Towards religious harmony
Posted on August 22nd, 2013
Ranjith Soysa
In view of the several incidents leading to religious disharmony which
took place recently the Government should
consider to appoint a commission to examine the causes and evolve a
system to nip in the bud such unenviable situations.
Among the issues which should receive the attention of such an inquiry
are :
1 The growth of aggressive and violent religious movements in Sri Lanka.
2ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The role played by the foreign organizations in assisting such movements.
3 Dissemination of violent religious contentsƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ in the educational
institutions.
4 Unethical religious conversions leading to tensions among religious
groups.
5 To formulate and implement a set of regulations pertaining to the
location of places religious worship
6 To set in motionƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ a procedure for a healthy dialogue among the
religious groups before an issue becomes volatile.
7. The Ministry of Religious Affairs and the law enforcing authorities to
act promptly and impartially to manage incidents to prevent violence.
August 22nd, 2013 at 4:56 pm
IF THW WORLD NEED HARMONY GOVTS.. SHOULD BAN ALL RELIGIONS WHICH ENCOURAGE KILLING OTHER NON BELIEVERS.THESE RELIGIONS DESTROY THE WORLD .EVERYBODY KNOWS ABOUT THESE RELIGIONS
August 22nd, 2013 at 7:03 pm
There is no sign the government will abrogate 13A based pseudo-federal governance structure soon. In this case, ethnic Sinhalese must get accustomed to the pseudo-federal governance structure without refusing to work with it. This is not about accepting 13A which must be rejected. However, if it is not going away, 13A must be used to protect Sinhala interests.
For instance we fought against British colonial rule in 1818 and 1848 and lost. Then we conformed to the British colonial rule; learned their language, followed the law, studied in schools, etc. It was not the ideal but it was the best we could do. Ananda College educated students to enter Cambridge University while Jaffna schools educated their students to go to Madras University. Top Buddhist schools taught English, the western dress code, western sports, western curriculum/sciences, etc. Through this conformity, Sinhalese managed to survive though few found it difficult to reverse back when the colonials left. Had we continued to agitate as in 1818, Sinhalese would have perished in the island and lost out economic opportunities.
The danger of the Northern Province following the Indian federal model and the Western Province not following it is Sinhalese losing out. Under the Indian federal model, Gujarati have their own language based, state just like Tamils have theirs. In Sri Lanka there is a Tamil governed province and Sinhalese must make comparable claims to the Western Province. Since Tamil language is the sole de facto language in the Northern Province, Sinhala language must be the sole language in Western Province. The danger of 13A is it offers all the benefits of Indian federalism to the Tamils but doesn’t offer the protections contained in the Indian Constitution to Sri Lanka or to the Sinhalese. Sinhala must be the sole (emphasised) regional language outside the northern and eastern provinces as Tamil is the de facto sole regional language in the north.
Since 13A is here to stay for a long time, a proper regional language and ethnicity based governance policy must be introduced throughout the country not just in the north. If Tamils and Muslims have a province each (northern and eastern), Sinhalese must have the rest of the provinces administered in Sinhala only. Otherwise the Sinhalese will lose both the north and the south.
August 23rd, 2013 at 4:45 am
Agree that a proper Language Policy must be written into the Law of the land. English should be made a strong link language, not Tamil. Language brings with it culture and the culture that the Tamil language will bring is the culture of Tamil Nadu, No one wants the Tamil Caste structure of Tamil Nadu brought into Sri Lanka, or other archaic and redundant practices there. If Sri Lanka is divided up on Language, Tamil Caste Wars will start again as happened previously in the North, swamping the entire country into destabilisation and war, yet again.
We hope no short sighted ‘plaster jobs’ will be brought out by Parliament re any new laws on any subject, including Language Policy.
August 23rd, 2013 at 3:39 pm
All these problems start when people fight for resources. Today the world is in turmoil. The reason is too many people. Nobdy takes any notice of this major problem. When people fighting for resources, race, religion etc, etc come into it. A few decades ago nobody fought over religion, race etc. People moved all over the world, without so much restrictions.
Today it’s all different. A graphic example is Sri Lanka. When the mossie population was about 1% or 2% nobody noticed them much. They got on well. Now after multiplying and multiplying to 10%, they want more and more. They want Sri Lanka to be a Saudi Arabia.
What is happening in Egypt, Syria, Libya, Pakisthan, Afganisthan etc. is due to this relentless baby making. Allah won’t provide them with jobs, schools, houses, hospitals, food, etc. etc. Only 72 virgins when they depart this planet. Then violence starts. Look India’s baby boom done to the country and China’s one baby policy done to those countries. Only solution to these problems is put a stop to this multiplying. If they are multiplying, ask them to pay for education and medicne. IT WILL STOP IMMEDIATELY. If the mossies multiply like this Sri Lanka will join the former Buddhists countries club of Pakisthan, Iran, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Afganisthan, Maldives before too long.