Restore Buddhism's wealth
On the fourth day of the month of February every year we celebrate Sri
Lanka's independence. Four years ago, in l998, we celebrated the 50th year
of Independence. Veteran Independents indeed, we are.
What an emergent nation like Sri Lanka (and with more than fifty years
of emerging at that) needs is not a shower of blessings or a bouquet of
well wishing from anybody's hands or in anybody's name. If wishes were
horses, they say, beggars would be riders.
Let each one of us in Sri Lanka, the rulers and the ruled, look into
ourselves seriously on this day. Anybody born, not much later than our
Independence Day of February 4, 1948, would today easily be at the head
of two generations, as a father or a mother with a son or daughter and
perhaps many more of them. If they were wiser and luckier, they could even
be grandparents by now, with three generations to count.
On gaining independence, did we really ever achieve anything ? The historical
fact of it is that after nearly a century and a half, we did disengage
ourselves from the colonial rule of the British Raj. Many others besides
me, historians and saner brands of sociologists, would add here the word
shackles to colonial rule.
A true concept of independence would naturally lend support to this.
Being under the yoke of any foreign rule invariably implied impediments
to one's own national and indigenous growth, in more ways than one. Does
the awareness of this or the sensitivity to it need to be brand-named as
chauvinist? Let us bravely ask who says so and for what specific purpose?
By the time the British came on the scene, we had already been battered
twice before by invading colonialists from the west, the Portuguese and
the Dutch. It is true that they did bring to the shores of Sri Lanka red
wine and white bread. On the one hand, and there is no getting behind this
fact, these invaders were politically motivated expansionists. They surely
were no Pilgrim Fathers, as far as we know. They were determined to build
for themselves empires in the maritime regions of Southern Asia.
In this part of the world, they found many things like spices etc.,
and plenty of raw materials like rubber and many minerals for their own
industries, which they could profitably take back home.
This move of theirs was more than amply supported by yet another high-powered
undercurrent, namely the high tide of evangelism which closely accompanied
it. A new religion, looking out for new pastures, was determined to make
a violent conquest of the East, particularly of those regions which were
falling under the political tyranny of the invader.
The consequences were devastating. History bears ample testimony to
this. On our side, let us remember, and by no means forget, the way in
which Emperor Asoka of India sent Buddhism's message of peace over to his
friend Devanampiyatissa here in Sri Lanka. Or the manner in which the king
of Paik Che in Korea sent Buddhism, with a note of very high commendation,
to his friend in the neighbouring kingdom of Japan. No tears and never
ever any drops of blood accompanied the process.
Buddhism, wherever it went, was never chaperoned with bayonets or gunpowder.
Buddhism, with its amazingly reformist new liberal teachings transformed
and upgraded to higher levels of dignity local religious thinking and modified
their religious practices, in a humanely acceptable way. Upholding this
view and paying tribute to Buddhism, Shri Jawaharlal Nehru in his classic,
The Discovery of India, says this of Buddhism:
"Buddhism spread rapidly in India from Kashmir to Ceylon. It penetrated
into Nepal and later reached Tibet and China and Mongolia. In India one
of the consequences of this was the growth of vegetarianism and abstention
from alcoholic drinks. Till then both Brahmins and shatriyas often ate
meat and took wine. Animal sacrifice was forbidden." p. 105
On Independence Day, let us be sensibly reminded of what we have lost
through centuries of colonial rule. What we have lost, or have been robbed
of, is a rich cultural heritage of more than 20 centuries.
This lost treasure has definitely to be retrieved. Policy makers of
this country have to be sensitised on these lines and be made to feel the
need for mining, and bringing to the surface, like the one-time lesser
known gems of Ratnapura, the wealth of wisdom for living, for the guidance
of men and women, and equally well for the rulers and the ruled, which
was sent here by Emperor Asoka via Buddhism and thereafter upheld and cherished
by the just and benevolent rulers of this island.
Bhikkhu Professor Dhammavihari
Narada Centre
Colombo 7
Let's thrash it out
As The Sunday Times story titled Cattle Battle of January 27, rightly observes,
the need of the hour is a dispassionate discussion. We would be able to
have such a discussion if all the facts are made available.
