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JHU creates new waves

Ven. Uduwe Dhammaloka Thero, Tilak Karunaratne, Ven. Kathaluwe Rathanaseeha Thero and Ven. Kolonnawe Sri Sumangala Thero

By Frederica Jansz 

Having parented the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), the momentary euphoria experienced by Tilak Karunaratne, Champika Ranawaka and Udaya Gamanpila was certainly short lived. The trio never dreamt they would be forced to endure many a sleepless night as they tried valiantly to politically nurture the infant party. Thumping themselves on the back for having had the brainwave to field over 200 monks for the April 2 hustings, Karunaratne, Ranawaka and Gamanpila however did not bargain for the theatrics that would soon follow.

Spouting religious rhetoric the monks were convinced they would help draw and instill a "new face" to Sri Lanka's volatile parliamentary politics. Having donned a garb of political righteousness, the prelates were more than ready - or so they thought - to make their entry onto Sri Lanka's rocky political stage. But even they could not have foreseen that their curtain call was a mere interval away, before they were called upon to give the performance of their lives.

Making history

And perform they have done - thrilling the locals with drama that will certainly be chronicled when Sri Lanka's history is next updated. In similar vein to village superstition that the full moon heralds the dawn of madness for some, each parliamentary session when a vote count is a necessity appears to serve as the roll call for another titillating performance by the erstwhile monks of the JHU.

Their first round, two days before the election of Speaker on April 22nd, had the whole country on edge when two out of the nine prelates went missing. The rest of course is now history.

Hardly had the dust settled on this drama, with the JHU deciding to take disciplinary action against the two dissidents before another show was staged.

This time round the 'missing monk' was not stage managed by conniving members of the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) of which prime suspects are the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP). But, indignant bhikkus of the JHU took it upon themselves to serve as judge and juror.

Before we detail the behind the scenes drama of the missing prelate, one significant aspect has emerged. That is the role enacted by the JVP as far as the monks are concerned.

Pretending to have had nothing to do with the disappearance of the two monks last month, the Marxists have this time been caught with both hands in the till. Their crude and abusive performance in parliament last Wednesday has only lent credibility to statements made by President Chandrika Kumaratunga that the JVP and no other were responsible for having staged the previous fake abduction in order to ensure two out of the nine JHU monks voted for the government's candidate for the post of speaker.

The wrath of the JVP at having the rug pulled out from beneath their bloodied toes they made evident in parliament on Wednesday when they yelled abuse once more at the sitting prelates. Their anger was directed at the monks for having been one step ahead of the Marxists and ensured Ven. Kathaluwe Rathanaseeha Thero, one of the rebel monks, resigned his seat. The latter is one who on April 22, broke ranks and voted with the government for its candidate for the post of speaker.

As rightly pointed out by the spokesperson for the JHU, Ven. Athuraliye Rathana Thero and the party's national organiser Ven. Kolonnawe Sumanagala Thero "what right does the JVP have to interfere in the actions and decisions of the JHU?"

Bad behaviour

The JVP's atrocious behaviour towards the parliamentary monks only proves the Marxists culpability in having masterminded the previous incident of a fake abduction of two prelates. This time round the JVP was caught wet behind the ears when, 36 hours before another parliamentary election was due, for the post of deputy speaker of the house and chairman of committees, the JHU in order to avoid being caught flat-footed again, arrested the possibility of another embarrassment.

Last Sunday, a group of Buddhist monks arrived at the Sambodhi Vihara in Moratuwa where Ven. Kathaluwe Rathanaseeha Thero had been residing. According to Tilak Karunaratne who serves as General Secretary of the JHU "a group of unknown monks, loyal to the JHU" had initiated this visit. Whatever the truth of that statement, the monks were influential enough to not only enter the temple premises, but also walk through a security cordon imposed by the dissident monk for his own protection. According to the JHU, the security personnel assigned to the rebel monk are all die-hard loyalists of the JVP.

This maybe why despite the dissident monk leaving the temple, according to him, "of his own free will" his driver believing otherwise took it upon himself not only to lodge a complaint with the Moratuwa police, claiming the rebel prelate had been abducted by other monks of the JHU, but he also directly telephoned Wimal Weerawansa of the JVP and informed him the monk had left the temple.

