Saturday, February 8, 2014

An Open Letter To The American President Before His Geneva Pyrotechnics

By Kiribanda Sumanasekara - February 8, 2014

Dear Mr. President Obama

I am writing you before the Ides of March!!

I am a Sinhala Buddhist from Sri Lanka and I want to be blunt right at the outset: You are an idiot!

Who are you to impose sanctions against the greatest country in the world? Who are you to pass any resolutions against us? You are an idiot. Let me tell you why.

Ours is the greatest country in the world. This is known as Dharmadeepa- the island of righteousness. This land has 2500 years of written history. That history is a history of non-violence because there were Buddhist monks all along advising our kings on non-violence. Yes. We did have some wars in the past. But they were merely to protect non-violence. I know that you know some English even though you are African. So read Mahawansa in English. Even at the war against the foreign king Elara only one and half human beings were killed in our country. All others had not entered the Path and, therefore, they were not human beings. How many times do we have to tell you that human beings have to be Sinhala Buddhists? Read More

Sobitha Thero Willing To Stand For Presidential Election; Says Sri Lanka Should Face international Inquiry If It Has Nothing To Hide

February 7, 2014

Maduluwawe Sobhitha Thero, Chief Incumbent of the Kotte Nagavihara and a vocal monk in the movement calling for an abolishing of the Executive Presidency has expressed his willingness to stand as a presidential candidate.

Madluwawe Sobita Nayaka Threo

‘Yes I am ready to stand as a Single-Issue (SI) presidential candidate, but if a former Chief Justice or a former President is interested, no problem, I am happy to step aside. I will serve for six months only within which time I will abolish the Executive Presidency and institute a parliamentary system by constitutional methods. The roots of bribery, corruption, nepotism and bad governance lie in Executive Presidency,” Sobitha Thero told the Sunday Thinakural newspaper in a wide ranging interview.

Sobitha Thero has headed the movement that gathered a group of experts to draft a new constitutional framework that replaces the presidential system and sets up certain safeguards to prevent the abuse of power by the political leadership including the limiting of the cabinet of ministers and anti-graft measures. The monk is seen to be leading a broad opposition alliance of political parties, civil society groups, trade unions and professional organisations against the undemocratic, corrupt and authoritarian policies of the Rajapaksa Administration.

He told the Tamil language newspaper that there was no need to speak of overthrowing the Government. “Today the Government is confused. These kinds of internal conflicts will naturally lead to collapse. Today, the Prime Minister is against the President. We believe the minds of the people are changing,” Sobitha Thero said.

Dropping another bombshell about the ongoing international challenges against Sri Lanka with momentum building for another resolution in Geneva, Sobitha Thero inserted a major sanity check into the national discourse about human rights and a war crimes inquiry.

“Sri Lanka is a part of the international community, we have to abide by international norms, and if there is a call for an international investigation, I have no problem in agreeing. If we have done nothing wrong we can go before an international investigation and vindicate ourselves” he acknowledged.