US embassy cable - 03COLOMBO296

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 000296 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR SA, SA/INS, INR/NESA; NSC FOR E. MILLARD 
 
LONDON FOR POL/RIEDEL 
 
E.O. 12958:   DECL: 02/21/13 
TAGS: PGOV, PINS, PINR, SOCI, PHUM, CE, LTTE - Peace Process, Political Parties 
SUBJECT:  Some Buddhist monks protest peace process, but 
most seem favorably inclined or neutral at this time 
 
Refs:  Colombo 280, and previous 
 
(U) Classified by Ambassador E. Ashley Wills.  Reasons 
1.5 (b,d). 
 
1. (C) SUMMARY:  A small group of Buddhist monks aligned 
with the radical JVP party is regularly taking to the 
streets to protest the GSL's peace initiative.  The vast 
majority of Sri Lanka's monks, however, seem favorably 
inclined or at least neutral toward the peace process. 
The GSL continues to work to placate monastic opinion, 
which is historically important in majority Buddhist Sri 
Lanka.  END SUMMARY. 
 
2. (C) RADICAL MONKS: A small group of Buddhist 
monks is regularly taking to the streets to protest the 
Sri Lankan government's peace initiative.  The monks, 
organized into a group called the National Bhikku Front 
(NBF), are aligned with the radical Janantha Vimukthi 
Peramuna (JVP) party.  Like the JVP, the NBF is rabidly 
Sinhalese chauvinist, accusing the government of giving 
in too much to the demands of the Liberation Tigers of 
Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the course of the peace process. 
According to contacts, the NBF may have a membership of 
several hundred monks, a small fraction of Sri Lanka's 
16,000 registered Buddhist monks.  (Note:  Several 
thousand monks are not registered, and there are 
believed to be around 25,000 monks total in the 
country.)   As the JVP mobilizes anti-government marches 
and rallies around the country, NBF monks are playing a 
conspicuous role.  On February 20, for example, many 
saffron- and red-robed NBF monks participated in a 
tumultuous JVP-sponsored rally, which tied up traffic in 
parts of Colombo.  In the February 21 papers, photos of 
these monks were splashed on the front pages of several 
newspapers.  In past marches, NBF monks have also 
protested outside the Norwegian Embassy, burning the 
Norwegian flag and demanding the end of the Norwegian 
government's peace facilitation role. 
 
3.  (C) Other than the NBF monks, there is also a very 
small group of radical monks associated with a Buddhist 
cleric named Venerable Elle Gunawanse Thera.  Gunawanse 
("Thera" is a Buddhist honorific) recently organized a 
group called "The Alliance to Protect the Nation," which 
is fiercely anti-peace process and anti-Norway's peace 
facilitation role.  Gunawanse is considered charismatic 
and some observers believe this factor could potentially 
help him rapidly expand the membership of his group. 
Small groups of monks are also associated with the 
Sinhalese extremist Sihala Urumaya party and with 
another radical cleric named Venerable Gangodawila Soma- 
Thera. 
 
4.  (C) MOST MONKS SEEM PRO-PEACE PROCESS OR NEUTRAL: 
Despite the recent uptick in activities by radical 
monks, most of Sri Lanka's monks seem to remain 
favorably inclined toward the peace process, or at least 
neutral.  In forming their opinions, most of Sri Lanka's 
monks seem to be taking their cue from the major 
monastic orders, the Malwatte and the Asgiriya, which 
control large temple complexes in the city of Kandy in 
central Sri Lanka.  Both the Malwatte and Asgiriya 
Mahanayakes (monastic leaders) have basically made pro- 
peace process soundings since the advent of the peace 
process in December 2001.  Of the two, Asgiriya chief 
Udugama Sri Dhammadassi Rathanapala is the more lucid 
and the more moderate, regularly underscoring in private 
meetings and sometimes in public the need for peace in 
Sri Lanka and reconciliation among ethnic groups. 
Malwatte chief Rambukkwelle Sri Dharmarakshiha is not 
quite as moderate (he sometimes makes Sinhalese Buddhist 
extremist comments to visitors), but, in general, he has 
been careful to utter words that support the peace 
process.  Outside of Malwatte and Asgiriya, leaders of 
some of the other monastic orders -- which support a 
more pietist strain of Buddhism -- have urged their 
followers to stay out of politics altogether and to 
focus solely on temple activities. 
5.  (C) (((Note:  The monastic orders do not tend to 
issue political texts, and in describing monastic 
opinion, one problem is that both the major Mahanayakes 
are aged, hard of hearing and tend to mumble a lot. 
This gives rise to differing interpretations of what 
they say in meetings.  At times, for example, they are 
cited as making strongly pro-peace process comments, and 
at other times almost the opposite.  When asked, their 
assistants admit they are also confused at times by what 
their bosses say.  End Note.))) 
 
6.  (C) Another prominent monk who has taken a pro-peace 
process tack is the Venerable Baddegama Samitha. 
Samitha, a MP -- and the first monk ever to serve in the 
Sri Lankan Parliament -- constantly speaks out in favor 
of ethnic reconciliation.  (Note:  Samitha is a member 
of President Kumaratunga's People's Alliance party, 
representing the LSSP, a Trotskyite party.  While 
moderate on peace process issues, Samitha is bitterly 
anti-U.S. with respect to Iraq policy.) 
 
7.  (C) GSL DEALINGS WITH THE MONKS:  Since coming to 
power in late 2001, the United National Front (UNF) 
coalition government has dealt carefully with the monks. 
The Prime Minister and his closest advisers, for 
example, constantly travel to Kandy to meet with the 
Malwatte and Asgiriya Mahanayakes.  During these 
meetings, the PM and other government officials ritually 
announce that the GSL is providing this-or-that 
additional support to Buddhist foundations, temples, and 
sacred sites.  Key government officials, such as 
Minister G.L. Peiris, the chief GSL negotiator, also 
regularly briefs the Mahanayakes on the results of the 
peace talks with the LTTE.  Thus far, these efforts to 
keep the monks in the loop seem to have paid off 
inasmuch as the government has had no major 
confrontations with the monastic orders. 
 
8.  (C) (((Note:  The United National Party - "UNP," the 
key constituent element of the UNF, also benefits from a 
long-standing network of pro-UNP temples, especially in 
the Colombo area.  These temples, which are quite rich 
due to the patronage of business executives, provide 
important support to the UNP by lending the party 
sterling Buddhist credentials.  Important pro-UNP 
temples in the Colombo area include Gangarama and 
Kelaniya.  End Note.) 
 
9.  (C) COMMENT:  Buddhist monastic opinion has been 
historically a crucial factor in post-independence Sri 
Lanka.  Buddhist monks, for example, helped push forward 
the pan-Sinhalese majoritarian politics that afflicted 
the country for decades, helping spark the civil 
conflict that remains unsettled to this day.  Through 
public statements and violent demonstrations, monks also 
helped derail the 1987 Indo-Sri Lanka peace accord.  At 
this time, it is unclear whether various societal 
factors, including increased economic wealth, have 
served to diminish the clergy's influence through the 
years.  Nonetheless, in a Buddhist majority country 
where monks are still widely admired, the monks remain a 
key group that the GSL needs to placate if the peace 
process is going to succeed.  END COMMENT. 
 
10. (U) Minimize considered. 
 
WILLS