How is Buddhist nationalism transforming Asia? In conversation with Sonia Faleiro

You cover three countries in your book, and I want us to look at each of them in turn before we pull the strands together.

The first is Sri Lanka.

Can you start by giving us some of the, the, the basic demographic and geographic facts that are relevant to Sri Lanka in our discussion?

So I would say the first thing that you need to keep in mind is that Sri Lanka is a very religiously diverse country.

You have Sinhala Buddhists, you have Hindu Tamils, there are Christians, there are people who pursue other religious beliefs as well.

But among this group of people, the people who are without the doubt, um, in a position of some power over the others are the Sinhalese Buddhists because theirs is the state religion.

And the Sinhalese Buddhist nuns, uh, have always enjoyed very close, uh, relationship with powerful politicians and indeed with powerful people generally, even before, you know, Sri Lanka was, uh, gained its independence and changed from Ceylon to Sri Lanka.

And the Sinhalese make up about 75% of the overall population, is that right, ethnically?

That's correct, yes.

And is that the same number, roughly speaking, of Buddhists? Would Buddhists make up about three-quarters of the population?

They do, yes.

So the, so the minority groups are the, are the Hindus, Muslims, and Christians.

Tell me, to what extent do these ethnic divisions and religious divisions map onto the economic divisions within the country?

That's a really good question.

I wouldn't be willing to say that simply because somebody was a Sinhala Buddhist they are more likely to have a powerful economic position or a strong economic position.

I think that tends to be spread out a bit more than we think.

For example, Sri Lankan Muslims occupy quite a prominent role in industries, trade, in business.

Uh, Sri Lankan Hindu Tamils have always had prominence in administration, in clerical work.

And in fact, there is a link between the aggression, the violence, and the conflicts that we have seen between the religious groups that is related to what they do for a living and the s- uh, economic status they have enjoyed as a result.

Is there a perception that those who belong to the religious minorities in Sri Lanka are also somehow economically in the elite?

Yes, there is this perception, for sure, and I really should point out that it's not unique to Sri Lanka.

We've seen it in a lot of other countries in South Asia and beyond, where these conflicts, ethnic conflicts, have started to really bubble up, and we've, we've seen it in India for a long time.

We, of course, see it in Myanmar.

But there's certainly a sense in Sri Lanka that religious minorities, despite their smaller sizes, enjoy a prominence that is not deserved.

Yes.