and they have the guts to say we discrimnate…………………….
some one should write a piece here comparing our handling of minorities with such issues in the west

In UK the governments approach in fighting Islamist terrorist was to make sure that the Muslim community are not alienated. As the results show arrests are intelligent lead often with information given by the Muslim community. The recent arbitrary arrests of many Tamils in Colombo will only drive even the most resonable and moderate Tamils into the hands of extremists, exactly what the LTTE wants.

The real losers are the future generation of Sinhalese and other communities. There will never be victors in this conflict, there are enough examples from history of other nations. If we were to apply the majority argument globaly, Sri Lanka is a very small island and economically a dependent country. We have already lost a great deal in economic progress compared to our neighbours.
I hope and pray that Sinhalese leaders with vision will emerge in 2008,otherwise soon it will be Sinhalese fighting Sinhalese like what is happening in Pakistan.

You can fool some people some time but not all people all the time.

Plain truth, a little known fact:

Only an Anglican can become the head of state of England. Thus, not only are non-Christians (Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims) barred from that position, so are Christians that belong to other denominations such as Catholics. Besides that, only Christian holy days are officially celebrated and provided with national holidays. So yes, I would say that England is a Christian country — a Christian country that officially discriminates not only against Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims, but also non-Anglican Christians.

And yet, according to some, apparently Sri Lanka is not up to the great “British Standard”

The Presidency, as you outline, is in a strong position through its hegemonic control over identity rhetoric, perception, and debate. Its major fault-line would be the cost of living, and corruption. Those are facts that are impacting on everyone, including government-supporting voters. (Unfortunately human rights violations and breakdown of law and order are less pressing, because they’re not affecting the majority of vote-bank supporters directly.)

What might happen if the fault-line splits, the economy becomes even worse, and corruption more blatant? Will that change the political alignment? If it takes place, it will be in a different way from the early part of this decade. But how?

You’re right, the JVP has been trumped by the government taking on its agenda, and are staring at the mirror image of themselves writ large (nice metaphor). However they do still have a strong stand against corruption, probably the most consistent of all the high-profile parties. Perhaps they’ll be able to build on this if the fault-lines start to show. If they can, they could become a stronger and more autonomous political presence once again. If they can’t, maybe it will indicate how much their position and their votes are tied to identity issues, rather than policy and program. Such a failure would show their limitations as an organization, and perhaps would be no surprise.

It’s hard to imagine disgust with corruption leading to more support for the UNP, or anything else, apart from near-total simultaneous failure on both the military and economic fronts. In spite of decades in opposition, the leadership there still seems to believe power is their right, and are simply waiting for it to fall into their hands, rather than trying to win it (or, heaven forbid, earn it).

Is the JHU really finished and irrelevant? Maybe it depends on how they are defining their agenda. They certainly need to safeguard a parliamentary presence. But their activities through the Ministry of the Environment are interesting. Declaration of land reserves that appear pro-Sinhala, or at least are interpreted that way on the ground; the Green Tax proposed in the budget; even the Ministry’s apparent role in Karuna’s diplomatic visa, point to a clever insertion into and use of the machinery of government. It may be that the JHU is happy with maintaining their role as an ideological vanguard within the government, and with their ability to use administrative facilities to forward their agendas. So long as they can maintain some kind of effective parliamentary presence, even a reduced one in the future, they may not need strong popular support that differentiates them from the current regime. If they can build up enough patronage networks through government machinery over the next few years, maybe they will be able to sustain that. So perhaps JHU personal and political agendas are nicely served by the status quo, without the long-term difficulties that confront the JVP. What do others think?

The LTTE is stuck, it seems. They may come back from apparent big defeats with dramatic and damaging attacks, as has happened before. But on the face of it, they are suffering from decades of operations that put their political strategy only at the service of military goals. In some ways, it feels like they have maintained politics only at the level of tactics. Post-9/11, that has cut the ground from under them internationally, for a range of reasons. No-one will cut them any slack now that larger governments are ramping up the ‘war on terror’ rhetoric for their own reasons. Simply on the level of ideology and convenience, it makes no sense for Washington or the UK to provide any kind of wriggle-room for the LTTE now, notwithstanding Tamil diaspora influence in a few electorates. It’s extremely naïve of the Wanni to hope otherwise.

