Are Aung San Suu Kyi and Myanmar elites complicit in the Rohingya Ethnocide?

Are Aung San Suu Kyi and Myanmar elites complicit in the Rohingya Ethnocide?

Wednesday, May 15, 2013  

-TODAY'S THOUGHTS       Deputy border affairs minister Maj. Gen. Zaw Win with Aung San Suu Kyi at the military parade in Naypyidaw, Myanmar, 27 March 2013. (AP)
     

Is Burma's Aung Suu Kyi herself complicit in this Rohingya ethnnocide? is a valid, empirical question that needs to be raised.

Aung San Suu Kyi has firmly exhorted the public that is opposed to the Chinese Arms-industry-owned copper mine at Letpadaung in central Dry Zone of Burma that the people must honor commercial contacts signed between the previous Than Shwe dictatorship and China. Or else there will be no investor confidence in the country.  Consequently, she has earned a new iconic title, "Copper Lady",  who, as Chair of the official pro-mining report of the government, has advanced the commercial and strategic interests of both China and Burmese military conglomerate vis-a-vis the economically dispossessed Burmese farmers - in the thousands - whose land and livelihoods have been ruined, thanks to the land grabs by the mining joint venture there. 

Contrast this to her own 'willful silence' over the need to honor the ethnic nationality status and the citizenship both of which the Rohingya enjoyed under the democratic government of Prime Minister U Nu (1948-60), Caretaker Government of General Ne Win and Brigadier Aung Gyi (1960-62) and the early Revolutionary Council Government of General Ne Win (1962-73). 

She is obviously not concerned about the fact that the world - save self-interested western powers and corporations - now sees Burma as a country in the grip of popular neo-Nazi Islamophobia encouraged and supported by her partners in power, that is, Burmese president Thein Sein and his military clique.

Suu Kyi is said to have certainly been influenced by her racist co-founder of the NLD, ex-General Tin Oo (now in his 80s) who himself was guilty of forcible expulsion of the Rohingya in Northern Rakhine of Western Burma in the early 1950s. 

The question is: 

has the Copper Lady joined the neo-Nazi anti-Rohingya chorus with her thunderous and willful silence on the ethnocide of these most wretched people of Burma, whom the UN calls "among the most vulnerable" in the world? 

If that's the case the Oxford-educated Suu Kyi is in good company. 

Just this past weekend (12 May), Dr Yin Yin Nwe, ex-daughter in law of the late despot Ne Win and a member of the Thein Sein's Presidential Inquiry Commission on the Rakhine Sectarian Commission made herself extremely popular with her ethnocidal denial - that the Rohingya were ever an ethnic nationality of the Union of Burma - during a 14 minutes Burmese language interview with the Voice of America Burmese Service based in Washington, DC.  Yin Yin Nwe, a Cambridge PhD in geology and Thein Sein's adviser on gem mining may be forgiven for not knowing anything about the Rohingya,  beyond rocks and rogue dictators.

But the commission has a group of highly trained historians and social scientists, by its own official statement, the likes of Chairman and Dr Myo Myint (PhD History, Cornell) and Secretary Dr Kyaw Yin Hlaing (PhD PoliticalScience, Cornell), both students of Benedict O'G' Anderson of (nations as) "Imagined Communities" fame.  There are also other Harvard MAs and MPAs who can read historical documents and understand what research means.  And yet these Burma's highly trained technocratic elites have wittingly committed the ethnocide of the Rohingya, despite all undeniable evidence to the contrary.  

In their eyes -and against the mountains of evidence which they obviously refused to look and recognize - the Rohingya are not who they claim they are: but rather mostly illegal immigrants from the neighboring Bangladesh suffering from population pressure.  They cite that these 'Bengali' have ethno-linguistic and religious links to the Bengaldeshis peoples across the borders - never mind that peoples in the borderlands were pre-nation-state people who belonged to more than one location or have more than one ethnic identity, self-referential or externally/adminstratively imposed.

The Rakhine and Bamar have similar languages. But neither Bama nor Rakhine would ever identify themselves the geographic other (that is, Rakhine as Bama or Bama as Rakhine). Not only was the Rakhine Kingdom annexed into the Bama Empire in the late 1780s, but the Rakhine ID was subsumed under the Bama ID - during the early phase of 'culturalist nationalism' against the British rule: "We the Burmans" included the Rakhines and the Mons as constitutive of the new Bama ID.

But after independence, not only did the Rakhine and the Mon pushed for autonomous state status for their regions but they junked the label "Bama" and re-asserted themselves as "Rakhines" and "Mons".

Ethnic IDs may be as easily mutable and amendable. To me ethnic IDs are no different from snakes shedding skins.

The Shans or Tai of Shan States speak Tai language not dissimilar to the Siamese or Thai, and they are found on both sides of Burma (and Thailand). The same goes for Jing Hpaw in India and China, who are known in Burma as Kachin. The same goes for the Karens on both sides of the Salween, and the Mons in the South.

