Buddhism has made co-existence possible
DR.Vickramabahu Karunaratne-2016-08-25
However, after the democratic revolution started with the January 2015 Presidential Elections, Sri Lanka is considered by some, as a good role model of peaceful co-existence, where unity, peace and harmony among the people take the foremost place. Of course, still there are many issues here that need to be addressed in nationality relations. But the good thing is the government is aware of them, though some sensitive issues require careful attention.
Many say Buddhism is the religion of 70% of the people of this country. It is incorrect; that is really the percentage of the Sinhala people. Of course Buddhism is the largest and the Buddhist vision, of meththa, karuna, muditha and upekkha, has played a pre-eminent role in the lives of the people here. Many pundits say this has helped sustain a tolerant society. In spite of fascistic tendencies that challenge minority groups, it is a popular belief that the peaceful co-existence of all faiths and their followers in Sri Lanka, is primarily because of the inclusive and accommodative qualities of Buddhism. They say, intrinsic values that it had nurtured amongst its practitioners have undoubtedly established peaceful co-existence as a hallmark of its culture.
The majority community
However, there had been a substantial group within the majority community which had attempted from time to time to hijack religion for communal and sometimes for corrupt commercial purposes. Leaders of all religions preached that religious ideals cannot co-exist with racism. This is voiced over and over again. However, there were many groups with parochial and racist objectives which had contested even the elections. Almost all such racist attempts had been rejected at the polls by the majority Sinhala community itself. At the last General Election held in August last year, one such extremist group, the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) contested and lost in all the seats. Furthermore, the former government was defeated and chased home by the people, because of its continued fascistic politics! Though there are communal politicians in all the political parties in Sri Lanka, the ordinary masses, have never endorsed religious or communal divisions amongst the people. The over-all prospects for co-existence and unity in Sri Lanka are, therefore, quite promising and could be further strengthened.
The present government headed by President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is working to strengthen national integration and unity, while respecting diversity. In fact a separate Ministry of National Integration and Reconciliation has now been created with the country's President as the Minister in charge and A. H. M. Fowzie as the State Minister. This Ministry has already commenced several programmes through schools and sports aimed at fostering closer interaction and unity. Many point out those vast sections of the Western media are guilty of committing the greater crime of continuous baseless attacks on the Muslim communities. Muslim youths are accused by sections of the Western media of getting radicalized. But the media do not blame those who are invading Muslim countries on false pretexts, as exposed by the Chilcot inquiry, as the root cause of possible radicalization.
