The Jathika Hela Urumaya ( si, ජාතික හෙළ උරුමය, ta, ஈழ மக்கள் கழகம், often approximated in
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
as National Heritage Party) is a nationalist political party in
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
. The JHU was launched in February 2004 by the lay-based,
Sinhala nationalist
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...
political party Sihala Urumaya. Founding members include Kolonnawe Sumangala Thero,
Uduwe Dhammaloka Thero,
Ellawala Medhananda Thero, Omalpe Sobhitha Thero,
Athuraliye Rathana Thero
Venerable Athuraliye Rathana Thero ( si, අතුරලියේ රතන හිමි: born 5 October 1962), is a Sri Lankan Bhikkhu politician and a member of parliament. He is the only representative from Our Power of People's Party in the ...
and Thilak Karunaratne. Some Sri Lankan Buddhists, including the All Island Clergy Organization, denounced the decision by monks to enter politics. The party drew support mainly from the middle class conservatives and the Buddhist youth.
History
The Jathika Hela Urumaya (National Sinhala Heritage) party contested its first parliamentary election on 2 April 2004. On that occasion, all of its candidates were Buddhist monks. At the
election
An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office.
Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...
the party won 5.97% of the popular vote (a total of 552,724 votes) and nine out of 225 seats.
Since the election, the party has been involved in a number of controversial issues: one important action was introducing a bill to prohibit unethical, manipulative and highly aggressive
religious conversion
Religious conversion is the adoption of a set of beliefs identified with one particular religious denomination to the exclusion of others. Thus "religious conversion" would describe the abandoning of adherence to one denomination and affiliatin ...
s. This was viewed as a reaction against
proselytism
Proselytism () is the policy of attempting to convert people's religious or political beliefs. Proselytism is illegal in some countries.
Some draw distinctions between ''evangelism'' or '' Da‘wah'' and proselytism regarding proselytism as invol ...
systematically carried out by
Christian fundamentalist
Christian fundamentalism, also known as fundamental Christianity or fundamentalist Christianity, is a religious movement emphasizing biblical literalism. In its modern form, it began in the late 19th and early 20th centuries among British and ...
groups with many guises, some of whom happened to be foreigners affiliated with non-governmental organizations. There had been some dramatic infighting within the JHU parliamentary group early on in its parliamentary profile. This was partly because this group had been cobbled together just before the polls and lacked unity on several grounds including the issue of how to relate to government formation.
Two of its founding members, Theros Kolonnawe Sumangala and Uduwe Dhammaloka left the party due to conflicts within the party between the monastic and lay members. The lay leader of the Sihala Urumaya also defected to the
United National Party
The United National Party, often abbreviated as UNP ( si, එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය, translit=Eksath Jāthika Pakshaya, ta, ஐக்கிய தேசியக் கட்சி, translit=Aikkiya Tēciyak Kaṭci), ...
after seizing the party headquarters. After months of trouble, the party is strong again with the young monk
Athuraliye Rathana Thero
Venerable Athuraliye Rathana Thero ( si, අතුරලියේ රතන හිමි: born 5 October 1962), is a Sri Lankan Bhikkhu politician and a member of parliament. He is the only representative from Our Power of People's Party in the ...
and the Sihala Urumaya member
Champika Ranawaka
Achchige Patali Champika Ranawaka ( Sinhala: පාඨලී චම්පික රණවක; born 4 August 1965) is a Sri Lankan electrical engineer and Far-right politician. He is the Member of Parliament from Colombo District of Samagi Jana ...
leading the comeback. Ellawela Medhananda and Omalpe Sobhitha theros remain in the leadership. Other influential members include Dr Neville Karunatilake and Nishantha Sri Warnasinghe. JHU is also affiliated with the National Movement Against Terrorism (NMAT), SPUR, North-East Sinhala Organisation (NESO) and other local and international Sinhala nationalist groups.
Jathika Hela Urumaya successfully appealed the supreme court to cut President
Chandrika Kumaratunga
Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga ( si, චන්ද්රිකා බණ්ඩාරනායක කුමාරතුංග, ta, சந்திரிகா பண்டாரநாயக்க குமாரதுங்க; born 29 Ju ...
