Western role in the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) of Sri Lanka
Posted on May 18th, 2013
by Anura Alahakone, USA
It is well-known that US has taken a lead role in combating, and sometimes fostering Islamic extremism in many parts of the world. Its support for the Taliban in Afganistan by arming them against the Soviets is well known. The US has also supported Islamic groups to create tension is some African states to counter other tendencies.
In many of these moves, and in some of its UN lobbying, the US uses third parties to cover its hand. Norway has figured prominently as one of the not-so-hidden hands of Western foreign policy in this regard. Canada and Britain have figured in extraordinary renditions of prisoners who were whisked away for torture by US agents operating in other countries.
In Sri Lanka, Western policy was directed through the secessionist politics of the Tamil Nationalism. This provided a stage for global capitalism to move in, with Ranil Wickremasinghe and Chandrika Kumaratunga willing partners. However, this agenda was thwarted by the rise of the RajapaksaƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ government which exploited the growing anger of the majority of the country that realized that the carpet is being pulled from under them, with the sovereignty and decision making in the country passing into the hands of Norway, Japan, India and internationally funded NGOs.
Rajapaksa used a policy of dividing up the opposition and offering perks to woo support, to bring most of the Sinhala polity as well as the Muslims behind him. Using a large cabinet to shield the weakness of his minority government, Rajapaksa won a war that had been declared `un-winnable’ by the West which funded the Tamil Tigers, and harboured individuals like Anton and Adele Balasingham who openly supported programs declared by the UN to beƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ crimes against civil societies.
Western analysts realized that until and unless the Sinhala polity is divided, the Western programƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ cannot go ahead. The Tamil nationalist program thrived in the last three decades only because the Sinhalese were divided equally between the United National party (center right) and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (center left).ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The US keeps track of Islamic groups and knew of the Wahabist-IslamicƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ incursions in Sri Lanka, and the growing resentment against it among certain nationalist sections of the Sinhalese.
TheƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ strategists in the Pentagon invoke their standard formula for situations like this. It lines up its defense establishment with the defense establishment of the target country (Sri Lanka), and gets one of its henchmen (e.g., Norway) to support the anti-Islamic radical groups at a variety of levels. This has been done not only by the so-called “one-shot” support given to the BBS, but also by giving financial aid to selected Buddhist temples. This is the standard approach to buying up political support where there is none.
In effect, the West needs a Buddhist NGO in Sri Lanka, just as it needed an Islamic NGO in Afghanistan against the Soviets. However, here it is playing a more subtle game, check-mating the Wahabi Islamists in Sri Lanka, gaining support from a section of Buddhists, while alienating and diminishing the power of the Jathika-Hela Urumaya that led the vanguard against Norway at Mavil Ara, and actually fielded Buddhist monks at Sri Lankan elections. Thus the rise of the BBS fits in very well with the strategy of the West.
However, some members of the Rajapaksa government, as well as some leaders of the Buddhist political program are clever strategists. They have realized that they too can use (the covertly western-supported) anti-Islamism of the BBS to their own advantage in winning back some of the assets that have been encroached upon by Islamist expansion. This is of course a popular move among the Sinhala nationalist merchant class which is prepared to compromise on Buddhist teachings for a bit more of Buddhist hegemony.
Sri Lankan Buddhists do not have a strong moral figure like the Dalai Lama who successfully maintained the Tibetan effort against China on the high moral road for many decades. Now, the Dalai Lama has retired from that struggle and how it will spiral onwards is any-body’s guess. The Dalai Lama has expressed his sadness about the events in Sri Lanka and Burma, but it is easy to dismiss him as being mis-informed. Indeed, he is not informed about these events per se. He isƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ making his statements based on the general principles of Buddhism that demand that every matter be solved by discussion, compromise and compassion, without violence. That is the high moral road that the Buddha indicated to the Lichchavi kings in regard to governance, some 26 centuries ago, with his seven rules.
