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KPI Congress 15 th 1

were registered in Sri Lanka under the corporation law and were undertaking
evangelical activities of converting materially poor Buddhists and Hindus to
Christianity in the guise of providing technical education (Deegalle 2012: 90-
98).

(vi) Following the grãma rãjya (village governance) concept that Sri Lanka
inherited from the past, it recommended introducing a decentralized
administration. This was the Buddhist option that the JHU planed to adopt
instead of devolution proposals that successive Sri Lankan governments
attempted to implement in resolving the ethnic conflict that had aggravated
with increasing terrorist activities of the LTTE. The devolution of power as a
solution to continuing ethnic problem in Sri Lanka, the JHU saw from a
negative perspective. Its members maintained that the notion of devolution
of power is an imported concept imposed upon them with vested interests
to break Sri Lanka. Their negative attitude to devolution of power is based
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on two factors: their fear that it will lead to the creation of a separate state
for Tamils and it will lead to the creation of fanatical religious beliefs and
conflicts within Sri Lanka. Instead of the devolution of power, the JHU
preferred a ‘decentralisation’ within a unitary Buddhist state. They believe
that effective ‘decentralisation’ to village level communities will solve many
of the issues related to defense, administration, education, health, trade,
agriculture, water, and transport. Their conception of ‘decentralization,’ they
identify as ‘grãma rãjya sa kalpaya’ (concept of village governance).

(vii) Interestingly ecological concerns appear side by side with human welfare
issues in the manifesto. It maintained that development should centre on the
natural habitat, animals and humanity. It proposed the development should
be based on the principle “by developing the individual human being, country
should be developed.” This approach has a spiritual dimension in which the
development of the individual is the key for national development. This
development with a focus on the individual is very much Buddhist in nature.
A leading Buddhist patriarch, the late Madihe Paññãsĩha Thera (1913-2003)
as well as his outspoken pupil, Ven. Gangodavila Soma (1948-2003),
advocated an individual centred approach to the nation’s development. This
also involved the creation of a just, national economy based upon Buddhist
economic philosophy by empowering local farmers and entrepreneurs.

(viii) The manifesto was extremely concerned with the system of education
provided in public schools. It urged the introduction of an education system International panel discussion
that fits into the Sri Lankan cultural context and that meets the needs of
the modern world. The proposed education should bear certain fundamentals
of Buddhist social philosophy. It encouraged a society in which the lay-
monastic, male-female, employer-employee, child-parent, teacher-student, ruler-

6 http://members.tripod.com/amarasara/jhu/jhu-21qa.htm