But it does not stop a Tamil or a Muslim from Sri Lanka to say that, Sri Lanka belongs to them and they belong to Sri Lanka. It is in that expression of belonging, that the Unity of all those who live in Sri Lanka could be built. Because Sri Lanka is the “ precious possession “ of all of us, be they Sinhala, Tamil or Muslim.
But, it is not turning round to accuse a Sinhala , Tamil or a Muslim acclaiming that “sense of possession” a supremacist, or a racist that we could unite to build a Nation of Sri Lankans.
People like Narapalasingham, or Krishnaraja - who wrote the Tamil view on Mahavamsa in the Muslim Guardian, read the Mahavamsa not to learn more about their compatriots, but to steal from them their history, and their culture, to interpret and write their own history condemning the Sinhala, in praising the Tamils.
They stand to gain nothing from the exercise, except to create deeper clefts, between the two communities. Krishnaraja goes beyond interpreting the written document, to read into the mind of the writer of the Mahavamsa. If the exercise gives them some sort of ego centric joy it is no harm, but beyond their joy they create strong barriers between communities that hinder the progress and development of a country.
It is far better for these historians, the journalists, and web masters in the internet, to exploit their talent in writing to bring the three major community into a united whole, rather than put them asunder by re-writing history to cover up an imagined racial supremacy of one community, to establish the supremacy of another.
The Sinhala- to be more precise, the Sinhala Buddhists fought a war against Elara- an invader who had set up a kingdom, to re-establish the old Sinhala Kingdom, but they did not fight against the Tamils or the Muslims, who had been accepted by them as part of the population of the kingdom.. The racial riots of which the Sinhala are being accused, were not “against” the Tamil people, though they became victims of a political exigency of the then politicians. Even the Muslim riots before independence were not” against” the Muslim Community, but to exert the right of the Sinhala people for religious and cultural manifestations, and to infuse a sense of respect for the religion and culture of the other communities.
The Sinhala, Tamil and the Muslim Communities are a part and parcel of our country, there is no demand of “kappan” by the majority for the “right” of their being a part of the Nation. Therefore, the Sri Lanka journalists should not play into the hands of the politicians to divide the country, but stand by a democratically elected government, even if they do not agree with its politics, at least to help it in its struggle to fight an enemy of the Nation.
If the country is divided, it is the foreign countries that would make that division a handle to create greater divisions for their benefit. The Ambassador of the USA Robert Blake, the Prime Minster of UK Gordon Brown, the Ambassador of Germany Jurgen Weerth, and the Foreign Minster of India Pranab Mukherjee, have no business to interfere into our affairs , as we are no more a Colony of any one of them, but a Sovereign State responsible for our destinies.
It is the “stupidity” of Ranil Wickramsinghe of UNP, Mangala Samaraweera of SLFP(M), Rauf Hakeem of SLMC, and Anura Kumara Dissanayake of JVP, that makes it possible for the International Community to interfere into our affairs. We have lost very valuable people to terrorism, such as the late Lakshman Kadirgamar, Army Commander Janaka Perera, A.Amirthalingam,Neelan Theruchelvam, Parami Kulatunga, Kethesh Loganathn, Major Muthalif, to name a few. It is not the foreign people who have lost them. Therefore these foreign meddlers do not understand the extent of our grievance.
The Late Lasantha Wickramatunga’s assassination is very much regretted, but his journalism with an anti Buddhist twist also contributed to the division of the people of the country and enabled the foreign destructive elements to interfere into the affairs of our country.
Even Narapalasinghams, Krishnarajans, the whole lot of the Sri Lanka Tamil diaspora, and the terrorist pampering websites cannot but agree that it had been always the Sinhala Buddhists who came forward to protect the Country against divers foreign invaders from corrupting our culture and disrupting our progress, or those who attempt to tare away our social fabric, or divide the country. It had been so during the Chola, Pandiya, and other Dravidian invasions, or later on when the British Colonialists began corrupting our cultural values.
The more significant rising of the people against the British Rulers was, when the British taxed the people and forced males over 18 years to work for the construction of roads, and were disrespectful to their religion and culture. It was the Rebellion of the 1817. People were against the enslavement of the people by the British Rulers therefore they revolted. The Buddhist priests who had always taken the fore front to defend the people and the religion became the object of hostility of the British Colonial Rulers.
They took revenge from the Buddhist Priests, by changing the Clause five of the Kandyan Convention signed in 1815, which held Buddhism inviolable, and its temples and priests to be protected and maintained as before , to read that the “ priests and the ceremonies of Buddhism shall receive the respect which in former times was shown to them.”
This Rebellion of 1817 against the British began with the support of Keppetipola Maha Nilame, and led by Puran Appu, Gongalegoda Bandara, and Venerable Kudahapola Therunnanse, in Dambulla in the Matale.District. The British Army was said to have gone on rampage to stop the rebellion killing masses of people, burning their houses and looting their property. The rebellion was quelled after executing Puran Appu, Gongale Bandara and eighteen others after a summery trial. The Venerable Kudahapola Therunnanse was shot dead in his yellow robe, symbolically insulting the Buddhism the religion of the Sinhala people.
The British Colonial Rulers were the first terrorists, who terrorised the Sinhala Buddhists. The People in Matale and Kuranegala suffered the most as an aftermath of the rebellion Marshall Law was declared in the Kandy District. The British Governor resigned after a Parliamentary inquiry held in the British Parliament, found him guilty of excessive harassment of the people.
This is the same scenario that is being enacted to-day with Ranil Wickramasinghe of the UNP, Rauf Hakim of SLMC, Anura Kumara Dissanayake of the JVP, Mangala Samaraweera of the SLFP(M), and the Tamil diaspora representing the British Colonial Rulers, with the terrorists as their army.
They insult, and make false accusations against the President, the Army Commander and the Defence Secretary, as the British Army’s summery trial before executing the leaders of the Rebellion. The Sri Lanka Army is being belittled , as the British Army killed, burnt and looted the houses of the poor Sinhala people. The JHU representing the Buddhism is being subjected to a systematic character assassination, as the British executed by shooting the Venerable Kudahapola Therunnanse in his yellow robe.
This is later history than the Mahavamsa, and Narapalasingham , and Krishnaraja could learn more about the heroism of the Sinhala Buddhists, and their courageous attempts to safeguard their country, their motherland Sri Lanka , from these events recorded by the British, and now available in the British record office.
The Sinhala Buddhists then under the British Colonialism fearlessly faced the British rulers against the desecration of their religion, and forcing a foreign culture upon their people through their Missionaries. The Sinhala Buddhists did not rebel against the Colonial rulers because they were the majority , but because they had to do it, and no one else would have done it for them.
Even today, it is the Sinhala Buddhist Soldiers, under the Sinhala Buddhist Generals, and Army Officers, who are fighting to save the country from the menace of a ruthless group of terrorist.
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