Asked to resign

Weerawansa in turn immediately telephoned President Chandrika Kumaratunga and complained to her of this new development. The President then telephoned Inspector General of Police Indra de Silva who said he knew nothing of such an incident.

The IGP had immediately contacted Mount Lavinia SSP Willy Abeynaike. The latter also professed no knowledge of a kidnapping of a JHU monk. The police chief then called ASP Moratuwa, Roshantha de Silva. The ASP too said he was unaware of any such incident. It was only when Roshantha de Silva double-checked with the OIC Moratuwa, Anura Silva, did he learn that indeed a complaint had been lodged charging that Ven. Kathaluwe Rathanaseeha Thero had been abducted by a group of prelates. Anura Silva's failure to inform his boss about this incident resulted in him being immediately interdicted.

Meanwhile, the JHU monks who had the dissident prelate with them had convinced him to leave the temple after having had a lengthy discussion. The emotional monks had repeatedly asked the rebel prelate "why are you doing this? - You came in on the votes of the Hela Urumaya so why are you now acting this way - just resign." To which Ven. Kathaluwe Rathanaseeha Thero finally replied he would.

The plan

The rebel monk who had a few weeks previously met with Tilak Karunaratne had indicated his desire to resign from the party following his having instigated a parliamentary fracas on April 22. He had however told Karunaratne he could not resign immediately as he had taken a stand which he would have to abide by for at least one month allowing him time to retreat gracefully. An explanation, Karunaratne on the face of it at least, accepted.

Obviously however the monks had other plans that differed to Karunaratne's more pragmatic approach and were determined the rebel monk should not be allowed to sway parliamentary votes this time round.

Having coerced the dissident monk into the same vehicle as theirs, the monks then telephoned Karunaratne and told him what they had done. To which, the latter had responded voicing irritation saying "why did you go and do this now?"

Karunaratne realised damage control measures were urgently required and quickly consulted with Ven. Kolonnawe Siri Sumangala Thero and Ven. Uduwe Dhammaloka Thero. It was decided that the dissident monk be kept at a temple in Colombo until parliament was convened on Tuesday, May 18. It was further decided between them that the rebel would accompany them to parliament on Tuesday at 3 p.m. and hand over his letter of resignation to Secretary General of Parliament, Priyani Wijeysekera.

JVP action

The rebel monk had in any case maintained he could not return to his temple at Moratuwa as he had said he was "surrounded by JVP activists." So it was decided that until the monk's resignation was accepted and a gazette notification tabled, the monk would remain under the protection of the JHU at an undisclosed location.

It was during this time the JVP got activated and created a stir insisting the monk had been abducted and assaulted by prelates loyal to the JHU. Not only did the rebel monk later confirm he was never abducted, but that he had also not been assaulted.

Meanwhile on Tuesday the 18th, at around 3 p.m. accompanied by Ven. Uduwe Dhammaloka Thero and Ven. Kolonnawe Siri Sumangala Thero the rebel monk met with Priyani Wijeysekera and handed over his resignation letter. Wijeysekera had asked if he was under any duress to resign to which the dissident prelate had replied he was not.

Speaker W. J. M. Lokubandara also announced in parliament that he had asked the monk whether he had been abducted or held captive and whether his resignation was under duress to which the venerable monk had replied in the negative.

All hell broke loose thereafter when Priyani Wijeysekera read out the monk's resignation letter. Deputy Minister Sripathi Sooriyarachchi was the first to raise objection insisting the Speaker should not have accepted the resignation letter until a full inquiry had been conducted into the alleged abduction. Needless to say, Sooriyarachchi can hardly afford to pontificate given that he raised no objections when on April 22nd, the alliance produced the two missing monks in parliament and ensured they voted with the government.

An uproar ensued with abuse being hurled at the sitting prelates while the Speaker maintained he had to entertain the resignation of any MP who chose off his own accord to bow out.

Uproar

In the forefront of the verbal filth directed at the JHU monks were Wimal Weerawansa and Nandana Gunatillake. So much so, that at one stage the Speaker ordered for an abusive statement made by Gunatillake to be expunged from the Hansard while he banned the media from reporting it.

