Anti-Muslim Violence: Sinhalese Should Feel Ashamed; And Speak Out!
By Lakmal Harischandra –APRIL 1, 2018
Lakmal Harischandra
“The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
The unfortunate events which followed one after the other, weeks ago, from Ampara to Digana made me wonder how gullible and emotionally charged we Sinhalese become. Those at the grass-root levels still believe that there is truth in the story spread by the so-called Amitha type ‘patriot groups’ that Muslims are conspiring to reduce our numbers through various means; this time Wandha Pethi as was recently seen in Ampara. Then, they tried to raise our emotions in Digana by saying that Muslim businesses are all over and they have to be dealt with, if the Sinhalese have to continue their dominance in this Dharma Dweepa. These are however not flashes in the pan. There were clear signs of meticulous planning to achieve the vicious ends of disgruntled political elements , ably supported by their ‘Jathyalaya’ gangs in the Police and the STF. Many at the low strata and grass-root levels fell for it and many are languishing in jails while those master planners are having the last laugh. Victory for the Jathyalaya! As we as the majority community always did by silently applauding our ‘boys’ who showed their firepower on other vulnerable communities since 1983. May be, it is what Mahinda Deshpriya meant when he said ‘Most Sinhala people were happy about the anti-Muslim violence. For sure, I wasn’t one of them who applauded. I felt ashamed and infuriated instead!
It was in the aftermath of the Digana violence that Minister Kiriella said in Parliament that Sinhala people should apologize for the anti-Muslim violence and many of our Maha Sangha and some politicos spit fire. Why should we apologize? They screamed!. Well; they were correct for once. Yes! I will not apologize too ; rather I felt very hurt for dragging me to do so on behalf of these barbaric and loot-happy gangs and politically bankrupt elements who are using ‘Jathyaalaya’ and the name of my race to achieve their own ends. I need not. I also felt shameful and would disown them as part of our people. Amithas, Saliyas, Dan Prasads , Ampitiye Sumanes, Gnanassras should not be considered as representing our voice ; to save the Sinhala race. They are a disgrace to our race ; the race which talks proudly of Dutugemunu who dealt in a gentlemanly manner with Elara and the people who subscribe to the peaceful teachings of Buddha; not the Sinhala Buddhism which grew out of the Mahawamsa mentality.
I for once, now understand how the Muslims all over the world felt and empathize with them when they were asked to assume collective guilt when ISIS and Al Qaeda were terrorising and killing in cold blood, innocent people in the name of their religion. When they said then that they need not apologize for the acts of those barbarians who killed in the name of Islam, for they did not belong to their faith , I then did not understand what they meant . They virtually disowned them quite rightly for ISIS did not represent the majority of Muslims . Now, I know what they meant and in the same manner and tone, I also join the majority of my people to say: Hey the ‘Jathyalaya gangs! You do not speak in our name. You do not speak for us though you sport Sinhala names’. Let us therefore awaken from our slumber and say ‘enough is enough’ and yell at them ‘Stop claiming you represent us: We do not want Sinhala Bin ladens like you to speak for us!’ True! many of our monks and intellectuals spoke against this mayhem which wreaked havoc on our brotherly Community-the Muslims, who have been living amongst us peacefully without any invading intentions for centuries. But the silence of our majority community at the grass-root levels gave impetus to these vile elements to do what they did and they will continue to do so and tarnish our image if we maintain our silence, although we did not follow their lead in our areas.
When will we learn lessons? Who can forget the fact that all community leaders voted together leaving their communal interests aside for a moment when the Independence vote came up. I remember the patriotic words of TB Jayah and Muslim leaders for example and the words of gratitude of DSS and SWRD for having voted for Independence going beyond their communal interests. Ever since then, the political parties have carried a well-planned strategy to gain Sinhala votes by raising emotional base instincts based on the survival of their race. After 70 long years since Independence, where are we as a nation? Are we not on the verge of becoming a failed state? It makes me think that it was rather British who got Independence from a moronic lot we subsequently proved ourselves to be; not the other way around, looking at the mess we have put ourselves to be by subscribing to a majoritarian model of government through our majority vote .It was in 1956 , when our people neatly fell for the political gundu of SWRD and voted for a Ceylon where Sinhala Buddhist supremacy was institutionalized. Sinhala Only made things worse for the majority Sinhala people while SWRD’s children went overseas for higher education. What political hypocrisy? Two years later,Ceylon witnessed the first ever anti Tamil riots and SWRD finally felt a victim to his own dose of medicine when he was assassinated by a Buddhist monk in 1959. Then, many agreements with the Tamil leaders fell through, giving way to pressure from rogue sections of the Maha Sangha which led the way to the disgusting anti-Tamil violence in July 1983, which made an indelible black mark on the Sinhala people.