Surely, the Rohingya are a made-up self-ethnic ID, but no more made up than the Shan, the Mon, the Rakhine, the Kachin, the Chin, etc.

They may speak a language akin to Bangali and they may even look like Bangalis. But does that mean Bangali and Rohingya are one people or that the Rohingya can never be Rohingya because of their linguistic and physical affinity?

Like I said, not a single Burmese I know will ever conceivably allow others to call them "Rakhine" simply because our languages are similar, our dress code similar, we worship Lord Buddha as "Incomparable God", as opposed to being practizing Buddhists.

Why should the Burmese reject, out of hatred, fear and mass ignorance, the Rohingya calling themselves Rohingya, by their own chosen name?

As late as 1968, Ne Win's government was issuing national registration cards and other official ID such as this one where the Rohingya Muslims were officially recognized as "Rohingya" race.

After all, they were recognized as a constitutive TAI-YIN-THAR of the Union of Burma - by the media, political parties including the ruling AFPFL of U Nu, the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Education - well into 1978. The last official mention of the Rohingya as 'lumyo' was in the high school geography text book printed in 1978 - by the Government Printing Corporation.

TU alliance threatens to cripple all sectors 

All bark and no bite – govt.

by Dasun Edirisinghe-May 20, 2013, 10:08 pm 

The trade union alliance which has organised today’s token strike against electricity tariff hike is confident of crippling the public, semi–government and private sectors. However the government yesterday said it was confident that the strike would be a flop.

Co–Convener of the Co–ordinating Committee, for the Trade Union Alliance (CCTUA), Wasantha Samarasinghe said that 941 trade unions had expressed their support for today’s strike. General Secretary of the Ceylon Mercantile Union, Industrial and General Workers’ Union Bala Tampoe and President of the United Federation of Labour, Linus Jayathilaka, too, had pledged their full support for the trade union action, he said.

Even trade unions attached to the Lanka Sama Samaja Party and Communist Party would join the strike, Samarasinghe said, claiming that all attempts to sabotage the strike had failed.

"Workers will stage protests while keeping off work throughout the day," Samarasinghe said, adding that the main protests would be held at Belek Kade Junction, Ratmalana, Nugegoda and opposite the Khan Clock Tower near the Colombo Port.

The former JVP MP said that 15 opposition political parties, including the UNP, the JVP the and TNA would take part in the strike.

Asked whether the striking public servants could be sacked or interdicted for disregarding government circulars that had cancelled leave on May 21, Samarasinghe said that the strike was legal according to the Constitution.

The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) had pledged its full support to the strike and if any worker faced harassment from the government, due to his or her participation in the strike, that association would give them legal assistance, Samarasinghe said.

"Our member unions will meet tomorrow (22) to discuss future action, if the government does not respond to our main demand for the total withdrawal of the electricity tariff hike," he said.

When contacted by The Island, Media Spokesman of the Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) Dr. Naveen Zoysa said his association would not support today’s strike.

Although nursing and health workers’ unions, attached to the JVP, have pledged their support to the strike, the largest nurses union, Public Service United Nurses Union (PSUNU), led by Ven. Muruththettuwe Ananda thera, said that their members in hospitals countrywide would not support the strike and would continue their service as usual.

While All Ceylon General Ports Employees’ Union and All Ceylon Private Container Transport Employees’ Union vowed to stop all services in the port, the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) said there was no danger of a shut down.

SLPA Chairman Dr. Priyath B. Wickrema told The Island that no union could stop services inside the port today but he was aware of an outside picketing to be held during the lunch hour.

Secretary of the Federation of University Teachers’ Associations (FUTA) Dr. Rohan Fernando told The Island that teachers of the Colombo, Sri Jayewardenepura, Visual and Performing Arts and Open Universities will stage a picket at Nugegoda and teachers from Kelaniya, Peradeniya, Ruhuna, Wayamba and Sabaragamuwa universities would stage demonstrations opposite their respective universities from 11.00 a.m. to 12 noon.

Dr. Fernando said examinations would be conducted as scheduled, but lectures would not be held.

When contacted by The Island, Minister Dallas Alahapperuma said that though the UNP and the JVP had held media shows in Colombo, they could not fool the people countrywide.

He said that the failure of yesterday’s private bus strike was an indication that the people were with the government and the workforce was against crippling the country.

Alahapperuma said that this so-called strike too would go down in history as another failure of the UNP-JVP alliance. He said it was a case of all bark and no bite.

Politicization Continues: FUTA Condemns Sacking Anuruddha Pradeep

May 21, 2013

“Politicization, loss of academic freedom and autonomy are grave threats faced by the university community currently. The latest victim of this malaise is Mr Anuruddha Pradeep, Probationary Lecturer from the Department of Political Science, Sri Jayawardenapura University. Mr Anuruddha Pradeep has been an outspoken critique of current government policy on education. His forthright and often piercing criticism on how universities are managed, how funding for education has been systematically reduced and the loss of academic freedom has irked many, including the Minister of Higher Education.” says the FUTA.

