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It is a really sad fact that in this day and age that there are
people with warped minds who believe (mistakenly) that the only heritage
worth preserving is the Sinhala-Buddhist and none else.
Preserving heritage means and implies the whole history, art,
literature, poetry, architecture, biodiversity and other recognised
elements of a country and not exclusive, sectarian bits and pieces of a
particular ethnicity or religious persuasion. Numerical superiority has
nothing to do with it and a heritage has no connection with either a
‘majority’ or ‘minorities’ so-called.
Some people go about resenting and denigrating everything that isn’t
identified with their race, language and system of religious belief. D.H.
Gunadasa’s letter published in ‘Citizens’ Mail’ (DN Feb. 22) bears
reference as a load of bigoted crap.
He is guilty of distorting historical facts by insinuating that the
Dutch invaded and forcibly occupied the Maritime Provinces against the
wishes of the indigenous people. The Dutch were invited by the Sinhala
monarch, on solemn promise of payment of expenses incurred, to expel the
Portuguese.
The Dutch, not as a sovereign nation, but as a chartered worldwide
trading company (the VOC) entered into a binding contract with the
Sinhala monarch. That contract was honoured in the breach thereof.
If, as alleged, the Dutch did ‘irreparable’ damage to Buddhism, isn’t
it peculiar that they also furnished ships and crew to take Sinhalese
delegations to Siam (Thailand) and to Amarapura and Ramanna in Myanmar
(Burma) for the express purpose of bringing Buddhist monks to Sri Lanka
to rejuvenate the Sangha? If the Dutch were as bigoted and chauvinistic
as the writer, they could have allowed Buddhism to die a natural death
on this island. They didn’t do so.
The ‘compensation’ bug is also occupying considerable space in the
minds of sundry and various bigots: Some want Portugal to pay
compensation; D.H. Gunadasa wants the Dutch to follow suit and if I
remember right, some want the British to pay compensation for the
‘irreparable’ harm, loss and damage caused to the people of Sri Lanka.
The various proponents of ‘compensation’ appear to have forgotten
some other parties who also caused ‘irreparable’ damage, even
devastation and the demise of the ancient polity: the Cheras, Cholas,
Pandyans, Pallavas, Kalingas, Javakas, Arab Muslims and the Imperial
Chinese led by Admiral Cheng Ho (who captured and took the king prisoner
to China).
Going by the twisted logic of these people, should the Government of
the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka file suit at the
International Court of Justice in Den Haag against the Republic of India
(for Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, etc.), the People’s
Republic of China, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, the Sultanate of
Oman and the Gulf Co-operation Council states and the Republic of
Indonesia, in addition to Portugal, the Netherlands and the United
Kingdom. How absurd could these crazies get?
Come off it-history is replete with invasions, the migrations of
peoples and not always peaceful settlement. Not only people but
languages, religions, and cultures also travel and adapt and that is a
continuous process that has gone on since time immemorial.
Indeed, Sri Lanka might enter the Guinness Book of Records not for
the reason adduced by D. H. Gunadasa and others like him but for the
number of myopic, narrow-minded bigots, racists and chauvinists per
1,000 of the population. I stand by my contention that every foreign
nation during the Colonial era was invited by a hopelessly disunited
polity to intervene in the country’s affairs.
As a student of history I could name the names of families that
indulged in this perfidious and traitorous behaviour. The late Prof.
C.E.C. Bulathsinhala knew these people personally and also knew their
family histories intimately and I know because I knew the good professor
quite well.
If you want to find out for yourself I recommend that you carefully,
line-by-line, read Dr. Visakha Kumari Jayawardena’s ‘Nobodies to
Somebodies’ for your enlightenment. I started life teaching Samanera
monks-to-be at a Pirivena.
I subsequently worked with the late, great Chandra Upali Senanayake
on his Jathika Urumaya project that emphasized the unbreakable and
organic tie between gamai-pansalai-vavai and wrote, under his masterly
guidance, the meaning of the original Lion Flag with its Buddhist
symbolology.
I was closely acquainted with such eminent Buddhist monks as Madihe
Pannaseeha Nayaka Thera and Narada Maha Thera and I am familiar with the
history of Buddhism in Sri Lanka more than you’ll ever know.
Human beings have free moral agency and should approach the study of
anything, including Buddhism or history, with an open mind (not a vacant
one) and then pursue those studies as objectively as possible to arrive
at certain acceptable and rational conclusions. If you’ve read your
history you would have seen that the Mongol hordes destroyed everything
in their path right up to the gates of Vienna.