The BBS is a militant group which in effect implies that Buddhist principles have to be re-enforced by strong-arm tactics. Some church fathers as well as Western anti-Islamists who have been irked by Islam’s inroads all over the world are delighted by the new developments. They don’t have to openly sully their hands!
The withdrawal of Muslim support from the Rajapaksa government is also attended with glee by Western strategists who noted how Rajapaksa had used such support in UN fora for thwarting international sanctions against his government.
The western NGOs that existed in Sri Lanka so far have been headed by Tamils, Christians, or noted international wheeler-dealers. If the BBS can become a Southern Sinhalese NGO that can be manipulated by theƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ West, an immediate objective of the West would be achieved.
However, some of the leaders of the BBS may prove to be artful individuals who may not necessarily tow the line of the West, just as the Taliban NGOsƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ created in Afghanistan by the West some decades ago morphed into anti-Western agents.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ However, the Taliban had enough middle-eastern financial backers when the West withdrew its support. In contrast, the BBS will dry up and loose steam, as soon as it looses its financial backing.
Here we have to look at the JHU that has become a dormant entity when its financial support dried up with the JHU becoming a compliant partner of the Rajapaksa politics of accommodating all and `shaping up’ problems instead of solving them according to the rule book.
May 18th, 2013 at 4:28 pm
Anura Alahakkone!…..Very impressive analysis of events & BBS. As long as they find willing partners in Sri Lanka, western countries will thrive on their objectives.
What they cannot achieve by direct involvement, a good natured NGO will do the deed for them. Whatever BBS ‘s motive is, as long as there is no violence, (as their name implies), it is acceptable, to lankan public & buddhists in particular.
Very happy to hear from you again…….Thanks..~ J. ( another expat from Canada, expresing his views)
May 18th, 2013 at 5:02 pm
“In contrast, the BBS will dry up and loose steam, as soon as it looses its financial backing.”
This is NOT true. It is run by the people. Just look at the LARGE CROWDS coming to BBS meetings. They sustain it NOT Norway or USA.
“Here we have to look at the JHU that has become a dormant entity when its financial support dried up with the JHU becoming a compliant partner of the Rajapaksa politics of accommodating all and `shaping up’ problems instead of solving them according to the rule book.”
WRONG again.
JHU is RICHER now than in 2004 when they were in the opposition!!
Their problem is they DIDN’T DO ANYTHING from 2010 to 2013. Same with Wimal W. He too SLEPT for 3 years. That is why BBS has taken the lead.
Now funding or no funding, BBS is UNSTOPPABLE because PEOPLE POWER overcomes everything else.
Unlike useless JHU, BBS has achievements already.
e.g. NO halal
May 18th, 2013 at 6:44 pm
the writer has painstakengly attempted at an analysis which is a bit flawed as Lorenzo says. Norway is usa’ s whore. absolutely right. but funding by Norway is all bs. bbs is the only organization which can even topple this absolutely corrupt regime – I know this that’s why I say this. although some forum members still think mahinda is doing a good job. the country is bankrupt moneywise and ideawise. this is the end of mahinda chintana. I too supported mahinda at the beginning, not because of his abilities but just on friendship. I knew he had no wisdom at all to run a country. but now the megalomaniac has failed miserably. we are indebted to him for one thing – annihilation of sakkili outfit. but that doesn’t mean we go along with him on every asoect. 21st will be a dday in sri lanka and after npc elections things will change dramatically in this country. this is my two cents worth of prediction.
bbs should become a peoples movement and must enter politics. halal was the best outcome of bbs so far. they must not lose steam. must keep the pressure on. yes we must establish buddhist values just as much Islamic countries impose Islamic values in their countries. the wahaabis in sri lanka has the support of this corrupt administration as the vote mongers need their votes.