Anuruddha Pradeep

Issuing a statement its General Secretary Dr. Rohan Fernando says; “Though Mr. Anuruddha Pradeep had already submitted his thesis to the relevant institution, which highlights the fact that he has almost completed his requirements for permanency, we have reliably learned that the university authorities, through the politicized University Council (majority of the members of the University Council are appointed by the Minister of Higher Education) have taken an irrational decision to terminate his services.”

We publish below the FUTA statement in full;

Termination of Mr. Anuruddha Pradeep Karnasooriya –Lecturer (Probationary) at University of Sri Jayawardenapura

Politicization, loss of academic freedom and autonomy are grave threats faced by the university community currently. The latest victim of this malaise is Mr Anuruddha Pradeep, Probationary Lecturer from the Department of Political Science, Sri Jayawardenapura University. Mr Anuruddha Pradeep has been an outspoken critique of current government policy on education. His forthright and often piercing criticism on how universities are managed, how funding for education has been systematically reduced and the loss of academic freedom has irked many, including the Minister of Higher Education.

The normal procedure to get confirmed in the job for young university academics is to obtain certain qualifications (postgraduate degrees like M.Phil., M. A. or Ph.D) within a stipulated amount of time (8 years since joining the University in the position of a probationary lecturer). If the probationary period comes to an end while the thesis had been submitted but the result have not been released, it is customary to place the individual concerned within the ‘temporary’ position until such time that the results are released and once the results are released the appointment is backdated to the date of submission of the master thesis. There are many in the system currently, including those at the top most rung of university administration who have benefited from this practice.

Though Mr. Anuruddha Pradeep had already submitted his thesis to the relevant institution, which highlights the fact that he has almost completed his requirements for permanency, we have reliably learned that the university authorities, through the politicized University Council (majority of the members of the University Council are appointed by the Minister of Higher Education) have taken an irrational decision to terminate his services. In fact, we have learned that the council was wrongly informed, purposely or mistakenly of the actual date of submission of the thesis. While the actual date of submission of the thesis was 1st of March 2013, which was before due date, the date which had been informed to the council was 20th March 2013. This clearly shows that the termination of Mr Anuruddhap Pradeep was malicious or was based on wrong information. We believe Mr Anuruddha Pradeep was terminated for his outspoken critique of government policy.

Currently, the government is considering absorbing the services of even people who have left the country, many of whom who have vacated their position in the university system. It is in this backdrop that one needs to examine the vile duplicity and the malicious intent of this Minister. This is how teachers who have opted to stay on and serve the country, are treated. This is one of the reasons many university teachers have left the country in the first place. We understand that pressure was brought upon the University Council by those in responsible positions in the government. It is extremely disappointing that the Council succumbed to such pressure. Such Councils have shown themselves unable to defend two fundamental principles on which universities are founded: autonomy and academic freedom.

FUTA in several recent press releases highlighted the importance of university autonomy and academic freedom to the stature of universities. This incident yet again reiterates the despicable situation of governance the university system is subjected to. In fact, we have reports from several other universities of similar incidents, especially in the North and East. Academics in some universities have been systematically silenced so much so that many are afraid to even speak out
openly when they are harassed and intimidated.

We call upon the administration and management of universities to resist political pressure and to work in the best interests of the institution. We urge the management to apply rules fairly and consistently to all and to desist from punishing young academics who challenge the status quo.

Yours sincerely,

Dr. Rohan Fernando
General Secretary/FUTA

Vaddukkottai Memories: Jaffna In The 1960s

By Glenn Yocum -May 21, 2013 |

Prof. Glenn Yocum

Confessions:  I’m an American, now almost 70 years old.  I spent a year in Vaddukkottai, Jaffna in 1967-68.  Technically, at that time I was a “missionary,” though I never converted anyone or wanted to.  Impelled much more by adventure and wanderlust than any sense of “calling,” for me it was an “intern year” during (or rather out of) a theological education (Protestant, liberal, etc.):  an opportunity (for me) that came out of nowhere after a year spent at the University of Oxford.  But I’ll spare you those details.  From the perspective of the missionary sending organization, which was a descendant of the American Congregationalist Protestant Christians who had founded Jaffna College in 1823, I was holding open a “visa position” for some permanent employee/missionary to replace me for a full five-year term.  So I landed in Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) sometime in October-November 1967, knowing I think only that Ceylon was an island, its capital Colombo, and its fame for tea.  I’ve never been the same since.