The Huns did the same up to the gates of Rome. The Arabs burst out of
their desert fastness to overcome much of the world from the Atlantic to
the Pacific and they carried everything before their scimitars.
The Cholas, Cheras, Pandyans, Pallavas, Kalingas, and Javakas did the
same when they ravaged and despoiled the Rajarata heartland. All of
them, without exception, kicked your ancestors in the butt but those
ancestors hardly returned the favour. Why whimper, bleat or bellyache
now?
Let me quote a few words from the Dhammapada:
“Yo balo ma’ati balayam paoito va’ pitena so Balo ca panditaman’ Sa
ve baloti vuccati”. In conclusion I might add that the Galle Fort
represents a part of the Sri Lankan Burgher heritage of this country.
J. B. MULLER
This blessed land of ours has been plagued by violence (war) for the
past 25 years. It has been 60 years since our independence our nation
has been through difficult times, whereas our neighbours such as India,
China, Singapore and Malaysia has had a remarkable rise in development.
This development has made many Western nations feel jittery
(Goose-Flesh) making their eyes popping out in our region as they
usually have two spoons to serve when the curry is same. The Amnesty
International, Human Rights Watch and the United Nations always mention
that there should be a political solution, I doubt their views are
serious?
I would like to ask them, can any war be clean? Have they forgotten
the dirty war games indulged in Vietnam and what happened in Afghanistan
and Iraq? I personally feel this Constitution of ours is the biggest
curse for our nation, which has brought great turmoil and our downfall.
When a Australian cricketer had a squash ball hidden inside his glove
to improve his grip, it is accepted legal and when a South African
captain had a mike fixed onto his ear, so that his coach could
communicate it is assumed legal.
Our neighbours are our greatest wealth and we must always keep in
mind that it is our neighbours who always come to our assistance. The
best example I would give is when we played the World Cup final in
Pakistan.
I simply cannot forget the support given to our team and nation. This
curse (war) has to come to an end, and we have finally realised that it
is our neighbours who are giving us the maximum help and assistance to
pull us up in our final victory.
LI KUANG SHU
– Kandy
This refers to the letter appeared under ‘Poor roads’ in Panadura. I
like to invite W.H. Gunasekera to visit Kandy and see the dreadful
situation of the roads in Kandy.
Then you will realise how lucky you are....You can travel around the
world, you can travel around Sri Lanka but you’ll never experience the
roads that are in a parlous state with pot-holes almost every area in
Kandy.
If you drive down South you see how the politicians have developed
their own electorates, even the very rural roads are tarred and kept
well. Unfortunately we are not blessed with politicians like them.
Kandy can be classed as the poorest city in the world. Thanks to our
Kandyan politicians.
Kandy is a major part of our national heritage. But this is all
history. Nothing has happened to develop Kandy since we gained
independence in 1948.
There are so many institutions and highly acclaimed people like the
Governor of the Central Province, Chief Minister Central Provincial
Council, Mayor, Cabinet Ministers, RDA and other officials who enjoys
much benefit being in their post.
So let’s put our hands together and develop our great city of Kandy
before it becomes a ruined city. Kandy has all the natural resources to
attract the people in the world. Let’s hope and pray some one who has a
heart to come forward to develop the roads in Kandy.
Y. PEIRIS
Displaying of price list of goods on sale is an important
requirement. People are suffering owing to high Cost of Living.
In this situation the shopkeepers are trying to fish in troubled
waters. It is like a bull goring at a person who fell from a tree. They
are selling substandard goods and healthy goods at their whims and
fancies. This is a violation of the Consumer Protection Act by the
errant traders.
If the consumers are to be benefitted the Department concerned should
send officers to inspect themselves the violation of the Consumer
Protection Act and bring them to book.
If we inquire the price of an item in the morning, one salesman tells
one price whereas when inquired in the afternoon the same person or
different person of the same shop quotes another higher price.
People who get easy money from abroad and people who are born with
silver spoon in their mouth can afford to purchase goods at the
exorbitant price but the poor man and the poor pensioners who get paltry
income cannot meet the shopkeeper’s demands.
The exploiters must be definitely taken to task by the authorities
not only by passing legislation only but by implementing eg. by
officials visiting the shops surprisingly as it was the system many
years back.
Some say bringing down the Cost of Living is a Herculean task whereas
another group says “we will bring down the “Cost of Living”’. This is a
controversial matter but practical methods should be done to get rid of
the consumers’ suffering and shopkeepers’ exploitation.
T.S.A. MASILAMANY
- Wellawatta
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