Previous actions taken purely on a military basis have taken away their possibility to develop new strategies, with the classic one still remaining the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. How much more room would they have to move now, if they hadn’t taken that decision?

ps: Sanjana… Plain Truth has not heard about Voltaire…who said ‘I disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it!’….sanjana I prefered MOJU…but thats no more…i like what your doing…Esto pe petua (Be thou forever)

You win the Plain Truth award for the day

“By making a hullabaloo about Buddhism you’re only making the Sinhalese Buddhist majority become more defensive and suspicious of minority agendas. It’s only going to hurt the minority cause. The Sinhalese will never compromise on Buddhism, they haven’t for the past 2500 years.”

This is the plain truth. If the minority can accept that, conflict resolution is easy.
The reality is … it is tough to change a whopping majority just because their numbers are huge.

Of cause if one is over ambitious, has the lobbying money and NGO’s ears,
you get the feeling that you can change the majority behavior.

“Also Plain Truth…Sri Lanka is NOT a Buddhist country! Sri Lanka is a country with a ‘Majority of Buddhists’! Don’t forget that there are Hindus, muslims (who profess Islam) and Christians also living in Sri Lanka!

Sri Lanka can only become a Buddhist country if 100% of the population is Buddhist! ”

Your point is well taken. My definition is a loose one like saying bread is made out of flour without talking about the fat/salt.water/etc. What is the point of view of a minority about England or USA as far as the religion is concerned? Aren’t they Christian countries for them? That’s all.

Sri Lanka is considered a Buddhist country by the world at large, just like Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia are considered Buddhist countries and India and Nepal Hindu countries and Indonesia, Pakistan and Bangladesh Muslim countries. The constitution of Sri Lanka also accords Buddhism foremost position and it is the duty of the State to protect and foster the Buddha Sasana. All the population in a country does not have to adhere to a particular religion inorder for it to be called a country of that religion. Even the best journalists use the term “Muslim countries” when referring to the countries where the majority of the population is Muslim.

By making a hullabaloo about Buddhism you’re only making the Sinhalese Buddhist majority become more defensive and suspicious of minority agendas. It’s only going to hurt the minority cause. The Sinhalese will never comprimise on Buddhism, they haven’t for the past 2500 years.

Do you have any sources for your outlandish claim? Or did you just pull these “stats” out of the sky?

First, you are describing the National army. Tell me how many civilian Buddhists carry weapons? Here you are forgetting the Christian and Muslim Sri Lankan composition in the armed forces stating they are 1%. Please back up with credible statistics show it is the case since I would like to know that.

What is America with respect to religion? It is a Christian nation. Telling Sri Lanka a Buddhist country is not derogatory for minorities since over 70% of SLns are Buddhist. It is a general description. It is not a chauvinistic conclusion. If Buddhists say the rest to get out (I know very few say that now), then it becomes a chauvinistic issue.

I think the nation is ready for addressing the aspirations of all Sri Lankans when there is no distraction from the war. The conflict resolution will never happen naturally when there is a severe crisis.

I have a feeling that the term “Buddhism” often associated with the SL conflict to sell the Tamil side of the story effectively to the western ears. If you get to know a real Buddhist, you will discover a friend for the life.

Cheers

http://www.reuters.com/article/featuredCrisis/idUSCOL341081

My question is, what happens if Prabahakaran lives as long as Fidel Castro? America and the CIA have tried many times through out the years to kill Castro! But he is still alive (barely) and kicking!

ps: what happens if the armed forces haven’t defeated the LTTE by the end of December 2008? Also Plain Truth…Sri Lanka is NOT a Buddhist country! Sri Lanka is a country with a ‘Majority of Buddhists’! Don’t forget that there are Hindus, muslims (who profess Islam) and Christians also living in Sri Lanka!

