Ven. Soma Thera’s final message

The tens of thousands who marched from Maharagama to Colombo for five hours, those who lined the highway and others who filled the vast expanse of Independence Square overflowing its boundaries, did carry a resounding message to the country and abroad: Sinhala-Buddhism was still a potent force in this country and cannot be written off, however much interested parties may wish to do so.

This was the message of Ven. Gangodawila Soma Thera, which the speakers at the cremation ceremony reiterated. The monk’s message was: Sri Lanka is the home to all religions and races but this undoubtedly is a Sinhala-Buddhist country.

This may be anathema to most of those who since the early eighties have been preaching the doctrine of multi-lingual, multi-racial and multi-religious composition of the country. All this implied that the privileged position of the Sinhalese and Buddhism after 1956 had to be done away with—in many respects these privileges ceased to exist in recent times. There is now a strong demand that the special position given to Buddhism in the Constitution should be negated in the new constitutional reforms. But the massive demonstration in defence of Sinhala-Buddhist rights on Wednesday indicated that going ahead with such moves is more easily said than done.

Colombo’s anglicised elite may consider Soma Thera, a representative of the ‘lumpen proletariat’. To one such choirboy in the state media, Soma Thera was just a ‘totemic figure’, the poor boy having lost himself in unfamiliar anthropological jargon. To some fundamentalists, any one not in their pantheon is a ‘totem’ that deserves to be smashed to smithereens. Judging by the islandwide grief and mourning and the massive show of sympathy shown at Indepedence Square, Soma Thera is indeed an indestructible ‘totem’.

Whether one agrees with Ven. Soma Thera’s preaching or politics the outburst of grief and sympathy his death evoked reveals that he has indeed plucked at the very sensitive heart strings of the Sri Lankan nation.

Reiteration of the primacy of the Sinhalese and Buddhism will no doubt be considered a retrograde move not only by some of our peace activists but also by the ‘international community’ that has come into our problem. But whether Soma Thera’s advocacy can be considered retrograde or not, his death has demonstrated he has indeed tapped into the deep inexhaustible reservoirs of nationalism, which remained dormant in recent times.

Whether it is more advisable to contain such hidden reservoirs of national sentiments through manipulation of political leaders and the media or whether it is better to face reality and attempt to come to terms with it will have to be faced soon. Such potent issues cannot be hidden away for long. We are all aware that the issue of evangelical churches and the fundamentalism that is being preached is reaching a head. If anyone accuses Sri Lankans of being bigots let it be realised that this is a live and burning issue in most countries of South East and South Asia. If this problem is not resolved now, it is bound to be a widespread endemic problem in most regions of Asia.

Today, Sri Lanka has ministries for various religions: Buddhism, Christianity, Islam and Hinduism. While these ministries may be serving some purposes, it is apparent that they have been unable to settle minor irritants that could lead to widespread conflicts.

One of the basic issues relating to evangelical churches is that they are permitted to be located in areas that are highly residential and inhabited by people not of fundamentalist faith. There is enough evidence of peaceful neighbourhoods turning out to be hotbeds of conflicts. The government should enforce existing laws and if these are not sufficient, enact new laws to maintain peace, law and order—not to discriminate against any particular religion.

The abuse of loudspeakers by all religions often results in neighbourhoods where places of worship are located becoming living hells. The blaring of loud speakers for days on end has made even those of the same religion protest to the police about this nuisance caused by this tinhorn piety. The police are reluctant to act against any place of religious worship even though the peace is threatened.

It should be noted that Soma Thera preached religious and communal harmony. He too had been a missionary in Australia and would have been well aware of the need for such tolerance. He was for fair treatment for all communities. But he did speak up for the rights of Buddhists and the Sinhalese when they were violated at a time and speaking up for them resulted in charges of racism, chauvinism and bigotry. Soma Thero reiterated his final message on his death with the tens of thousands that paid their respects to him: Sinhalese and Buddhists will not permit their rights to be violated.