By Rohana R. Wasala

I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.

The evil that men do lives after them;

The good is oft interred with their bones;

So let it be with Caesar…….

• Mark Antony speaking at the funeral of  his assassinated friend Julius Caesar in the Shakespeare play by the same name

My readers, alert as usual, may be wondering why this essay is entitled ‘The Case of Karu Jayasuriya’ instead of just ‘Karu Jayasuriya’. Well there’s a reason. Please read on. 

Former Speaker of Parliament Karu Jayasuriya has an aura of quiet dignity about him as an MP and senior politician, equally respected by both his UNP and non-UNP colleagues. So, I was not surprised when he was unanimously elected as chairman of the Former Parliamentarians’ Caucus at its first meeting in early July 2024. Jayasuriya launched his own NGO, the Institute of Democracy and Good Governance (IDAG) three months later, on September 30, 2024, as stated before. The Daily FT reported a day later (on October 1): ‘Karu Jayasuriya calls for return to good governance’. Was he expecting a revival of the dysfunctional 2015-2020 Yahapalanaya (Good Governance) project, which had been overwhelmingly rejected by the people in 2019? This is unthinkable. But, as I see it, Jayasuriya himself seems to have changed his long held political perspectives before choosing to or being chosen to catalyse the country’s attitudinal transformation that the Yahapalanaya attempted as required by the global interventionist forces behind the 2015 regime change operation.

Caveat: What I am saying here is what I perceive according to my lights. It is not meant to be an attack on Hon Karu Jayasuriya whose personal freedom to change his opinions about anything and everything I recognise with deep respect. My admiration for him as an honourable senior political personality remains intact, despite holding contrary opinions myself.  As for ‘global interventionist forces’, could they feel so insecure and mean as to kill a mockingbird? 

It would be appropriate, at this point, to make a  brief review of Karu Jayasuriya’s life journey, which involved a holistic school education followed by an initial stint in the army, preparation for business underpinned by sound academic and professional qualifications, his actual business career, and his subsequent initiation into politics. He had a long period of maturation as a strategic  manager of human and material resources before he started holding political office. Jayasuriya completed his preparatory and secondary education at Ananda College, Colombo. The characteristic Buddhist school tone at Ananda helped mould his character as a patriotic young man devoted to the service of his Motherland.

 A few years after completing his school education, Jayasuriya  joined the Ceylon Army Volunteer Force in 1965. After training, he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Ceylon National Guard. He remained in the military from 1965 to 1972, which means he was mobilised during the first JVP Insurrection of 1971 (and probably even had some experience in live combat). The next quarter century of his life saw him devoting himself to intensive theoretical and practical self development in the business field, while successfully engaging in his own business enterprises. 

The discipline he acquired at Ananda and in the military must have stood him in good stead in his business life, and later in active politics, which he embarked on in 1997 at the ripe age of 57. Jayasuriya was elected as Mayor of Colombo in that year and served in the post for two years 1997-99. In 2000, he entered parliament as a National List MP from the UNP, representing the Gampaha District and between 2000 – 2015 he held important ministerial positions, mostly under Ranil Wickremasinghe as PM during the presidencies of Chandrika Kumaratunga and Maithripala Sirisena, and for a little over one year (2007-08) under  D.M. Jayarathne as PM during Mahinda Rajapaksa’s  pre-2009 first term as president. Following the foreign engineered regime change/the ouster of the last named in 2015, in which he played a leading role, Jayasuriya became the 20th Speaker of Sri Lanka Parliament (September 1, 2015 – March 3, 2020). As a cabinet minister, he handled the subjects of public administration, home affairs, and power and energy at various times. He was sworn in as the minister of public administration, democratic rule and Buddha Sasana at the beginning of Yahapalanaya and held the post for about eight months from January 12 to August 17, 2015 before being elected as Speaker on September 1. (Source for information about Karu Jayasuriya’s life and work: Wikipedia)

There is a natural relationship between him and Buddhist monks. The latter have been expressing alarm at what they perceive as increasing threats to Buddha Sasana from proliferating religious fundamentalist sects funded from abroad: problematic acts such as conducting unethical conversions, erecting or opening unauthorised places of worship disturbing the peace of predominantly Buddhist neighbourhoods, and generally encroaching on the traditional Buddhist religious space. Tamil Hindus are also subject to such unethically aggressive proselytisation projects. Peaceful mainstream Christians and Muslims have disowned troublemakers perpetrating these acts. They have often expressed solidarity with the monks about this issue. 

Another big nasty problem that Buddhist monks are trying to raise awareness about among politicians, government authorities and the general public, as the traditional Guardians of the Nation, is the systematic destruction by a handful of racist Tamil politicians  of the extensive archaeological sites in the North and East, almost all of which have been scientifically identified as ancient Buddhist shrines and monasteries dating back to pre-Christian times, such as Kurundi Viharaya in the Mulativ district in the North and the Muhudu Maha Viharaya in Pottuvil in the East. These monks won’t have to agitate asking for  solutions to these issues, subjecting themselves to unjust criticism and defamation by ignorant outsiders as religious fanatics, racists, chauvinists, etc., if politicians, whether in power or out of power, have the courage to approach the issues legally and democratically through the existing Sri Lankan Constitution, where, according to AI Overview 

Article 9 states that the Republic of Sri Lanka shall give Buddhism the foremost place, making it the duty of the state to protect and foster it, while also ensuring all religions the rights granted by Articles 10 and 14(1)(e). 

