Former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa yesterday said that the UK’s outright rejection of the UN ruling that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange be allowed to go free highlighted again British double standards vis-à-vis Sri Lanka. “Obviously, the British do not practice what they preach to us here as well as other...
The British ruled parts of Sri Lanka from 1796 and the whole of Sri Lanka from 1815 to 1948. Sri Lanka marks 4 February 1948 as its day of Independence. When our history is related by the very nations that occupied us or by twisted versions from their local clones the true history is often wiped under the carpet for the embarrassing nature of crimes and the dirty tactics adopted. A 1904 British newspaper pokes fun at the Sinhala elite “Ceylon is Our Happy Possession, while other colony’s make noise for more reforms, Ceylon makes Money”. Old practices die hard and the very nations that colonized nations and destroyed ancient cultures and native governance systems are on course to continuing their destructive nature. We look at some of these crimes that attempted to divide the people and continue to destable the nation inspite of being independent.
HMS Defender arrived, in Colombo, on January 30, on a brief visit. The Type 45 Destroyer left on the following day. The British High Commission asserted that the naval visit, the first in four years, signified developing defence relations between the two countries, since the conclusion of the conflict, in May, 2009.
The warship is on a nine-month deployment in the Middle East, and it’s her second assignment. It would be interesting to know whether HMS Defender had been scheduled to visit Colombo when it left Portsmouth in late Oct last year.
The loud bravado with which Ms. Sharmini Serasinghe challenged the Sinhala Buddhists to give “a valid answer” to her question – a question which was aimed deliberately at denigrating the Sinhala-Buddhists – stands in stark contrast to the silence that prevails after the answer was given. (See Colombo Teleraph….) She asked pompously, assuming that she had delivered the final deadly blow that would nail the Sinhala-Buddhists once and for all : “Might I also ask, what in heaven’s name is so “supreme” about the Sinhalese people? What have we, the Sinhalese achieved, others have not, to entertain such “pride”? I challenge all those out there, who keep chanting, “I’m proud to call myself a Sinhala-Buddhist” to give me a valid answer to my questions, as so far, I have not.” She was, of course, hoping to be the heroine with this anti-Sinhala-Buddhist question. Instead she turned into a dumb “gemba” (a word picked from Prime Minister’s vocabulary) when the answer revealed that educating Ms. Serasinghe is a prime necessity to prevent her from making an ass of herself by asking stupid questions.
Her operative phrase is : “I challenge all those out there,….” The broad sweep of the question accompanied by her gassy bravado (“challenge all”! Pah!) exposed the inflated ego of a Mahadana Muththi rather than the informed insights of an original thinker with a profound knowledge of the subject. By the way, a good question reveals the quantum of knowledge possessed by the questioner. But blinded by her anti-Sinhala-Buddhist mania she has rushed into places where knowledgeable angels fear to tread. A knowledgeable and intelligent questioner will take all precautions not to be trapped by her own questions bouncing back to knock her down.
