Hanging minorities out to dry

The decision to put Ven. Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thero at the head of a Presidential Task Force charged with formulating recommendations for a draft Act based on the President’s ‘One Country, One Law’ policy has understandably caused an uproar.

Indeed, it’s been one of those rare instances where individuals on both sides of the political divide seem to be in agreement, with several political commentators pointing to Gnanasara’s chequered history and chastising the move as an insult to the law-abiding citizens of the country.

Of course, there have been a few outliers still seeking to defend the President’s decision, some on social media even going as far to make laughable comparisons, likening the move to the naughtiest child in class being made hall monitor – the clear (and hopeful) assertion being that despite Gnanasara’s past bad behaviour, giving him responsibility will somehow rehabilitate him.

What many of these commentator’s fail to realise is that Gnanasara isn’t guilty of disrupting class or rough housing in the playground; no, he is a convicted felon who has been denounced in the past for inciting religious hatred among communities, while it is also well-known that he has close ties to Myanmar’s Ashin Wirathu, a radical Buddhist monk known predominantly for his anti-Muslim rhetoric.

To put it frankly as possible, through his words and actions, Gnanasara has time and again shown that he is simply a racist. As a monk he needs to be a true follower of the Dhamma and preach Lord Buddha’s message of compassion and tolerance.

Whatever the political machinations are behind the President’s decision to place Gnanasara in charge of such an influential task force, it can only end badly. This is not to be a doomsayer, rather to extrapolate from what has already been taking place in the country ever since the emergence of the BBS and other radical Buddhist elements in Sri Lanka.

In years gone by there have been several instances of documented evidence of monks being granted far more lenient treatment than that would be offered to other members of society. In 2016 for example, Chief Incumbent of the Mangalaramaya temple in Batticaloa Ampitye Sumangala Thero, was recorded spewing hatred and racial epithets at a Tamil Grama Sevaka as a senior Police official looked on, doing little to defend the victim of the monk’s tirade.

Another video, which circulated shortly after, showed the same monk barging into a police station and harassing officers, both physically and verbally. The restraint shown by officers in calming this monk was a testament to the power and impunity at their command. Surely, our Police, who are notorious for torture and excessive use of force, would have been far more heavy-handed had the agitator been any other member of the public.

But on the flip side, Police have acted swiftly in the past to shut down extremist elements from the Muslim community; to be clear, this should only be commended. However, in a land of ‘One Country, One Law,’ there should be equal treatment for all, and this includes monks that behave in an abhorrent manner.

As such, it seems more than a little fanciful to suggest that Ven. Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thero is the man to bring about this equality of treatment. The fact that such a ludicrous notion has actually been put into action, raises the stakes further – this is no longer fanciful; it is now a grim reality, one which will leave minorities in this country feeling, at best, hung out to dry, and at worst, fearing for their lives.