For the protection of the archaeological aspect of our Buddhist heritage, the powerful Antiquities Ordinance (1940) (enacted during British colonial times) can be invoked. This ordinance

…… .aimed to better preserve the country’s antiquities by establishing the Crown’s (today, State’s) ownership of undiscovered antiquities, except ancient monuments, and granting the Archaeological Commissioner custody and possession of discovered antiquities.

Successive recent governments have carefully avoided having to tackle these problems buckling under the coercive pressure exerted by communalist politicians of the respective areas.. A number of  other main party politicians including ex-president Mahinda Rajapaksa have functioned in the capacity of minister responsible for the Buddha Sasana, but equally ineffectively for the same reason. So, Jayasuriya should not be singled out for criticism in this regard. All Buddha Sasana ministers to date have failed to fulfill their obligations, leaving the genuine protectors of our incomparable Buddhist civilizational heritage, none other than the Guardians of the Nation, the Buddhist bhikshus/monks, to fend for themselves. But, fortunately, they remain assured of the unstinted support of ordinary Buddhists living in Sri Lanka and around the world outside. 

Abysmal ignorance and sheer inaction  prompted by narrow self-interest and a lack of responsibility on the part of the rulers and the civil authorities under them are usually at the root of these chronic issues. I have always believed that only patriotic politicians of Karu Jayasuriya’s calibre can help eliminate threats to the Buddha Sasana through democratic dialogue, without allowing violence to be ignited by ill-disposed extraneous elements between Sinhalese Buddhists and Tamil Hindus, who together account for 90% of the Sri Lankan population. These evil doers try their best to keep the two naturally and culturally closest communities divided. But their evil schemes will fail. Let’s hope president Anura Kumara Dissanayake will realise this soon and take advantage of his decent Buddhist upbringing to do the needful (which means a great deal). We will urge him to take counsel, especially, with his well meaning critics, in charting his Punarudaya (New Dawn) path so that it will lead to ‘A RICH COUNTRY AND A BEAUTIFUL LIFE’ that he is envisioning for the common people. AKD should remember why the JVP/NPP he leads adopted that campaign slogan which answers to the ‘sassa sampatti hetucha – peeto bhavatu lokocha’ of the verse of blessing heard at the end of the daily ritual of ‘Seth pirith’ chanting broadcast every morning over the SLBC radio. That tradition is still maintained, I guess. KJ knows, probably even better than AKD does, the benign psychic influence of that daily blessing on all Sri Lankans. 

Jayasuriya was among the distinguished invitees (former presidents Chandrika, Gotabaya and Ranil among them) at the Act of Appointment bestowal ceremony of the Amarapura Nikaya held under state sponsorship led by the president at the BMICH, Colombo on March 10, 2024. This reminded me of the same Nikaya conferring on Karu Jayasuriya, then Speaker of Parliament, an honorary title, as reported in the Sunday Times of April 21, 2019. The piece of news stuck in my mind probably because of the deadly memories associated with that fateful Sunday, six years ago. The honorary title had been conferred on Jayasuriya a day or two previously in appreciation of his integrity as a politician, his commitment to the advancement of the Buddha Sasana, and his tireless efforts in promoting unity among the Sangha.

Perhaps, the still untested green horns in the current parliament have something to learn from Karu Jayasuriya. But are they ready to respond to his message without being misled by other propaganda, I wonder? They will find that listening to a gracious senior like Karu Jayasuriya is worth their while. 

KJ’s vision has been focused on nurturing leaders who are driven by conscience, not self-interest”, says Lanka Jayasuriya, Karu Jayasuriya’s daughter whom I quoted earlier, This idea is captured powerfully in his own words:

One day, we will all face a trial where no witnesses will testify, and no counsel will appear on our behalf. The only account the judge – Mother Nature in disguise – will hear is from our conscience. My vision has always been to live as a guiltless person, so that on that fateful day, my conscience will not speak against me.”  

That is the essence of Jayasuriya’s life and work according to his daughter: ‘a leader whose conscience has guided his decisions, and whose vision for Sri Lanka is built on the foundation of integrity and moral responsibility. It is this philosophy that underpins the creation of IDAG.’

However, Jayasuriya’s words Oneday, we will all face…………will not speak against me” from his Buddhist mouth or heart are problematic. Those words belong to someone who believes in a Day of Judgement. But he immediately substitutes ‘Mother Nature in disguise’ for  the Abrahamic God. His resolve to live and die as a guiltless person fits Buddhism, as it does any theistic religion. Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza (1632-77) conceived Nature around us and in us as an impersonal divine power. Albert Einstein (1879-1955), considered as the greatest scientist of the 20th century, is said to have accepted Spinoza’s God. That is compatible with Buddhism, too. And Einstein was full of praise for the Buddha’s teachings, as is well known.

To his great grief, his younger daughter Sanjeewani Indira, married and settled in London, died suddenly in 2016 at the young age of 40. That tragic loss must have taken its toll on him. There may have been some spiritual confusion in his mind. Even if he has changed his original religious beliefs and embraced new ones out of personal conviction, that is no harm, it is not wrong. That is in accordance with what the Buddha taught the young Kalamas in the Kalama Sutta. He told them that they should not accept anything because it is found in the sacred texts, or because it agrees with tradition, or because it is taught by a respected teacher, etc., and instructed them: …….when you know for yourselves that certain things are wholesome (kusala) and good, then accept them and follow them” (Source; pp 2-3, What the Buddha Taught/Walpola Rahula). 

Realising the Ultimate Truth (Nibbana) is a voluntary undertaking to be fulfilled within oneself, it goes without saying, in the absence of witnesses. The important thing is that Karu Jayasuriya remains true to his moral and ethical principles (which he originally imbibed from Buddhism) in which he is firmly anchored. 

Concluded