May 19th, 2013 at 2:21 am
Dear Lorenzo, It shows that you have a very little knowledge of what is happening with BBS. They have not “achieved” anything in reality. The halal process is still going on. The only thing that was discontinued was the “Logo” in the products. Other than that everything else is taking place as usual. The halal issuers have made all the halal certified products and premisses listed in their website for muslims to know about it. Further the companies still pay for their halal issuace process and this is not done free of charge. The Chamber of Commers collects the money and in turn fund the halal process. Further the BBS is in fact funded by the foreing bodies and the SL government and not by the people following them. There are no people following them in reality as the crowd gatherd are not volunteers but with similar means that political parties gather crowd for their meetings.
May 19th, 2013 at 2:51 am
RK112
No No BBS has achieved something. They have disgraced and humiliated our great religion “Buddhism”. Now everyone, here in the West and in the Middle East, is talking about burning of Muslim owned businesses and attacking Muslims in the South by Buddhist monks. What a shame??
May 19th, 2013 at 3:11 am
BBS has done only one thing, they have very successfully opened up another war front for international community to attack Sinhala Buddhists in Sri Lanka. Unfortunately, so far, I can’t see any defensive articles in the press when they started hammering us from that front.
See this article
http://gulftoday.ae/portal/66ce0eef-bc40-4af7-9bab-8dae7282411a.aspx
Meera Srinivasan: A new divide in Sri Lanka
More than a month after Fashion Bug, a popular clothes store in the Sri Lankan capital, was vandalised, business is back to normal. Shoppers cram into the Muslim-owned store as the Buddhist holiday season for Vesak (in India, Buddha Purnima) begins this month-end.
Six weeks ago, a mob had broken into the chain store’s main warehouse in a suburb of Colombo. Television footage showed the mob cheering as a Buddhist monk flung a stone at a window of the warehouse. The attack left many injured and the warehouse’s inventory ravaged.
May 19th, 2013 at 5:10 am
NMY,
It was not the work of BBS. It was another group. The violent bit is bad, no excuse.
But that too succeeded in getting an assurance from F-Bug NOT to convert non-Muslim girls to Islam and to employ non-Muslim boys which they have NOW DONE. A good achievement in the end. Violence is UNACCEPTABLE as always.
rk112,
Not true.
“The Chamber of Commers collects the money and in turn fund the halal process.”
Which one? National Chamber of Commerce or Ceylon Chamber of Commerce?
NONE of them collect halal fees.
Without the logo, ONLY very few have access to real halal foods. Now they have to CHECK with the halal body BEFORE buying anything and MOST Muslims prefer to buy whatever at convenience because it is VERY VERY CUMBERSOME to check which producer is halal and which is not. This is what practically happens today which is good.
Getting rid of halal label discrimination is a great achievement.
Wrong about BBS NOT having popular support. They have HUGE public support and they are NOT a political party. Please refer to news reports about their meetings if you don’t believe youtube. A VERY POPULAR SL singer has a song about BBS which is also popular.
May 19th, 2013 at 6:27 am
I think those who live in the West do not know what is happening in the West. Indian intelligence service Third Eye operates in the West. there are a lot of wealty indians. They want to protect the wealthy Indians in Sri lanka. India has a very close relationship with Nordic countries for decades. Have you heard of the Bolfor affair. Nordic countries have provided a lot of arms as well as technology to India.
I see India and Indians behind the Western moves be it Sri lanka, Fiji, Malaysia or any other Indian colony.
May 19th, 2013 at 6:44 am
Sihala Merchant class, the poor compared to Indian merchnat of Lanka. i also have heard of some local garment shop owenrs are backing the BBS a story by the Saree sellers of Lanka, the rich Indian merchant clas. The saree sellers are afraid the Sinhala and Muslim garment traders will take over the saree businesses.
Bodu bala Sena is not different to Siva Sena of India. It is a photocopy. I have heard one of the behind the scene monk of BBs has a lot of Dayakayas in Main Street of Colombo.
May 19th, 2013 at 2:03 pm
Kithsiri,
The two are completely different and NO CONNECTION.
BBS has not violated ANY law and NO BBS member is in jail, etc. That PROVES they are LAWFUL.
