Peace and quiet

The dawn of the New Year, while it brings resolutions and hope for many, also tends to bring about a lack of sleep. This can be down to a variety of reasons, from late night/early hours use of fire crackers to all night parties, and more often than not these activities if prolonged are rightfully met with noise complaints to the local Police station. 

It seems it was in this spirit that Colombo Additional Magistrate Dulani Amarasinghe yesterday called on Ven. Uduwe Dhammaloka Thera to heed a conditional Court order and restrain from using loudspeakers between 5 a.m. to 6 a.m. in the morning at Alan Mathiniyaramaya Temple in Polhengoda.

The lawsuit was filed against the Thera at the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court by four complainants residing in the vicinity of the Temple, after which the magistrate had advised the Thera to practice the religious rituals without unduly inconveniencing others in the area.

Now let’s contrast this with a decision taken in Myanmar a few months ago, when a Dutch tourist was jailed for three months for unplugging a loudspeaker broadcasting a Buddhist sermon late at night. The tourist had claimed that he had been unaware that the speaker was being used for a religious service and had simply unplugged it because it was disturbing his sleep. The judge in the case however ruled that the man, despite his teary apologies, was “clearly guilty” of insulting religion and sentenced him to three months of hard labour, and only reprieved him of a further three months when he opted to pay an $ 80 fine.

Myanmar of course has strict laws protecting Buddhist ceremonies, and any slights against religion are treated with extreme seriousness by the courts. While these incidents are undoubtedly culturally insensitive, the punishments hardly seem fair. Human Rights Watch, commenting on the incident, agreed, as they warned that the use of the Religion Act in the country to criminalise individuals as opposed to accepting their apologies and dealing with the problem in a less severe way, sets a precedent for more witch hunts against persons that Buddhist groups in the country might view as insulting their religion.

While the slippery slope argument can seem like an overreaction to many, the reality in Myanmar tells a different story. Buddhist nationalism has been on the rise in the country over the last few years, and extremist monks – such as Wirathu, who heads the fundamentalist 969 movement, one that has been accused of instigating deadly violence against minority Muslims – have been growing in popularity.

In Sri Lanka, one of the most welcome differences after January 2015 was the fading of racist rhetoric as the BBS and its like-minded organisations found themselves having to deal with State machinery that did not pay attention to artificially-manufactured religious tensions. It is in this context that Additional Magistrate Amarasinghe should be applauded for not falling foul of overly religious sensitivities, and instead making the right decision based on the facts at hand. 

Religion is an integral part of every society in the world, but it should never be imposed on those who choose not to be a part of it. Making decisions taking into account the rights of individuals while setting aside their religious affiliations is the only way forward in creating a more inclusive and harmonious society.