C. Wijeyawickrema, LL.B., Ph.D.

Service of a monk

The monk Ven. Sobitha (S) did lot of great service to Sri Lanka, especially to the Sinhala Buddhist cause. He was never a racist; he was presenting the reasonable path. A true Buddhist monk cannot be discriminating against any other living being or destroy or harm even a tree or an insect without a valid reason. He was very active and at times emotional and was no fake monk. Once he asked from Kumar Ponnambalam Can you tell us what special problems Tamils in Sri Lanka are facing which are not faced by Sinhalese and Muslims?” Kumar after thinking for a while said, Tamils have aspirations.” Ven. S was like a fruit tree attracting bats. This was why the Marxist daughter of a white Christian English woman, Vishaka Kumari Jayawardena sent to her husband Lal J at WIDER in Norway (relatives of Milinda Moragoda) a picture of a fiery-looking face of S to be used for the front cover of Stanley Tambiah’s book, Buddhism Betrayed, which was banned in Sri Lanka. The anthropologist, Gananath Obeysekera, now in the Friday Forum in Colombo wanted the ban lifted. It was Ven. S’s reputation as a symbol of reason, that Kumar David (KD), a Christian-born, Tamil Marxist, tried to capitalize to dislodge MahindaR at the next presidential election. KD proposed to use S as a single issue candidate to abolish Executive Presidency as the next election issue. KD sent a trial balloon and H. L. Seneviratne living in Virginia, another anthropologist, who blamed Vens. Walpola Rahula and Yakkaduwe Pragnarama for Sri Lanka’s problems in his book The work of kings,” was thrilled by KD’s brilliant idea. People like KD who are looking for any loophole to promote Eelam agenda was trying to get S as a cat’s paw. These toothless Marxists are going crazy. See what Vasudeva and Bahu are doing. At least Tissa Vitharana and Dew Gunasekara have now become silent lambs.

Using Buddhist monks as pawns was going on in Sri Lanka at least since 1956. This was done by the black-white Colombo crowds who are predominantly Christian or Christian Tamil. For example, Buddharakkita and Somarama were used by them to kill SWRD. Ossie Corea (OC) and Inspector Newton Perera were suspected but escaped. OC had his head shaven at the time and somebody jumped out from the wall behind SWRD’s house. These same forces tried to give cobra venom to SWRD at a cabinet meeting and CP de Silva drank the fateful glass of milk. Even then SWRD did not want the police guard to search monks visiting his house. It was these forces which had the 1962 Coup. A classic example of using or fooling Buddhist monks was the appointment of Ravi Karunanayaka (RK) as the chief dayaka (not just a dayaka) of the Kotte Raja Maha Vihara. The only result was that the main branch of the Naga (Bo?) tree hanging on to the Catholic Church side was removed (cut) and the tree died! RK is the son of the daughter of CC Dissanayaka (CCD) who led the 1962 Coup. CCD could not attend the wedding of his daughter because he was arrested by his own brother S.A. Dissanayaka. SWRD did a wrong act by not appointing CCD as IGP simply because he was a Catholic. Instead, a Buddhist, Abeykoon, a puppet, was given the job who only knew how to play bridge at the elites’ Sinhalese sports club! I write these little tit bits of history for the benefit of readers who are young and those who have forgotten them. They have great historical value in understanding the dramas we see today. It is my intention to try to help Ven. Sobitha to understand the black-white game fooling Buddhist monks.

I do not know if Ven. Sobitha was also in the category of those Inter-faith monks like Vens. Dambara Amitha, Bellanwila Wimalaratena or Baddegama Samitha. Living with people of other religions in harmony is different from thinking God-based religions are the same as Buddhism. This Inter-faith bait was eaten by the Buddhism minister PM and ruined the 2600 Sambuddha Jayanthi. But it is clear that S has come under the control of Eurocentric black-white crowd in Sri Lanka. These people who were in the this war is not winnable” boat are trying to capitalize on the politically inappropriate acts of MahindaR to derail him and to plant the germs that will break Sri Lanka or destroy Buddhist society in Sri Lanka. The constitutional proposals S presented have these hidden aims along with one or two good ones. For example, the most crucial issues are ignored, such as the removal of 13-A. Instead, appointing two Vice Presidents by ethnicity which will reinforce separate thinking is introduced. The most needed requirement of empowering people at the village level is also ignored. This last item is a solution to all kinds of corruption and inequities we can find in present Sri Lankan society.

