Parliamentarian C.V. Wigneswaran has written an open letter in response to the letter sent by Most Venerable Thibbatuwawe Sri Siddhartha Sumangala Mahanayaka Thera of the Malwatte Chapter, Most Venerable Dr. Warakagoda Dhammasiddi Sri Gnanarathabidhana Mahanayaka Thera of the Asgiriya Chapter, Most Venerable Dodambahala Sri Chandrasiri Mahanayaka Thera of the Amarapura Chapter, and Most Venerable Makulewe Wimalaabhidana Thera of the Ramanna Chapter to President Ranil Wickremesinghe last week.
Extracts of the open letter are reproduced below:
- Granting land and Police powers, together with the right to administer archaeological sites and places of religious worship to the provincial councils, would lead to separation
Response:
Are the most Venerable Mahanayaka Theras saying that every Provincial Council would ask for separation if the President grants land and Police powers together with the right to administer archaeological sites and places of religious worship to the Provincial Councils? If that is so, then why not? After all, there are 20 cantons in Switzerland. We could have a confederation like in Switzerland, allowing every province to function independently and separately subject to certain rights of the centre.
If the Venerable Theras think that the provinces other than the Northern and Eastern Provinces would not want to act independently, but that only the North and East would want to separate from the Central Government, then they infer that because the North and East are Tamil-speaking areas, they would want to separate or act independently. In other words, the Venerable Theras believe the Tamils are not satisfied being under the yoke of the Sinhalese-governed Central Government and therefore the North and East must be forcibly kept under the boot of the Sinhalese without providing any freedom to the Tamil-speaking people of the North and East to govern themselves.
Was it not such thinking that has brought economic instability to the country? How long is this country going to prepare for war against the Tamils and spend a colossal amount of foreign exchange to keep the military in readiness? And what are the Sinhalese scared of, at worst? That the Tamils of the North and East would separate and form their own Thamileelam? How does it affect the Sinhalese? The Sinhalese never occupied the North and East in great numbers. The five Buddhist remains in the North and East are those from during the time of the “Demala Baudhayo” (Tamil Buddhists), (vide Demala Baudhaya by Prof. Sunil Ariyaratne in the Sinhala language). In any event, there was no Sinhala language in existence during the time of the “Demala Baudhayo”. The Sinhala language came into being only in the 6th and 7th Centuries AD. Only those who spoke the Sinhala language could be identified as Sinhalese. The Mahāvaṃsa never referred to a people called the Sinhalese nor to a language called Sinhala!
Are your good selves worried about separation because your Venerable Reverends are aware that the Sinhalese have no legitimate rights whatsoever to control the Tamils? You are therefore wanting force and violence to be used on the Tamils to keep them subjugated, is it not? Is that what Buddhism has taught your Reverends?
In Aggañña Sutta of the “Dūgha-Nikœya” it is stated: “The king, the ruler of the world, the dharmic dharma-king (P. dhammiko dhammarœja) relies just on dharma; honours dharma, reveres dharma, esteems dharma; with dharma as his standard, with dharma as his banner, with dharma as his mandate, he sets a dharma watch and bar and ward for folk within his realm […] for warrior and camp follower, for brahman and for householder, for town and country folk, for recluse and for godly man, for beast and bird alike.”
Is not “ahimsa” part of Dhamma, my revered Venerable Mahanayaka Theras? The term “ahimsa” is an important spiritual doctrine shared by Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. It literally means “non-injury” and “non-killing”. It implies the total avoidance of harming any kind of living creature, not only by deeds but also by words and in thought. How could Bhikkus of your calibre and sensitivity preach something which harms a section of our people?
After all, the Tamils of the North and East are asking for something which international law gives them the right to claim and enjoy. Article 1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights states as follows: “All peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social, and cultural development.”
Does it not occur to your good selves that not granting land and Police powers to the Provincial Councils together with the right to administer archaeological sites and places of religious worship in their own areas would keep the Tamils without freedom under the hegemony of the Sinhalese rulers at the centre? Is that what Buddhist Bhikkus of the highest calibre such as the four of you want? To do “himsa” to the Tamils?
Granting land and Police powers to the North and East under our Unitary Constitution would not lead to separation under any circumstances. It would only curtail and, to some extent, control the nefarious activities carried out by the centre and its agents in the North and East. Do your good selves want to perpetuate the wrongs done by the centre in the North and East by requesting the centre to not grant land and Police powers to the North and East, which they are by law entitled to?
- The previous Presidents did not administer the 13th Amendment fully, cognizant of the instability that it could lead to
Response:
Have not the previous Presidents by their shortsightedness created circumstances which brought civil war within this country? Was it not the foolish utterance by President J.R. Jayewardene – “if the Tamils want war, let them have war; if they want peace, let them have peace” – that gave impetus to the thirty-year war in Sri Lanka? If the 13th Amendment was fully administered by successive Presidents, there was a possibility of bringing about a settlement to the ethnic problem, though the 13th Amendment is not at all a permanent solution. Only a confederation would solve our ethnic problem permanently. Thus, the non-administering of the 13th Amendment caused immense instability. Why not try the full administration of the 13th Amendment to see if it leads to anything worse than the thirty-year war, even though the full administration of the 13th Amendment is no permanent cure for our political problems? We could in fact find out what the people of the North and East want by conducting a referendum under the auspices of the United Nations (UN).