Why local merchants backing BBS?
Because they are the ONLY SAVIOURS of their business. Otherwise Endian and Arabic economic parasites will OVERRUN their businesses. Look around. How few businesses are owned by people other than HANUMANS and SINDBADS?
All heroin dealers (SINDBADS) are now panicking as BBS takes them on.
You may be right about Main street. Some GOOD Muslims and Tamils support BBS which is now unstoppable.
May 19th, 2013 at 2:08 pm
BBS called on the Buddhists NOT TO COMMERCIALISE Vesak and the response was REMARKABLE.
“Meera Srinivasan: A new divide in Sri Lanka
More than a month after Fashion Bug, a popular clothes store in the Sri Lankan capital, was vandalised, business is back to normal. Shoppers cram into the Muslim-owned store as the Buddhist holiday season for Vesak (in India, Buddha Purnima) begins this month-end.”
These shopper are NOT LIKELY to be Sinhala or Tamil.
1 Vesak is NOT a time for shopping for them!!
2 They have RUNOUT of shopping money in APRIL (just 1 month before) for the NEW YEAR. No one goes shopping within one month of spending heaps for the new year!
The shoppers must be Muslims who don’t go shopping for the New Year.
May 19th, 2013 at 5:06 pm
There have always been allegations against nationalist organizations but the results have always been beneficial!
When Ven. Gangodawila Soma Thero started preaching nationalism, there were so many allegations… the result… the nationalist JHU.
When the JHU came to politics, remember there were countless articles against Bhikkus entering politics…
…the result…the government had to reluctantly take a nationalist stance… Hon. MR came to power, he too was reluctant at the beginning but then everything changed. The ultimate result – the LTTE is no more in Sri Lanka.
Now its the BBS. The BBS has won the hearts of the common people through actions. Now the incompetent gov. that did nothing with 2/3 majority is loosing…..
the next result should be ditching the 13th Amendment (that will effectively put an end to Tamil separatism) Sinhala as the only national language (again there is nothing wrong with Tamil being a “minority language”), and curbing Islamic fundos for good.
May 19th, 2013 at 7:34 pm
In my view BBS needs to be stopped before things get out of hand. Many other more aggressive splinter groups have emerged and no one is in control of them.
However, BBS must be stopped not by banning them or arresting them. Make them run out of slogans. That is the only way to make them powerless. Address all the grievances of Sinhala Buddhists without letting BBS capitalise on them. That will make them irrelevant.
This was how the JVP was finally reduced to a poltiical non-entity today. Since 1994 JVP increased its parlaimentary seats at every election until 2004. They started with 1 seat (by then President Premadasa had died and obviously he failed to stop the JVP through violent means) in 1994. By 2004 they had 39 seats. Their main popular slogans were stop privatisation, improve irrigation for farmers, stop attacking trade unions, stop devolving power to race groups and introduce nationalist governance. President Rajapaksa gave all of them from 2005-09 not to please the JVP but to bypass it. By 2010 JVP ran out of popular slogans! Now it is an extinct poltiical party.
It is the same approach that should be taken towards BBS. Demands to break down mosques and similar calls are not popular among BBS supporters. Most popular are economic demands relating to the upliftment of Buddhists’ economy vis-a-vis others’ economy. This must be granted to the people. It will make BBS irrelevant. Any other attempt will only backfire.
I agree with Mjaya that there is a concerted campaign to tarnish Buddhist monks’ image whenever they take up matters of national importance. His examples are valid. As he says the results speak for themselves. In 2006 when Mahavil Oya (Mavilaru) anicut was closed by Tigers, it constituted a war crime on ethnic Sinhalese and Muslims in the region. But the government was unwilling to use the military option. It forced Muslims and Sinhalese out of the area much like 1977 and 1990 in the north.