The two Tamil and Muslim Vice Presidents is in line with the new game called meaningful devolution” by way of unmajoritarian institutions.” This became so popular during GL-Neelan package deal days and CBK’s several versions of such deals. This method promoted by white Eurocentric writers like Donald Horowitz creates regional ethnic minority elites and slowly weakens the central governments in former colonies (it may take a decade or two or more), until a new Kosovo or South Sudan (or even a separate country of Scotland) is established splitting countries. Thus, the new policy of creating unmajoritarian institutions” is a sanitized” version of the old divide and rule policy, providing ladders to separatist monkeys to carve out separate countries at each other’s throat.  Already, South Sudan started an internal war. Rohan Gunaratne from Singapore University used to promote a quota system for different ethnic groups in the army, police, government jobs etc. These are sure methods of breaking up of Sri Lanka.

Lawyers are mostly crooks and the development of constitutional skeleton should never be entrusted to lawyers. It was lawyers who messed up all Sri Lankan constitutions since 1946. We know at least three names that Ven. S (S) has behind him or they use S as the front man. Jayampathy W is a Marxist who was with Tissa Vitharana’s infamous majority APRC report. J. C. Weliamuna is an NGO man and a Christian lawyer who does not reveal how much dollars he gets from his Transparency International agency. Elmo Perera is another Christian, writing as if he is some kind of a political science saint. Christian parents sometimes camouflage names of their children: Who would have thought that Ananda Tissa de Alwis or Jayantha Danapala are Christians?

Good from the bad

One basic problem with Ven. S proposal is that he forgot even war can produce some good results. Or bad things can bring good things. For example, JRJ got into trouble with India for his stupidity, arrogance and his false-blind faith in the U.S. government (Yankee Dickey). But in 1987 if he did not surrender to the Boy PM Rajiv Gandhi, India was going to occupy N-E and leave it after creating an Eelam with even parts of the Malayanadu annexed to it. So JRJ did the right thing at that time. Similarly his Executive Presidency monster served Sri Lanka in killing Prabakaran. EP is not a bad job post. It is the person who gets it who becomes bad and worse. MahindaR was able to make an Aladdin’s Lamp out of EP job to win the war. EP job can be controlled by other means. To throw it out like the baby with the bath water is not wise in the present geopolitics. Limiting it to just one six year term like in Mandela’s South Africa, removing blanket immunity are examples. Actually, even now EP is under the control of Parliament. No vote in Parliament for the budget means no money to run even the EP office! We saw what had happened to CBK under JVP control. She was under JVP probation! Therefore, the real problem is not EP, but the electoral system that allows criminals and crooks to become MPs. EP position can be made democratic and effective with gentleman MPs selected on electorate basis.

How EP monster helped Sri Lanka

Why did JRJ create this EP monster? Since 1948 party politics (not the 1947 constitution) and Colombo political families ruined the country. JRJ even tried to join with Mrs. B to create a national government when he was fighting with Dudley. LSSP and CP combine really ruined Mrs. B. The best example of parliament not allowing a PM to operate came when Lake House bribed Managala Samaraweera’s father and 16 others to defeat Mrs. B’s coalition government. Philip Gunawardena also took revenge from Mrs. B by voting against her. Mrs. B lost by one vote. JRJ was talking about a need for an EP kind of system to create a strong executive not controlled like a puppet by MPs. Now we know JRJ abused the power people gave him. Look at the number of constitutional Amendments he made and purpose behind each of them. But MahindaR could not have won the war if there was no EP job. Ven. S cannot say now that the war is over, because the war is not over. And there is the other war, the war against poverty, inequality and the rapid decline in morals and ethics.

Sarvodaya Ariyaratna’s book

To think that 17-A can rescue Sri Lanka from the mess that JRJ created for the benefit of the Colombo crowd is like expecting to empty the Parakrama Samudraya using a tea spoon! If the eminent persons, concerned citizens, NGO mudalalis, HR agents, retired CCS officers and retired professors who are back home to roost etc. were really concerned about the rule of law and the separation of powers they should have read the book written by Sarvodaya’s Ariyaratne in 1988, “The Power Pyramid and the Dharmic Cycle.” In chapter 7, pages 116-122, he explained in detail what was/is wrong with the bahubootha system and he identified the problems and a set of solutions to them. Rather than trying to apply lipstick to a pig, the solution is to throw the JRJ system (baby) with the bath water (17-A), and prepare a home-grown constitution with input from village people. Ven. S should request ideas from people first before presenting his and the Christian Plan.

