Why are the JHU monks silent?

“The lay politicians of the party appear to have hijacked the party and are seen to be dictating policy to the monks who seem to have abdicated their authority to the laymen. From the outset the monks opposed the devolution of power through the 13th Amendment, to the north and east. What they advocated was the District Development Council system instead. Strangely enough now they appear to have been subdued by the President with the support of the lay politicians notably Ranawaka and Gammanpila to keep quiet about the 13th Amendment without so much as a word of protest in public.”
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by R. Senaratne

(March 19, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The venerable JHU monks seem to have sealed their lips on important matters confronting this country today. In fact it appears that the JHU’s lay politicians have taken control of the party and it is the voices of these laymen that are heard whenever something is said by the JHU. The main slogan of the monks during their election campaign in 2004 was that they were going to parliament in order to establish a righteous state (Dharmarajya) before they retire from parliament and politics in 2010.

It is four years now since they made this promise to the nation in 2004, but there is not a semblance of the righteous state they promised to establish. In fact they now appear to have withdrawn from this goal in silence perhaps having realised that they have failed in their endeavour. The righteous state has become a dishonest and immoral state and is in a much worse situation than before the monks entered parliament.

The lay politicians of the party appear to have hijacked the party and are seen to be dictating policy to the monks who seem to have abdicated their authority to the laymen. From the outset the monks opposed the devolution of power through the 13th Amendment, to the north and east. What they advocated was the District Development Council system instead. Strangely enough now they appear to have been subdued by the President with the support of the lay politicians notably Ranawaka and Gammanpila to keep quiet about the 13th Amendment without so much as a word of protest in public.

Notwithstanding all that, the monks have not even uttered a word in protest over the deliberate evading by the President to activate the 17th Amendment by confirming the appointments of the nominees to the Constitutional Council, which is a precursor to good governance that the monks strongly advocated at the very outset.

What about the misconduct of Mervyn Silva and his attempts at harassing media personnel? Initially the monks wanted disciplinary action taken against him by the President. But apparently after the President stood up against it, they have chosen to remain silent.

Also what about the rampant corruption, abuse of the rule of law in the country, mismanagement of the economy and the heaping of unbearable economic burdens on the people by the government? The monks have chosen the easiest way out by deciding to hear nothing, see nothing and speak nothing.

The only occasion the monks spoke out was when they raised the war cry and urged the President to prosecute the war more vigorously. In fact on that occasion one of the monks had said there was no harm if the country’s economy was ruined in order to fight the LTTE.

Perhaps the venerable monks think they have failed in their efforts at establishing the righteous state they dreamed of for the country and have decided to advocate the silence of the dead as the easy way out.
- Sri Lanka Guardian