By Rifai Naleemi
Dr. Rifai Naleemi
I take extra precaution when I write this series on Bodu Bala Sena.
It is not my aim to hurt feeling of any religious groups or sects in
Sri Lanka rather I try my best to understand the problems, challenge and
social issues of Sri Lankan communities. It is my primary objective to
examine these issues objectively with sympathy and empathy from
different perspectives: The majority community ought to understand the
concerns, and challenges of minority communities from the perspectives
of minority communities to appreciate their concerns and worries. This
should be done with empathy to their feeling and needs. At the same
time minority communities ought to understand the concerns and worries
of the majority community. They should look at into them from the
perspectives of the majority community with empathy to their feeling and
sentiment.
I will try my best to be impartial and neutral in writing without any
prejudice in my argument. I will try to substantiate my writing with
some rational and logical evidence as much as possible. It is not my
objective to create more divisions and more disunity among Sri Lankan
communities. Rather I would like them be united as Sri Lankans. Sri
Lankans should live as one family with Lankan Identity with diversity in
our faith and culture. Multicultural nature of our communities in Sri Lanka
should not be an obstacle and barrier to build a strong Srilankan
identity. It should enrich our nation. It should bring prosperity and
economic growth to our nation. This could help each community to
flourish in this Island of Paradise.
While I’m writing this series I may be wrong in my perception of some
sensitive issues. I shall be more than happy to correct or amend my
perception. Once the incorrectness and wrongness are duly and
appropriately highlighted by our readers with logical and rational
arguments I shall be happy to amend them. It is my firm conviction that
we need unity, peace and communal harmony among Sri Lankans today than
any time in Sri Lankan history. To that end we all need to adjust our
mindsets and behaviours beyond narrowness of communal thinking. Creating
that broader Lankan identity with diverse cultural identities should be
the number one priority of Sri Lankans today. If we do this
collectively, all community could live in peace and build a prosperous
Sri Lanka in a few decades.
It is argued that since the early periods of colonization Sinhalese Buddhists
were subjected to alien cultural onslaught. Indeed, there is no doubt
that the Sinhalese Buddhist people were marginalised and deliberately
neglected by the colonial powers for different political, economic and
religious reasons during colonial periods. While those who converted
into Christian faith relatively enjoyed all educational and employment
opportunities, the rural Sinhalese Buddhist people were totally
neglected during the colonial period particularly during the Portuguese
colonial period of Ceylon: Prof. Tennakoon. Vimalananda argues that
Portuguese arrival was a Dark Age in Ceylon history.
They changed the cultural heritage of Sri Lankan Buddhist history in
very sense. This process of marginalization of Sinhalese continued
even during the British rule under the divide and rule policy of British
Empire. Anagarika Darmapala raised his voice against this injustice
but he went further extreme to spread hatred campaign against minority
communities in Sri Lanka. He tried his best to instil and infuse
Sinhalese nationalist feeling among Sinhalese public. He was in deed
succeeded to some extent in his radical ideas. His speeches and writings
were full of hate instigation. This nationalistic campaign was further
proclaimed by SW Bandaranayke in 1958 when he made Sinhala as one and
only official language of Sri Lanka. This time it was for a pure
political reason.
Moreover, after the independence the entire political authority of
Sri Lanka was given in the hands of Sinhalese population. As they are
the majority of population they have been holing the grip on the
political power in Sri Lanka without sharing it with minority
communities. It seems that they feel they had been victimised for more
than five hundred years in Sri Lanka by successive colonial powers. Now
they feel the pinch and wanted to marginalise all minorities for tit
for tat stratagem. Even in pre-colonial periods the relation between
Sinhalese and Tamils was not that good. This historical enmity once
again re-emerged after the independence.
Though Tamil and Muslim members of Parliament are being elected, the
fundamental rights, aspiration and needs of these communities are not
rightfully met to some extent. Tamil issue is still not being solved.
Tamil language has not been yet given any official status, No Tamil/
Muslim members of Parliament has been elected as a PM in Sri Lanka yet,
this shows political marginalization of these minorities communities.
Moreover, Now Tamil and Muslim culture, language, religious heritage are
in a great danger because of the Budu Bala Sena’s anti-minorities
campaign in recent times. It seems that BBS is following the path of
their spiritual Guru and intellectual mentor Anagarika Dharmapala in their anti- minority campaign.
BBS has got many concerns and worries in their minds. Some of these
concerns are against the successive Sri-Lanka governments which they
claim have failed to protect and promote Buddhism in this country.
There are some concerns in the minds of these BBS members about
Sinhalese community itself for its failure to follow pure Buddhism in
Sri Lanka. They have concerns about economy and population growths of
Sinhalese community. Some of them wrongly assume that their race is in
the brink of extinction. These are some of the internal concerns of
BBS. No doubt these may be genuine concerns of BBS and yet, they should
know how to address these concerns in a democratic and polite way in
this modern world.
One hand, the minorities are complaining that their culture and
religious identity are in danger in Sri Lanka. They argue that after
defeating the LTTE
Sinhalese people are invading the North and East. Moreover, they are
occupying the cultural and religious sites with support of three forces:
Sri Lankan army, navy and police. On the other hand, Budu Bala Sena
argues that Sinhalese heritage and sacred places are being destroyed in
the North-East. They argue that Buddhism and its heritages are danger
in all other part of country. BBS feels that their religion, culture
and heritage are threaten by all alien religious practices from Muslim,
Christian and Hindu cultural invasions while Tamils in North East feel
that their culture and religions are invaded by Sinhalese Buddhists.
This is indeed a paradoxical situation. How do we reconcile between
these ironical and two countertrading arguments. How do we see these
contrasting arguments objectively without bias and subjectivity? Is it
true that Buddhist culture and religion are in the brink of
extermination and extinction in Sri Lanka as it was claimed by BBS and
its cohorts? Is it true that Tamil culture and heritage are being
destroyed by Sinhalese in the North East parts of Sri Lanka? To what
extent these arguments could be justified and to what extent these
arguments are true? Who should be blamed for these ironical situations
in Sri Lanka? Who are the people responsible for the decline of
Buddhism in Sri Lanka as it is claimed? Is it the politicians? Is it
Buddhist monks? It is Sinhalese public who want to go away from
Buddhism? Or is it minority communities? These are some of the
fundamental questions that BBS and its cohorts should evaluate and gauge
objectively. They should not blame other communities for the decline of
Buddhism in Sri Lanka rather they should evaluate shortcomings of
teaching and preaching methods of Buddhism in Sri Lanka.
It is generally argued by BBS and its cohorts that once many Asian
countries were Buddhist countries in history. Countries such as
Afghanistan, Iran, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan,
Maldives and other parts of Asian countries were Buddhism countries.
Now people of those countries have become Muslims. They predict and over
exaggerate that in 2050 Sri Lanka would become a Muslim country. They
argue ostensibly unless necessary steps were taken to curtail rapid
increase of conversion into Islamic faith and expansion of Muslim
population growth this could happen in 2050. What a superficial
argument is this? This argument does not have any logical credibility
rather such an enigma has been deliberately created to spread false
alarm and panics in the minds of public. These are some of mere
assumptions and prediction. There is no solid evidence to suggest this
would happen in three decades. I think that this fear or phobia is
unnecessary and illogical in every sense. We shall deal with this issue
next week.
Courtesy: http://www.colombotelegraph.com
No comments:
Post a Comment