A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
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Back to 500BC.
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Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Thursday, July 13, 2017
Violence Is The New Nonviolence
Photo credit – Maithripala Sirisena’s Facebook
A
Group of GMOA members and the medical faculty undergraduates were on
their way to pelt stones on SAITM building in Malabe. On the way, they
saw Lord Buddha meditating under a ‘Bo’ tree. They all went to him and
told ‘Oh, Most Venerable! We are on our way to pelt stones at SAITM in
order to protect the standard of the medical education of our beloved
motherland. Please bless us’.
Lord
Buddha opened his eyes and said calmly. ‘My dear children, Although, I
have said to follow the path of nonviolence to resolve the conflicts, I
have realized that it is not practical in this country. Therefore I ask
one thing from you all. You can pelt stones on SAITM, with one
condition. The first stone should be thrown by a member of GMOA who had
not received his education from public money and does not engage in
private practice. The first one should be the one who arrives to the
hospital on time to see the patients and does not charge more than Rs.
1000. He or She should be someone who does not receive any commission
from the pharmaceutical companies to promote a particular brand when
there are cheap generic alternatives. And should be….”
Suddenly
Lord Buddha was interrupted by an irritated GMOA member in the group
saying that Buddha should properly educate himself on the affairs of the
country and the international conspiracies against it. Meanwhile an
undergrad in the group started to call Buddha as an agent funded by
capitalists. Another called him as someone funded by NGOs. And then the
group started to chant slogans calling Buddha as a traitor of the
Motherland.
Hearing
this, Buddha returned to his meditation and the Anti- SAITM, Anti –
capitalism and the Anti – public convenience patriotic movement started
its procession. ~ An extract from the book to be written by V. Kanthaiya.
After two and a half years, now it’s proven beyond any doubt that
Yahapalanaya is a complete failure. It is an open secret that
Yahapalanaya is a model government promoted by the international
well-wishers of Sri Lanka and implemented by the minority of the
Majority community and the Majority of the other minority communities.
The key reason is nothing new and unusual. This is the typical reaction
of the internal factors when and where a strong authoritative power is
removed and replaced by more democratic system.
Sri
Lanka has been under monarchy for more than two millennia and like all
old world countries, we grew up listening to and reading stories
beginning with ‘once upon a time, there was a king’. The reality is most
of the old world civilizations including Sri Lanka are not culturally
and psychologically ready for democracy.
This
is the argument told by one of my highly educated, well – mannered
friend and a mentor who proudly identifies himself as a ‘Sinhala
Buddhist’.
This
is not the view of this only individual. This is shared by millions of
people in Sri Lanka who clearly identify themselves as educated, polite,
refined, cow loving, urban, middle – class professionals and also
‘unique Sinhala – Buddhists’. They also believe that their race is on
the verge of rapid extinction due to an unidentified international
conspiracy.
The
reason of this psychological phenomena is very deep. It all started in
1956, when S.W.R.D Bandaranaike discovered and informed the masses that
Sri Lanka indeed belongs only to the ‘Sinhala Buddhist’ ethnic group as
they are endemic to this island who do not exist any other part of this
universe. This discovery forced the other ethnic groups who also started
to believe that they are endemic to this island. What happened next
until now is the post – independence history of Sri Lanka. However, that
history will vary based on whose version you are reading.
What
S.W.R.D Bandaranaike used was just a marketing technique which was
first tested and proven by Adolf Hitler. The suspicion and hatred
towards the minority ethnic groups by Sinhalese gave S.W.R.D a
competitive edge over his rivals back in 1950s to establish himself as
the guardian of them, and once the other Sinhalese political parties
realized the power of this technique, they also started to adopt this at
a higher degree, just to get more votes.