By Uditha Devapriya –
After months, years, and decades of engaging with and writing on the political, Malinda Seneviratne has decided to contest at the 2020 Presidential Elections. His is a candidature that merits scrutiny before endorsement, if at all because he has a history not many know and consequently deserves assessment. He is an egghead with both feet planted firmly on the ground, minus those pretentions to intellectual supremacy that continue to mark many others in his fields of study. Rare. This is therefore an attempt at unearthing his political experience.
I’ve been accused of generalising too much. That’s my way though, a habit that has stuck to me for so long that it’s become my “leopard’s spot”. Sometimes this blinds me to the truth, sometimes I refuse to see the truth, but thankfully I’ve never obfuscated it. Naturally then, in this universe we paint in black and white, where shades of grey are almost never tolerated, it’s refreshing to come across a man who’s engaged with the political and the aesthetic, and who’s come to appreciate that essentialism and reductionism will never EVER help us by way of progress.
It takes a reductionist to appreciate a universalist, after all.
I don’t remember reading newspapers in school. But I do remember columnists and I remember Malinda Seneviratne. I also remember reading INTO him. Like every other man who comes and leaves his mark in our political firmament, however, he’s best viewed and judged by the standard he’s created for himself. He is and has always been an indefinable political commentator.
Indefinable, and misunderstood. Explains why he continues to receive vitriol from both sides of the political divide. I hence believe it’s time we set the record straight, get a biographical sketch from the horse’s mouth, and drive home the point that men are least understood by those who insert political frill into them.
Trotskyism
Malinda’s first tryst with politics had been with the conversations he had with his father, Gamini, who had been a Trotskyite as an undergraduate. “He explained the Labour Theory of Value to me when I was about 15 in a matter of minutes and I haven’t since heard as lucid an exposition as his. One of his batchmates at Peradeniya, Nanda Wickramasinghe (Podi Wicks) of the Revolutionary Communist League, would turn up off and on and leave a copy of the party newspaper ‘Kamkaru Mawatha’. I read it. He was the first ‘political activist’ that I spoke with. I wasn’t impressed by the JVP and in Peradeniya I was never seen as a friend of the JVP-run student movement. Neither was I impressed by the UNP and the SLFP, for that matter.”
Both his father and mother, Indrani, were English honours graduates from the University of Peradeniya. His father was a civil servant while his mother taught English literature in many schools, her longest stint being at Royal College. Malinda himself is a Royalist. Having done his A Levels in the Mathematics stream in 1983 and having secured results good enough to be accepted by the Science Faculties of the University system, he opted to offer Arts subjects in 1984 and, again having secured good enough results, was selected to the University of Peradeniya. While studying at Peradeniya, he had also attended Carleton College, Minnesota for a Trimester on a student exchange program in 1987, a year which proved to be a turning point.
“Towards 1987, the situation in the country was getting worse. The JVP was heading towards fascism. The SLFP under Sirimavo Bandaranaike was neither here nor there. The UNP government had signed the Indo-Lanka Peace Accord. At this juncture, there was a need for a candidate who could reckon with both sides of the political divide. Inevitably, I felt the Old Left met this challenge well, and for that reason supported Vijaya Kumaratunga and, after he was assassinated, Ossie Abeyagoonasekera, with the United Socialist Alliance.”
Around that time, he had applied for a scholarship from abroad, having done both the TOEFL and SAT exams. In the end he “got” Harvard, after seeing the collapse of the University system in his country. “I was required to contribute 1,000 dollars towards covering expenses, but because I saved whatever money they gave me, I didn’t need to. It was essentially a 100% scholarship.”
Janatha Mithuro
I don’t think anyone can write about the Malinda who emerged at this point without taking two people into account. Malinda agrees. “Patali Champika Ranawaka and Athuraliye Rathana Thero were responsible for my political resurrection. They saved me from the fallacies of Marxism and the allure of the whole modernist discourse on development. Not surprisingly, I was able to ‘rescue’ myself from Marxism by 1990. I am and have always been grateful.”
What happened next was inevitable: Rathana and Champika wanted to build a political organization, Malinda became one of several recruits in this project, and with other like-minded activists the Ratavesi Peramuna was inaugurated to talk about human rights abuses by the state, the LTTE, the IPKF, and the JVP. The movement attracted its share of detractors and attackers of course, and Malinda remembers that all too well.
“We organised an exhibition in Matara. It displayed photographs and paintings of human rights abuses across the country. It was attacked by UNP thugs who also kidnapped two of our members and released them later on. We wanted to discuss what we’d do next, as in where we’d have to go from here and what we could do to counter state propaganda, and we held a meeting in Wadduwa in February 1992. That meeting was disturbed by the police, who on a tip-off came and arrested us, initially believing that we were associated with the JVP, which of course had been crushed by that time.”
