Sri Lanka to spend millions on hundred Buddhist Temples in Tamil areas


Sri Lanka has decided to spend millions on Buddhist sites in the Tamil majority north and east despite the Tamil community calling to end state sponsored Buddhistisation.

Although Buddhists live in the Eastern province Buddhists are almost nonexistent in the north.

20.24 million rupees from China will be used to develop sanitation facilities in 100 selected temples, the government announced in its cabinet decisions on November 9.

'Gwandoon Buddhists'

Sri Lanka claims that the funds have been provided by one Rev. Ming Sheng, Chairman of the hitherto unknown Gwandoon Buddhist Association.

The cabinet of ministers have approved a proposal made by Minister of Buddha Sasana Wijayadasa Rajapakshe to allocate those funds for temples in the north and east.

Tamil political parties and mass organisations launching a campaign in September called for an end to militarisation, Sinhalisation and Buddhistisation of the North.

Non Buddhist population

At the ‘Ezhuka Thamil’ (Tamils Arise) rally in Jaffna attended by thousands, Northern Chief Minister CV Wigneswaran highlighted the futility of erecting and maintaining Buddhist structures in a land with almost no Buddhist population.

Confirming his statement the government of Sri Lanka has admitted that the hundreds of Buddhist temples that have sprung up in the North and East since the end of the war in 2009 do not have benefactors.

“Many of temples in North and East are facing difficulties with lack of drinking water and essential infrastructure and with their limited number of donors they are not in an economic status to achieve them,” the government said.

© JDS

left

Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka

  • JDS is the Sri Lankan partner organization of international media rights group, Reporters Without Borders (RSF). The launching of this website was made possible by the EU’s European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR), of which Reporters Without Borders is a beneficiary.