Now here comes into focus the role played by the JVP's Nandana Gunetillake where the monks are concerned. It is he who was assigned by the JVP to handle Ven. Kathaluwe Rathanaseeha Thero while Vijitha Herath was assigned to handle the other dissident monk Ven. Aparekke Pannananda Thero of Gampaha.

Before the April 22 election for speaker, Nandana Gunetillake chose Muditha Samarakkody who is the JVP urban council member for Panadura to handle the logistics involving Ven. Kathaluwe Rathanaseeha Thero.

Samarakkody lost two brothers during the 1988-1989 JVP insurgency. Identified as hardcore JVP militants they were killed by government forces. A cousin to Dr. Lalithasiri Gunaruwan who is a lecturer in transport economy at the Colombo University, Samarakkody borrowed Dr. Gunaruwan's car on April 20th saying he required it for some urgent work, promising to return it within the day. He however kept the vehicle with him until April 24th. It was in this vehicle that Ven. Kathaluwe Rathanaseeha Thero was driven to Parliament on April 22nd.

Dr. Gunaruwan in fact lodged a police complaint reporting that his car was missing after having lent it to his cousin Muditha Samarakkody.

When parliament erupted in an uproar on April 22nd, and the monks having made their entry that day into the house were thrown into disarray as a result of the two rebel monks breaking ranks, Udaya Gamanpila and Champika Ranawaka rushed to the House to advice the monks on a fall back action when the election of the Speaker was called for a second and then a third and final round.

Demands

When the JVP's Nandana Gunetillake and Wimal Weerawansa had seen Gamanpila and Ranawaka they had said, "vade kawa." (its all over). Previously, Weerawansa had told Premier Mahinda Rajapakse that he had nothing to fear, that the JVP had ensured the government would have 108 votes to support the candidature of D. E. W. Gunasekara. He changed his mind however when he saw that Ranawaka and Gamanpila had arrived.

Rajapakse had been visibly annoyed telling the JVPers their actions had been counterproductive and in fact lost the government the fiercely contested seat for speaker.

These sentiments were later corroborated by the President herself who when she spoke with Gamanpila on the Premier's parliamentary phone stated repeatedly that the JVP was responsible for the fake abduction of the two rebel monks.

Kumaratunga obviously believed that her frankness had not lost her brownie points with the monks and on Saturday, May 15th, she paid the political prelates another high-powered late night visit accompanied by the Prime Minister. Her visit was aimed at lobbying their votes in the House to support a government nominee to the post of deputy speaker and chairman of committees.

The JHU however was this time round more politically savvy and put forward three main demands. The first was for the President to ensure the two rebel monks resigned from the JHU. Second on the list was that the monks be allocated on state television two hours before May 17th to inform the masses of their policy decisions. And third on the list was a demand for an apology or at the very least regret announced by the alliance and the state media with regard to their uncouth and shocking behaviour towards the monks.

Promises

Kumaratunga had maintained she could not make any promises immediately, but that she would respond via a messenger. In return she had asked if the JHU would support the government's nominee for deputy speaker as well as give full support to the proposed constitutional changes she intends to make.

The monks replied their support would depend on their conditions being met. Kumaratunga later sent word that the second and third conditions maybe possible, but not the first which was to ensure the resignation of the two dissident monks.

The monks meanwhile put forward 10 other conditions if the President wanted their support for a constitutional change among which was to maintain a unitary status of the country as well as ensure a bill is passed banning unethical religious conversions.

The Alliance's Susil Premajayanth and Anura Priyadharshana Yapa met with the monks again on Sunday, 16th, but no firm guarantees were given and so the support of the monks hung in the balance. Which is why Kumaratunga at the 11th hour struck a deal with the main opposition United National Front (UNF).

If ever Sri Lanka's political destiny is to be re-fashioned or refreshed it will be now. The nine Buddhist monks created political history on April 22, when they took their seats in the House when Sri Lanka's 13th parliament was convened. Presently, the youngest political party in Sri Lanka the JHU is certainly set to create waves.