HYPOCRITES WHO OPPOSE "WAR"
After the so called invincible LTTE was defeated in the present Eastern Province of Sri Lanka, which was part of pre colonial Ruhuna, there are people who again cry with bleeding hearts for "peace". Whether one agrees with the tamashas organized by the government over the victory in the eastern province, one cannot afford to be unhappy over it, unless one is a supporter of the LTTE or is against the Sinhalathva in the country. We were waiting for the Catholic Church and the other Christian Churches to issue statements at least congratulating the armed forces on their historic victory. After all these Churches in the "good" old days had blessed the armies that went for war and congratulated them on their victories. Even in Sri Lanka the Portuguese, the Dutch and the British governors and their armies had the fullest support of the Churches, even when those armies were massacring not only lay Buddhists but Bhikkus as well. However, to my knowledge none of the Churches issued a statement on the victory of the armed forces. Perhaps the Bishops know the reasons for not issuing such statements.
Now Bishop Chikera in a statement among other things state the following: "In a war there are no winners and losers. All lose, including the ones who think they win………….. An escalation of war correspondingly demands an escalation of destruction to the economy and environment, an escalation of the war budget, an escalation of budgetary cuts apportioned for essential welfare services, an escalation of Government borrowing, an escalation of indebtedness of future generations and indeed escalation of human revenge, pride and hatred. ……The responsibility of democratic leadership then, is to work earnestly and urgently to end war and achieve a just and stable socio-economic order through non violent, negotiated means. If we can initiate negotiations on our own, then we must do so immediately. If we cannot we must ask for help clearly and purposefully." The good Bishop then preaches on child welfare and blames both the government and the LTTE on indoctrination of trapped school communities etc.
What a waste of words. It is hypocritical and rhetoric coming from the head of Church associated with the Anglican Church. The Bishop says there are no losers and winners in war. This is a good statement to be made in a public school debate in the hypocritical tradition the British have left with us. Though there are no losers and winners according to the Bishop there would not have been a Bishop in Colombo if not for the fact that the English won so many wars in Europe defeating France and other countries and also not for the fact that the English massacred the Sinhalas when they rose against the British in 1817-18 and in 1848. Did the British win those wars or not? One outcome of the British winning those "wars" was the continuation of the Anglican Church in Sri Lanka.
While Buddhism was introduced to this country through "dialogue" the Christian religions were introduced only through "war". If not for the wins of the Europeans it is very unlikely that there would have been a Bishop of the Anglican Church in Sri Lanka. This Church may now be called the Church of Sri Lanka, but the Bishop having come into existence through war now wants to pontificate that war is not good for human beings. The Bishop says there are no winners and losers in wars. I do not think for a moment that the Anglican Church did not win through the "wars" of 1817-18 and 1848, and that the Bishop himself is not a beneficiary of the wins of the "wars" that the British had with the Sinhalas.
The Bishop does not have to tell us that an escalation of war leads to all that he has mentioned. However, the question is if the LTTE was allowed to carry on with their so called struggle without the government reciprocating where would have we gone? The LTTE has to be defeated, even if it means some hardships for the public. The Sinhala people have undergone worse hardships to retain their freedom and sovereignty, and the Church of England would not have reminded the King of England the hardships that our ancestors went through during that period. Has the Church of England changed over the years? They may have changed in their policies on marriages and allowed gays and lesbians to marry but in protecting and spreading the Anglican Church and the Culture have the Bishops changed? I doubt very much from the information we gain from England.
It is clear that the Bishop wants to resume so called peace talks with the LTTE. What has Sri Lankan government gained through negotiations with the LTTE so far? Absolutely nothing is the answer to that question. Though the Sri Lankan government did not gain anything the LTTE on the other hand gained a lot through negotiations including the so called ceasefire agreement that Ranil Wickremesinghe, the nephew of a former Bishop of the Anglican (Sri Lankan) Church signed with the terrorist leader Prabhakaran. The Bishop is of the opinion that if we cannot initiate talks with the LTTE then we should get assistance of the others. We all know how these others have acted and in whose favour they have worked and the Bishop wants their help to continue with the treacherous acts of these others.
It is only through counter operations that the Sri Lanka government has been able to gain anything over the LTTE and it is not surprising as the successor of the Bishop of the Anglican Church Bishop Chikera is advising the government against war under this or that pretext. War is not good in the abstract but there are instances when one cannot evade war. It is not surprising either that the political arm of the Anglo Christian culture in the form of the British High Commissioner wants the Sri Lankan government to stop the "war".
The problem at hand was created by the British by not giving the due place for the Sinhala Buddhist in the country. The Anglican Bishops supported the policy of the governor of giving privileges to the Tamil elite in order to degrade the Sinhalas and the Sinhala Buddhist culture. It is the Sinhala Buddhist culture at the centre of the problem, and the British Anglican governors with the support of the Anglican Bishops had used Tamil elite then not to the due place to the Sinhala Buddhists in the country. The situation has not changed even after so called independence and we now have the Anglican Christian culture using Tamil terrorists to degrade the Sinhala Buddhist culture. If the predecessors of the Bishop in the late eighties had wanted the UNP government to have talks with the JVP leaders with or without the help of the outsiders there would not have been any "war" then!
Professor Nalin de Silva
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