I landed in Sri Lanka a lower-middle-class American from Pennsylvania who considered myself extremely fortunate at that point in life to have had six years of what I  thought was an excellent post-secondary education:  three years at a very good small “liberal arts college,” one year as an “exchange student” at the University of Hamburg in Germany, one year at Union Theological Seminary in New York, and one year at the University of Oxford.  At the time I actually thought I was a bit educated; I was young, I was naïve, I was not dumb, but fortunately I did not feel myself entitled by dint of upbringing, education, or accomplishment.  Within about two hours of landing at Colombo Airport in 1967, I realized that my six years of excellent post-secondary education had not informed me about the world I was entering (which represented for me, at least in retrospect, at least two-thirds of the then existing world).  I suspect this is a familiar story:  the 1960s American naif arriving in a non-European country and being “blown away” by what he encountered there.  For most Americans (like my spouse) it was a Peace Corps experience (for her, in Turkey); for me it was being the undergraduate chaplain (a totally new, amorphous position) at Jaffna College, Vaddukkottai.  We 1960s Americans who were so fortunate (I’m tempted to say, blessed) probably did little good in these “exotic” environments.  But our experiences abroad committed us (at least my wife and me–and I think we were not atypical) to lifetime involvement with and study of what we had experienced, of where we had been.  Certainly I did not convert anyone in Vaddukkottai; rather, Jaffna converted me.

So, after my year in Jaffna (more about which below), I returned to the U.S., having found my “vocation”:  I wanted to go to graduate school, get a Ph.D. in the study of Tamil religions, teach at a small liberal arts college like the one I had attended, and thereby hoped to provide students with a somewhat broader perspective on the world than the one I been given.  Well, all of that happily came to pass.  But during and after graduate school my research came to focus, not surprisingly, on south India and its religious traditions rather than on Sri Lanka (Tamil Saiva saints and their poems, Saiva temples, Saiva mutts, etc.).  Indeed, prior to a quite unexpected, fortuitous trip to Kandy in December 2012, I’d only been back to Sri Lanka once–and then only briefly (two or three days) to Jaffna in 1973.  So I’m hardly a Sri Lanka expert.  But I do harbor vivid, happy memories of being in Jaffna in the late 1960s.

The Jaffna peninsula in 1967-68–and Jaffna College in particular–were a wonderful place to be a wide-eyed, naïve foreigner.  People were invariably friendly and helpful.  The pace was slow.  The skies were clear.  The landscape, though very flat (and I’ve never been very fond of flat) was nonetheless new and appealing with its palmyra palms studding the horizon.  I came to love the lanes, the vegetation, and the birds, especially the birds.  But it was the people who changed me.  How so?  Certainly by their openness, patience, and overall willingness to respond to, indeed to tolerate, the constant questions of the ignorant foreigner that I was.

Jaffna in the late 1960s was a very peaceful, relaxed, slow-paced place.  I remember riding my bicycle, sometimes on the open (i.e., non-lane) road into Jaffna town, watching the Indian rollers perched on the electric lines and then swooping into the paddy fields–and the beautiful paradise flycatchers rising and dipping across the compound in which I lived.  I came to love string hoppers and sambar and red rice, though I did have to learn how to eat with my fingers.

My students were attractive; they were probably much too respectful of someone only a few years older than they were who knew so little at the time about their society and culture.  They were overwhelmingly, perhaps exclusively, male.  They were mainly Tamil Hindus, but some were Tamil Christians, some were Sinhalese Buddhists, a few were Burghers.  My faculty colleagues at Jaffna College were more often Christian than Hindu; all in my memory were Tamils.  Sharpness of mind and generosity of spirit were the norm.  If the names Silan Kadirgamar, Rajan Kadirgamar, Luther Jeyasingham, Sabapathy Kulendran, Balan Chelliah, and “Bubsy” Arulampalam are familiar to people in Sri Lanka forty-five years later, these are the people I knew best then and from whom I learned the most.  There was also the college librarian who was a Tambiah, of whom I was very fond.  And, of course, there was a student, more my own age than that of my faculty colleagues, M. Eugene, from whom I gained much in knowledge and outlook.

My memory of Jaffna—and Sri Lanka more generally—is of a peaceful, relaxed, generous place populated by intelligent, well-educated, welcoming people who despite their long colonial history did not hold my western culture and American appearance against me.  I was, to be sure, at least somewhat aware of ethnic issues—“Sinhala only,” the status of Indian Tamil plantation workers who were supposed to be repatriated to India, a couple of riots that occurred prior to my year there, the lack of political parties (apart from those of the far left) and other civic institutions that crossed ethnic lines.  But at the time those ethnic tensions seemed to me manageable, soluble.