First, is this a service project or a business venture, or a service
project with a business component? Are there any other business ventures
in which the CMC is engaged?
The CMC will get about Rs. 85 m. Dutch aid. How will it get the other
Rs. 160 million? If it is through a loan, who is the lender and what are
the terms?
Let us assume that there will be a loan. Instalments will have to be
paid regularly. The lender would have asked for assurance about repayment.The
CMC must have been confident to give such an assurance. What is the basis
for this confidence?
We have been told that for the project to "break even", cattle slaughter
will have to be done at the rate of 250 animals per day on average. On
the basis of the present demand for beef, according to CMC figures, only
200 cattle need to be killed per day. How has the CMC got the confidence
that the shortfall, which amounts to over 18000 cattle per year, can be
met?
This is why we said that this project would make the CMC try to create
a demand, either by local promotion, or through export to other countries.
Since now the CMC says that there is no plan to export, it seems to us
that to cover the annual shortfall of 18000 cattle, the CMC is confident
of being able to increase local sales. It appears as if the Colombo Municipality
is getting into the murky world of beef sales. Is it a surprise that Buddhist
and animal rights activists are perturbed?
I sincerely hope that I have gone wrong somewhere, in making the above
inferences. CMC, please give us all the information we need.
Mahinda Palihawadana
Sri Lanka Vegetarian Society
Army needs officers and gentlemen
January 2, 2002 must be rated as one of the darkest days in Sri Lanka's
military history. The raid conducted by some top-notch policemen on a 'safe
house' in Athurugiriya following a 'tip off' has raised very sensitive
issues.
When I saw the news splashed in some Sinhala newspapers I felt that
the whole story was improbable.
No trained army personnel would require such a heap of weaponry for
a civilian target in non-operational areas. The tangle of wires, cyanide
capsules and Tiger fatigues were obvious. Even if, as the police first
contended, everything was suspicious, what purpose would it have served
by giving it wide publicity? The others would have gone into hiding or
the evidence could have been destroyed making the whole exercise useless.
I have been closely following the very objective analysis of Iqbal Athas,
The Sunday Times Defence Correspondent. His articles on the January 2 episode
are chilling. the LRRP operations were being carried out deep in LTTE-held
areas by a handful of brave and dedicated men. Today their lives are shattered.
I am sure they would have preferred death at the hand of the enemy rather
than disgrace.
Thanks to some hasty and unwise decisions of those in uniform the whole
country is in jeopardy. The way that some factions of the media splashed
the news without verifying the facts of the discovery of the safe house
and weaponry and some police officers posing before TV cameras expressing
their views was nauseating to say the least. Apparently, there is a very
serious security leak somewhere and that has to be in the higher echelons
of the army.
If the identities of these brave and dedicated men were revealed to
all and sundry before they were found guilty, then the identities of the
so- called 'informants' should also be revealed. The country should know
who the real traitors are. If the top police officer says that he was given
information over his cell phone, then it would not be difficult to trace
it. He is duty bound to inform at least the courts of the identity of his
informant. If they are army officers they should be dealt with, no matter
what their rank.
The army doesn't need men in their ceremonial uniforms. It needs officers
and gentlemen. I am sure there are plenty of brave and committed men. I
salute them and others who have paid the supreme sacrifice for their country.
N. Perera
Mattegoda
New abattoir, no thank you!
Readers are thankful to The Sunday Times for publishing a detailed report
on the proposed abattoir to be built in Dematagoda.
The exposure of the project's details will make it even more controversial
as the drawbacks of this venture by far exceed the so-called benefits the
taxpayer will derive.
'Humane slaughter' mentioned here is only a label, if the real method
adopted here, in a cage, is going to be halal; the epitome for cruel slaughter,
while the animal is still alive.
Our appeal to the Mayor is that he abandon this project and our request
to the government is that they frame laws to ban cruel halal slaughter
both in homes and slaughter houses as done in most civilised countries
including India.
T.H. Wickremasinghe
Gal Gava Mithuro/Friends of the Cart Bull |