's term short. In October 2005, former JHU member Uduwe Dhammaloka indicated that there was a growing sentiment among the monks of the JHU that a mistake had been made in directly entering the political realm. Dhammaloka indicated that he personally believed that monks could have a more positive impact on Sri Lankan society by focusing on religious work, and that the current crop of monk-parliamentarians intended to "ensure that monks will not enter politics again" ("''Monks''"). It is unclear if Uduwe Dhammaloka and other ordained members of parliament will resign their positions, or if legislation will be introduced to restrict monks from standing for public office (as is currently the case in
Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
). Jathika Hela Urumaya supported President
Mahinda Rajapakse
Mahinda Rajapaksa ( si, මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ, ta, மஹிந்த ராஜபக்ஷ; born Percy Mahendra Rajapaksa; 18 November 1945) is a Sri Lankan politician. He served as the President of Sri Lanka from 2005 to ...
in the presidential election in 2005. In 2007, the JHU officially became part of the Rajapakse Government with one of its Buddhist monk
MP, Omalpe Thero resigning and in his place a lay member
Champika Ranawaka
Achchige Patali Champika Ranawaka ( Sinhala: පාඨලී චම්පික රණවක; born 4 August 1965) is a Sri Lankan electrical engineer and Far-right politician. He is the Member of Parliament from Colombo District of Samagi Jana ...
being made an
MP and then the Cabinet Minister of Environment and Natural Resources.
2014
In 2014 party decided to withdraw support to
Mahinda Rajapaksha
Mahinda Rajapaksa ( si, මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ, ta, மஹிந்த ராஜபக்ஷ; born Percy Mahendra Rajapaksa; 18 November 1945) is a Sri Lankan politician. He served as the President of Sri Lanka from 2005 to ...
and support the common candidate
Maithripala Sirisena
Maithripala Yapa Sirisena ( si, පල්ලෙවත්ත ගමරාළලාගේ මෛත්රීපාල යාපා සිරිසේන; ta, பல்லேவத்த கமராளலாகே மைத்திரி ...
backed by
United National Party
The United National Party, often abbreviated as UNP ( si, එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය, translit=Eksath Jāthika Pakshaya, ta, ஐக்கிய தேசியக் கட்சி, translit=Aikkiya Tēciyak Kaṭci), ...
. In the 2015 general election party contested under the
United National Party
The United National Party, often abbreviated as UNP ( si, එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය, translit=Eksath Jāthika Pakshaya, ta, ஐக்கிய தேசியக் கட்சி, translit=Aikkiya Tēciyak Kaṭci), ...
symbol elephant and won 3 seats.
Champika Ranawaka
Achchige Patali Champika Ranawaka ( Sinhala: පාඨලී චම්පික රණවක; born 4 August 1965) is a Sri Lankan electrical engineer and Far-right politician. He is the Member of Parliament from Colombo District of Samagi Jana ...
was appointed as the
Minister of Megalopolis and Western Development
Minister may refer to:
* Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric
** Minister (Catholic Church)
* Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department)
** Minister without portfolio, a member of government w ...
.
Charges Against United States
The JHU launched a campaign to collect one million signatures to petition United Nations General Secretary Ban Ki Moon to establish a commission to inquire into human rights violations committed by the United States.
Ideology
The party advocated the wiping out the LTTE by military force, and the party played a major role in making that dream a reality. It wants to maintain Sri Lanka's unitary constitution.
The JHU is active against deforestation and is active to promote organic farming. The JHU have also been instrumental in implementing several policy programmes including a ban on smoking in public places and limitations in alcohol, banning of harmful pesticides, including the mandatory shut-down of liquor stores and ban on meat on Poya and other Buddhist festivals.
See also
*
Buddhism in Sri Lanka
Theravada Buddhism is the largest and official religion of Sri Lanka, practiced by 70.2% of the population as of 2012.
Practitioners of Sri Lankan Buddhism can be found amongst the majority Sinhalese population as well as among the minority e ...
*
Theravada Buddhism
''Theravāda'' () ( si, ථේරවාදය, my, ထေရဝါဒ, th, เถรวาท, km, ថេរវាទ, lo, ເຖຣະວາດ, pi, , ) is the most commonly accepted name of Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school' ...
*
Champika Ranawaka
Achchige Patali Champika Ranawaka ( Sinhala: පාඨලී චම්පික රණවක; born 4 August 1965) is a Sri Lankan electrical engineer and Far-right politician. He is the Member of Parliament from Colombo District of Samagi Jana ...
References
*
*
*
External links
Official Web Site of Jathika Hela Urumayafrom Jathika Hela Urumaya supporters
Profile of the Jathika Hela Urumayafrom Lankanewspapers.com
Interview with leading members of the Jathika Hela Urumaya. February, 2004.
describing tensions between monk-politicians and former Sihala Urumaya members
Monks should stay out of Sri Lanka politics, says monk legislator
{{Authority control
2004 establishments in Sri Lanka
Buddhist political parties
Nationalist parties in Sri Lanka
Political parties established in 2004
Political parties in Sri Lanka
United National Front (Sri Lanka)
Sinhalese nationalist parties