Mr.

Hakeems Crime
| by Tisaranee Gunasekara

Most of what I see happening in this country is against the teaching of Lord Buddha That means either the people have not understood the teaching or they are purposely insulting the teachings of Lord Buddha ! " M#M $shraff

% March &' &()*' +olombo' ,ri Lanka Guardian- Independent ,ri Lanka e.perienced her first outburst of anti"Muslim violence in $pril &(()' in Mawanella /olice apathy and political machinations turned an ordinary difference into a mini"religious conflict But the psychological climate' in which everyday economic disaffections' political rivalries and business competitions could be transformed into religious"divides' was' in the main' authored by 0ev Gangodawila ,oma Thero ,ri Ivor 1ennings' writing in )23*' commented on an 4undercurrent of opinion5 e.isting in a segment of society' which is 6aggressively nationalist and aggressively Buddhist! This undercurrent was harnessed by ,708 Bandaranaike to create the reactionary 0isorgimento of )239 ,uch undercurrents are not spontaneous things: they result from conscious efforts to transliterate personal and societal discontents into ethnic;religious conflicts ,everal studies have highlighted the role played by influential cultural;religious figures in e.acerbating division;intolerance in crisis"ridden societies 0ichard 7agner is an oft"cited e.ample: 6It has reasonably been claimed that 7agner by his own writings contributed to the resurgence of anti",emitism in Germany' in particular by helping to make it culturally respectable! ,oma Thero played a comparable role in the )22(5s with his successful attempts

to depict ,inhala"Buddhists as an endangered species' threatened by minority;Muslim e.pansionism The key problem with Lankan Buddhism is not its embrace of non"Buddhist rituals %including polytheism- but the a.iomatic identification it makes between ,inhala race and Buddhism and its acceptance of violence as a means of protecting the ,inhala"Buddhist nature of ,ri Lanka $s /rof Tambiah pointed out' main features of $nagarika 8harmapala5s Buddhist revival included 6a denigration of alleged non"Buddhist ritual practices and magical manipulations! and an 6enunciation of a code for lay conductwhich emphasi<ed a puritanical se.ual morality and eti=uette in family life! ,oma Thero too began his public career as a reformer committed to purifying Buddhism of non"Buddhist %#indu;animist- influences and practices #e advocated a puritanical morality and a return to a pure' orthodo. form of Buddhism >rom this' like 8harmapala and others of the same ilk %from Martin Luther to $l"7ahhab of ?e@d-' he made a seamless descent into religious"fanaticism Antil ,oma Thero began his to.ic endeavour' Muslim"phobia was buried so deep in the collective ,inhala"psyche that politically it was a non"factor ,inhalese' occupied with the very real Tiger threat' regarded Muslims as natural allies The ,LM+' under the leadership of M#M $shraff was anti"LTTB in the best sense of the term %anti"separatist and anti"Tiger without being anti"Tamil and advocating a political solution based on power"sharing$nd )2)3 seemed a very distant bad dream That changed with ,oma Thero5s persistent anti"Muslim preaching ,uddenly many ,inhala" Buddhists began seeing in their Muslim brethren an enemy worse than even the LTTB It was at the height of this collective descent into madness that the live TC debate between ,oma Thero and Mr $shraff happened The debate was much"hyped by adherents of the Thero The general e.pectation was that the monk will make mincemeat of the politician Instead Mr $shraff proved that the charges against Lankan Muslims and the attacks on himself were based on lies and distortions $s an agitated ,oma Thero @umped from one lost argument to another' Mr $shraff demonstrated their mendaciousness with unfailing calm and utmost respectfulness $part from a diehard minority' the ma@ority of Buddhists admitted that Mr $shraff won the debate ,oma Thero replaced Muslim"phobia with +hristian"phobia The anti"Muslim violence in Mawanella could not have happened without the poisonous work of ,oma Thero But it was containable thanks to the dose of sanity and rationality administered by Minister $shraff Mr $shraff5s untimely death and the inability of the ,LM+;Muslim community to produce a leader of comparable erudition' ability and principled courage are seriously undermining Muslim security and Lankan wellbeing 0eligious"0acism and /atriotism The 1#A was a child of opportunism and power"hunger ,oma Thero died in &((D' another victim of 0ussian 7inter The ,ihala Arumaya' which was in the doldrums due to electoral

failures and acrimonious s=uabbles' saw in the outpouring of public grief %part"spontaneous part"orchestrated- for the dead monk' a fast"track out of the political wilderness The ,A was reincarnated as the 1#A' amidst a groundswell of anti"+hristian hysteria +hampika 0anawaka' who had made a successful political career out of peddling minority phobia and hatred' reportedly raised the 4#akeem issue5 in the cabinet: he accused Mr #akeem of giving A?#0+ chief ?avi /illay a 3("page document itemising 6the attacks on Muslims and +hristians and the government5s failure to take action against the perpetrators ! /resident 0a@apaksa berated Minister #akeem Minister #akeem %who represents his interests and not Muslim or Lankan interests- responded by blaming disobedient elements in the ,LM+ The /resident did not =uestion the veracity of the report Mr #akeem did not point out that if the perpetrators of these crimes were dealt with legally and constitutionally' there would have been no need to do a report for Ms /illay #ad the /resident cared an iota about religious amity' rule of law or ,ri Lanka5s good"name' he would have summoned the 8efence ,ecretary and the IG/ and asked whether the attacks actually happened and' if so' why the perpetrators were not brought to @ustice #e would have demanded immediate police and legal action $rresting some of the main culprits would be easy because they commit their hate"crimes as public spectacles with a heavy media presence #ad at least a few perpetrators been arrested' due to timely presidential"intervention' the world would have hailed Mahinda 0a@apaksa for his <ero"tolerance for religious"crimes $nd every single Muslim"ma@ority country will back +olombo in Geneva %and elsewhere-' even if the entire Tamil 8iaspora begs them not to' on bended knees But /resident 0a@apaksa was angry not at the criminals who attacked religious minorities but at the religious minorities who e.posed those hate"crimes $ccording to the 0a@apaksa creed' the real crime is not the attacking of mos=ues and churches' Muslims and +hristians' but the public condemnation of such attacks /resident 0a@apaksa reportedly accused Mr #akeem of 6betraying the country! $fter the $pril &()& 8ambulla mos=ue"attack' the mob decried a nearby kovil as an upstart" structure and tried to demolish it $ middle"aged woman respectfully informed the Buddhist monk leading the mob that the kovil is an old one and that she had worshipped there since childhood The monk threatened to destroy her home: he told her to take her god and go elsewhere Then he thundered' 6#ell' crows are not @ust flying over our heads: they are trying to build nests! %6Eakko' me kakko oluwa udin yanawa witharak nevei kuudu wennath hadanawane!This is the 4hosts and guests5 mindset This is the provenance of Mahinda 0a@apaksa5s angerF minority"guests do not have inalienable rights and' if they stay in ,ri Lanka' must uncomplainingly accept whatever the ,inhala"hosts choose to do If they complain' they are traitors

That mindset spawned the ethnic problem and the long Belam 7ar $re the 0a@apaksas deliberately reusing it to ignite a religious conflictG $re they planning to regain their role as ,inhala",aviours by imposing a new war on usG