JHU played a key role in bringing President Rajapaksha into power and starting war from Mahavil Oya (Mavilaru). Buddhist clergy also played a key role in promoting him to the post of Prime Minister by recognizing his services with many titles including Sri Rohana Jana Ranjana (2004). Even Migettuwatte Gunananda Thero, Hikkaduwe Sri Sumangala Thero and many other leading freedom fighters (if I may use that term) were Buddhist monks. King Dutugemunu’s army had both continuing monks for spiritual guidance and one who left monkhood.
I don’t compare or equal them to BBS (the character of some BBS leaders is not praiseworthy to say the least) but the point is Buddhist monks should not be condemned just because they engage in political activities. Protecting the Sasana involves the spiritual aspect and the economics aspect of Buddhism practitioners. As such it is inevitable a section of monks will take up the economics/worldly part of it.
May 19th, 2013 at 8:46 pm
as ven. dharmapala said ‘ sinhalaya vadam keruwath baninawa, wadak nekeruwath baninawa’ this is a funny race full of ‘conditioning’ by western thinking and human rights etc. a race full of jealousy to fellow beings. beli kapana jaathiya. how can we call ourselves sinh+hela Buddhists? bbs is being castigated as a Norwegian plot, a gota’s plot, a government plot, mahinda’s plot. its funny how this common theme creeps into the psyche of sinhalayas, including some forum members. the conservative crap! as mentioned before the most dangerous lot. (it remind me of some of my bloody cousins) they never see outside the frame. never think differently. Englishman taught them how to think and they continue on the same lines.
bbs is a peoples force, period. our monks took an active role to defeat the dravidians during the days of our kings.
bbs should take an active role now to defeat all these forces, including wahaabis(logo is out on halal certification still going on – what a joke) tiger symapthysers, Christian and catholic English spleaking(note the spelling) murderous colombons and some so called reasonable, rational thinkers in heladeepa.
May 20th, 2013 at 1:31 am
Lorenzo,
What I doubted was correct. You have come to a conclusion based on Media. What portrays in the media is not 100% correct. Media, whether you like it or not, is subject to censorships and TRP preference. You very well know how media portrayed Sri Lanka in the last stage of LTTE war as war criminal, but the same media justified the war on Iraq, Afganistan etc. Youtube as you “trust” as the truth has a few videos to say that 9/11 attack was a masterplan by Bin Laden and at the same time many videos to prove it as an “inside job” and accused George Bush as the mastermind behind this. Which one do you take as right. Therefore I request you to study the fact before commenting based on media.
It is very true that the halal issuance process is still continuing….this is not in the media but you can investigate before commenting further.
“Which one? National Chamber of Commerce or Ceylon Chamber of Commerce?”
— Ceylon Chamber of Commerce …. this again was not in the media but you can investigate if you have proper means to do so. When the last meeting (just before the media conference) between ACJU, CCC and Venrable Buddhist Monks was held, it was decided to discontinue the logo to calm down the prevailing situation at that time but the process of halal certification continues without any problems. As it involves operational costs, CCC agreed to fund this process and are responsible for collection of payments from the organisations who wish to obtain halal certification. Most of the products which are exported needs halal logo and when ACJU issues halal logo, all the products of those organisations automatically become halal even in the local market even with the absence of logo in the local market. This is because the halal certification involves the whole production process of that organization.
“NONE of them collect halal fees.”
— I have replied to this above. It is a common scence that a certification process has operational costs and needs to be funded by someone.
“Without the logo, ONLY very few have access to real halal foods. Now they have to CHECK with the halal body BEFORE buying anything and MOST Muslims prefer to buy whatever at convenience because it is VERY VERY CUMBERSOME to check which producer is halal and which is not. This is what practically happens today which is good”.
— That means you like minority Musllim community going though a lot of invoncenience and hardships ha…you like to enjoy when your neighbours suffer…this shows your racist attitude. However even here you are wrong. Muslims alreay know what products were halal before and the same are still halal. However if they have any doubts about any products they can either simply AVOID BUYING THEM or can contact ACJU by phone, SMS, email or by website for correct informaiton. In this day and age with the development of technology this is very simple.
