Let us persuade more to support the visionary leadership:

http://groundviews.org/2010/09/23/submissions-before-lessons-learnt-reconciliation-committee-llrc-by-chandra-jayaratne/

”…. Recognizing that a credible visionary leadership, driving with accountability within an acceptable political culture, the nation and its people towards growth, development and prosperity, encompassing a democratic, fair, just, and  equitable governance structure and system embedded with adequate checks and balances that assure transparency, good governance, rule of law and rights/freedoms is fundamental to assuring long term reconciliation and integration, the LLRC is urged to include appropriate recommendation towards such a governance framework.”

‘’In 1992 I accompanied its leader Dr A T Ariyaratne to Dambulla. This was to join in a peaceful meditation with the Ven. Inamaluwe Sumangala, the head priest of the Dambulla temple, to protest against the building of a luxury hotel on the banks of an ancient irrigation tank. Subsequently during the period of the ceasefire, in 2005, I went again to the Dambulla temple for a peace photography exhibition. This was an exhibition for which the Ven. Inamaluwe Sumangala gave his permission to hold in a large hall next to his temple. At that time he represented the liberal and universal values of Buddhism that sought peace through compassionate means and looked to the welfare of all. It would appear that the change that has taken place in more recent years represents the change in values that now dominate the country.

The experience of peace making is that inter-ethnic and inter-religious relations need to be deliberately harnessed and nurtured. The positive outcome of the Galle conference did not happen by itself. The participating religious clergy and laity from multi religious backgrounds had met each other on previous occasions, through district level workshops and exposure visits where they travelled from their own districts to other districts and interacted with the people there. Civic leadership that shows positive results at the micro level is an inspiration that the government can take on at the macro level by shedding narrow nationalism. It is also important that the Dambulla incident be seen in its larger context, and not simply as a Muslim issue. It has implications for all communities, for Sri Lanka’s international relations and reconciliation after war’’ – National Peace Council of Sri Lanka, 30 April 2012

We cannot change one part when we ignore one hundred other parts connected to it:
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/world/sri-lankan-buddhists-demand-demolition-of-mosque/516530

”In a democracy like ours, it is ONLY we who decide and choose what we want to be and how we should look like and like to be seen and heard; and thus elect a government that we deserve” ?

We are part of a bigger system and we have signed up for norms affecting the whole system. We even send ”peacekeepers” when some other countries cannot keep peace. When the governance of our government fails sections of our citizenry, there are norms for the system to do something about it. If we don’t accept the norms we should withdraw from the system. We are free to do so.

”democracy” cannot be in name only but must be seen in practice. Hence some citizens try to do something about it:
http://groundviews.org/2012/05/07/democracy-good-governance-human-rights-and-the-effective-implementation-of-the-llrc-report/
Democracy, Good Governance, Human Rights and the Effective Implementation of the LLRC Report:
”good governance is democratic governance”

”Each one of us is responsible for our actions / deeds” is not true in some ”democracies” where the ”majority” oppresses the minorities. But a timely remedy is here from a true Sri Lankan:

http://groundviews.org/2012/05/07/democracy-good-governance-human-rights-and-the-effective-implementation-of-the-llrc-report/
Democracy, Good Governance, Human Rights and the Effective Implementation of the LLRC Report

Thanks! yapa!

May next Vesak see the ethnic divide of ”three decades” and ”64yrs” disappear with 65yrs of lessons for Justice-and-Peace !

Bandara, a good reminder: Vesak as time-frame.

But….:”It is my fervent hope that we Sri Lankans will begin from 2012 Vesak onwards to shed our irrational fears and animosities springing from inter- ethnic or intra-ethnic differences and learn to live together in peace and harmony. We have gone through more than three decades of awful violence, deep pain and monumental tragedy”

NOT ”three decades” – I hear this almost everywhere. Let’s refine ourselves:

Jayantha Dhanapala’s submission to Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission(LLRC), August 2010: ‘’The lessons we have to learn go back to the past – certainly from the time that we had responsibility for our own governance on 4 February 1948” – http://www.llrc.lk/images/stories/docs/August2010/LLRC-JD-Transcript.pdf

Let the implementation of the recommendations start asap so that next Vesak finds us more just and more peaceful a society.

Tissa, thanks again for suggesting a good time-frame: Vesak.

What can be better?

http://www.thesundayleader.lk/2012/05/06/inside-menik-farm-a-students-tale-of-the-continuing-hardship-in-the-north/
Inside Menik Farm A Student’s Tale Of The Continuing Hardship In The North, 6 May 2012: ”Towards the end of March, they were all asked to sign a blank sheet of paper before accepting their rations. They were not told why their signatures were needed. Later, they found out that they had unwittingly signed a petition against the US resolution.”
…… During her travels, Raksha also visited Vavuniya, Mannar and Jaffna, as part of her study on how women cope with running a household in the North, and the economic and social problems they face. She met with over 40 women, some from towns and some from more rural areas.
What she found was an enduring resentment mixed with fear for the military. Many accused Army personnel of taking their goods without paying for them.
In Jaffna, for instance, a restaurant owner said that a policeman came in every week, twice a week, often with a group of ten. The group sometimes ate food worth as much as LKR 18,000, but walked out without paying. The Jaffna mayor too ate at different restaurants every day, also without paying.”

Each one of us is responsible for our actions / deeds. Our conscience, individually or collectively, plays an important decisive role in nurturing and projecting ourselves – as to how we should look like and to be seen at local level as a community and collectively at national level by large – as a national. Such projection determines our fame and glory. In a democracy like ours, it is ONLY we who decide and choose what we want to be and how we should look like and like to be seen and heard; and thus elect a government that we deserve. What’s the use of listening overnight sermons if we don’t live up to and fulfill, at least the minimum requirement of the Scriptures? Let’s do our part thus enable God doing His part – evaluating our performance for ‘Reward’.

If we abide by the principles taught by the religions – the experiences and lessons that we learnt from the history, rich literature and civilization – this land, our small country, will harmoniously move on prospering. May God bless our Lanka! Thanks, Nithy!

Will someone correlate the various parts of UN Charter with the various precepts of Buddhism here please ?

Then next Vesak may come to see changes in our behaviour.

Let’s put our house in order so that others will not have to attempt to do that:
”But that truth cannot excuse human rights violations that currently afflict the nation as a whole; or for that matter obscure the looming threat of the cultural and political colonisation of the north by the Sinhala Buddhist majority” – Biased and Prejudiced Collection on Sri Lanka, *Gananath Obeyesekere, Economic & Political Weekly, VOL 47 No. 04, 28 January-03 February 2012 (*a Sinhalese Buddhist and Emeritus Professor of Anthropology, Princeton University)