By Colombo Telegraph –
A British tourist is “shocked and upset” after being deported from Sri Lanka for displaying a Buddha tattoo on his arm, the BBC reports.
Ratcliffe got the tattoo in Burma, and says it was not something he took lightly | Photo BBC
According to the BBC, Antony Ratcliffe, 42, from Nottingham, was turned back at Colombo’s main airport on Friday for allegedly showing a lack of respect for Buddhism.
The authorities are tough on perceived insults to Buddhism – the religion of the island’s majority ethnic Sinhalese. But Ratcliffe says the “inoffensive” body art was meant as a tribute.
“As soon as he saw it the chief officer went crazy. You could see it on his face, he looked really angry and said I would have to go back to London.They took my passport and held me there for an hour and a half. All the time they were bringing people in to look at my arm, and they were shaking their heads. I was explaining my case, pleading basically, and the chief officer just told me to ‘shut up, shut up’ and he refused to talk to me.” Ratcliffe told the BBC.
“I like the artwork in tattoos obviously and, due to my belief in Buddhist philosophy which I have followed for many years, I thought a quality tattoo of the Buddha was rather apt.” he further said.
According to the BBC, more than 100,000 British citizens visited Sri Lanka in 2012, accounting for 10% of the total number of tourists. The UK is also the country’s second-largest trading partner after India.
Rory Winter / March 18, 2013
What is happening in Sri Lanka is really quite scary. I never imagined there could be such a thing as a Buddhist fundamentalist but I was wrong. This kind of cultural hate reminds me of Nazi Germany. Having claim to part of the Buddhist heritage I say, Not in My Name. And Not in the Name of the true followers of the Dharma.
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Chandamaruta / March 19, 2013
You forgot the following in the list:
Kampuchea:
http://www.culturalsurvival.org/ourpublications/csq/article/the-survival-cambodias-ethnic-minorities
Cambodia:
http://www.preventorprotect.org/overview/cambodia.html
Burma:
http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/12825/burma-killings-think-before-you-point-fingers/
If Methha, Karuna, Daya is instilled in the Lankan human nothing can subjugate them or prey.
Thailand:
http://theunjustmedia.com/islamic%20perspectives/march12/tragic,%20pattani%20muslimahs%20raped%20and%20then%20murdered.htm
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Native Vedda / March 19, 2013
Rory Winter
This is one reason as to why we should liberate Buddhism from the Sinhala/Buddhists.
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Latimer / March 19, 2013
Ratcliff got his tatoo in Myanmar probably by a Burmese buddhist tattoo artist(buddhist country)most probably Thailand which is next door and another buddhist country.
May have visited temples and walked around,seen that some Burmese & Thais have buddha tattoo as well,some wear huge lockets of Buddha etc but lo and behold..when he turns up in miracle of buddhism country he gets deported !
Clearly a case of Buddhism hijacked by lunatic fringe buddhists!
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Samsom / March 19, 2013
It is obvious west in general is not supporting our country anymore. Thanks go to Rajapakshe clans. Yesterday it became further clear, I had been waiting about the news of inauguration of new airport to be seen in local news in Germany^ and several other european countries. None of them gave it a publicity. My colleagues then said, that srilanka was one of first class holidays destinations some 25 years ago. Even some years back it was – I mean CBKs foreign policies were commended by many countries and that was the reason why the flow of donations for Tsunami disaster came in. They the europeans telecast /broadcast not many issues about Srilanka since the current govt ^s policies are not second to that of todays Simbabwe. Masses in SL is not aware of the reality so long local state media hype up the development projects under MR leadership – but sacrificing over 80% of GDP – causing the poorest of the poor go life struggles not allowing them to cover their daily meals. That is the hidden reality of the island.
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Swedish / March 19, 2013
It is sniffed, that it could be that CT is tolerating hate mongrels to tickle the treacle.
You have done the damage to the fairness of running a transparent blog and it’s fairer scribes. Apology does not suffice but a change of the moderator is far sensible , to monitor the CT posts fairly and wisely.
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