THOUSANDS OF MONKS WARN PRIME MINISTER RANIL WICKREMESINGHE THAT SAME FATE OF MARCOS AND SUHARTO WOULD BE AWAITING HIM

By Walter Jayawardhana reporting from Los Angeles

Part of the large gathering of bhikkus held recently in Nugegoda Sri Lanka to protest against the UNF government’s alleged activities to betray the nation to the terrorists of the liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. It was organized under the Bhikku Federation for the Protection of the Country. Photo courtesy: Divaina

January 17. 10.47 PM: Thousands of Buddhist monks converged on Nugegoda Sri lanka to accuse the government that it was deceiving the people in the name of peace and driving the country not to peace but to a real division to appease the terrorist group the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. (LTTE)

Speakers of the mammoth rally of January 14 warned Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe that a similar fate of the Asian dictators Marcos and Suharto would be awaiting him if he did not put an end to the historical steps of betrayal he was increasingly taking to support the Tamil Tigers for the sake of power.

Speaker after speaker painted a grave situation and imminent danger for the country and accused the government of even attempting to change the country’s national anthem to appease the terrorist group the LTTE. It was alleged that the government had bought the services of musicians and singers like Amaradeva, Rohana Weerasinghe and Nanda Malini to change the national anthem of the country.

The speakers of the rally reminded that the greatest result achieved by the so called peace process of Ranil Wickremesinghe was giving an opportunity to the terrorist group LTTE to distribute hundreds of suicide bombers all over the country to bring about the greatest disaster in the nation of Sri lanka.

The rally was held at the Ananda Samarakoon Open Air Theater in Nugegoda. Professor Venerable Aththangane Rathanapala addressing the mammoth rally said the people of the country had been deceived very badly and the thousands of these bhikkus would visit house to house in this country to explain as to what had really happened.

The theme of the rally was :” Let us unite the Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim communities and stand for a unitary Sri lanka.” The rally was chaired by the Mahanayaka of Navagamu sector of the Kalyani Samagri Sangha Sabha of the Siamese Nikaya, Venerable Lenagala Sumedha Nayaka Thero.

All Sri Lanka clerical organization, Jathika Bhikshu Peramuna, National Conference of Bhikkus, Humanitarian Sri Rohana Bhikku Front, and Jana Vijaya Foundation are some of the organizations united under .the federation who organized this rally.

A resolution proposed by the following monks were adopted unanimously by the show of hands at the rally: Venerable Ransegoda Vimalasiri, Venerable Medagamuwe Vijaya Maitri, Venerable Puwakpitiye Mettananda, Venerable Balangoda Gunaratana, Venerable Galle Sarada, Venerable Yatiyantota Upali, Venerable meegoda Kalyanatissa, and Venerable Talalle Dhammaloka;

The following is the resolution adopted unanimously: This federation of bhikkus in Sri lanka categorically tells this government that :

1.his unitary country of ours , Sri Lanka should not be divided on the lines of race, language or religion. Any proposals or discussions leading to such divisions should be rejected fully. Those who are engaged in a conspiracy to divide the country by hiding behind a “peace curtain” should be stopped immediately.

2.In self less service to the people all bhikkus should be united.

3.Until the separatist terrorist organization, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam give up its separatism and terrorism by laying down its arms the Sri Lanka Army should not withdraw the high security zone.

4.All citizens in any part of the country should enjoy full democratic liberties guaranteed by the constitution. We thoroughly condemn the fascist dictatorship implemented by the LTTE disallowing alternative Tamil parties to exist.

5.Rule of law should be safeguarded in the country. All obstacles to the media by the government to black out news and other interferences should be immediately stopped. The newspapers should be allowed to be engaged in their legitimate duties.

6.All races should be treated equally and equitably.

7.All foreign efforts to disrupt national unity and spread racism in order to make the whole island a theatre of war should be defeated.

8.Immediate action should be taken to put a stop to conspiracies of certain missionaries to create religious rifts and divide the country.


Venerable Professor Attange Ratanapala addressing the rally further said the country was going into one of the most critical moments in our history now and the time was therefore very ripe for the Buddhist monks to be organized and be united. He said the rally was one way to show the Buddhist monks was ready to fight against forces of disintegration of Sri Lanka.