The Ceylon of my experience contrasted markedly with the America of that time:  the Vietnam war, the assassinations during the time I was in Jaffna of Robert Kennedy and of Martin Luther King, Jr., race riots, civil rights struggle, and on and on.  I arrived back in the U.S. in August 1968 during the height of the Democratic Party’s national convention in Chicago:  hippies and yippies camped out in Grant Park by Lake Michigan staging anti-war rallies; the Chicago mayor Richard Daley shouted insults and profanities at Connecticut senator Abraham Ribicoff during his speech nominating George McGovern; the infamous “police riot” by the Chicago cops happened.  Believe me, the Jaffna world I had just left seemed a haven of peace and stability compared to the disintegrating American political-social scene to which I had returned.  That year in Vaddukkottai was a time that changed me greatly, a year that I will always treasure and for which I’m very grateful.  I only wish the years after my stay in Jaffna had been as placid, secure, and happy as I remember my time there having been.

*Glenn Yocum was Professor of Religion at Whittier College in Whittier, California, USA until his recent retirement

914 trade unions & 15 political parties support strike acti

TUESDAY, 21 MAY 2013

Fifteen political parties are supporting the strike action called for today (21st) and 914 trade unions that are based on work sites at hospitals, transport sector and schools have joined the strike today states the Coordinating Committee for Trade Union Alliance.

The Member of the Coordinating Committee for Trade Union Alliance Wasanthe Samarasinghe speaking to the media said today’s action is only a token strike and this would be an opening to launch more actions to get the increased electricity tariffs withdrawn.

Meanwhile, trade union leaders warn that they are prepared to take stern trade union actions adding more demands after the 22nd if the government does not withdraw the decision to increase electricity tariffs today (21st).

Trade union leaders at a press conferen

Sri Lanka braces for strike against power hike

IANS/Colombo

21

May

2013

President Mahinda Rajapakse: Facing public angerSri Lanka is bracing for a nationwide strike today, which opposition parties have pledged will bring the country to a stop and pressure the government into rolling back recently increased power prices, officials said yesterday.
This is the latest in a string of protests that have erupted in Sri Lanka’s capital since last week, called by opposition parties against a government decision to increase electricity prices by as much as 59%.
Following massive losses by the State-owned Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), which amounted to more than $47mn, the government decided to increase electricity prices, Xinhua reported.
Opposition parties promptly criticised the government vehemently for the increase.
So strong was the protest that President Mahinda Rajapakse in his May Day speech announced a relief package that saw the electricity prices remain the same for families using less than 60 units a month and significant relief for those using less than 180 units.
Undeterred by the compromise a massive rally was organised by the opposition last Wednesday in the capital to protest the hike. Thousands carrying placards and shouting slogans converged at the main railway station at the heart of the city and called on the government to reduce prices further.
Trade unions, opposition parties and civil society organisations are gearing up to hold what is expected to be a massive protest today against the electricity tariff hike.
Leftist coalition parties of the government as well as university teachers have also joined the strike, but the private bus service has refused to partake in the agitation.
The co-ordinating committee for a Joint Trade Union Alliance of Sri Lanka, which has called for the nationwide strike, said it would be a protest against the increase in electricity tariffs as well as the government’s management of the economy.
Despite the looming mass-scale strike, the government has so far refused to back down on the tariff increase.

The Question Of Religious Pluralism And Unity In Sri Lanka

By Ayathuray Rajasingam -May 21, 2013 |

Ayathuray Rajasingam

The issue of enforcing unity among the people in Sri Lanka has become a controversial debate on account of the birth of divisive force of religions. Ancient history of Sri Lanka establishes that there were two nations and two religions, viz, Buddhism and Hinduism. With the passage of time Muslims came as traders and introduced Islam. Later they were followed by the Westerners who introduced Catholicism and Christianity. Though there were some incidents of conversion with compulsion, subsequently people belonging to the five religions lived in unity.

History shows that religious wars were caused on account of religious differences and today the concept of the Charter of Human Rights has put an end to all these conflicts in the West, while religious conflicts continue in some of the countries in Asia and in the Middle-East. The short-sightedness of such religious conflicts demonstrates that we are living in a deeply divided world, indicating the reluctance to accept religious pluralism.

Basically all religions and faiths are the same. It is the different approaches in the practical teaching that caused harm to the unity of the people. It is sad to observe that it is the politicians who aggravate this situation in order to consolidate their position in power, instead of taking adequate and meaningful measures to prevent the deteriorating economy of the country. Swami Vivekananda compares God with light and religions with lamps, which indicate that every religion has its own approach to realize God – a truth that every politician and religious fanatics should reconsider. There is only one God, but called him under different names.

It is unfortunate that fundamentalism and politics, which form an explosive combination of ambition and lust for power of the politicians, spoil the pious atmosphere of religion. With the deterioration of the rule of law, there is an inadequate social system and economic imbalance, all of which in turn, saw the birth of a divisive force of religion. It is at this juncture that Buddhist religious leaders should re-consider what Lord Buddha preached.

One should have a clear idea of what religion is. Buddhist monks chant ‘Buddham Saranam Kachchami, Sangam Saranam Kachchami, Dharmam Saranam Kachchami’. Lord Buddha delivered three messages to the people and these are the messages, which were preached by ancient Hindu sages & saints.

