{"id":18177,"date":"2013-03-13T02:22:01","date_gmt":"2013-03-13T06:22:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=18177"},"modified":"2013-03-13T06:16:01","modified_gmt":"2013-03-13T10:16:01","slug":"global-consequences-of-hate-campaign-launched-by-buddhist-clergy-and-extreme-nationalists-targeting-muslim-community-would-be-immeasurable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=18177","title":{"rendered":"Global Consequences of Hate Campaign Launched by Buddhist Clergy and Extreme Nationalists Targeting Muslim Community Would be Immeasurable."},"content":{"rendered":"

(Text of an Editorial Appearing in the Newspaper”Ceylon Today”)<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The pressures exerted on the government by one of its fringe elements ultimately got its dividends. The All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama (ACJU), the unwitting villains in the halal saga, backed down in the interest of defusing communal tension with the announcement that halal certification would henceforth be an optional process for products sold in the local market.<\/p>\n

Showcasing that the Ulamas could be ‘magnanimous’ when backing down, the ACJU also announced that the certification would be provided free of charge for the exporters. The government’s apprehension that the removal of halal labels for such export products could lead to a sudden and considerable decline in sales overseas, is well founded and their concern is manifest in the exceptions made.
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\nA further relaxation has been made to those products with halal certificates already in shelves in the marketplace and they too would be exempted from the new ruling.<\/p>\n

What was once launched as a seemingly ‘hate-campaign’ aimed at a minority religious group by the fringe elements of the majority Sinhalese Buddhists, turned out to be a ‘rightful’ grievance of an ‘aggrieved’ party. The hate-mail that the campaign unleashed, the equally bigoted invasions of Muslim-owned businesses by the mercenaries of the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), the pitiable silence on the part of the hierarchy of the Buddhist clergy, ‘uninterventionist’ attitude adopted by the ruling circles and the appalling sense of non-committal by the Muslim leaders in Parliament, were all potent ingredients that shaped the ‘success’ so claimed by the leaders of the BBS.<\/p>\n

A disturbing trend in the psyche of the majority, especially among the middle-class Sinhalese Buddhists, is setting in. <\/p>\n

The dangerous consequences of such a propensity, if unchecked and unconstrained at the very outset, would be catastrophic for the country.<\/p>\n

The global consequences of a local hate campaign launched by the Buddhist clergy and extreme nationalists targeting the Muslim community would be immeasurable. The evidence is all pointing to an astonishing sense of insensitivity, not merely towards a minority community \u2013 in this case, the Muslims of Sri Lanka \u2013 but in the larger scope of an aggravated dynamic of modern socio-racial politics in the region-wide communal politics.<\/p>\n

If the net outcome of this hate-campaign is an emergence of a different kind of socio-political dynamic, in this instance it was the substitution of Tamil-hate by hatred towards the Muslims of the country, the pioneers of this ‘movement,’ the BBS, would have enough and more reasons to celebrate and material to plan for greater ‘achievements’ in the future. The sharpening of racial blades immediately prior to an election would be quite helpful in driving an already gullible electorate to further extremes.<\/p>\n

It is fervently hoped that the ‘success’ of the BBS’ first campaign does not mean an entry into other controversial arena of politically-sensitive issues and questions. But the danger here is that the confidence gained from pushing the Ulamas into a corner, could become the adrenaline for the activists and their leaders not only to expand their misguided crusade into areas that are acutely personal, but also the membership from among the foolish and the gullible.<\/p>\n

The growing apathy on the part of the civil leaders, specifically among the Sinhalese Buddhists, is contributing to this mindset. The extreme positions adopted by the Sinhala-speaking elites identifying with any official stance taken by the ruling elite, both locally as well as at international fora such as UNHRC, might be the fertile ground that the seeds of extremism and racial hatred could take deep root and one day bear fruit. But history has shown us on more than one occasion that the flow of hatred and unreasonable reasoning adduced to various social and cultural upheavals would not know any reasonable ends. The ominous character of such upheavals is all too omnipresent. What is missing is saner and sober reasoning.<\/p>\n

The late Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamour of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.” This may well be true of the vast majority that opted to remain silent and on the sidelines as the halal saga panned out.COURTESY:CEYLON TODAY<\/em><\/p>\n

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(Text of an Editorial Appearing in the Newspaper”Ceylon Today”) The pressures exerted on the government by one of its fringe elements ultimately got its dividends. The All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama (ACJU), the unwitting villains in the halal saga, backed down in the interest of defusing communal tension with the announcement that halal certification would henceforth …<\/p>\n

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