“Getting rid of halal label discrimination is a great achievement.”
— It is not. Halal logo is for muslims to selectively buy products at ease but taking it off does not do any harm as Muslims will still buy products selectively but because there is no logo they are now more vigilant than before which makes Muslim community not anymore be negligent and Muslims are more knowledgeable in healthy food than non muslims in this way because Halal Food means Permitted and Good for Health. Futher this made less practicing muslims and even many non muslims to learn and understand about the concept of Halal in terms of its Medicial and Scientific approach better than before….in this way BBS has done a great job i would say!
“Wrong about BBS NOT having popular support. They have HUGE public support and they are NOT a political party. Please refer to news reports about their meetings if you don’t believe youtube. A VERY POPULAR SL singer has a song about BBS which is also popular.”
— Again you are commenting based on medaa and I have already proved that media is not 100% true. Futher BBS DOES NOT have publlic support. The general public is in fact against them. It is the GOSL and some Foreign Bodies supporting them.
All the above points I mentioned are Definitely NOT in the Media, therefore there is very less chance that you would get to know about it.
I woud suggest you learn about Halal food definitely NOT for its spiritual advantage BUT for its Medical and Scientific advantages. If you understand it PROPERLY I am sure you also would unerstand that it is good for Your Own Health as well.
May 20th, 2013 at 5:56 am
BBS recently held a rally in Kegalle (Kegalle is a hot bed of terrorism bordering the Tamil dominated plantations) addressed by its leaders. I did not attend it but I read some of the news reports in Sinhala news papers. One said Sinhala and Tamil brothers suffered under the thirty years of war. What a lie from a Buddhist monk.
This statement says it all.
They say they went to Norway to meet Tamil Diaspora (Tamils who tricked the people of Norway with Norwegian Socialists and went there as refugees).
My concern is how come BBS see Moors (who are descendants of Sinhala and Moors) and Sinhala Christians as the enemies of Sinhala Buddhists while Hindu Tamil terrorists are their brothers.
While the Socialists of the Island nation are on the payroll of Indians, I suspect there are so called Sinhala Buddhist clamouring for a few rupees from the Indians.
JVP is almost reduced to ashes but its ciders overseas are joining with Tamil terrorist to reignite the killing of Sinhalese and Moors.
You can see the underlying reason. India wants to make war between, Sihala Buddhists and Muslims and Sinhala Buddhists and Sinhal Chritians.
India will do whatever they can to protect their empire and Indian colonial parasites.
May 20th, 2013 at 7:11 am
Move with care BBS, as there some people waiting to see your demise. There is too much propaganda already afoot against the BBS. Unfortunately, for some it is just a Game, not life itself as for us all in Lanka.
BBS is a Peoples’ Movement. It is always the Peoples’ Movements out west that wrought real and positive social change in any country, particularly in the west with attendant Democracy.
BBS: Move with Care. Move with Care. Move with Care. We cannot say this often enough.
BBS: Be also prepared that whatever good you do for the mass of people will be twisted into something ‘bad’ by some people.
BBS: It is imperative that you see all citizens of Lanka, ‘good’ or ‘bad’, as part of Lanka, and the same SL Law applies to all.
And adhere as much as you can to the Teachings of the Buddha. That is the winning way.
May 20th, 2013 at 1:59 pm
Kithsiri,
“Kegalle is a hot bed of terrorism bordering the Tamil dominated plantations”
Kegalle is a VERY PEACEFUL area. There is NO terrorism there.
Ministry of defence is NOT blind to ANY terrorist acts. They have NOT arrested ANY BBS member so far. That PROVES BBS is NOT a threat to SL.
Let the EXPERTS handle it!
I agree with Fran.
May 21st, 2013 at 1:22 pm
“Sri Lankan Buddhists do not have a strong moral figure like the Dalai Lama who successfully maintained the Tibetan effort against China on the high moral road for many decades. ”
I DISAGREE TOTALLY with the premise that the Dalai Lama has “successfully maintained the Tibetan effort against China on the high moral road for many decades”.