What happened next? “We were held for three weeks, but our movement wasn’t finished. Immediately after we were released, most of the group joined the ‘Pada Yatra’ organised by the then Opposition and led by Mahinda Rajapaksa. As time passed by, the Ratavesi Peramuna, or rather the group that continued to identify with it after the Wadduwa incident, “morphed” into the Janatha Mithuro in 1993.
Meanwhile, Malinda continued with his personal life. “I was recruited as an ELT English teacher at the Medical Faculty in 1992, but when I was imprisoned that was the end of my job there. I was then hired as an Editor at the Agrarian Research and Training Institute somewhere in March 1993, but left in 1994 after I was interdicted following a run-in with the person in charge of maintenance.”
He also tried to pursue his studies, applying for various postgraduate courses in the hope that a scholarship would greet his way. “I wasn’t lucky at first, but a friend of mine told me to apply to the University of Southern California’s School of Urban and Regional Planning. He said I had a good chance of getting a scholarship. I did this and went there, but after a year applied to Cornell University where I wanted to read for a PhD in Development Sociology. In 1995 I went to Ithaca in New York. “
Surprisingly, he never really completed his degree there. “My Master’s thesis was titled ‘Journeying with Honour: In Search of the Vague and Indeterminate’. Some told me that it delved into anthropology and ethnography. It was essentially a study of how honour and dignity are negotiated in a multi-caste social environment. Either way, although I wrote it, the University wanted me to revise it. They gave me a conditional Masters.”
That was 17 years ago. “I still haven’t revised it,” he tells me, “Which means I technically haven’t completed my Masters.” I ask him whether he’d like to have a shot at it one of these days, and he says, “I don’t think so”.
Journalism
The Malinda Seneviratne story could have ended there, but it didn’t. In October 2000, he was recruited as an “understudy” (his term, not mine) to the Editor of the Sunday Island, Manik de Silva. “I left ‘The Island’ in April 2004 following an unpleasant encounter with some senior journalists of ‘Divaina’ to which I was at the time writing a weekly political comment and because I wasn’t too pleased the way the management handled it. After leaving ‘The Island’, I did some part-time work as a copywriter at Phoenix Advertising. I continued to be ‘part-time’ but would spend the entire working day there. When ‘Rivira’ started ‘The Nation’ in 2006, I was taken in as Deputy Features Editor and editorial writer.”
How did his journey at “The Nation” begin? “Krishantha Cooray, the first CEO of Rivira Media Corporation, upon the recommendation of Upali Tennekoon, the first Editor-in-Chief of ‘Rivira’, invited me to be the Editor-in-Chief of the English weekly paper they planned to publish. I told him that I didn’t have the experience and suggested that he find a senior person for the job. I said I would be happy to be a Deputy Editor. I recommended Rajpal Abeynayake for the senior position. The company finally hired Lalith Alahakoon, who was the Editor of the ‘Daily Mirror’.”
Soon thereafter, he ran into disagreements with company editorial policy and politics. “Essentially I was an outsider to the editorial team of ‘The Nation’. Krishantha had hired me, but the rest were all handpicked by Lalith and most of the senior people more or less shared his convictions.”
How exactly did he feel this though? “Well, my designation was Deputy Features Editor. One of my tasks was to write the editorial. One day, they replaced the editorial I had written with another, which was clearly written while I was still in the office. It’s the Editor’s prerogative but I think it was common courtesy to inform me. I found out only two days later when I bought the paper in Kegalle. This was in December 2006. I returned to Colombo the following day and handed my resignation. “
His brief stint at “The Nation” would be followed by stints as Assistant Communications Director of the Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process (for three months in 2007) and Consultant Director of the Special Media Unit at the Government Information Department (2007 November to 2008 November). After leaving it in 2008, “I worked as a freelance journalist writing 10-11 articles a week to six different newspapers until October 2011, when I was offered the post of Editor at ‘The Nation’.” That many articles a week to six different newspapers is of course an accomplishment at one level, but Malinda being Malinda says, “That was my only source of income. I didn’t have a regular job.”
His Editorship at “The Nation” was I believe the beginning of his best years yet, which sadly ended in 2015 when he had to leave. “What happened was that the owners of the paper accepted a letter of resignation written several months before, which was no longer valid. It was essentially a case of constructive termination. I said I would challenge them in court. So we reached an agreement and I left with reasonable compensation. ‘The Nation’ was of course shut down and re-launched a few months later as a tabloid.”
All this is history, of course, and they merit recounting for the simple reason that they offer much by way of painting a colourful personality. I doubt Malinda would use the “colourful” tag on himself, but to me that’s what sums up the man. It’s a sign of his humility that he never balloons himself, which is what makes his political history all the more palatable. That doesn’t make him an idealist though, and for this reason he’s cautious in both praise and vitriol.
Sihala Urumaya and NMAT
Before he joined “The Island” in 2000, both Champika Ranawaka and Rathana Thero had helped form the Sihala Urumaya. Malinda supported them and ended up contesting on the party ticket in Jaffna.
