Comments on: The Sri Lankan Muslim Diaspora Dilemma

By: Alex f

Alex f — Tue, 20 May 2014 13:19:00 +0000

The author is a little naive. Imagine a Sri Lanka where there was no external pressure to reform? The protests are valuable as they communicate to the outside world that all is not well. The author bemoans the lack of a strong Sinhala liberal faction to counter the extremists but that liberal faction would be even weaker or non-existent without the foreign pressure and support. Protest is one of the few ways to influence the growth of liberalism in Sri Lanka – there is currently no relevant liberal centre to be engaged.

By: AnandLeo

AnandLeo — Mon, 19 May 2014 11:16:00 +0000

In reply to Jayalath. I think you all are right.

By: Jayalath

Jayalath — Sun, 18 May 2014 20:12:00 +0000

A great thought . A great artical . We should not let the cart to go before the horse . We all have grievances and they can affect to us as big or small in life which is not phenorminal .some of the problems can be sorted by protesting and it can be effective , but some of the problems can be sorted by battle which also effective , because non of the problems of us would ever resolved unless we consistently fight for it , this is the nature and the way of humans . However the history will witness that how a battle or protest can conquest successfully . Example is 30 years war in Sri Lanka which was waged 30 years to complete , but when it come to 2009 that many Sri Lankans were exhausted with fighting but never saw an end . Therefore Rajapaksa was forced to eradicate the terrorism by mass of people including the political parties ( particularly JVP) . As a result of back by mass of people that 30 years of terrorism was crushed into dust by short time . It was blessed and participated by singhala , Muslim and Tamils as well , unless it would have not been conquered . So, as this article point out it is very correct to take part all communities to the protest and also there is one more important thing which is the time . We are here today that International and national rogues are camping around us to reverse our victory which also need to be seriously consider at this moment . I’m not underestimating the hurts that caused by thuggery monks but there is nothing much has happened compare to what is happening to the Muslims people and countries today all over the world .

By: Jaina

Jaina — Thu, 15 May 2014 17:59:00 +0000

Islamaphobia is on the rise worldwide with the rise of militant Islamic fundamentalism. In Sri Lanka, this issue is very much a tango. On one hand, there are these politico-monks who preach against Muslims. Superficially, this may seem purely hate-filled by not all their concerns are illegitimate. There are cases of various abuses, especially by Muslim business people, that incite anti-Muslim hatred from people, even though the original grievance didn’t actually have anything to do with religion. Historically, Sinhala-Muslim clashes in Sri Lanka have been based on trade and economic conflicts.

Plus, it’s not just the Sinhalese who have problems with the Muslims, pretty much all other non-Muslim communities have issues with Muslims. This has been fueled by rising Islamic extremism within Sri Lanka, where certain intolerant or fundamentalist ideologies from Middle Eastern countries get adopted by local Muslim youths. (For example, the case of a Muslim girl whipped in public for having a boyfriend, reminiscent of the abuses Lankan migrant workers face in the Middle East. And recently a Lankan was nabbed for connections with Islamic extremist groups in Pakistan). These should be of concern to the Lankan Muslim community.

I believe that Sinhala-Muslim tensions have to be addressed from both sides. On the Sinhala side, there should be some introspection into nationalism and chauvinism being used to solve personal or community problems. On the Muslim side, there should be some self-introspection to address abuses, if any, committed by members of the community that might incite Islamaphobic responses from other communities and also to take serious consideration of the rising fundamentalism within certain Lankan Muslim segments .