17-A was a joke

What about Ven. S wanting to bring back the 17^th Amendment. This amendment was a joke. Controlling EP job is one thing. We all want it. But it must be done the right way. All the independent bodies that 17-A wanted to create to encircle EP had the basic corruption germ. Members to these bodies were to be appointed by political parties. I quote below from what I wrote on March 19, 2009 (Lankaweb) about the classic case of UNP nominating Jayadeva Uyangoda (JU) (anti Sinhala Buddhist, former terrorist-Marxist) to the constitutional council.

Ironically, JU’s case together with the nomination of the retired Tamil judge who said      Tamil rights were robbed,” damaged the very spirit and purpose of the CC idea. Those           who nominated these two persons violated the basic natural justice rule that not only    justice be done, but it should so appear. These two with such bias against the views of the   President of the country, who is responsible to the people of Sri Lanka, have no legal or         moral right to accept membership even if some people with vested interests and hidden     agendas nominated them expecting them to be cat’s paws to try to imprison Mahinda    Rajapakse.”

Teach Tamil and Sinhala

Teaching Sinhala and Tamil to Tamil and Sinhala children will erase all these TNA and American demands and Tamil Nadu demands. The big fuss that Vasudeva Nanayakkara is making about the need to sing the national anthem in two-languages is a joke.

What Sri Lanka needs

I wish to draw Ven. S’ attention to the following urgent needs in Sri Lanka today.

1. Remove 13-A. This is what LLRC meant when it said there are no homelands in Sri Lanka.
2. But removal 13-A must be linked with empowering people at the village level. This is also what LLRC recommended.
3. This empowerment of people at the lowest level can be done using GSN units. But RPremadasa increased GSN units from 4,000 to 14,000 to give jobs to UNP catchers. These GSN units must be re-demarcated using language-blind, ecological/geographical boundaries. Once such new units are identified non-political party basis, locally elected 10 member committee takes care of local policy decisions relating to basic human needs. Officers are there to help the GSN committee and not control them. The Divineguma law was a wrong method in this regard. Divineguma law should be modified to allow this kind of non-political party local rule.

In Sri Lanka there is a triangle of three evil forces: politician-officer-NGO. These operate from village level to the national level. It is by killing this evil triangle that Sri Lanka can come out of the present mess.

4. Because village level empowerment is based on ecology-based, language-blind smaller administrative units, these can provide the basis for Electorates, Districts and Regions. Thus Sri Lanka will have seven River Basin Regions.
5. With local level empowerment, there is no harm in having an EP job with necessary other controls.
6. Colonialism was maintained and continued using humiliation as a strategy. This was more dangerous and more effective than the use of guns, Bibles or bottles (Arrack). Local people, who became black-whites suffered from inferiority complex and became blind followers of the white man. They in turn passed it on to local non-English speaking natives. Anagarika Dharmapala understood this and he had a simple mental therapy method. He asked people to make an effigy of a white man, keep it in front of his house and kick it twice daily calling it para suddha! Those days the unofficial national anthem of village Ceylon was Danno Budunge” written by John de Silva who was born to Christian parents.

In April 2009, Gotabhaya Rajapakse gave this humiliation strategy back to white Europens via David Miliband and Bernard Kushner. Now Bodu Bala Sena is forcing Sri Lankans to come out of this white-European game of humiliation (otherwise how can they teach human rights to Buddhists?). Take a simple example. Mahinda Ralapanawa and Wickrama Weerasooriys wrote two books about Buddhist monk and temple control laws enacted by the colonial master. Perhaps, they did not know what Prins Gunasekera wrote about Vihara and Devalagam laws in 1958, which pointed out how British judges ruined Buddhist traditional systems. These Eurocentric experts do not know they are under the spell of humiliation ghost. So are the people who are fooling Buddhist monks like Ven. Sobitha.

The sooner BBS makes Anagarika Dharmapala method a household practice again (modified) the better for Sri Lanka.

Cwije7@gmail.com