29.07.2010 - 01 (07:15 SLT)
By Amarasara - Wednesday, July 28, 2010
. [ http://www.amarasara.info/amnews/ ] .
Catholic Church protest : Distortion of whose history?
- by Janaka Perera
(29.07.2010 - Asian Tribune)
The media reported recently that Sri Lanka’s Roman Catholic clergy is reacting in spontaneous protest against the Education Department’s history text books. It is however not clear which sections and paragraphs in these books the clergy is referring to.
If the books criticize the Catholic religion itself and carry derogatory remarks about Jesus Christ, Virgin Mary and the Bible there is no question that the books should be withdrawn since such criticism would be offensive to Catholics and Christians. But if the Catholic Church is objecting to references on the use of religion by European Colonialists as a Trojan horse to consolidate their power in the conquered territories that is an entirely different issue. It cannot and should not be swept under the carpet in the name of ‘religious harmony’ however unpalatable it may be to some.
We know that although Christianity’s origin was in the Middle-East it came to India, Sri Lanka and the rest of Asia via Europe with all the political and cultural baggage of the invaders. Even those with a basic knowledge of the colonial era know that the white colonialists engaged directly and indirectly to promote Christianity and convert the natives not out of Christian love but to get the latter to serve the colonial agenda. For this purpose natives had to be culturally uprooted by alienating them from their ancestral religions. In doing so the colonialists created a generation of Sinhalas and Tamils who could not identify with Sri Lanka’s pre-colonial history. We see its effects to this day.
Perhaps the National Catholic Centre for Social Communication is concerned more about references to missionary activities during the Portuguese occupation of the Maritime Provinces, rather than during the British rule. In the 19th Century the most active proselytizers were Baptists, Wesleyans, Church Missionaries and American Missionaries. It was also in this period that some descendants of those who had first become Roman Catholics (under the Portuguese) and later Protestants (under the Dutch) finally embraced the Anglican Church for personal gain under the British.
Regarding the Portuguese let me quote British Colonial Secretary Emerson Tennant:
“They appeared in the Indian Seas in the threefold character of merchants, missionaries and pirates. Their ostensible motto was, ‘amity, commerce and religion: But their expeditions consisted of soldiers as well as adventurers, and included friars and a chaplain-major, and their instructions were ‘to begin by preaching, but that failing, to proceed to the decision of the sword’.” (The Betrayal Of Buddhism)
Now let us look at the other side of the coin on the issue of distorting history books. In 2008 concerned Sinhala Buddhists led by Dhamsara Foundation Chairman R.M. Navaratne sent a petition to President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the then Education Minister Susil Premajayantha and leading members of the Maha Sangha on distortions in history books relating to both the pre-colonial and colonial periods.
The petitioners recalled that the subject of history in the 1977 was converted into social studies and history as a subject was bastardized. However, in grades 6 to 11 in the subject of Social Studies, history was incorporated to a certain extent.
Thereafter under the new educational revision this set of books too was withdrawn. Under the Mahinda Chintana programme history was again incorporated as a separate subject in the curriculum. But in the 2006 – 2007 school texts, history was distorted causing students to lose interest in studying the subject.
The petitioners drew attention to the history text on the establishment of Aryan settlements in Sri Lanka. According to them the legend of Vijaya’s arrival is presented in a manner to create a mindset among children that he was a monster who slaughtered the island’s natives and destroyed an advanced civilization that was in this country at the time of his arrival.
These history texts leave great doubts on the origin of the Sinhalas by omitting the fact that King Pandukhabhaya (with consensus of Yakshas, other tribes and communities then in the island) unified the country under him. Referring to Elara and Dutugemunu the interpretation given is that the latter prepared to ‘invade’ Anuradhapura! We have heard of South Indian invasions but never an invasion of Anuradhapura by a Sinhala King.
The books give the impression that since Elara was a popular king the Sinhala people did not mind being ruled by a foreign king. Therefore Dutugemunu had to find an excuse to drive wage war against him and so raised the call to protect the Buddha Sasana!
It is necessary to investigate who advised the writer or writers to present such a distorted history that gives an 11-year-old child a wrong impression on one of Sri Lanka’s most eminent kings.
In the Grade 10 text of eleven items only four lessons deal with Sri Lankan history. The rest are devoted to Indian history, South-east Asia’s history of religions and European history. Formerly, students could select either Indian history or European history for the GCE (A Level) examinations. In the teachers’ guide book items numbering eleven, 10 items are devoted to history of foreign lands. How could a child bear in mind such an ocean of history? The ultimate outcome is students fail the examination and get sick of the subject.
In the English text on history for grade 11 the front cover carries a picture of a tea plantation. One cannot even imagine whether this is a book on history.
The texts omit any references to the negative impact of British importation of indentured labour from South India to work on plantations although in earlier times in GCE (both O-level and A-level) classes the influence of the importation of South Indian indentured labour and the resultant effects were dealt with as a separate subject.
As far as we are aware no action has been taken to rectify these distortions. We only hope that the Education Authorities in dealing with these problems will not suppress historical facts in the name of building ethnic and religious amity.
No sensible nation has committed such blunders.
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