The monks were not congregating for their own good and to build their own images but to build a country without limitation of racism , he said. The congress of Bhikkus was born to establish equality to all Tamils ,Muslims and the Sinhalese he said.

Venerable Ratanapala further said that the country was in dire need of a patriotic leadership.and a movement to visit village to village to educate the people of the country about the forthcoming danger. The Venerable monk said since the people had been deceived in the name of peace the culprits had to be exposed.

Now, the time has come to chase out those deceivers of the people and all Buddhist monks should be united to do so, he said.

Venerable Watinapaha Somananda , of the Samatha Lanka Pevidi Sanvidanaya said at the moment there were even plans to change the national anthem of the country to appease the separatist terrorists. He charged that artists like Amaradeva, Nanda Malini and Rohana Weerasinghe had been hired to do the hatchet job . The Venerable monk said there were moves to change the national flag and national anthem on the request of the LTTE. Whatever may be the obstacles the bhikku federation would fight those anti national measures he insisted

Venrable Pandith Kumbukkadawela Sri Dheerananda , the Sangha Nayaka of the Thamankaduwa and Polonnaruwa areas of the Asgiriya sector of the Siyam Nikaya said, if the LTTE was running courts,police staions and banks without any respect to the country’s laws how could they be trusted to be part of a united Sri Lanka. The Sinhalese should raise one united voice against the government. When the raised voice is a united one no government could turn a deaf ear to that, the Sangha Nayaka insisted. This federation meetings should be held in every province of the island. The Polonnanruwa based Chief monk said it would be the Sinhalese and the Muslims of Polonnaruwa who would be attacked first if the island were to be divided.

Venerable Kalawelgala Chandraloka thero said they formed the Jathika Bhiksku Peramuna since they saw the betrayal of the country by the United National Party. The venerable Chandraloka said although they told the people that the secret pact and thereafter the MOU between the UNP leader and the LTTE would lead to many dangerous things it was not strong enough to convince the people of Sri Lanka. Venerable Chandraloka said that’s why they were busy organizing the Federation of Bhikkus to protect the country. Various bhikku organizations may have varied objectives. But all the forces of the bhikkus had been now brought together to protect the sacred nation at this most decisive hour. He reminded the people who said that the bhikkus had gone silent that they did not and they were quite awake to protect the nation and looked forward for this fight to the last.

The agreement was identified as a ceasefire agreement. After eleven months since the agreement was signed it was very important to look back and examine what had happened. It was quite obvious now that the LTTE had crept in certain sections in to the agreement that would accommodate a separate state. Today, such sections although not agreed by both parties were being implemented. At the time of the agreement it was said that this was a means to live under a united Sri Lanka. But now the Prime Minister who took an oath in front of the Maha Nayakas not to divide the nation should tell the country what was really happening. No Sinhalese, Tamil or Muslim cannot tolerate the clear division of the country taking place in front of their own naked eyes.

The Venerable Chandraloka said no right thinking man who wanted to live in one country could turn a blind eye to what was happening now.. He said what the Prime Minister promised was not the reality that was taking place in the country. If one wanted to live in one country , he questioned why they wanted separate police stations, law courts, national anthems, national flags. It was quite obvious they were going to a separate state. When everything was unfolding in front of their own eyes the government was telling them “do not create disturbances. Do not protest. Do not create trouble.” The Venerable Chandraloka said no sensible man would call this peace. Peace was living in one country helping one another. What had been created was a great disaster. The most calamitous disaster in history, he insisted

The Venerable Chandraloka said the so called ceasefire would end by a river of blood flowing across the nation. If this was peace this would have been easily created in 1983 by dividing the nation. If that was done there would not have been any Central bank attack. There would not have been any attack on the Temple of the Tooth. There would not have been a massacre of Bhikkus at Aranthalawa. The Venerable Chandraloka pointed out an anti-war effort should be a socially responsible one. An anti war movement with out any responsibility to the society was a hollow one. An anti-war movement with out any love towards humanit was an act of a cheat. In Sri lanka what some artists were expressing was not a true and sincere anti war feeling but a deception for an ulterior motive.

