he Hope in Hopelessness

"Ill at ease in the tyranny, ill at ease in the republic,In the one I longed for freedom,in the other the end of corruption."
Czelaw Milosz (To Raja Rao)

by Tisaranee Gunasekara-September 16, 2017, 6:38 pm 

"All fear punishment, all fear death, comparing oneself with others, one should neither kill nor cause to kill." That was Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, as rendered in the Danda Vagga (The Rod of Punishment) of the Dhamma Pada. That injunction against causing hurt, harm or death covers not just all humans but all living beings. That one stanza would have sufficed to prevent the unfolding tragedy of the Rohingya people, had Buddhists of Myanmar paid even an iota of attention to what Buddha taught.

But in Myanmar, as in Sri Lanka, the Buddha’s teachings, especially his unequivocal and total rejection of violence, are being observed only in the breach. According to latest UN statistics almost 400,000 Roping people, men, women and children, had fled their homes to Bangladesh, triggering a massive humanitarian crisis. The fact that this ethnic-cleansing is being committed in the name of Buddha and Buddhism demonstrates that the contagion of violent-intolerance is not the legacy of any one religion.

Divide and rule did not end with colonialism. The generals who controlled Myanmar during much of its post-independent history fanned the flames of religio-racial hatred against the Rohingya minority as a way of gaining Buddhist-Burman support. The Rohingyas served as ideal scapegoats – Muslims in a land of Buddhists, different and alien in many ways, from cultural practices to skin colour. But the generals alone could not have succeeded in transforming quotidian suspicion and dislike on the part of ordinary Burmese into an all consuming phobia and hatred. That radical change was made possible by the work done by a segment of Burmese Buddhist monks, especially those associated with Ashin Wirathu’s 969 Movement and its successor, MaBaTha. These extremists monks embraced of blood-and-faith nationalism and turned visceral hatred of Rohingya Buddhism into a new article of faith. They rendered religio-racial hatred respectable and popular; they made it seem compatible with democracy, and depicted it as necessary to the protection of Burmese Buddhism.

Ashin Wirathu, the ‘Burmese Bin Laden’ was here in Colombo exactly three years ago. That was September 2014. The Bodu Bala Sena was flying high, thanks to the patronage of the government in general and Gotabhaya Rajapaksa in particular. Wirathu came to attend the BBS organised Sangha Convention which was held at the Sugathadasa Stadium. By that time his 969 movement had been effectively banned by Myanmar’s Sangha Council, "the government-appointed body of monks that oversees and regulates the Buddhist clergy."i The Rajapaksa administration could have refused him a visa, without angering the Myanmar government. But the regime not only gave him a visa; he entered Sri Lanka "via the VIP lounge and whisked to a safe place," as the BBS boasted on its facebook page.

Wirathu, who has mastered the art of spewing incendiary words while maintaining a facade of serenity, (unlike most of his Lankan counterparts) promised that his 969 movement will work with the BBS to protect Buddhism in Asia from the ‘Jihadist threat’. The CEO of the BBS declared that the name of Sri Lanka should be changed to Sinhale, that Lankan-Tamils must be renamed Sinhala-Tamils and Lankan Muslims Sinhala-Muslims. Only Sinhala-Buddhist culture should be allowed. The BBS would soon present a new constitutional-blueprint which would include these and other changes. Galagoda-Atte Gnanasara attacked Rev. Sobhita Thero for promoting the idea of a common candidate and spoke in defence of the executive presidential system. The BBS Convention was clearly an attempt to incite Sinhala-Buddhist fears and harness them to the Rajapaksa chariot, in time for an early presidential election.

Had Mahinda Rajapaksa won in January 2015, he would not have implemented any of the more insane ideas advocated by the BBS. For him, as for Burmese generals, minority-phobia is, first and foremost, a politico-electoral weapon, an indispensable one. But during a Rajapaksa third-term the BBS would have continued to ride roughshod over minorities, thereby rendering other Aluthgamas not only possible, but also inevitable.

Where Myanmar is today would have been the direction in which we too were headed.

Feet of Clay

The Rohingya people suffered violence and discrimination for decades without resorting to counter-violence. When peaceful and democratic resistance fail, those who advocate counter-violence as the only possible-solution gain upper-hand. Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) was formed by Rohingya exiles living in Saudi Arabia, according to a report by the International Crisis Group. The group, which is reportedly being funded by wealthy Saudis and Pakistanis, had mounted several attacks on Burmese security forces. The latest such attack served as the excuse for the current round of anti-Rohingya bloodletting. As ever extremists on either side are serving each other’s interests. The mass-killings and expulsion of Rohingyas would provide more fodder to the ARSA, both in terms of money and recruits. There is a real danger of unemployed IS fighters on the lookout for a new cause and a new battlefront making their way to the land of thousand pagodas. This in turn will strengthen Buddhist extremists and their project of ethnic-cleansing. The ordinary people, caught in the middle, will suffer and die.

What is happening in Myanmar today is not dissimilar to what happened in Sri Lanka, post-Black July. What is happening in Myanmar might have been our fate too, had the Rajapaksas won the presidential election. What better excuse for the total dismantling of democracy, what better justification for enhanced repression than a ‘Jihadist-threat’?

