" What was noteworthy about the photograph was that all the 11 Sinhala Ministers
appeared in full suit, Mr. T. B. Jayah appeared in full suit with a cap, but the two Tamil
Ministers, products of Oxford and Cambridge, appeared in white national dress. To
those sensitive enough to have noticed this, it would have shown how strong Tamil
nationalism was and how they would react if they were not treated fairly and justly."
The early cracks
by an Old Jaffna Man
I am an old Jaffna man (OJM) past the Biblical span of 70 years, with one foot here
and the other "beyond". My memories go back to the General Election of 1947.
Viewing the panel discussions on TV about the current Presidential Election, it
appears that many people do not know the political climate that prevailed then. That is
the reason for tapping these notes.
In Jaffna the candidates were Mr. G. G. Ponnambalam, leader of the All Ceylon Tamil
Congress (ACTC) and Mr. A. Mahadeva, Minister of Home Affairs of the UNP. Mr.
Ponnanbalam appeared in silk national dress and was a flamboyant orator with a
resonant voice, though we could sense that his command of Tamil was not as good as
his command of English. Very often there were shouts from the audience for him to
speak in English, and he would switch over, much to every one's delight, because the
words would flow in a lovely stream. It was well known that he had sought balanced
representation, popularly called 50-50 from the Soulbury Commission but failed in that
attempt. He took a strong Tamil nationalistic stance.
On the other hand, Mr. Mahadeva, son of Sir Ponnambalm Arunachalam, came if full
suit had more difficulty in speaking Tamil, was nowhere near Mr. Ponnambalam in
oratorical skills, and cut a sorry and forlorn figure, though he was a Minister and came
from a distinguished family.
Mr. Ponnamalam won Jaffna with a comfortable majority and the Tamil Congress won a
total of 7 seats, 6 out of 9 in the Northern Province and 1 out of 7 in the Eastern
Province.. The other Tamil party, then known as the Ceylon Indian Congress (now
CWC) won 6 out of the 15 seats (14 electorates with 15 seats, one being multi
member), in the Central Province. The total number of MP's was 101, 95 elected and 6
appointed by the Governor General on the advice of the Prime Minister. The UNP led
by Mr. D. S. Senayake had 42 MP's, the Labour Party leader A. E. Goonesinghe won
one seat and there were 21 Independents. The UNP, with the support of the Labour
Party and many Independents was able to form a Government with a comfortable
majority.
The Marxist parties won as follows: LSSP led by Dr. N. M. Perera - 10, Bolshevik
Leninist Party led by Dr. Colvin R. de Silva - 5, Communist Party led by Dr. S. A.
Wickremasinghe - 3. These three parties and the two Tamil parties were in the
Opposition and Dr. N. M. Perera became the Leader of the Opposition.
The First Cabinet
I still remember the photograph of the first Cabinet formed by Prime Minister D. S.
Senanayake, with 14 Ministers, of whom 11 were Sinhalese, 2 were Tamils and 1
Muslim. Mr. S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike was the Minister of Local Government and
Health and Leader of the House, Col J. L. Kotelawela (later Sri John) was the Minister
of Transport and Works, Mr. Dudley Senanayake was the Minister of Agriculture and
Lands and Mr. J. R. Jayewardne was the Minister of Finance. These 4 Ministers
became Heads of Government later.
The two Tamil Ministers who had won their seats as Independents, were C.
Suntharalingam, Minister of Commerce and Trade and C. Sittampalam, Minister of
Posts and Telecommunications Mr. Suntharalingam was a brilliant product of Oxford
University, had entered the Ceylon Civil Service, resigned to become the first
Professor of Mathematics in the University of Ceylon and resigned to enter politics,
and win the Vavuniya seat. Mr. Sittampalam was an equally brilliant man, was a
Cambridge Wrangler, had also entered the CCS and been AGA, Mannar before he
took premature retirement to enter politics and win the Mannar seat. Mr. Bandaranaike
was a product of Oxford, where he had honed his oratorical skills and won election as
Treasurer in the Oxford Union, Col Kotelawela had entered Cambridge but it was said
that he did not complete the Tripos, Mr. Dudley Senanayake had done the Science
Tripos in Cambridge. In other words it was a Cabinet full of talent.
What was noteworthy about the photograph was that all the 11 Sinhala Ministers
appeared in full suit, Mr. T. B. Jayah appeared in full suit with a cap, but the two Tamil
Ministers, products of Oxford and Cambridge, appeared in white national dress. To
those sensitive enough to have noticed this, it would have shown how strong Tamil
nationalism was and how they would react if they were not treated fairly and justly.
Independence came on 4th Feb. 1948, the Duke of Gloucester came on behalf of King
George VI to ceremonially hand over power. If I remember right, the acceptance
speech was made by Mr. S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, No. 2 in the Government, who
delivered a memorable speech
After a few months passed, Mr. D. S. Senanayake wooed the Tamil Congress and was
able to persuade it to join the government. Its leader Mr. G. G. Ponnanmalam became
the Minister of Industries and Fisheries, in place of Mr. George E. de Silva from Kandy
who had been unseated on an election petition. Mr. T. Kumaraswamy, the member for
Chavakachcheri became a Parliamentary Secretary.