While the Dalai Lama has been a “Good Leader” on a religious level, he has been an UNMITIGATED FAILURE as the titular Political Leader of his People.
His “Ahimsa” approach to regaining the Sovereignty of Tibet has been an absolute failure. Under his “Leadership” Tibet has been permanently lost to the Tibetans without offering substantial and effective resistance to the Occupation by China. All that he has done is to discourage and prevent patriotic Tibetans from organizing and fighting for their country, by sapping and undermining their motivation to fight for their country with useless and ineffective pious pontifications.
I am proud to be a Buddhist, but I do not believe in remaining SUPINELY PASSIVE when the very existence of my people is threatened. When confronted by unmitigated evil I know that “non-violence” simply will not work; it will only lead your people to an early extinction; to slaughter like sheep losing everything they love and treasure as a people.
Non-violent methods simply cannot cope with murderers like Hitler, Pol Pot, and Prabhakaran. For example, the non-violent methods of Mohandas K. Gandhi that succeeded against a weakened war-weary post-WWII Britian would not have worked against Hitler, either to save the 6 million Jews and 20% of Poles he slaughtered in extermination camps, or the vast majority of the peoples of Europe conquered by Nazi Germany. The enemy MUST HAVE A MODICUM OF DECENCY AND MORAL CONSCIENCE for Gandhi-style non-violence to work. In its absence, non-violence is simply a Prescription for Suicide.
It is in this context, that I had long advocated (over 20 years) a MILITARY SOLUTION to the Eelamist terror inflicted upon Sri Lanka by murderous racist Tamil terrorist group, aided and abetted by India and Tamil Nadu. No amount of APPEASEMENT, NEGOTIATIONS, or even ABJECT SURRENDER, would have saved the lives and livelihoods of the the vast majority of Sri Lanka’s people. All those years, spanning three decades, wallowing in Buddhist “non-violence”, failing to marshall the ENTIRE RESOURCES of the Nation to combat the terror quickly and effectively, only killed more people and left the law-abiding citizens of Sri Lanka totally defenceless. In failing to do so, successive Srri Lanka governments abdicated the principal duty of a government to protect its citizens.
While we celebrate the final emergence of a Patriotic Government of the UPFA willing to sacrifice itself, if necessary, to defend and protect the Nation and its People, we … as a people … should be TOTALLY ASHAMED at the DELAY of 30 long years while Sri Lanka burned to ashes.
We heeded the advice of our enemies, and Western pundits plying their own agendas, who exploited our “Buddhist beliefs” to sap our fighting spirit, to coax us into ultimately destructive unworkable solutions amounting to abject surrender; we heeded “solutions” that they themselves had rejected in their own historical struggles for national survival.
Let Buddhism reign in its proper sphere after the rule of law has been established by secular force applied rigorously and firmly where necessary. In the absence of PEACE, the ESSENTIAL PRE–REQUISITE for very survival of a people, religion only adds to the misery.
The Dalai Lama may be a VERY GOOD RELIGIOUS LEADER; but he is a VERY POOR POLITICAL LEADER of his people. He has ACCOMPLISHED ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to regain his country for his people.
May 22nd, 2013 at 6:02 am
State and Religion (any religion), should be kept apart. Common sense says that we have to survive first to practice any religion.
Strong Laws to guard the country and coastline a must. In an overcrowded world with all sorts of adventurers and pirates roaming around, it is best to secure the country from within. Our ancestors knew how to guard this island home, in spite of rarely losing out sometimes for short periods of time. It is time we brought all those talents to guard the country to the foreground again.
An Oath of Allegiance too a must.