Democracy saved us from that horrendous fate. Unfortunately democracy couldn’t do the same for Myanmar.

The tragedy unfolding in Myanmar also demonstrates the danger of placing politicians on pedestals. No politician is immune to the corrupting lure of power, as Aung San Suu Kyi’s fall from grace proves.

In Myanmar, the generals still control a large chunk of power. State Councillor Suu Kyi is still vulnerable to a coup. She couldn’t have prevented the attacks on Rohingya civilians even if she had wanted to, because she has no control over the military. Resisting calls by Ashan Wirathu and other extremists to impose martial law is probably as far as she could realistically go. But she could have spoken out, at least to express sympathy with the innocent victims, as fellow human beings. She could have invoked the true teachings of the Buddha against his spurious followers who are murdering, raping and pillaging in his name.

Myanmar’s tragedy is only beginning. By allowing/facilitating ethnic-cleansing, the country’s rulers have opened the door to a war which would impact devastatingly on all people of Myanmar. Sooner or later, there will be more attacks by ARSA including on civilian targets. As the cycle of violence spins ever faster, the military will use it to regain what power they lost due to democracy’s advent. Aung San Suu Kyi failed to do the right thing because she wanted to hang on to power. But by failing to do the right thing, she had paved the way to her eventual ejection from power.

For all its faults – and the faults are many – the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government does not support blood-and-faith nationalism, yet. But it remains vulnerable to Sinhala-Buddhist extremism, especially if the economic conditions of ordinary people fail to improve fast.

Opposition to a new constitution and anti-federalism seem to be the keystones of the Gotabhaya-led movement to restore Rajapaksa-power, for now. But come election time, the Rajapaksas are likely to bring out other slogans and other bogies, especially rehashed narratives about renewed Tiger threats and new Jihadist threats. If the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe administration fails to improve its performance in the coming months, the incendiary rhetoric of blood-and-faith nationalism might find too many receptive ears in Sri Lanka as it did in Myanmar.

The Defenders of Impunity

The Central Bank bond scam proves that power corrupts. Its aftermath demonstrates that in a democracy impunity is not destiny; that we, the people, have the capacity to demand and obtain a modicum of accountability if not justice.

If the authors of the bond scam had been blessed with the power of foreseeing, would they have done what they did? The answer is, probably, no.

The bond scam was grounded in a belief of impunity. Its authors and their underlings would have thought they’d be safe from discovery, let alone from eventual prosecution, given their exalted positions and powerful connections. They had been proven wrong, spectacularly.

The work of the Presidential Commission, the Attorney General Department and the various investigative organisations indicate that the era of impunity is over. Corruption has not been eradicated, but the corrupt can no longer be certain they’d get away with their financial crimes. That sends a powerful message to politicians, officials and business magnates - they cannot count on impunity all the time, as they once did.

This warning message is enhanced by the recent verdict against Lalith Weeratunga and Anusha Pelpita.

Former President Rajapaksa has admitted that he gave the order to use state funds to distribute sil-redi during an election season. He clearly sees nothing wrong with what he did. As far as he is concerned, laws, especially election laws, are there to be broken. He doesn’t understand the fuss; he certainly doesn’t understand the verdict. His honest bemusement is proof positive that he is as wedded to impunity now as he ever was. In his unrepentant eyes, the law is there to punish the poor, the powerless and political enemies. He, his kith, kin and acolytes are above the law.

Unlike the former president, Mr. Weeratunga and Mr. Pelpita would have known that using state funds to distribute sil-redi four days before the presidential election amounted to a clear violation of election laws. They knew they were doing something wrong, and they didn’t care, because they never thought they’d lose.

If the purpose of the sil-redi exercise was the wellbeing of Buddhists, as the former president claims, the distribution could have been postponed until Nawam poya, just a month away. According to media reports, the presiding judge had wanted to know whether all those who observed sil were subjected to some natural calamity which destroyed their sil-redi. The answer of course was no. The emergency was not natural; it was politico-electoral, the urgent need to offer one more bribe to Sinhala-Buddhist voters on behalf of Candidate Rajapaksa. Mr. Weeratunga and Mr. Pelpita facilitated that bribe, knowing it was a bribe. There’s no way they could be innocent of misappropriating state funds, of breaking election laws.

Again, according to media reports, Mr. Weeratunga sought to defend his actions by saying that if the distribution of sil-redi is found to be wrong, all state officials will stop taking urgent decisions during emergencies. The judge reportedly pointed out that there is a circular on how officials should respond to emergencies and as the secretary to the president, Mr. Weeratunga should have been aware of this fact.

Taken together, the bond scam investigation and the sil-redi verdict are beacons of hope in a dark time, because they provide a kind or roadmap for a future which is better than the past or the present. In conjunction, the two cases demonstrate that Sri Lanka can be saved from utter ruin – not by ‘I’m the Saviour’ politicians, but by good laws and strong institutions which can withstand partisan pressure, a vibrant media and an engaged public.

i https://www.crisisgroup.org/asia/south-east-asia/myanmar/290-buddhism-and-state-power-myanmar