Perhaps it’s my naiveté at work here, but I ask him whether he actually won. “Are you crazy?” he asks me cheerily, “The Sihala Urumaya got more votes than the JVP and the Nava Sama Samaja Party. I got seven preferential votes. All in all, the point we were trying to drive across wasn’t to do with votes. Rather, we were making the point is that even the Sinhalese had a heritage claim on every inch of this island. This was a time, we should not forget, when to affirm that one was a Sinhalese was enough to invite a lot of bad-mouthing.”
Having contested and “lost”, Malinda’s next formal political association was with the National Movement Against Terrorism (NMAT). “The NMAT was dominated by many who were with the Janatha Mithuro and the Sihala Urumaya. I agreed to work with them after 2006, on the condition that it would operate independent of the Jathika Hela Urumaya. The JHU campaigned on a nationalist platform, but the NMAT worked on combating terrorist propaganda. I think Anuruddha Pradeep Karnasuriya put it best when he said that the NMAT was a petrol shed, not a supermarket, and that what we ‘sold’ was objection to terrorism.”
The organisation, which chiefly combated the myth that the LTTE couldn’t be militarily defeated, was vindicated in 2009. This we know. What we don’t know, and what Malinda tells me, is its association with the nationalist politics rampant at the time. “During Chandrika Kumaratunga’s time, we had federalists telling us what to do and what not to do. They were running the government, basically. We had a difficult time back then, but that’s not to say we thought of giving up. And so, even though the likes of Ranawaka are vilified and marginalised today, the truth is that we all played a role in birthing May 2009.”
Sinhala-Buddhist Chauvinist?
Here I ask him about his “association” with Mahinda Rajapaksa. “I can understand why people still think I supported him unconditionally, because I was almost always the defender of the State whenever the West took it to task over the way the issue of terrorism was handled by that regime. However, just because I defended the State – which I did because I felt the West had no moral right to vilify us over war crimes – that doesn’t mean I was behind Mahinda Rajapaksa.”
So what were the ideas and ideals he stood for? “Back when the Sihala Urumaya was formed, you couldn’t say you were Sinhala or Buddhist. You’d be taken as a racist if you did. We were against that. We felt that the voices of the majority of this country were being silenced. If you think that makes me or those who stood with me chauvinists, that’s erroneous.” I tell him that the “chauvinist” tag was used thanks to misconceptions about the party’s positions on democracy, equity, and social justice, and he agrees.
“We never affirmed a ‘Buddhist hegemony’. To be honest, that term is a myth. There is NO Buddhist hegemony. Look at history, at the wars we had to fight. Who made up the majority from among those who suffered? Yes, you can talk of numbers and say, ‘The Sinhala Buddhists were anyway in the majority even then.’ But then who got the benefits? The Sinhala Buddhists? Certainly not! That’s what the SU was arguing, and that’s what formed the political content of the very many back-and-forth debates I was engaged with, inter alia, Dr Dayan Jayatilleka in ‘The Island’.”
Malinda also argues against “misconstrued multiculturalism”. “A multiculturalism that doesn’t take note of historical realities and percentages is misconstrued. Federalists and those who vociferously support the 13th Amendment ‘talk’ multi-ethnic and multi-religious without talking numbers and percentages into account. They use terms such as ‘North’ and ‘South’ and immediately offer a picture to the ill-informed, especially abroad, of an island divided in the middle according to ethnic identity. They are content in drawing a boundary between North and South. But think of the map of Sri Lanka they use to support their thesis. That map (used by Eelamists and devolutionists) was drawn by the British, based on imaginary boundaries that had and has no scientific basis. Looking at this, you’re telling me that half the coast and one-third of the land in this country must be given to less than 10% of the population? Absurd!”
Sociologists here and elsewhere have frequently commented on the social content of the Buddhist revivalist movement. I bring this up because Malinda, when talking about the role of Buddhism in Sri Lankan history, talks of Anagarika Dharmapala rather warmly. “We articulated and have been articulating what the likes of Gunadasa Amarasekera and Professor Nalin de Silva have stood for. They have been affirming what the Anagarika stated a century or so ago: that we must stand on our own feet and stop mimicking the West. People love to vilify us as racist, but that’s crass.”
To which I put my two cents: “If the Buddhist revivalist movement, of which the Anagarika was a leading figure, was so concerned about this, why then was it housed by people whose conduct was so antithetical to the spirit of what they were espousing?”
Malinda’s reply is quick and concise: “People aren’t saints. However, I believe that the revivalist program suffered on two counts. Firstly, it separated ‘Sinhala’ from ‘Buddhist’, which is basically what Professor Nalin states. Secondly, the revivalists failed to take stock of what breathes life into any nationalist project: an engagement with history and heritage. When it comes to the great debate between Colonel Olcott and the Anagarika therefore, I wouldn’t take sides, but I would argue that (and I am no expert here) the Anagarika was the more wholesome of the two.” I deliberately try to generalise this as a comment on the inadequacy of Olcott’s program, and he laughs: “That’s what YOU people do. Pick, choose, and generalise. The world doesn’t operate that way.”
