We are indeed grateful to both Mr. Galgamuwa and Mr. Godage for having brought the problems we encounter when we visit the Uda Maluwa to worship there to the attention of the public. As Mr. Galgamuwa has stated —- this is all because of one person –(I shall not refer to him in any other form —— it is indeed a disgrace)——- we are having a Mahayana situation at the Maluwa and we have been compelled to tolerate it because neither the so called powerful politicians nor the Mahanayakes in Kandy would do anything about it.

This is a native failing that we Sinhalese Buddhists take anything dished out to us without protest. If this situation happened in the Catholic Church, the parishioners would have taken it upon themselves to raise Cain and end the scandal; we Buddhists are disgracefully placid and servile.

As both Messrs. Godage and Galgamuwa have stated, the security arrangements must be changed and the police removed from the premises so that we can worship without any hindrance. Yes the LTTE attacked 15 long years ago and there is no threat from them to the Bo Maluwa today.

When the late Halmillawe Sri Sumana Revatha Maha Nayake Thero was the Atamasthanadhipathi we, the Buddhist public of Anuradhapura, were able to walk with our heads held high but not today. This is indeed a shame. Is there no one person or organization that could put this unfortunate situation right? We need to do this in our own interest, for this situation that obtains here is indeed a betrayal of Buddhism.

Fundamental to Buddhism is the killing of the ego and desire – what we see here is the furthest from it – and the irony of this is that it is being supported by our political leaders who stridently claim that this is a Buddhist country and that they are themselves good Buddhists. These so-called Buddhist leaders are furthest from being truly Buddhists and as far as the country is concerned that is another story; they only pay lip service to Buddhism.