Meet Sri Lanka's radical Buddhist

Iththbekande Saddhatissa is accused of spreading xenophobia, religious intolerance and Sinhalese domination over Sri Lankas minority Tamils.

ERANGA JAYAWARDENA / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Rev. Iththbekande Saddhatissa, right, preaches politicized Buddhism in Sri Lanka, organizing rallies -- like this one against the visit of United Nations human rights chief Navi Pillay -- to help suppress Tamil aspirations for autonomy. By: Rosie DiManno Columnist, Published on Mon Jan 13 2014

The Toronto Star C L !" #The revered bhikkhu tucks in his saffron$coloured robe, offers a guest bananas and %ing Coconut &ater, smiles benignly. 'verything in this mans disposition radiates the peaceable philosophy so &idely associated &ith gentle "uddhism. "ut (ev. Iththbekande Saddhatissa is a radical, accused of spreading xenophobia,

religious intolerance and Sinhalese domination over Sri Lankas minority Tamils. Read more on thestar.com: Sri Lankas hidden genocide )o& the *nited +ations failed Sri Lanka Sri Lanka election sho&s Tamils re,ect the status -uo '+. )e preaches politici/ed "uddhism. )e organi/es rallies aimed at suppressing Tamil aspirations for autonomy in the north of a deeply divided island nation. )e embodies Sinhalese chauvinism. )e has the ear of a government that has embraced a version of fundamentalist "uddhism unrecogni/able else&here on the planet # and the states official faith in a country &here "uddhists comprise 01 per cent of the population. )e is secretary general of the small and extremist but disproportionately influential +ational rgani/ation for (avana "alaya, named after the mythological 21$headed king of ancient Lanka. It &as (avana "alaya that demanded the elections commissioner declare the outcome of Septembers provincial council poll in +orthern 3rovince # &on over&helmingly by the Tamil +ational 4lliance # illegal. )e vo&ed to keep the provinces duly elected chief minister a&ay from Colombo, even preventing him from attending parliament. )e sought to have +avi 3illay , the *nited +ations high commissioner on human rights, tossed out of Sri Lanka in 4ugust for urging the government to conduct a credible &ar crimes investigation in the 5116 defeat of the Tamil Tigers. )e masterminded a demonstration in front of the "ritish )igh Commission to protest calls for an international &ar crimes probe by 3rime !inister .avid Cameron. )e has promised to mobili/e island$&ide agitation against any attempt to implement the 27th amendment, a stipulation included in the re&ritten constitution that &ould allo& for the devolving of police and land po&ers to provincial councils, a key promise of the T+4 electoral platform. Saddhatissa is not alone in promoting repeal of the 27th amendment. T&o coalition parties in the ruling government of 3resident !ahinda (a,apaksa # the reactionary Sri Lanka "uddhist 3arty and the +ational 8reedom 8ront # have also called loudly

for abolishing the proviso forced upon Sri Lankas constitution by India, and described by its opponents as a time bomb &aiting to explode. "ut Saddhatissa brings a distinct moral dimension # the virtue of monks # to the battle hes &aging. The "uddhist clergy # bhikkus # are every&here visible here, in their robes and &ith shaved heads, &hether clutching briefcases as they go about secular business or as educators on university campuses. 9hile in other countries "uddhist monks have laid do&n their lives in peaceful civilian dissent brutally -uashed, in Sri Lanka some advocate bloodshed to maintain purity of the common &eal. In the countrys historical annals # authored for millennia by bhikkus &ho have monopoli/ed the past # "uddha came to the island and, on his deathbed, anointed its people as guardians of :true; "uddhism. 4ny nation &here there is a ma,ority of a certain religion, it should have the priority in that country,; he says during an intervie& at the tran-uil (avana "alaya compound on the outskirts of Colombo. :If you take countries like 'ngland, for example, the parliament has very close connections &ith the church. %ings and -ueens take their vo&s in the church. 9hy cant "uddhists of Sri Lanka have the same po&er< 9hy cant "uddhists be closely associated &ith the government< This culture has been present in Sri Lanka for so many centuries, &here kings had a close relationship &ith the temple. In the context of politics, I can ,ustify it. Theres no problem &ith "uddhist monks doing politics. The problem arises &hen they are extremists or fundamentalists.; =et thats ho& many describe (avana "alaya, an accusation Saddhatissa re,ects, pointing out his organi/ation has no members sitting in parliament. Im not a racist, neither is my organi/ation racist or extremist. 3eople may perceive it that &ay because I stand up for ,ustice and that has been misinterpreted.; Theres no misinterpretation, ho&ever, &hen Saddhatissa demands nullifying the results of a mostly free and fair election that brought 75 T+4 candidates to po&er, under the leadership of former Supreme Court ,udge C. >. 9ignes&aran. The odium he has directed at 9ignes&aran and the none$too$tacit threat of mass protests over the 27th amendment has stirred fears of a resurrection of violence in a country that has kno&n far too much bloodletting # &hether in the near three decades of &ar &ith >elupillai 3rabhakarans Liberation Tigers of Tamil 'elam or the earlier horrors of