Which is where he comes to the present. “People think I am against the separation of temple and state. How? By my (alleged) support for the Jathika Hela Urumaya. First of all, far from being an unconditional supporter of the JHU, I was one of the first to write against its decision to let monks contest. When Athuraliye Rathana Thero confirmed this to me, I told him then and there, ‘You’ll find me your biggest opponent. My column in the Sunday Island of that week (in February 2004) denounced the JHU.” But this does not mean I support a non-existent separation between temple and state.” I tell him that the West may be drawing closer to achieving such a separation, and he disagrees: “The West never sustained that separation in the first place.”
I can’t quite explain it, but I find in Malinda the union of democrat and nationalist. The fault must be mine, because to this day I can’t think of how the two can come together. “I have always stood for citizens’ rights. I don’t look at them on the basis of race or religion. On the other hand, I have always believed that if ever a community was ‘deprived’, that was the Sinhala Buddhist community. Again, look at history. Look at the leaders we had from 1948 onward. NONE of them acknowledged Buddhism.”
There’s something missing in Malinda’s argument though, and I am confused what it may be. I put to him that the ideology he’s still articulating has more or less been accepted by the majority, even in a nuanced way, and that there’s very little more that we actually need to achieve. He disagrees. “Now you’re implying that we don’t need to demand. Of course we’re not demanding. We’re asking for representation. Let’s not forget, after all, that Sri Lanka isn’t a mono-religious state, that it does recognise other communities, and that it gives more space for religious holidays. We’re way ahead of the West here and we accept that.” To the point that he’s being vilified for “mollycoddling” extremism, he replies, “Who hasn’t been vilified? Who hasn’t been misread?”
I broach the subject of secularism once more, and he grows impatient. “There’s no secularism in this world. You talk secularism in the West to me when there are no Christian holidays, when there’s no ‘In God We Trust’ in the US dollar bill, and when they don’t impose bans on the burqa in Europe!” Not surprisingly, Malinda is for identity-assertion for EVERY community: “If we are not Sinhala or Tamil in the first instance, our being Sri Lankan becomes less meaningful. There are those who talk about ‘One Nation, One Race, One Blood’. All poppycock.”
We then delve into political reforms. “I was writing about good governance, the shortcomings of the 17th Amendment long before November 21, 2014, followed by the dangers inherent in the 18th. Like I said before, I defended the State against the West, but this didn’t mean I was complacent. I supported Rajapaksa in 2005 because I felt that Ranil Wickremesinghe, given what he did from 2001-2004, would have been a disaster in terms of dealing with the LTTE.”
There’s always been a question I’ve wanted to ask this one-time sociology student, and I ask it now. “Do you think the intelligentsia in this country is responsible for how the West misinterprets us?” He asks me to elaborate on what I mean by “intelligentsia”. “Anthropologists, sociologists, academics,” I hastily say. He is cautious in his reply. “See, I wouldn’t generalise like that. Of course some of them are responsible for creating and sustaining the image of Sri Lanka as the Tear or the Blood Drop of the Indian Ocean, but there are many fathers and mothers to this situation.”
“What of the ‘Sinhala Nation’ they think Sri Lanka is construed as?” I ask. “Again, that’s poppycock. What that term presupposes is that the Sinhala Buddhists usurped other communities of their rightful place in the country. You go to the North and East and you’ll see archaeological evidence of a strong Buddhist presence. There are people, including academics, who talk of a Tamil Buddhist culture in the North. If so, since Buddhism is eminently a scholarly religion, where is the Tamil Buddhist literature?”
Is there then a reason for why this collective has been and is being attacked? “The Sinhala Buddhists of this country have always been accommodative of other faiths. When the South Indians invaded us, we took Hindu gods to our temples and worshipped them. We didn’t do that with Jesus Christ when the Portuguese, Dutch, and British invaded us, and maybe that’s why some of those who profess their faiths are grinding axes with us.”
Malinda is probably the most down-to-earth in his profession, and also the most frank. Words and sentences come easily to him. He writes excellently. Given his background, that’s no surprise. Perhaps this is what has made him “respectable” in the eyes of the English-speaking, rootless elite in our country, for whom identity has become amorphous. He has certainly stood for the rights of the vernacular (he is a superb bilingual), and has frequently written on the originality of those who choose to write, read, and live their lives without any of those habits inculcated by lotus-eaters.
In the final analysis, then, that’s probably the best way to sum him up: that he’s no lotus-eater.
jimsofty / May 6, 2017
Buddhism established as the official religion in Sri lanka 2300 years ago. buddhist monks from India’s Nalanda University came to Lankadeepa to study buddhism and wrote many books. the world Ceylon is derived from the word sihala.
