By Ruaridh Nicoll –
Ruaridh Nicoll
Sri Lanka has the hotels, the food, the climate and the charm to offer the perfect holiday, says Ruaridh Nicoll. It’s just a pity about the increasingly despotic government.
“so are you a Buddhist?” I ask the driver.
“No, I am Hindu.”
“Oh, so you’re a Tamil?”
“I am a Tamil,” the driver says, and then shouts: “BUT I AM NOT A TERRORIST!”
Sri Lanka is the travel destination of 2013, at least according to the travel industry. After decades of war, peace is opening up the northern reaches of the wondrous isle off the tip of India. British Airways has just created a route to Colombo via the Maldives. Set against this (although not affecting visitor numbers) is Sri Lanka’s increasingly brutal government. The Rajapaksa family is tightening its grip. The Tamils are cowed. Even Sarath Fonseka, the former general credited with beating the Tigers (and accused of killing 40,000), has found his bid for political power stymied.
Read more in The Observer UK
Rita / May 7, 2013
Tourists must have a conscience: lands are grabbed from poor fisherfolk from coastal areas and turned into tourist beaches.
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Safa / May 7, 2013
Today the discerning tourist is also concerned as to what lies behind the veneer of constructed edifices and artificial beauty. The tourist industry is one of the lynch pins of the economy through which the government hopes to achieve its development goals. So it is good that we are opening up to the world.
Whilst seeing the good side of things it is also good to see what is actually happening in the country and speaking up on behalf of the ordinary folk and their simple life styles. Your opinion counts. Tourism can also be used to improve the lives of the common people by speaking up against despotic governements. The smiling people of Sri Lanka deserve no less.
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Amerasiri / May 7, 2013
“so are you a Buddhist?” I ask the driver.
“Yes, I am a Buddist.”
“Oh, so you’re a Sinhala?”
“I am a Sinhala,” the driver says, and then shouts: “BUT I AM NOT A TERRORIST!”
But, the Budu Bala Sena cannot say that because, they fall under the definition of terrorist.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/terrorist
terrorist – a radical who employs terror as a political weapon; usually organizes with other terrorists in small cells; often uses religion as a cover for terrorist activities
The Natives and Religions of Sri Lanka
Sinhala Buddhists Monk Mahanama and Tamil Hindus and Racism
1. A fraction of Sinhalese Buddhists now are racists. They were NOT racists to begin with. They were TAUGHT by Monk Mahanama to be racists with MYTHS written to Mahawamsa. This was perpetuated later on by other monks and other racists. In fact, DNA analysis of the so-called Sinhalese will show that they are not much different genetically from the Tamils of South India and Sri Lanka.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinhalese_people
2. Sri Lanka was originally Animist, Hindu and Jain with Veddah, Yakka and Naga people. Even Vijaya and the other immigrants were either Jain or Hindu. Even Lord Buddha’s parents were Hindu.
3. Monk Mahanama and other monks used the kings, and the kings used the monks, to reinforce each other’s position and hegemony and promoted Sinhala Buddhist Nationalism. This has nothing to do with Buddhism. Like Arab Nationalism and Islam.
4. Buddhism and racism became rallying points for the monks and kings. This monk-king axis has nothing to do with achieving Nirvana and rebirth, which are all MYTHS.
Studies looking at the origin of the Sinhalese have been contradictory. Older studies suggest a predominantly Sri Lankan Tamil contribution followed by a significant Bengali contribution with no North Western Indian contribution,[42][43] while more modern studies point towards a predominantly Bengali contribution and a minor Tamil and North Western Indian (Gujarati & Punjabi) contribution.[44][45][46] Multiple studies have found no significant genetic difference between the Sinhalese and the three other major ethnic groups in Sri Lanka (Sri Lankan Tamil, Indian Tamil and Sri Lankan Moor).[43][47][48][49][50][51]
It is debatable whether the Sri Lankan population have genetic links to Far East Asian populations however due to their close links to North East India, there is a likelihood of some traces of East Asian genes.[52]
Original Natives were Vedda, Naga and Yakka, who came from South India.
Veddahs were the First to arrive in Lanka, like the Australian Aborigines and the Native America Indians, After they left East Africa about 70,000 years ago, Yes, the Veddahs are the Original Natives.
Everybody else is an Illegal, Kallathonis.
That includes the Subsequent Migration of Dravidian (Tamil) Hindus and Dravidian Tamil Janins from South India.
That includes the Kalinga-Orissa-Bengali who were Hindus and Jains.
Later Dravidian Tamils.
Later Malayalees.
Later Buddhists.
Later Muslims, the ethnic stock is actually a mixture of Middle Eastern traders who were trading with Sri Lanka before the advent of Islam, called “Yonaka”, and these foreign traders who were mostly Middle Eastern converted to Islam, and got absorbed to both South India and Sri Lanka. So the gene pool of Sri Lanka Muslims contain Middle Easterners, South Indians, native Sinhala, and others. However, it is likely a large percentage of this pool is South Indian, but is not exclusively South Indian.
Later Portuguese
Later Dutch
Later Malays
Later English
Later Estate Tamils.
All these arrivals have one thing in common. Myths.
However, one good thing happened. The genes became diversified, and created a more healthy population, instead of too many birth defects due to inbreeding.
Myths of Rebirth, Nirvana, Heaven, Hell, Purgatory etc.
The monks, priests and mullahs exploited the people, in order for them to stay in power and have hegemony over the people.
In Sri Lanka, Monk Mahanama with his myths tat are being believed by many is the cause of the problem.
It is really sad, that Lanka did not stay Native Veddah all these years.
Religion is the Opium of the masses-Karl Marx. How true today.
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mohamed fazly ilyas / May 9, 2013
Something is amiss in your article to my mind. The heading ‘ sri-lanka Island in the storm’ does not justify you findings enroute to your blissful holiday.Personally, i am happy to note that you and your companion enjoyed your holiday. Your questions to the driver began with some malice..inciting a communal tone… if it was me , the answer to the last part would have been something like.. No,I’m Bond…. James Bond !
Ayubowan!
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