Appealing to the Prime Minister to understand this fact even at this late hour Venerable Chandraloka said otherwise the same fate that befell Asian dictators like Suharto and Marcos would be waiting for the Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe too.

Venerable Professor Kamburugamuwe Vajira addressing the meeting said that the country was facing one of the greatest disasters in history. He said the government was dragging the whole nation to a dark ravine and all capatalist forces in the world were preparing blue prints to destroy a nation which existed for millenniums. They had deceived the people with a sugar coated pill named peace. By feeding the sugar coated pill the government also jacked up prices of the basic needs of the poor like bread

Venerable Professor Vajira said the armed forces that protected the whole nation had been brought to the most humiliating position by the government. So many of the soldiers who had been serving the nation had been allowed to be abducted and killed by the LTTE because of the shameless acts of the government. For the thirst of power the government has become an institution who would stoop to any level to satisfy the LTTE. The Ranil Wickremesinghe administration was run with the support of the the terrorist group, Venerable Professor Vajira charged.

He said the shameless politicians were trying to protect their own skin and not thinking about the future of the nation.

He said all bhikkus should unite forgetting political differences and teach a good lesson to those who run the country.

Venerable Professor Vajira said the kind of federal system proposed by the government and the LTTE was still a mystery. They were pretending to indicate that by sending few bhikkus to examine federal systems in the world that this federal system was something proposed by the bhikkus. He said if federal system was proposed the country would like to know in detail what kind of federal system was being proposed. Thereafter, the system would have to be presented to the people to be accepted at a referendum , Venerable professor Vajira insisted.

He said the MOU signed between the Prime Minister and the LTTE was an illegal agreement . It was under that agreement the Tigers were starting police stations and law courts. He said those privileges were granted to the Tigers by self-seeking politicians. The LTTE today was trying to gain everything they failed to gain by war through the so-called peace process. We needed peace. But this bogus peace cannot any longer deceive the people, Venerable Professor Vajira insisted. He said they would visit all villages and tell the people about the true nature of this bogus peace.

Venerable professor Vajira said even the Mahanayaka theros had been deceived by the government. Those who returned from the so called peace talks and flew to Katunayaka directly went to Kandy to explain to them. But when the government gave high powered radio transmitters to the Tigers and rejected a similar request by the Temple of the Tooth the Mahanayakas were realizing the truth.

Pandith Madithiyawela Vijithasena, the Anunayaka Thero of the Ramanna Nikaya reminded the rally that in the past by uniting Sanga, Veda, Guru, Govi,kamkaru the people were able to overturn a reactionary government. He said the same thing could be done now.

They knew that Prabhakaran was one of the most ruthless murderers of the 20th century. He was also a Fascist who would fall into the same category of Hitler and Mussolini. He never changed his view of winning a so called home land . But the government of Ranil Wickremesinghe was deceiving the whole country putting forward a bogus peace process.

Professor Vajira charged that the Norwegian protestant church with its government was destroying Sri Lanka , an ancient Buddhist nation by this bogus peace.

He said the united bhikkus would visit village by village and defeat the effort of the anti-national forces now run by Norway and stop this great disaster. He said more than Jaffna Prabhakaran wanted Trincomalee. If he ever got Trincomalee , it was a great security threat to the whole South Asia, he warned.

Venerable Vajira said like in 1956 the Buddhist monks would defeat the vicious government of Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Venerable Dodampahala Sri Rahula Thero addressing the rally said it was unfortunate that a government which was put in power by popular ballots was trying to divide this country as loving as one’s precious mother. He said the monks were not congregating to do politics but to protect it from the nation’s greatest disaster. He said all efforts should be taken to stop the merging of the Northern and Eastern provinces thereby betraying the Sinhalese and Muslims living in those areas. He said all efforts should be taken to bring up the morale of the country’s armed forces who have been humiliated by our own government. Venerable Sri Rahula also reminded that one result of Ranil Wickremesinghe’s peace process was that the LTTE was able to distribute their suicide bombers all over the country enabling them to bring the greatest disaster in the country’s history. (EOM)

(17/01/03 go2lanka.com)