Ye, now other religions and other ethnic groups which amounts to 30% are asking a secular country. Sinhala buddhists do not have their country it is Sri lanka. They don’t have their flag all thanks to LSSP. Sinahal people don’t have their language it is three language. Now, even 0.7 % Malays want to establish their culture here.
For Sinhala people, their country is fked up.
Sinhala people are divided that is why 69% are behind. most of the present 225 are thieves and pests, and they do not hide it. Only thing is laws and law enforcement are theirs so the courts are powerless.
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Bakaladasa / May 6, 2017
All the Clowns and Vagabonds in the country wants to become President. What about Dayan? He also can contest instead of backing wrong horses.
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Anas / May 9, 2017
Agree: they both are the same. failures in their doctoral degrees! Ask their former spouses how their private lives were!!
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Native Vedda / May 6, 2017
jimsofty dimwit
“Buddhism established as the official religion in Sri lanka 2300 years ago.”
By whom?
Where exactly?
How many people converted to Buddhism?
What was the religion before the advent of Buddhism?
Whare did it come from?
Please cite evidence.
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Kumar / May 6, 2017
“since Buddhism is eminently a scholarly religion, where is the Tamil Buddhist literature?”
First of all, if you see the Buddhist literature in the early historic period of Sri Lanka, it is neither in Sinhala nor in Tamil but in the Pali language, a language that neither the Sinhalese nor the Tamils can read or understand. Only a very few who learned the Pali language can read and understand the Buddhist literature. There was nothing called Sinhala Buddhist literature or Tamil Buddhist literature.
Secondly, in the early historic period of Sri Lanka, the Buddhists were not known as Sinhala-Buddhists or Tamil-Buddhists. The concept of linking the religion to ethnicity was a very recent happening. Today the Sri Lankan Buddhists are Sinhalese and Sri Lankan Hindus are Tamils but that was not the case in the ancient past. Therefore, the Buddhist archaeological sites in the Tamil North & East, or the Hindu archaeological sites in the Sinhala South are not strange phenomena in the island.
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Kumar / May 6, 2017
It is not mentioned anywhere that the ancient Sri Lankan Buddhist Culture was a Sinhala culture or a Tamil culture.
The truth is that there is no aspect of Sinhalese Buddhist culture? Ethnicity, religion and practices, language and script, customs and traditions – ALL OF THEM ARE FOREIGN OR BORROWED FROM TAMILS.
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SJ / May 6, 2017
“I was able to ‘rescue’ myself from Marxism by 1990.”
When was he captured in the first place? If Nalin de Silva said it, it will make sense— but Nalin was always his own ‘Master’.
“…where is the Tamil Buddhist literature?”
There was much more Buddhist literature in Tamil than in any other Indian language between the 3rd and 5th Centuries. (There was a well argued comment By Prpf. S. Pathmanathan in the Daily Mirror of 29th March about Buddhism in Jaffna in contrast to the rather flippant remarks by Professor KM de Silva.)
Buddhism survived in the Pandya country up to around 9th-10th Century and there is reference to debates between Saivaites and Buddhists in Pandya country at the time, and mention of participants from Lanka.
The kind of Buddhist relics found in the North of the country are more akin to those discovered in Tamilnadu than in the South.
Buddhism here had two routes, a mass route via South India and an elite route via Asoka’s emissaries.
Massive structures to boast the glory of kings is not a quite the Buddhist way of doing things.
Buddhism after Jainism has been the main sources of ethics and philosophy for the Tamils until Saivaite ideology established itself firmly since the 11th Century. Prior to that it was Bakthi v Brahminic ritual. (There was also the Siddha tradition that had very limited impact on the affairs of state and society.)
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James / May 6, 2017
This article seems to be written by Malinda Seneviratne himself and is using Uditha Devapriya to publish it.
Malinda is ill informed or rather uses incomplete knowledge seeking methods when it comes to history. He is a well-known Sinhala-Buddhist racist.
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jimsofty / May 6, 2017
Very good character certificate or resume for Malinda Senevirathne.
It is good some patriotic people and some people – e.g. Nagananda Kodithuwakku – who wants to change certain things in the country come forward. They all should make up an allience and should go forward.
They shpuld break up teh process into steps and should go step by step.
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Dr Laksiri Fernando / May 6, 2017
Well, well, well! It is interesting to hear that a person like Malinda has decided to contest the presidential elections in 2020! It is a welcome development, going along with the new trends in the world. I wish he could become an Emmanuel Macron in Sri Lanka! This is not an endorsement however. I hope he would not drop the idea after few months, as he has dropped and dumped many initiatives in the past, which is clear from the many political and career trysts outlined by Uditha Devapriya.
