The Hindu : International : We will prevent division of Sri Lanka, say monks

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Apr 24, 2004

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We will prevent division of Sri Lanka, say monks

By V. S. Sambandan

COLOMBO, APRIL 23. They are Parliamentary debutants who have come a long way from the temples of Sri Lanka. After a day marked by internal dissension and heckling by ruling party MPs, the Buddhist monks from the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) today said they would "prevent a division of the country'' and wanted the two main parties — the ruling United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and the United National Party (UNP) — to work together for the "betterment'' of the nation.

"Our main purpose is to show us as good examples,'' Omalpe Sobitha Thero, one of the nine JHU MPs, told a press conference today. Emphatic that the two votes each to the Government and Opposition in yesterday's Speaker's election was not a show of unqualified support to either party, the Ven. Sobitha said: "If the UNP together with parties backed by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) tries to divide the country, we will even sacrifice our lives to prevent it. The same applies to the UPFA as well. We want these two parties to work together for the betterment of the country.''

The monks, the Ven. Sobitha said, were "at risk'' and had received "death threats'' over telephone, but had not complained to the police. "We may have to be born again, but we are prepared,'' he said. On the decision by two monks to vote for the Government's candidate for the Speaker's post — D.E.W. Gunasekara, leader of the Communist Party — the Ven. Sobitha said: "The two monks went against the policies of the JHU for mere political reasons. They tried to show to the outside world that even the monks are divided politically.''

The decision by two other monks to vote for the Opposition candidate — W.J.M. Lokubandara, who was elected by a single-vote margin — was to "neutralise'' the votes in favour of the Government, he said.

The monks who were at the receiving end of irate MPs from Sri Lanka's ruling UPFA yesterday say they "have to continue'' their role "to set good examples'' and would deal with politics with "compassion, sympathy and equanimity.''

On the heckling by ruling party MPs yesterday against R. Sampanthan, Parliamentary group leader of the LTTE-backed Tamil National Alliance, Dr. Sobitha said: "The Government appears to believe that they can defeat the LTTE by hooting in Parliament.''

The monks were also particularly critical of the behaviour of MPs, which they saw as considerably degrading Parliament

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