists.

There is no doubt that Buddhist priests have played an important role in the politics of this country at different times. Many of them have demonstrated exceptional leadership ability and whether they should be elected to Parliament or not will always be hotly debatable with points of view favoring both sides of the argument. Ven. Maduluwawe Sobhitha’s name was mentioned as a common candidate for the presidency if none other was available. But he intended quickly returning to his temple after abolishing the executive presidency if he was made to run as a last resort. What we are fearful of is the rabble among the clergy, some of whom are active today with various propaganda channels including websites giving them wide visibility. Some monks have lent their temples to politicians who host press conferences in places of religious worship that have become their political headquarters. Politicians will always seek the patronage of religious leaders and this is not preventable. Religious leaders have led some countries and names like Archbishop Makarios of Cyprus and Imam Khomeini or Iran comes readily to mind. But nobody, whether they belong to the clergy or laity, should be immune from the law merely because they are men of the cloth. This is why the people will carefully watch what the results of last week’s complaint to the IGP will be.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa succeeded in alienating the minorities at the last election and this was part of the reason he was toppled from the throne. There is credence in the interpretation that it was a minority of the majority and a majority of the minorities who helped the regime change in a large measure. Although memories may be fading over the Aluthgama incidents that turned many Muslims away from the Rajapaksas, they are fresh in the minds of the victims and members of their community. There are extremists in all communities and these include the minorities. Extremism, wherever it arises, must be roundly condemned. Let us hope that attempts to create communal discord in this country will be firmly and effectively dealt with. There is no room for timidity in this regard.