Sinhalese slaughtering Sinhalese in insurgencies &herein young !arxist revolutionaries &ith the 3eoples Liberation 8ront almost bludgeoned the state to its knees. The second, 26?0 revolt # kno&n as beeshana kalaya , or :the time of great fear; # lasted three years and provoked a terrible &ave of blood lust retribution in &hich at least @1,111 &ere killed, largely at the hands of police, army and paramilitary death s-uads, young people beheaded and their skulls stuck atop pole in public s-uares. 8or such a tiny country, population only 51 million, Sri Lankas recent history has been brutally inter&oven &ith violence. Saddhatissa believes the nation is headed in that direction again, if the 27th amendment is implemented. There is an old Sinhalese saying that if you give a monkey a barbers ,ob, he &ill slit your throat. I believe that although Athe T+4B are asking for an autonomous state &ithin a federation, they &ill gradually demand an independent state in the north. The T+4 leaders are saplings that gre& under the ice of 3rabhakaran and no& have become mighty trees. 4nd the push for an independent state later on &ill be motivated by 9estern po&ers.; The international community fails to understand the realities of Sri Lanka, the 7?$ year$old monk insists # ignoring the fact there has not been a single instance of terrorism since the civil &ar ended, thus arguably little cause to leave tens of thousands of troops garrisoned in +orthern 3rovince, often s-uatting on expropriated private land, &hich has fuelled bitter opposition. Saddhatissa calls political autonomy as granted to Cuebec, for example, unfeasible for Sri Lanka. :4 country like Canada is vast and it can afford to do these things. It &ould not &ork in Sri Lanka. ur sovereignty is at stake &hen different provinces deal in different &ays &ith the central government. The people &ho voted for the T+4 believe they &ill reap some benefits by giving the party po&er. "ut give it another t&o years and they &ill see that the T+4 &ill fail because they cannot achieve their ob,ectives.; "oth 9ignes&aran and 3resident !ahinda (a,apaksa should take his &arning seriously, says Saddhatissa. :If they do not heed &hat &ere saying, &e &ill rally people

and get them out on the streets to get our &ish, because &e are patriotic people and the security of the country is our priority.; 4s many like$minded commentators of influence in Sri Lanka have noted, the Tamils already have a -uasi$independent state # Tamil +adu, a province of India. 4nd they should go there. Saddhatissa &ont take his resentment that far. )e claims Tamils can coexist &ith Sinhalese in Sri Lanka # indeed, nearly 7D per cent of Tamils &ho reside in the capital already do. "ut not &ith any special accommodations for their language or their primarily )indu faith. If you create a separate Tamil state in the north, then &hat happens to the Tamils in other parts of the country< There has been no in,ustice to these Tamils. The chief minister A9ignes&aranB &as educated in a Colombo school and he has basked in freedom of education in the 9est.; )es e-ually dismissive of accusations # no& accepted by the *+ # that up&ards of @1,111 Tamil civilians died in the final months of the &ar in &anton and indiscriminate bombardment by the army. I dont think that even throughout the 71 years of &ar there had been @1,111 dead, or 01,111 dead, &hich some people claim. This is a doctored figure. The terrorists that died # &ell, they deserved it. 4merica and other &estern nations have double standards. +obody in-uires about their human rights infringements and the numbers of deaths they have caused in countries like Ira-. 9hen it happens to them, its terrorism. "ut &hen it happens to some other country, its a &ar crime. +othing of that nature ever happened in Sri Lanka. +one of the Tamil civilians &ere killed and there is no need for such an in-uiry.;