NALIN DE SILVA SAYS THE RESPONSE OF JHU MONKS WAS NOT UNEXPECTED SINCE THEY HAD TO SERVE THEIR MASTERS
By Walter Jayawardhana reporting from Los Angeles
April 24, 07.15 AM:The response of the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) in joining the pro-Tamil Tigers was expected since the Buddhist monk parliamentarian’s election campaigns were financed by anti-national elements and the monks had to serve their masters said Professor Nalin de Silva in an interview with this correspondent.
Professor Nalin de Silva, university teacher and head of the national think tank “Jathika Chintana Parshadaya” was analyzing the Buddhist monks’ attitude of the JHU at the recently concluded Speaker’s election in the Sri Lanka parliament when the JHU monks openly joined the proxy party of the Tamil Tigers to vote for the UNP candidate W.J.M. Lokubandara, against whom one of the voting monks, Omalpe Sobhitha held a ‘fast unto death’ before the elections. Lokubandara was the Minister of Buddhist Affairs when Sobhitha was holding a “fast unto death” against him. Rathana was one of the organizers of the fast.
Nalin de Silva said, “The response of the JHU is not unexpected. They were financed by Thilanga Sumathipala and his brother, Edirisinghes of Swarnamahal, and were given prominence in media that belong to Thilanga, Ranil Wickremesinghe’s brother (TNL), Swarnavahini of Edirisinghe and Maharaja’s MTV.”
Nalin de Silva charged that the monks were put forward by non-national forces only to hoodwink the Buddhists.
The Professor said that the behavior of Rathana, one of the monks who voted for the UNP candidate would definitely undermine the status of bhikkus in the Sinhala society, which is something that the enemies of the Sinhala Buddhists have been praying for.
Professor Nalin de Silva predicted, “The JHU would further crumble under pressure and there are already divisions in their ranks. This is something that we had predicted and those who voted for the monks would be repenting for their decision in spite of our warning.”
He further said that Sampanthan had claimed that the monks had voted with them and they would establish an Eelam through the Parliament. “He must be having some inside information,” Nalin de Silva said.
He said the monks of the JHU have teamed up with the LTTE in the form of TNA , Thondaman, Hakeem and Ranil who are known enemies of Sinhala Buddhists to elect W.J.M.L. Lokubandara . He said Athureliye Rathana and Omalpe Sobhitha voted for Lokubandara.
Nalin de Silva said, “They would claim that it was in response to two monks voting with the government and they had to nullify the votes of those two monks. However, that is not an argument. Those two monks who now sit with the government are no longer under the discipline of Thilak Karunaratne and Champika Ranawaka and cannot be considered as members of the JHU. The JHU now has only 7 monks in the parliament and they cannot take so-called remedial measures to counter the actions of the monks who sit with the government. The JHU has voted for W.J.M.Lokubandara as they are responsible only for seven monks now. Nobody could claim that the JHU voted for D.E.W. Gunasekera as well as W. J.M. Lokubandara. It has to be emphasized over and over again that the two monks who sit with the government do not represent the JHU.”
Nalin de Silva further said, “If Rev Athureliye Rathana and Rev. Omalpe Sobhitha had not voted for W.J.M.Lokubandara, D.E.W.Gunasekera would have been elected the speaker. D.E.W. Gunasekera may not have been the ideal person to vote for or to be the speaker but the JHU should understand where they belong to. The Sinhala Buddhists who are against a federal state have
voted for the alliance and the JHU also won some of the votes of the
Buddhists who are against a federal state. Those who voted for the JHU would
not have dreamt that their "manthree hamuduruwos" would join Sampanthan and
Thondaman to elect W.J.M. Lokubandara as the speaker”
Calling both monks who voted for the UNP candidate hypocrites Professor Nalin de Silva further said, “The JHU won 9 seats campaigning against conversions of Buddhists by the fundamentalist sects etc. However the fundamentalists are found to be in the UNP and not in the Alliance. People like Ravi Karunaratne, John Amaratunga, Festus Perera and the other Christians in the UNP must be very happy with the decision of the JHU to vote for W.J.M.Lokubandara.
The behavior of Athureliye Rathana was not unexpected. He was shouting and raising his hands like any other lay MP and it is quite clear that the JHU
is not engaged in any other politics but the parliamentary politics. There
is not even a semblance of Dharma Rajya concept in the behavior of Rathana
who is for all purposes a mere political thug.( I know this character for
nearly twenty years).”
