US embassy cable - 05COLOMBO818

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 COLOMBO 000818 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SA/INS 
USPCOM FOR FPA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/01/2015 
TAGS: PHUM, KIRF, PGOV, CE, Religious Freedom, Political Parties 
SUBJECT: SRI LANKA:  BUDDHIST RELIGIOUS PARTY TRYING 
ANTI-CONVERSION BILL AGAIN 
 
REF: A. COLOMBO 787 
 
     B. COLOMBO 742 
     C. 04 COLOMBO 1895 
 
Classified By: CDA JAMES F. ENTWISTLE.  REASON:  1.4 (B,D). 
 
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SUMMARY 
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1.  (SBU) The Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), a Buddhist 
religious party whose 7 MPs are monks, is pressing ahead with 
a bill to outlaw "unethical" conversions, which it expects to 
come before Parliament on May 6.  According to JHU MPs, the 
influx of Christian missionaries, under the guise of NGOs 
providing tsunami relief, makes the need for such legislation 
more urgent than ever.  The monks' push coincides with a May 
1 attack on a Christian church in the southern district of 
Galle.  The monks' verbal assault on NGOs is finding common 
cause with efforts, spearheaded by the pro-Marxist Janatha 
Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), to "investigate" the activities of 
NGOs providing tsunami aid.  Riven with its own internal 
organizational problems, the JHU is unlikely to give up the 
single issue it believes defines it.  End summary. 
 
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LAW TO PROMOTE "RELIGIOUS HARMONY"? 
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2.  (SBU)  On April 27 poloff met with Jathika Hela Urumaya 
(JHU) MPs Ven. Athureliye Ratana Thero and Ven. Omalpe 
Sobitha Thero, who were accompanied by H.M.G.B. Kotakadeniya, 
a retired Deputy Inspector General of Police and current 
Deputy Secretary of the JHU.  Ven. Ratana, the JHU 
Parliamentary group leader, and Ven. Sobitha, JHU deputy 
leader, are two of seven monk MPs still affiliated with the 
party.  (Note:  Two other JHU monk MPs have crossed the aisle 
to vote with the Government.)  The MPs had requested the 
meeting in order to exchange views on anti-conversion 
legislation. 
 
3.  (SBU)  Ven. Ratana said that the JHU-sponsored 
anti-conversion bill is scheduled to be introduced in 
Parliament on May 6.  The JHU had amended parts of an earlier 
draft of the bill that the Supreme Court had ruled were 
unconstitutional (Ref C), Ven. Sobitha reported.  In 
particular, the revised bill has dropped an earlier 
requirement that converts register with local government 
authorities, as well as a provision allowing the police to 
investigate allegations of "unethical" conversion without the 
approval of the Attorney General.  With these revisions made, 
the two monks expressed confidence that the bill would pass. 
Its passage had been made more urgent by the influx of 
Christian missionaries, masquerading as NGO workers, who had 
come into Sri Lanka after the tsunami, the trio alleged. 
Many of these NGOs were passing out Bibles along with aid 
packets, they declared. 
 
4.  (SBU)  When asked how many Buddhists had been lost to 
"unethical" conversion during the past year, Ven. Sobitha 
replied, "Thousands."  When asked for details to back up this 
claim, he could not provide any, acknowledging that none of 
the converts themselves had come forward to report having 
been coerced or hoodwinked into changing their religion. 
Most of the evidence the JHU has gathered comes from other 
concerned parties, he said.  He proceeded to recount oft-told 
tales of Christians handing out Buddha-shaped cookies, 
forcing converts to desecrate Buddhist images, etc.  When 
asked for specifics of such occurrences, he reported that a 
Catholic church in the southern district of Matara had 
videotaped two little girls dancing on the head of a Buddha 
image.  He undertook to supply details of the date and place 
of the incident.  (Note:  When we checked with local 
authorities in Matara, they were completely unaware of the 
incident and expressed some doubt that the Catholic 
church--which has been in the district for more than a 
century--would engage in such activity.) 
 