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Native Vedda / May 6, 2017
Dr Laksiri Fernando
This was what malignant Malinda Seneviratne typed in 2003 in the Island:
Excerpt from
Integration and disintegration: Lessons of history
In summary, first the political significance of Sinhala language was attacked. Then the cultural heartland of the Sinhala Buddhist Nation (the North and East) was politically invaded; the North and East were demarcated as a linguistic unit. To consolidate the political entity, they need to destabilise and eventually destroy the unitary character. To destroy the unitary character of the Sinhala Buddhist nation, they have to destroy the Daladava, metaphorically and literally. The Tamil invaders attempted the latter a few years ago. That attempt was just the latest manifestation of a drive that began with the Chola invaders and continued by the Portuguese, the Dutch and the British. Interestingly, this is exactly what the Chandrika-Ranil Constitution of 2000 attempted and what Ranil is gunning for in 2003.
island.lk/2003/02/09/politi01.html
He is a favorite columnist among the chattering classes. They never question the veracity of his historical anecdotes. He should receive a few middle class votes.
He elaborated his Chola expertise in Colombo Telegraph in 2014 under the title “Raja Raja Chola 1 And The Quicksand Of Tamil Chauvinism” to which he received 239 comments/typings from readers.
Being a revisionist Chola historian and eminent Tamil Epigraphist I am sure he will have a good chance of winning a few votes.
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James / May 6, 2017
Malinda was a blue-eyed boy of Gunadasa Amarasekera and Professor Nalin de Silva or rather, they were his masters/guru.
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Stanislaus / May 8, 2017
Did he actually study sociology at Harvard and Cornell?Considering the drivel he has written,Isuppose he didn’t finish?His lack of respect evidence and responsible research makes one wonder what it that he learned at the universities.
But then,we know,from the German experience that great universities can nurture fascists and Nazies
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Andrew / May 9, 2017
Or may they are back scratching!
Malinda is a loser in his private life. Ask one of his former wives. He is also a chip of the old block in that regard.
He is living in luxury and engaged in racial politics. He was a failure in his studies too.
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Fed Up / May 6, 2017
Uditha Devapriya, you are showing that Malliyuran has ‘one’ supporter in the island.
Alas, you are likely to be the ‘ONLY’ one probably other than his ailing father (still doubtful).
We have heard many jokes in the past, but this is the most farcical because a man thinks of contesting the presidency due to problems in finding other paid employment. We have enough unemployable crooks who have come to parliament due to this reason, and look what has happened to the country!
You can hero worship him Devapriya, but the rest of us will definitely not. Ask him to find the deposit in time, we will make him lose it.
Adios.
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Mallaiyuran / May 6, 2017
Tamil Buddhist literature is 1st century Manimekhala. That gives the account of Ceylon’s Tamil Buddhism. In fact Mahanama, in the 6th century, copied the “Buddha flying” from the story of Manimekala. The first instance of a Buddhist personality flying is mentioned in Manimekala. Similar flying of Buddha is not mentioned in the North India. Its mentioned only in Tamil story Manimekala. Sangamitta did not fly either. Aa Puthiran and Manimekala came to Ceylon repeatedly to spread Buddhism. It is extremely unlikely Buddha coming to Ceylon three times. In fact he may not have come even one time.
Missing literature does not prove the nonexistent. The Panchieswarams tells a better civilized Hindu culture existed in Ceylon before Buddhism come. Archeological evidences have proved Tamils Buddhism dates.
The literatures have many times misinterpreted many things. Rama and Krishna have been believed for long time as Aryans. But latter it has been proved Krishna is a Dravidian king who fought with Aryans. But the confusion in literatures has made the Aryans to pray Krishna. All Tamils Hindus treat Mahapali as demon. But Keralite pray him in Onam celebration him as their King-God. There is no way anybody from South India might have pressed Ceylon community to pray Kannagi. One has to explain why she is not prayed in South India. She is prayed by Tamils and Sinhalese alike.
Sinhala Buddhist may be mistakenly thinking Dutugamunu as Buddhist and Ellaria as Hindu. But my thinking is, like in the case Krishna, the otherwise going to be proved as the case. Ellaria might have died as Buddhist and Gemunu was a Hindu until he went to North and found about Buddhism.
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jimsofty / May 6, 2017
Manimekhala is Jain literature.
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Native Vedda / May 6, 2017
jimsofty the dimwit
Manimekalai is the story of virtuous young woman’s conversion from Jainism to Buddhism.
You have’t seen Prof Sunil Ariyaratne’s film Pattini. Go watch it dimwit.
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Mallaiyuran / May 6, 2017
Softy,
Madhavi is the daughter of a Parathai. Parathai is not exactly a Vesi. But she does two jobs, Classical dancing and whenever opportunity exists, prostitution too. According to Silapathikaram, Madhavi refused to get into prostitution but wanted to live as an estranged lover of her boyfriend Kovalan. To protect her daughter from her mother, Madhavi surrendered to Buddhist monastery, where the Nuns denounce the Hindu castes professional job of prostitution. The nuns made Manimekala too as a nun.