The First Blunder
Mr. D. S. Senanayake's Government faced a genuine problem in the Central Province.
As stated earlier, the Ceylon Indian Congress had won 6 seats, and the Kandyan
Sinhalese were under represented in Parliament. It was a human problem and needed
a carefully thought out and humane solution. At that time, Ceylon was much more
prosperous than India and Tamils from Tamil Nadu were coming in as illegal
immigrants. It fact there was a Government organization known as TFAII (Task Force
Against Illicit Immigration) to prevent illicit immigration. We can assess how well Sri
Lanka has been led after Independence by noting that within 35 years, there was a
massive exodus in the reverse direction in 1983 and thereafter.
A humane approach to the under representation of the Kandyan Sinhalese would
have been to have more multi member constituencies or proportional representation.
This would have been a humane and inclusive approach and would have led to
unifying all the communities and building a strong united nation. But the solution
adopted was not based on love (metta, karuna) but on prejudice. The Government
brought in the Citizenship Act and another Act, which in effect made the Indian Tamil
community stateless and voteless. They were living under atrocious conditions in line
rooms and working hard in the cold and wet climate in the upcountry, producing the
main export crop tea but they were treated shabbily. It was interesting to note how the
Ceylon Tamil representatives reacted to this attack on the Indian Tamil community. Mr.
G. G. Ponnambalam voted with the Government, Mr. Sittampalam did not attend
Parliament, and Mr. Suntharaligam resigned his portfolio and crossed over to the
Opposition. Mr. S. J. V. Chelvanayakm and Mr. C. Vanniasingam broke away from the
Tamil Congress and formed the Federal Party. I think Mr. S. Thondaman, the leader of
the Ceylon Indian Congress, never forgot this betrayal by the Tamil Congress.
If you liken a nation to a mirror, Ceylon had been dropped and developed a crack. It
was to be dropped and broken into pieces 8 years later, but we will come to this "in
due course".
The Prime Minster Visits Jaffna.
In 1951, Prime Minister D. S. Senanayake came on an official visit to Jaffna. I was then
in school in the 2nd year of the University Entrance class. There was no TV then and
we had only seen his photographs in newspapers and he appeared to be quite dark
and he was called "Kaley John" because his education had not even reached the SSC
standard. We were surprised to see a commanding figure, with a typical Sri Lankan
brown complexion and he spoke very well at a public rally near the Jaffna Town Hall. I
remember him thanking Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan for the services he had
rendered, including traveling to England, during the World War 1, to plead their cause
after they were imprisoned after the Sinhala-Muslim riots of 1915.
A lunch was given to him and his entourage, including Col J. L. Kotelawela and Mr. G.
G. Ponnambalam, in Jaffna Hindu College. The hostel staff and we the senior boys
were in attendance, looking after our guests. They ate a vegetarian meal served on
plantain leaves and had "payasam" for dessert. The meal was rounded off with
"beeda" (betel leaf and arecanut) and I remember Col Kotelawela taking two and
putting both in his mouth and chomping on them. The lunch was followed by numerous
speeches, a local government person went on endlessly making numerous requests. I
saw Mr. Senanayake getting drowsy, and finally his eyes closed and his chin rested on
his chest. When his turn came to speak, he stood up, agreed to about three of the
requests and said that the balance would be considered "in due course". It was clear
why he had become the Prime Minister, from the way he handled this situation.
Incidentally, I do not remember a single policeman within our school premises.
The Succession Stakes
Who was to succeed Mr. D. S. Senanayake as Prime Minister? Mr. S. W. R. D.
Bandaranaike was in line for the succession, but he suspected with good reason that
there was maneuvering to deny him the top spot. He resigned his portfolio in 1951,
crossed over to the Opposition and formed the Sri Lanka Freedom Party. Col J. L.
Kotelawela became the heir apparent.
Mr. D. S. Senanayake and Mr. G.G. Ponnambalam used to ride horses in the early
morning on Galle Face Green, as exercise. One morning Mr. Senanayake fell off his
horse, was seriously injured and rushed to hospital, and died a day or two later. The
Governor General Lord Soulbury was away in England and Sir Alan Rose the Chief
Justice was acting as. Governor General. He informed Lord Soulbury who said he
would come back immediately and for Sir Alan not to ask anyone to be offered the
Premiership till he returned.. Was it to be Kotelawela or Dudley Senanayake? It turned
out Mr. D. S. Senanayake had discussed the succession with Lord Soulbury earlier
and advised that Dudley Senanayake should succeed him. So Mr. Dudley
Senanayake was asked to form a Government and he appointed the same Ministers.
Col. Kotelawela took this badly, sulked in his Kandawela home but was persuaded to
join the Cabinet. Mr. G. G. Ponnambalam had backed Mr. Dudley Senanayake in this
succession.
