Buddhist Chavinism

by K.Mylvaganam

(LTTE's Perspective)

(August 11, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) I am certain that most of the readers would have read the following somewhere and sometime.

“When they came on the Jews I didn’t do anything as I was not a Jew.
When they came on the Communists I didn’t do anything as I was not a communist.
When they came on the Trade Unionists I didn’t do anything as I was not a Trade Unionist.
When they came on to Me there was no one left to do anything.”

This is what is exactly happening in Sri Lanka. When the Sinhala Buddhist chauvinists took on the Muslims in 1915 killing several innocent Muslims in the South, the Hindus and the Christians did not go to their assistance, because they were not Muslims.

This is being repeated today. The Tamils are being targeted and the Muslims and the Sinhalese Christians in general are doing nothing about it. If and when the Tamils are annihilated these communal, racial and blood thirsty Buddhist chauvinists are sure to set upon the Muslims; and that would be a piece of cake for the Sinhala regime and its forces. Once they have done away with the Muslims they will turn their guns towards all the Christians even though they may be Sinhalese. The entire ambition of the Buddhist chauvinists is to make Sri Lanka a Sinhala Buddhist state.

If we look back we will see there has been no Christian or a Muslim or a Hindu as a President or as a Prime minister in the history of Sri Lanka. Starting from D.S.Senanayake, Dudley Senanayake, S.W.R.D.Banadaranayake, W.Dhahanayake, Sir John Kotalawela, Srimavo Bandaranayake, J.R.Jeyawaradena, R.Premadasa, , Chandrika Bandaranayake Kumaratunga, Ranil Wickremasinghe, Mahinda Rajapaksha and the present prime minister Ratnasri Wickremanayake all are Sinhala Buddhists. Even the party leaders of all the major Sinhala parties are Buddhists.

But it is worth to note that a good number of the above mentioned state heads had been Christians before they entered politics. They converted themselves as Buddhists to reach the top position in Sri Lanka. What does this show? It means that none of them would have attained that position had he or she remained as a Christian. In other words there is no place in Sri Lanka for anyone who is not a Buddhist to become the head of the state. If we were to look over the Palk Straight one will note that races are not discriminated while selecting the heads of the state. The first President of India in 1947 was Rajagopalachariyar who was a Tamil. The present Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is a Panjabi, who is not even a Hindu. Readers may remember that it was a Punjabi who sho and killed one of the most loved and respected Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The last President Abdul Kalam Assad was a Muslim. Will Sri Lanka learn from it neighbours. No; Sri Lanka is not there to learn but will happily teach to the rest of the world on Democracy and Human Rights etc.

A recent incident that took place in Thalahana, Malabe should be an eye opener to the Muslims and Christians. There is a Church on Araliya Place in Thalahana, Malabe called the Calvary Church. Thalahana is a small village. About 75 Christians in and around Thalahana congregated on a Sunday (06 07.2008) morning at 9.00 a.m. They came to attend the services as they usually do on Sundays. It was a peaceful and pleasant morning. People were waiting to listen to the day’s sermon by their priest Pastor Roshan Andriezen. The service commenced at 9.00 and the people were glued to the utterances of the Pastor.

Suddenly there was a big commotion at the front entrance of the Church. They couldn’t believe their eyes, when hell broke loose on the Church premises. A violent mob led by four Buddhist Monks created havoc on the scene. The Monks ordered the service to be stopped immediately and called for the Pastor. Pastor Roshan immediately came forward and went outside the Church to talk to the mischief makers. A few elderly Christians also followed the Pastor. Women and children were crying out of fear. They remained inside the Church on the request of the Pastor. The Buddhist Monks charged that the Pastor was involved in “forced conversion” of the Buddhists in the area. The Pastor denied the charges saying no forced conversion was being done. But the unruly mob didn’t want to hear him out. Instead they set upon him and on those around him. His nose was broken, his right eye was hurt and his back was severely beaten. They brutally manhandled even the Pastor’s father John Andriezen and his brother Rohan Andriezen. They took a heavy wooden piece from the pulpit and started hitting with it. Obscene language was free flow from the mob without paying heed to that it was a religious surrounding that they were in.

The Pastor for all these did not loose his calm. He tried to say that there are laws in the country to protect the rights of the people and they could frame charges if any law has been violated. To this the Monks retorted saying “it is we who make the laws and it is we who will break them.” These were confirmed by the Calvary Church Headquarters in Mirihana.

They broke the furniture, the building, the glasses, the lamps, and the roof. Later went on a rampage destroying all that were there. The vehicles that were there too were vandalized. It was the law of the jungle that prevailed there. The Pastor and a few others were taken to the hospital.

The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) has begun to form a purely Muslim army in the East. It has several motives behind it. The main motive is to bring up a divide between the Muslims and the Tamils in the East. The other is to have a check on Katuna/Pillaiyan group sp that they do not become too unwieldy and take control of the Eastern province. The other dirty mentality is set the Muslims against the Tamils so that they can kill each other thus both the parties will always remain weak for the Sinhalese army to take on them one by one when the time comes.

But the Tamils and the Muslims have lived sandwiched with each other for several centuries. Therefore the leaders among the Tamils and Muslims should come together and work out the means for both the communities to live side by side quite amicably as they have always done in the past and not fall a prey to the Buddhist Sinhala conspiracy.

What can be done? Nothing. Of course one could go to the police station and make a complain. Then they will be asked to wait. How long? No body knows. The complaint will be written in Sinhalese irrespective of whether the complainant knows Sinhalese or not. But he has to sign that document without knowing what the contents were. Then what happens? Now comes the interesting part. Nothing. Yes nothing happens. But if it becomes such a big issue to attract international attention; then our government will appoint a commission to investigate. Then what happens. The same old stock answer - “NOTHING.”

Therefore now it is up to the Muslim and Christian leaders to come together and find out as to how they are going to meet the inevitable peril that they will have to face in the future.
- Sri Lanka Guardian