May 29th, 2013 at 7:15 am
This article should be read by EVERY Sri Lankan that cares about our country. The Western influence over Bodu Bala Sena is REAL. The motives are the same ones the West have with supporting Tamil separatism, and the same motive colonists have used throughout history – they want to divide-and-conquer Sri Lanka by pitting one local group against another so that the country is focused on internal conflict rather than external exploitation.
Capitalism, by definition, needs to expand its markets in order to survive, but with a united Sri Lanka, the country can focus on developing its own industries rather than just being consumers in Western ones. A united Sri Lanka can also more effectively resist Western secularism that seeks to destroy any culture based on a sincere religious practice. By pitting Buddhists against Muslims, the West can claim that ALL sincere religious practices are ‘extremism’ and lead to conflict, and therefore Sri Lanka should turn away from its rich Buddhist heritage and adopt Western secularism (alcohol bars on ever corner, sex shops and legal prostitution, gambling, materialism, etc.), much like what you see in Bankok, Thailand today where the focus in life is ‘getting more’ material stuff and sense gratification, things that the Buddha tells us are insatiable and ultimately lead to suffering.
The evidence of Western influence over BBS is overwhelming but not sufficiently detailed in the above article. First, we have the BBS organization and initial funding meeting in Norway organized by Arne Fjørtoft, the founder of Worldview International Foundation (WIF), a Norway NGO that was active in the North of Sri Lanka during the conflict with the Christian Tamils. WIF is a notoriously corrupt NGO that was at the heart of the largest aid fraud in Norway’s history in 2003. WIF also received non-profit organization status in the United States, and had their headquarters office in Staten Island, New York, which has the highest concentration of Jews outside of Israel. WIF failed to file its 990 forms to the US tax authorities (IRS) for three consecutive years and lost its non-profit status in the US as a result. If they had filed these 990s they would have been forced to list their financial donors in the United States, and it is highly likely that many of these financial donors would be Jews from the Staten Island area where WIF was headquartered.
The only lay person on the executive committee of BBS is Dilantha Withanage, and he was a former director of WIF and a close friend of Arne Fjørtof, WIF’s founder. Mr. Withanage accompanied Mr. Fjørtof and the entire BBS executive committee to Norway just prior to BBS’s anti-Muslim campaign in Sri Lanka. The Norway ambassador to Sri Lanka admitted in an interview given to the Asian Tribune that the Norway government provided seed funding (“one-off financing”) to the BBS just prior to their starting operations in Sri Lanka. And anyone who has been part of private or non-profit start-ups knows that it is common for whomever is providing the funding for the new organization to put ‘their person’ on the board of directors so they can track their money. Mr. Withanage is that person, and it is likely that follow-on funding was provided by Mr. Fjørtof’s WIF NGO.
In February of 2013, a prominent monk – Ada-Tharuna-Bhikshuwa-Mahamithawa-Himi – who used to be part of BBS resigned in disgust after he discovered that BBS was in fact taking money from the WIF Norway NGO. He wrote a letter to the president of Sri Lanka and posted it on Facebook, Lankacnews.com, and elsewhere detailing his knowledge of the connection between the Norway NGO and BBS, and efforts of BBS executive committee members to silence him, which included abductions to abandoned offices where he was forced to sign 10 blank pieces of paper. His letter is an indictment of the corrupting effect of money on some monks, and a sad case of Westerners trying hijack sincere Buddhist practice in Sri Lanka. You can read Ven. Himi’s letter here:
http://lankacnews.com/sinhala/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Mahamithawa-Himi.pdf
For those of us who are sincere Buddhists who were fooled by BBS, we should not blame these monks but look at our own practice and try each day to be the best example of Buddhism we can be according to the Dhamma. If we continue to show the world that we will not be corrupted by Western materialism regardless of how much money they put under our noses, then a few monks who fall short of the mark will not define us as Buddhists, and others will still be encouraged by our own positive example. We must also be vigilant in not taking the religious hatred bait, as sincere Buddhists do not hate anyone, and we truly wish for all people to end their suffering by understanding that craving more and more of anything that is not permanently satisfying is not a life worth living.