Here the amazing part I repeatedly wonder of that day’s Tamil culture. Madhavi’s mother was living as a prostitute. She wanted to introduce her daughter, after her debut, into that job. Madhavi lived with her boyfriend (only for short time); when he abandoned her, she did not try to marry. Her daughter is a nun. All these took place on these three women’ own will. No religious authority imposed anything on any one of them. It was “No Hold Barred” life for men and women. Entire Sangam poems are depicting that amazing mentality.
I did not come to know a Jain book’s existence. One of the lost ones may tilt towards teaching of Jainism. But Manimekala is Buddhist literature & intended to uphold Buddhist virtues. Others are written either by Jain poets or with Jain characters, but not Jain Literature like Manimekala, which explicitly advocating Buddhism’s virtues.
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SJ / May 6, 2017
Both Ilango Adikal and Seeththalaich Chaathanaar treated Madhavi with uytmost respect.
What her birth was is irrelevant, what she was in life was important.
She was far more virtuous than many a woman of noble birth.
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Kumar / May 6, 2017
Manimekalai, a purely Buddhist work of the 3rd Sangam period in Tamil literature is the most supreme and famous among the Buddhist work done in Tamil. It also talks about the Tamil Buddhists in the island/Nagadipa. However, Manimekalai is not a historical work.
Commenting on the very great popularity of the story of Pattini in Sinhalese villages, Dr. Godakumbura writes: “Literature, dealing with Pattini and the origin of the worship, is very large, and most of it has come from Tamil sources.” He gives a fairly comprehensive list of Sinhalese writings based on the stories of Manimekalai and Silappathikaram (another Tamil Buddhist literature). Prof Sunil Ariyaratne’s recent Sinhala film Pattini (freely available on Utube) is also based on this.
The well-known Tamil Buddhist epics/literature were Manimekalai, Silappadhikaram, Valaiyapathi, Kundalakesi, and Jivaka Cintamani. The Tamil Buddhist works also includes the grammar Virasoliyam, the Abhidhamma work Siddhantattokai, the panegyric Tiruppadigam, and the biography Bimbisara Kada.
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SJ / May 8, 2017
Sorry.
The other Buddhist classic among the great five is Kundalakesi (It is highly polemical and only available in part. The source could be Teri Gatha, in Pali.)
Cilappatikaram is Jain.
Valayapathi (much of the text is gone) & Cinthaamani are also Jain.
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Mallaiyuran / May 6, 2017
Now I notice: I was wrong in saying she visited with Aa Puthiran, but she was only carried Aa Puthiran’s bowl to feed hungry ones. She did not visit with him. She must have visited Ceylon with Aravana Adigal.
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Nathan / May 6, 2017
Let me confess. This is, in my estimation, easily the best write-up from Uditha Devapriya. And, there is a reason for that. The subject he had chosen to write on is the politics of Malinda Seneviratne.
Malinda Seneviratne is a hysterically satirical political columnist.
He ranks loftily high among all the columnists I have had the chance to digest. His language is simple, lucid and engaging. That I differ from his political views is secondary to this conversation.
Malinda gives no room for second thoughts on his stance in politics. That is at his own peril. Why would I bother about that!
If Malinda Seneviratne would run as a contender for Presidency, he’d know even today what the outcome would be. Then, what propels him to enter the fray. He, I am certain, is not running to become President. He is running to make a Statement.
Yes, that’s what has been his vocation and hobby, – making Statements.
He is building a platform for his line of politics. A platform far better than newspaper columns and editorials. I wish him well.
Does that mean that I endorse him. No, not in a thousand years!
So, let us read Uditha’s final para, once more.
If words and sentences come easily to Malinda, that is because Malinda is frank. But, he certainly is not down-to-earth. How can he be, IF he has a mind to contest for Presidency!
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By Jingo / May 6, 2017
Uditha postulates that “It takes a reductionist to appreciate a universalist, after all”, in describing Malinda as “ it’s refreshing to come across a man who’s engaged with the political and the aesthetic, and who’s come to appreciate that essentialism and reductionism will never EVER help us by way of progress”.
So if we care to analyze in detail, we find that there are two general definitions of each word – as follows: REDUCTIONIST – a person who analyzes and describes a complex phenomenon in terms of its simple or fundamental constituents: a crude reductionist and (adjective) analyzing and describing a complex phenomenon in terms of its simple or fundamental constituents: a reductionist approach that leads to stereotyping. UNIVERSALIST – 1 – In Christian Theology – a person who believes that all humankind will eventually be saved or (usually Universalist) a member of an organized body of Christians who hold the belief that all humankind will eventually be saved and 2 – A person advocating loyalty to and concern for others without regard to national or other allegiances.
I’m assuming Uditha refers to himself as a ‘Reductionist’ and to Malinda as a ‘Universalist’. And we can also assume that the ‘Christian Theological’ reference will not suit Malinda, which makes him (in Uditha’s view) “a person advocating loyalty to and concern for others without regard to national or other allegiances.”