‘Buddham Saranam Kachchami’ means the supreme intellect within an individual which leads him/her with the discrimination of Right & Wrong. It is the aspect of Right that makes an individual’s life noble and happy, leading one to the state of Bliss. This implies that one should live harmoniously and let others also live in similar fashion.

‘Sangam Saranam Kachchami’ means surrendering to the society by involving an individual’s life for the benefit of the society even at the expense of that individual’s comfort.

‘Dharmam Saranam Kachchami’ means always be righteous i.e. surrender to the righteous behaviour and character. Dharma means the righteous behaviour of humans.

Now the issue is whether divisive forces of Buddhism, claiming or posing to be its champion, are complying with the Buddhism’s Three Fold Refuge or Three Jewels of Buddhism of ‘Buddham Saranam Kachchami, Sangam Saranam Kachchami, Dharmam Saranam Kachchami’, other than the Maha Sangha and the Buddhist Congress. Today the vital issue is whether such divisive force of Buddhism poses as a threat to other religious people to live harmoniously and happily with others or on account of its egoism. One ponders whether the concept of Dharma is forgotten. It is a pity that they do not seem to realize the acceptance of religious pluralism. Will there be a renaissance in Buddhism with the birthday celebrations of Lord Buddha.

Similarly, other religions should not also be a divisive force against peace and security in the country. It should in all circumstances promote and practice tolerance. If a religion becomes a tool of intimidation, coercion and oppression with the support of political and external religious powers, then there is suspicion whether it falls within the purview of fanaticism or even terrorism. It is painful to hear that some religious and political leaders maintain silence when divisive forces of religion are a threat to peace and security, while the foreign countries, with their broad-minded religious and political leaders, encourage majestic temples of all religions to be built in their soil and respect other religions – a sign of accepting religious pluralism. A country will prosper if religion is not politicized.

Having known that God is responsible for our existence, it is painful to think that there are conflicts of views within the religious groups. There is no conflict among religion. It is the extremists in those religions who create conflict by not respecting the beliefs of other religions. Conflicts of views erupt between the extremists of the organized religions and religions that are not organized and has no founder. Christianity and Islam condemn ritualism, while Hinduism, Mahayana Buddhism and Roman Catholicism recognize the importance of ritualism. As Dalai Lama said, all religions agree upon the necessity to control the undisciplined mind that harbours selfishness and other roots of trouble and each religion teaches a path leading to spiritual state that is peaceful, disciplined, ethical and wise. What is essential is to consider the purely metaphysical side of religion. Therefore, all religions send the message that an individual should treat himself/herself and the persons around that individual fairly and honestly. Only then, it can be said that the individual is blessed.

There should be a compromise among the religious leaders with the view to defeat the aim of the divisive force of religions. Religion does not initiate conflict. It is the people who follow the religion who initiate conflict by not respecting the beliefs of other religions. The reluctance to compromise among the religious leaders and its promoters signals that they do not realize the acceptance of religious pluralism. What is lacking is the absence of Unity in diversity.

All religions march towards unity among the people and for their well being on this earth. Time and again religion has established the truth that compassion has been a pillar of world peace. All religions have the same ideals of love, the same goal of benefiting humanity through spiritual practice and the same goal of making their followers into better human beings. The proverb, ‘Service to mankind is service to God’ is prevalent all over the world. All religions emphasize that serving and treating fellow human beings with kindness is an essential part of good moral conduct. The central theme of all religions focus on the idea of ‘sharing’, in showing the love by way of offering services to the fellow human beings by devoting their time, energy and material resources. Religion should not be an obstacle in the way of national unity. What is required in a country practicing pluralism like Sri Lanka, is Unity in diversity.

The divisive forces of religion in Sri Lanka should take into consideration the importance of accepting religious pluralism for the unification of all communities. According to Swami Vivekananda, religion is a relationship between God and soul. Religion consists of spiritual realization. People from different walks of life approach spirituality in different ways but their true nature is already divine, though hidden by their egoism. The purpose of life is to realize that divinity which, in turn, is the essence of religion. To realize that religion, an individual should practice four Yogas, namely of knowledge, control of mind, selfless and love of God. Therefore, religion is the essence of human life and it has the great motivating power in one’s life including in his social, economic and political aspect. As such universal love and universal brotherhood should be the new ideal for the acceptance of religious pluralism. Only then it will give an equal value for all religions in the world.

The importance of the humanity and universal brotherhood to keep religious harmony in society is vital. A religion should be equally philosophic, equally emotional, equally mystic and conducive to action. It is for this purpose Swami Vivekananda suggested four types of Yogas. The essence of all religions is one. It is like one light produced with many lamps.

It is sheer stupidity to think that a particular religion is the best and superior to others. It is difficult to distinguish whether an individual is a Buddhist, Hindu, Christian, Muslim or Catholic, once an individual is absorbed in the infinite spirit, i.e. being in union with God. It is like a river which disappears losing its form and name when flown into the sea.

