Lanka minister slams Govt for silence on Myanmar

The Sri Lankan Minister for National Heritage, Anura Bandaranaike, has lambasted the government and the Buddhists in the island for their silence on the developments in Myanmar, where a military government is ruthlessly crushing a pro-democracy movement spearheaded by Buddhist monks and the Nobel Peace Prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi.

"What do our self-appointed custodians of Buddhism in parliament have to say? Not a word about the attacks on fellow Buddhist priests in Yangon, who took to the streets in utter desperation. Silence is the finest form cowardice. The silence of our Buddhists is deafening, especially the self-appointed custodians of the Dhamma and of course our Foreign Ministry," Bandaranaike said in a statement in Colombo on Friday.

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Malwatte Mahanayake Thero snubs –storm is gathering for Ranil in his political horizon

Sri Lanka’s foremost Buddhist monk, the Head of the Malwatte Chapter of the Siamese Sect, regretted the recent statement made by Ranil Wickremesinghe, leader of the United National Party, calling Buddhist monks ‘a corrupt company or “Dussila Samagama” and said no service could be expected out of such leaders to the country, the religion and the Buddhist monks in the future.’

“Some leaders who do not know the value of Buddhist monks over a simple matter, publicly call Buddhist monks a “Dussila Samagama” and I regret such words being used against the Buddhist monks,” said the most Venerable Thibbotuwawe Sri Sumangala, head of the Malwatte Chapter of the Siyam Nikaya in an obvious reference to Ranil Wickremesinghe.

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Live telecast of Kandy perahera to 17 countries

Sri Lanka’s biggest Cultural pageant, the World renowned Kandy Esela Perahera is to be telecast live in 17 countries through Satellite, Intel sat-60.

The Ministry of Tourism has taken this initiative in a bid to boost tourism and to portray the rich cultural heritage of Sri Lanka to the world.

The live telecast would be shown in Japan, Italy, Australia, Taiwan, Tailand, South Korea, India etc. In addition Ministry sources said that there was a possibility of live coverage being carried out in the UK and USA too.

Deputy Minister of Tourism Faizer Musthapa undertook a tour of Kandy recently to discuss many developments and ideas to promote foreign and domestic tourism in the hill capital where he met all relevant sectors and vowed to make Kandy a happening place during the festive season.

The Deputy Minister said that he intended to promote Kandy as a viable destination for both local and foreign tourists.

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Bogollagama to bring sacred hair relic to Lanka

Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama yesterday said he would bring the Lord Buddha’s scared hair relic offered by the Chittagong Buddhist Viharaya to Sri Lanka next Thursday, while Asgiriya Chapter Mahanayake Most Venerable Udugama Sri Buddharakkita Thera would also be part of the Sri Lankan delegation to visit Bangladesh to accept the historic relic.

The sacred hair relic has been offered to the Madampe Senanayake Aramaya by the Chittagong Buddhist Viharaya on a request made by its Chief Patron Keerthi Senanayake.

Addressing a news conference in Colombo, the Minister said the sacred relic would officially be handed over to him by his counterpart in Bangladesh. The sacred hair relic will be brought to the country on July 19 to coincide with the government’s plan to celebrate the Thoppigala victory in the East. The celebration was earlier scheduled for July 16 but later postponed by three days.

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http://www.dailymirror.lk/2007/07/14/front/03.asp