Having read many of Malinda’s posts it is more than ‘a bit of a stretch’ to accept that Malinda is “a person advocating loyalty to and concern for others without regard to national or other allegiances”. His indefatigable defense of the previous regime in spite of their innumerable felonious acts against individuals and the country will not be easily forgotten, although some may consider his “loyalty” and “concern” for the regime to be admirable. Also, the ‘chauvinist’ tilt to his writings has displayed his ‘nationalist’ ideology, as many CT commenters have observed.
With this basic premise of Uditha’s not fitting the description, how can the rest of the post be taken seriously?
In any event, Malinda standing for President of Sri Lanka will be ‘interesting’ – to say the least!
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old codger / May 6, 2017
Jingo,
“His indefatigable defense of the previous regime in spite of their innumerable felonious acts against individuals and the country will not be easily forgotten,”
I don’t agree with many of Malinda’s attitudes, but for the record, he did use the Nation to expose the truth about the Alutgama incidents. Hafeel Farisz attested to this.
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Bandara / May 7, 2017
@Old Codger:
Big frigging deal! What about all the rest of his record?
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George C / May 6, 2017
One look at Malinda’s employment record and other allegiances over the years is a splendid indication of what could be expected of the man. He seems to have had either a problem with his bosses and coworkers and/or his chameleonic mindset has forced him to change partners with regularity (not unlike another persistent and regular contributor to CT). The man has been a veritable ‘here today, gone tomorrow’ type of guy. Devapriya lists 10 or 11 different ‘occupations’!
There is no doubt that Malinda is a very talented writer and also has the ability to obfuscate when it comes to defending his favorites, but let’s not heap praise where it isn’t due, like when Devapriya says “… he’s best viewed and judged by the standard he’s created for himself. He is and has always been an indefinable political commentator.” “Indefinable”??? How so, when in his own words Malinda says ” ..we were making the point is that even the Sinhalese had a heritage claim on every inch of this island”. There are other such claims.
Devapriya also says that “men are least understood by those who insert political frill into them”, which probably explains where he’s coming from!!
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Pacs / May 6, 2017
Is that Hindusium or Saivaism existed in Tamil naadu 2000yrs ago . Is there any evidence in Tamil Litrature.
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Spring Koha / May 6, 2017
Malinda S will provide rich study for an occupational psychologist/occupational psychiatrist.
Throwing his hat into our Presidential race is like King Richard going to the crusades riding a bicycle. But he is ‘making a statement’ so what the hell. He will probably do about as well as that nice Rajiva Wijesinghe (presently still reading Butler’s ‘Art of the Possible’), garner maybe 0.5%, and some first-hand experiences to help him write a few more articles. All in all, some statement.
But Uditha D has written not so much about Malinda’s presidential prospects (none) as he has about the enigma that is ‘half-cock’ Malinda (much). Here’s the thing: Malinda S is a nice guy, presents himself well, knows how behave in company even though he has a predilection for stepping on toes. AND there’s the rub; in our murky world of dog-eat-dog politics, stepping on toes is a big No No.
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Agnos / May 6, 2017
Spring Koha,
Seneviratne might have been prolific, but his writing can hardly be said to be ‘great’ as others seem to think.
Aside from his chauvinism–anyone who was aligned with Nalin de Silva and Gunadasa Amarasekara cannot claim otherwise–in the few instances I have read him, he got some of his facts wrong, and his style seemed pedestrian.
Even while busy at Peradeniya, I bought The Sunday Island every week to read the writings of journalists like Ajith Samaranayake; it was jarring, later on, to read Seneviratne in the same paper.
It also seems strange that someone who had only a mediocre academic record in Sri Lanka, was able to get into Harvard and Cornell, and then ended up writing nonsense in Colombo.
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Native Vedda / May 7, 2017
Agnos
“in the few instances I have read him, he got some of his facts wrong, and his style seemed pedestrian.”
A chauvinist, bigot, racist, ….. stupid no need to base his/her typings on facts.
Comments are free but facts are sacred – C. P. Scott
Looking for and finding facts is a tedious job.
The legendary Times reporter Louis Heren reported to have often said “When a politician tells you something in confidence, always ask yourself Why is this lying bastard lying to me?”
This is equally true when a dimwit racist typist try to impress the stupid chattering classes.
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Ranjinie de Silva / May 6, 2017
What are his thoughts on women’s rights? Will he give women due respect? or thrash them!!!
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Native Vedda / May 7, 2017
Ranjinie de Silva
“What are his thoughts on women’s rights?”
Does he have any thoughts on other issues?
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nishan / May 6, 2017
Sounds like another fellow who has benefitted from American generosity but bites the hand that has fed him. All these fellows have a problem because they realize their American background doesn’t help them in the posh society they secretly want to join.
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