This is the hour for every politician and religious leader advocating divisive force of religions to realize that Dharma is a force which brings unity, integrity and harmony within society. In the words of Dalai Lama, Religion represents essentially as an ennobling urge designated to fulfil higher purposes of human life. Humanity cannot forget the experience of love generated by religion. The world has heard the noblest word of peace from religious dignitaries. In times of crisis, religion has inspired people to take care of human beings. Dharma has taught the people to accept religious pluralism. Only then, there will be peaceful co-existence in the country.

May the Teachings of Lord Buddha guide everyone and bless them with Peace.

Head of Sirasa News calls for Ranil’s resignation

 21 May 2013

Head of Sirasa News Chevaan Daniel has called for Opposition and UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe’s resignation on face book. Chevaan’s outburst seems like immature rhetoric and not fitting of a channel head of an electronic media network.

Managing Director, Raytronics Computer Systems (Pvt) Ltd, K.H Lasantha Goonewardena had received Chevaan’s message in response to an opinion published by him on the Sirasa media network’s actions.

Following is the message sent by Chevaan to Lasantha:

“Hi Lasantha,

I am the head of Sirasa News. I noticed your comment and thought I should respond to you.

You are unaware of the extent to which we have stood by thr UNP. This is not a history that is a few years old. It goes back decades. And the present leader owes his position to the Chairman of Sirasa, who was the only man who stood by him.

However, it is clear that your leader is now not interested in our nation, but is instead only focused on protecting his position. We as a nation are not bankrupt for leaders. So if hr cannot provide what the party needs, he should RESIGN for the sake lf this nation.

I dont expect you to agree with Sirasa. But remember- when you really need a media channel, you will find oy Sirasa standing by you.

God Bless and warm wishes,

Chevaan Daniel.”

POWERFUL GROUP BEHIND MISSING OIL SHIPMENT - TISSA

May 21, 2013 
UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake today claimed that a ship carrying fuel designated for Sri Lanka is reportedly lost at sea and that he doesn’t believe Petroleum Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa will be able to locate it.  

He stated that despite having a total of 9 oil storage tanks in Orugodawatta and Sapugaskanda, the CPC waits till all 9 tanks run dry to import crude oil again.

Attanayake further said that the Sapugaskanda oil refinery solely depends on Iranian crude oil and the fact that crude oil for the country was only ordered from a ship which was in international waters is “startling.”

 He stated that as a responsible government food and oil sufficient for the next 3 months should be kept in stocks, however due to the ruling government’s “Eda Wela Tours” policy the people are facing grave hardship. 

The UNP General Secretary further alleged that a group of powerful individuals are behind the disappearance of the oil shipment intended for Sri Lanka.

“As soon as a ship docks, the fuel is taken and the commission split,” he said, speaking at a press briefing in Colombo. 

Use Vesak decorations to reflect upon Dhamma

Use Vesak decorations to reflect upon Dhamma

Thrishantha Nanayakkara-21 May, 2013

Groundviews

Lord Buddha gave different meditation objects to different people. For some, just focusing on rubbing two pieces of material against each other worked, and for some others focusing on the breath worked. On Vesak poya day, we celebrate the birth, enlightenment, and the passing away of this great teacher. In Sri Lanka, almost every Buddhist family makes a lantern, or at least buys and lights up a lantern, or an oil lamp.  One might think that this is a mundane way to celebrate Vesak. However, if we carefully use the activity of making a lantern, or the object of a lit up lantern, we can at least get a glimpse of what Buddhist meditation is all about.

In Buddhist teaching, the objective is to attain a permanent state of unconditioned still happiness. To get there, we should understand what conditioned happiness is, and why it is so volatile, mixed with sorrow. We condition our happiness by anchoring on five classes of volatile phenomena – rupa (form), vedhana (feelings), sangya (perception, or classifications of feelings),sankara (bodily, verbal, and mental structures formed by interactions), vingyana (the discriminative awareness that separates this from that) – known as five skandas. When we anchor our happiness on these transient phenomena, the happiness itself becomes transient. To attain unconditioned happiness, one has to anchor the happiness on a more solid bedrock – the transient nature itself – by meditating on the nature of these phenomena.

Vesak lanterns and oil lamps are ideal objects to reflect upon the nature of rupa at the very least. There are four transient qualities to rupa – the nature of toughness (patavi), the nature of vibration (vayo), the nature of wobbliness and flowing (apo), the nature of digestion and dissipation of energy (thejo). When one makes a lantern, one tries to make some rigid structure (patavi, sankara) out of sticks (patavi) and strings (apo), and one may even experience the nature of vibration (vayo) in the seemingly hard sticks. While shaping the sticks, or while tightening the strings, one may get a chance to experience heat due to friction of objects (thejo), or that in one’s own muscles due to combustion of matter (thejo). One may notice that all these phenomena just rise and pass away without having any credibility to anchor one’s long-term happiness or expectations. The same can be seen in oil lamps.