5.  (SBU)  Poloff expressed concern that attempts to pass 
anti-conversion legislation could undermine Sri Lanka's long 
tradition of religious tolerance, diversity and harmony. 
That tolerance is perceived as a weakness and is exploited by 
unscrupulous Christian missionaries, Ven. Sobitha rejoined. 
People are so resentful of these missionaries' activities 
that legislation is needed to mollify popular ire and avert 
possible communal violence in the future, he claimed.  Viewed 
in this light, he argued, anti-conversion legislation is thus 
actually aimed at protecting religious harmony.  Poloff 
disagreed, noting that religion had not been a factor in 
violent ethnic and ideological upheavals Sri Lanka has 
experienced over the past 25 years.  Instead, the good 
relations among members of different religious communities in 
Sri Lanka had provided an example to other nations in the 
region.  Anti-conversion legislation could provoke whatever 
latent tensions might exist; the U.S. has urged--and will 
continue to urge--political parties not to support this 
legislation, she concluded.  The JHU trio dissented 
vociferously with this view, with Kotakadeniya, in 
particular, making several fantastic claims.  First, he 
disputed that Sri Lanka had experienced any ethnic tension 
over the past few decades.  The communal riots of 1983 were 
politically motivated, he alleged, and included many 
instances of Tamils killing other Tamils.  Second, he 
charged, Christian churches are linked to the Liberation 
Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), and conversions are part of a 
plot to wear down Sinhalese Buddhist resistance to a separate 
Tamil state.  (Note:  The two monks said they did not share 
this last view, characterizing it as Kotakadeniya's "special" 
theory.  They did not, however, challenge his revisionist 
version of the ethnic conflict.) 
 
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CHURCH ATTACK 
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6.  (SBU)  According to the National Christian Fellowship of 
Sri Lanka (NCFSL), a gang led by a local Buddhist monk 
attacked the pastor's wife and parishioners at Zion Prayer 
Center in Balapitiya, Galle District, on May 1.  The pastor's 
wife reportedly had to be hospitalized after being kicked in 
the groin; a pregnant woman present at the center at the time 
of the attack was also assaulted. A United National Party 
(UNP) member of the Pradeshiya Sabha (local elected council) 
also participated in the attack, NCFSL reported. 
 
7.  (C)  Complaints have been filed with local police 
authorities, according to Nayomini Weerasooriya of NCFSL, but 
she fears "they are dragging their feet" out of reluctance to 
arrest a Buddhist cleric.  Her organization has also raised 
the matter with UNP Chief Opposition Whip Mahinda 
Samarasinghe, who promised to look into allegations of the 
local UNP leader's participation in the attack.  Weerasooriya 
attributed the attack to local disgruntlement at tsunami aid 
activities carried out by the church. 
 
8.  (SBU)  The Superintendent of Police (SP) for Balapitiya 
told us on May 2 that the confrontation began when local 
villagers asked church members to stop a prayer service on 
May 1 out of respect for a local monk who had been cremated 
the day before.  When the pastor refused to stop the service, 
the villagers, accompanied by some monks, becaem angry. 
According to the police, the pastor's wife was injured in a 
fall after being "pushed away by some villagers."  The UNP 
Pradeshiya Sabha member was not at the scene, police said. 
After conducting an impartial investigation, the SP said he 
had found no evidence of assault. 
 
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COMMENT 
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9.  (C) The JHU made its way into Parliament last year by 
claiming to safeguard the unique cultural heritage/existence 
of Sinhalese Buddhists.  Beset by its own internal problems, 
the JHU is now in danger of disintegrating and needs the 
specter of "unethical" conversions to ensure its political 
identity.  The influx of money and foreigners into Sri Lanka 
in the aftermath of the tsunami may inadvertently help fuel 
the xenophobic, somewhat paranoid undercurrents that feed the 
anti-conversion movement.  The JHU can be expected to try to 
capitalize on inevitable feelings of dissatisfaction with 
tsunami aid distribution by depicting NGO activities as part 
 
SIPDIS 
of a Christian plot.  Unfortunately, the JHU may find common 
cause with recent Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) posturing 
against NGOs' "hidden agenda" in tsunami work (septel).  We 
will continue to urge the political leadership not to support 
anti-conversion legislation. 
 
ENTWISTLE