Sri Lanka can only become a Buddhist country if 100% of the population is Buddhist!

Now a little bit of imaginative sociological analyis will reveal that in the conflict ridden North and East almost 99% of the pilots in the SLAF dropping bombs, almost 99% of the Navy navigating the seas in armed Dvoras are Buddhists, almost 99 % of the Army, Police and STF carrying AK 47s or manning the MBRLs are Buddhists.

Buddhists like Plain Truth can’t see this plain truth because of the smoke screen of legitimacy attributed to the actions of the airmen, sailors, soldiers and policemen, on the grounds of defending the sovereignity of the state. No questions are asked about whether the state has been constituted to meet the legitimate aspirations of its minorities. Foregone, simplified, chauvinistic conclusions like “Sri Lanka is a Buddhist country” reflect the absence of enlightened thinking, required by the very Buddhist doctrine that Plian Truth professes,

Just to be clear, in the same way as LTTE not equal to Tamils, Sinhala Buddhist Ideologues not equal to Sinhala Budhists. Tamils and Sinhalese and for that matter Christians and Muslims and Jews and Afrikaaners and Biharis can and do get along fine.

Unfortunately the LTTE on the one side and the Sinhala-Buddhists Ideologists on the other side seem to have an ‘exclusivist’ idea of the this Island. They drive and determine the affairs of the state and the Tamils and Sinhala Buddhists have to bear the brunt. The forecast for the year 2008 is that they will have even more of a say!

The Sinhala-Buddhist ideologists I refer to are only a small proportion (and by the way they do not let ‘Buddhism as Budha preached’ get in their way!) but have historically been influential in stalling any accommodating solution to the Tamils – be it BC or DC or PC or anything of that sort. Currently the JHU, strands of JVP and sections of the Sangha fall into this category.

The larger population though is culpable only as far as they let this minority determine the direction of the country at every turn and to date has prevented a meaningful solution to be presented to the Tamils. The Tamils though cannot be accused with a similar crime because, I don’t think they have any democratic space beyond the gun-point diktats of the LTTE.

My contention is that LTTE was a product of the exclusivist approach. Solution therefore lies in tackling both forms of extremism.

Gamini Viyangoda’s article must be interesting reading…

A nation can’t afford to have a violent group. It is the duty of the citizen of the nation to reject violence coherently. When you say “majoritarian sinhala budhist ideology” it is a personal opinion without much merit. Please correct my position if you have credible studies.
Would you please elaborate what you mean by Buddhist ideology?
Sri Lanka is a Buddhist country and they can ask for special privileges just like minorities can ask their own homeland. The problem is if Buddhists ask to suppress other religions and I don’t think it is the case here. Beside, how can you put LTTE and Buddhists on the same page since it is LTTE with arms, considered a terrorist by many nations and not the Buddhists.
If you forget the constitution for a moment, haven’t Buddhist embraced other religions for centuries? Buddhists have invited Hindus into the temple and worship Hindu Gods side by side with Tamils. Christians/Catholics have been living side by side very peacefully with Buddhists (with the exception of violence due to unethical conversions). It is very easy to find excuses to justify or defend LTTE actions by pointing certain issues related to the majority.
If LTTE did not start the war, we would have resolved lot of issues related to minority concerns over last few decades. There are lot of people in Sri Lanka who are ready to forget racial difference and find a common solution. LTTE actions have created animosity between ethnic groups and Sri Lankans have started supporting bad governments just to get rid of them.
If you feel my response a personal insult for you, please let me know and my email is truthplain at gmail dot com.

Cheers

My book will have to be mail ordered, i fear. Any Amazon would do, though as Google would show its widely available … WH Smith, Barnes & Noble etc. Vijitha Yapa should be able to get it for you, but so could any pal coming in from London. The paperback has a neat cover illustration, but the hardback is sleeker.

Hope you saw the Dylan movie by Todd Haynes: ” I’m Not There”.

best,
Dayan

I guess so. Who knows? Why do you ask?

SH