- The President is under obligation to protect the sovereignty of the country. Administering the 13th Amendment would enrage the people
Response:
What sovereignty are your Venerable Reverends speaking of? The Tamils of the North and East are historically and in fact a nation by themselves. They have a defined homeland, distinct language, culture, and collective consciousness. They no doubt lost their sovereignty just as the Sinhalese to the Portuguese colonial conquest, followed by the Dutch and then the British. The British failed to recognise the Tamil Nation when they handed over the reins of Government to those in power during the time of so-called Independence. But that did not negate the existence of the nationhood of the North Eastern Tamils. The Tamils continued their historical democratic struggle to share sovereignty for thirty years from the time of so-called Independence. But the 1972 Constitution failed to recognise the nationhood of the Tamils of the North and East. The elected Members of Parliament showed their disapproval in Parliament and outside it. So did the 1978 Constitution. Again, the Tamil representatives showed their regret for not recognising a historical and existential fact in the new Constitution. Thereafter, when democratic means failed during the first thirty years after the so-called Independence, there was a militant struggle for another thirty years. There was, during the said period of violence, a de facto Tamil State in the North and East for nearly thirty years, which was tacitly recognised during the internationally backed Peace Process in 2002. The Tamils at the next election at that time fully endorsed the Earned Tamil Sovereignty.
A nation is different from a country or state. Several nations could live side by side in a country. A nation’s sovereignty exists independent of the country’s sovereignty. A nation consists of people of common origin, language, and history. The country could have several such nations living side by side. The sovereignty of a nation cannot be taken away by the country claiming sovereignty over itself.
If the people are educated on all these matters, there is nothing our people need to get enraged about. If we hold a referendum for the people of the North and East by the UN, then there would be nothing that could enrage our people. They would have to accept the decision of the people.
- The President should avoid pandering to the wishes and conditions that powerful nations might stipulate in order to grant economic benefits when this country faces an economic impasse
Response:
The economic impasse of this country is definitely largely due to the conduct of the war at tremendous expense. Of course, lots of middlemen made millions on commissions and cuts. But the country went down economically due to the politicisation of the public service. Was it not pandering to the wishes and conditions laid down by China when it readily gave money to Sri Lanka to boost the egos of certain politicians, which has brought us to this level of indebtedness? After all, powerful nations are trying to point out to this country where they went wrong. Why cannot spiritual personalities like your good selves who are Mahanayaka Theras understand what those powerful countries are saying? Why are you not examining their statements objectively? I do not have to remind you of the Kalama Sutta.
It says: “It is proper for you, Kalamas, to doubt, to be uncertain; uncertainty has arisen in you about what is doubtful. Come Kalamas! Do not go upon what has been acquired by repeated hearing; nor upon tradition; nor upon rumour; nor upon what is in scripture; nor upon surmise; nor upon an axiom; nor upon specious reasoning; nor upon a bias towards a notion that has been pondered over; nor upon another’s seeming ability; nor upon the consideration ‘This monk is our teacher’.
Kalamas! When you yourselves know: ‘These things are bad; these things are blamable; these things are censured by the wise; undertaken and observed, these things lead to harm and ill’, abandon them!”
Let not the Reverends lead the people of this country down wrong and precipitous paths by the Reverends’ impulsive statements!
- The President should desist from implementing the 13th Amendment fully, using his executive powers
Response:
The President, using his executive powers under our Unitary Constitution to fully implement the 13th Amendment, is not going to solve the Tamils’ basic problem of Sinhala hegemony over them. The President knows at least the full implementation of the 13th Amendment would show this country in a better light to the rest of the world at a time when this country is going around the world with a begging bowl. We are asking for a confederal system to get out of the hegemonic hold that the Sinhalese people and their politicians have over us. The Reverends are saying to not give anything to the Tamils. Between the President and your good selves, don’t you find yourselves on the side of extremism compared to the President? I thought the Buddha preached the middle path!
Venerable Sirs! Let me tell you the truth about what happened. D.S. Senanayake influenced the Soulbury Commissioners by sending O.E. Goonetilake to England to meet the Commissioners before they arrived in Sri Lanka. Somehow he wanted a Unitary Constitution which would give overall powers to the centre and therefore to the majority community – the Sinhalese.
Having got a Unitary Constitution and the corresponding hold on the entire country, the Sinhalese went on to capture the reins of Government throughout the entire island. No Sinhala politician is now prepared to lose the grip they got through the Unitary Constitution.
It is the Unitary Constitution that gives the Sinhalese the power to control the Tamil-speaking people of the North and East, not that the Sinhalese have any claims or rights historically or otherwise over the North and East. The Tamil-speaking people have always occupied the North and East continuously for over 3,000 years. If the Reverends do not accept what I say, your good selves could ask His Excellency the President to appoint a panel of historians consisting of Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim, Indian, and international historians to sit together and write our ancient history officially.