By looking at the finished lantern and its outer appearance, the one who made it gets a chance to penetrate through to the origin

On Sri Lanka’s Free Education Crisis

By Lakshman Jayawardena -May 21, 2013 

Lakshman Jayawardena

Free Education system: sustainable in its current form or should it be scrapped altogether?

The Education landscape in Sri Lanka has changed dramatically over the years, however, meaningful and effective reforms are yet to be seen. Such reforms require proper funding arrangements to uplift standards, be productive and compete with intra and international spheres. Governments over the years have not made any attempts to reform this sector as it is politically sensitive but have done band-aid solutions disguising the real agenda under the “socialist framework”.

Free Education is not only to provide Education at free of cost but to provide equitable access to every child irrespective of the demography, exploit the individual strengths and cultivate good values to become a law abiding citizen.

Primary and Secondary Education sector

The so called “real” free education had collapsed many years ago. Sri Lanka liberalised education policy, allowing private international schools to operate and grow prolifically driven by the demand of unsatisfied parents of the public education system. The government has failed to create an effective regulatory framework in a timely manner thus leaving room in adding another layer to the existing “well known” hierarchical schooling system.  The absence of such national regulatory framework is highly regrettable and dilutes the impetus for education. Another driver for the growth of these institutions is that the medium of delivery be English. Sri Lanka should learn from developed countries how to run a mixture of schools in a competitive and liberalised environment without losing its emphasis and improve the overall development of the next generation of Sri Lankans.

Furthermore, signs of decline of the education have been noticed much earlier. Most of the parents resort to send their children to private afterschool tutories to be competitive in the public examinations. Private tuition is a huge industry spread across many parts of the country and again run mainly for profits.  Nearly, fifty  years ago only Colombo students had the access to such coaching but now every corner you  find posters and cutouts  advertising available places for tuition and the credentials of the tutors. In the backdrop of teachers in their continued negligence of their primary responsibility this industry has expanded from a niche to a wider market over the decades. The government has neither control nor regulatory powers to reform this market but often criticises of unhealthy environment for child’s overall development.

Managing the extraneous forces attacking the core ideology of Free Education is a significant challenge for governments and needs the formulation of effective policies and progressively funds the primary and secondary education sector, ensuring every child has equitable access to education and reduces the disparity between urban and rural schools.  As Sri Lanka is a Socialist Republic, each child irrespective of the demography should not be deprived of the facilities enjoyed by City or urban students.

Tertiary Education sector

Since 1970’s the university education sector was subject to various upheavals, including many stoppages due to JVP insurrection and several industrial actions by the students and staff.  These unwarranted stoppages have placed tertiary education behind several years.  Moreover, the demands by students and staff to increase funding for tertiary educations have ended up with several broken promises by the government, stalemates and violence. If such activities continue there will be a total breakdown and recovery will be another challenge. It is regrettable to note that according to the latest global university ranking index, our universities are ranked well below 600. The frequent spin we hear from the minister to make Sri Lanka the education hub of Asia is highly farcical. Without increasing funding there is no guarantee that Sri Lanka will become the tertiary education hub.

The reasons for most of the tertiary education issues arise due to lack of funding and excessive government interferences.  The question is, are we in a position to provide free education at the tertiary level. According to my view it is a big no. I believe it is the right time to withdraw the provision of tertiary free education and suitably arrange students to bear the course fee, albeit subsidised, depending upon the Course. For students who are unable to bear the cost, government should provide soft loans and devise a mechanism to recover the cost once they are employed and earn above a certain income threshold determined by the government. Also government should allow universities to operate as autonomous entities, keeping only the regulatory function. Government interference and getting involved in day to day running of the business is most inefficient. Creating such autonomous entities similar to the models in most fast developing and developed world open up competitions among the universities also make them productive, efficient and competitive. Authorities should understand without healthy competition university rankings cannot be improved.

This will bring several social and economic benefits:

• Re-design university courses and their curriculum to attract students for courses having good employment prospects upon completion of the degree.  Requires industry participation, negotiate industries to fund for specific research projects relevant to Sri Lanka
• Traction to invest in creating jobs rather than fattening the public service and adding layers of bureaucracy which has proved unproductive
• Discourage industrial actions that result lengthening the course duration- this will drive students to complete the course and get employed without delay
• Remove courses that are not in demand – this will  reduce the academic staff, and so reduce the burden for the government
• Recovering course fees from employed graduates – the government will be in a position to increase funding to universities creating pathways for improvements and recognition
•  Coupled the salary increases of the Lecturers and other non academic staff with performance
• Device mechanisms conduct performance reviews of all academic and non academic staff couple with rewards and recognition with feedback of students to be sought
• Increase funding for research, demanding lecturers to get involved and publish and present papers locally and internationally with monetary rewards
• Rank universities within Sri Lanka and open up competition.