Mr. Dudley Senanayake dissolved Parliament, to seek a fresh mandate. The 1952
election saw him win convincingly, with UNP winning an absolute majority of 54 seats.
The other parties won as follows: SLFP-9, LSSP-9, CP-VLSSP-4, Tamil Congress-4,
Federal Party-2. There were 12 Independents but the number of Ceylon Indian
Congress members dropped from 6 to zero. Mr. Bandaranaike became the Leader of
the Opposition.
But the Government did not last long. At that time, Ceylon was importing the bulk of its
rice needs, and there was a Commissioner of Food doing this work. I think the price of
imported rice went up and the Government was forced to increase the price of rice in
1953. A strike was organized by the Left parties and there was a procession. When
this became unruly, the Police fired and one clerk Kandasamy was killed. Mr. Dudley
Senanayake took this hard - it is said that his mother asked him, "Your father went to
prison for the people, have your become Prime Minister to shoot them?" He resigned
from the post of Prime Minister and retired from politics.
Thus Sir John Kotelawela became the third Prime Minister of Ceylon. He was an
ebullient man fond of wining and dining, but with his army background led a disciplined
government. Mr. Ponnambalam was dropped from the Cabinet and Mr. S. Natesan,
appointed. There were some successes too, Ceylon became a member of the UN in a
package deal between the Western powers and the Communist bloc Apart from the
Eastern European countries which had become Communist as a result of the Soviet
Army marching upto Berlin in 1945, China had become Communist in 1949, under the
leadership of Mao Zedung. The young Queen Elizabeth paid a state visit, the
non-aligned movement was formed and at-the inaugural meeting held in Bandung,
Indonesia. Sir John Kotelawela created a sensation by condemning "neo-colonialism"
of the Communist bloc. When Pandit Nehru of India asked Sir John why had not shown
his speech to him before delivery, Sir John responded bluntly, "Did you show me
yours?".
But there were nationalistic rumblings. The Buddhist Commission report was out and
Mr. Bandaranaike was contemplating how to win power. At that time Government
business was conducted in English and education in the bigger schools and in the
university was in English. A debate was emerging whether to introduce Sinhala and
Tamil for government business and education. Sir John went on a visit to the north,
was well received, was profusely garlanded and crowned "King of Delft" when he
visited that island. He responded generously that he would make Sinhala and Tamil
the official languages. This visit was in 1955; 1 think no head of government has
visited Jaffna in the succeeding 50 years.
The Mirror Is Broken
Mr. Bandaranaike coined the slogan "Sinhala Only in 24 hours" in 1955 and had this
adopted as SLFP policy. The UNP found that its popularity was sinking and also
switched over to Sinhala Only. Mr. S. Natesan who was the only Tamil minister in the
Cabinet resigned in 1955. It may be noted that there was not a single Tamil Cabinet
Minister in Government from 1955 to 1970, when Mrs. Bandaranaike appointed Archt
C. Kumarasuriyar to the Senate and made him a Minister.
It was assessed that the UNP was losing popularity and Sir John decided to seek a
fresh mandate one year early, in 1956, to avoid further deterioration. This proved
disastrous. Mr. Banadaranaike had formed an alliance named Mahajana Eksath
Peramuna (MEP) with Mr. Philip Gunewardne's VLSSP and they swept the polls
winning an absolute majority of 51 seats. The UNP was reduced to 8 from its earlier
54. The other parties won as follows: LSSP-14, CP-3, Federal Party -10, Tamil
Congress -1 and Independents-8.
Mr. Bandaranaike formed his Cabinet, there was not a single Tamil in it but Mr.
"Sinhale" Marrikar became Minister of Posts. For the official photograph, all the
Ministers wore national dress, but it was rumoured that some did not have a national
dress and had to borrow from friends. Mr. C. P. de Silva, also a former Civil Servant
who had won Polonnaruwa, became Minister of Agriculture and Lands and Leader of
the House, Mr. W. Dahanayake became Minister of Education Wild scenes of support
were seen when Parliament first met, people entered the chamber and one even sat
on the Speaker's chair.
In a few months, the Sinhala Only Bill was presented in. Parliament. It was opposed by
the Tamil parties and the Marxist parties. It was during Dr. Colvin R. de Silva's speech
that he made the prediction "Two languages, one nation; one language two nations".
The Federal party staged a peaceful Satyagraha on Galle Face Green - at that time
Parliament was in the present President's Office at the northern end of Galle Face.
The seated Satyagrahis were attacked with stones and clubs by goons backed by the
Government and physically harmed. Mr. Amirthaligam, returned to Parliament with a
bandaged head, still bleeding and was greeted by Mr. Bandaranaike with the remark,
"Honourable wounds of war". The bill was passed with a comfortable majority.
To every Tamil, this was a kris knife stab in the heart. If we get back to our earlier
analogy of a mirror, Mr. Banadaranaike dropped the mirror and it broke into 5 pieces,
Sinhala, Ceylon Tamil, Indian Tamil, Muslim and Burgher.
[To be continued]