KAMALIKA PIERIS
This series
contains snippets of information on the Prime Ministers of Sri Lanka collected
while researching into social issues. It is a by-product of my main research. The
essays include bouquets as well as brickbats.
D.S. SENANAYAKE
D.S. Senanayake (1884-1952) was the first Prime Minister of Sri
Lanka. DS’s father, Don Spater prospered by doing surface
mining of plumbago and purchasing plumbago owned by others. He lived in Mirigama. Mirigama was plumbago
area.
D.S.
Senanayake started as a clerk in the Surveyor General’s Department but left
to manage the family properties. He was so successful in this that he was asked
to manage other properties as well. He
managed the Kahatagaha plumbago mines owned by the Attygalle family. In 1914 he was a member of the commission
that went to Madagascar to inquire into its graphite industry. The others
in the Commission were Henry de Mel and T.G .Hunter,
a mining expert.
Don Spater sent his eldest
son FR Senanayake to Cambridge and Middle Temple, London. FR
was expected on his return to
enter politics and provide leadership for the independence movement. But
FR died in 1926 and DS came into
prominence, noted by KM de Silva.
D.S.
Senanayake’s standing as a successful manager of plantation and plumbago mines
was such that he was able to enter Parliament on that alone. There he established
a reputation for sound common sense and shrewd judgment of men and politics,
said KM de Silva. He
had a fine memory. He never took a note but remembered everything, said HAJ
Hulugalle.
The
remarkable thing about DS Senanayake was that there was nothing remarkable
about him, said DB Dhanapala. DS does not figure in the book by Ramachandra Guha on
makers of modern Asia, observed KM de Silva.
I do not
think the first Prime Minister of Sri Lanka can be dismissed in that manner. DS
did not lead the independence movement,
certainly, he only functioned as its acceptable leader, but DS did not
play a completely passive role.
When Soulbury commission visited Sri Lanka,
DS made sure that the Commission saw a well functioning successful colony. He
took them on a conducted tour balanced between agriculture and culture, to
Peradeniya, Minipe, Kandy Dambulla Sigiriya, Polonnaruwa, Minneriya and
Anuradhapura. DS had also asked Sri Jayana
to present a private performance of Udarata dance before Soulbury. I came
across this when writing on dance in British Ceylon.
The Soulbury tours involved a great
deal of organization, and the government officers and private citizens were
warned ahead to provide a welcome. DS
wanted the Commission to see that the Ceylon government was efficient. This effort of DS was very successful. The
Soulbury Commission made special mention of these tours in their report.
It was
generally agreed in 1951 that UNP was held together by the personality of its
popular leader, observed Nayani Melegoda. Under
Mr. Senanayake, Ceylon was the most untroubled country in Asia, said
Hulugalle.’
In December
1951 DS accompanied by son Dudley had visited Australia. There is a YouTube clip
on this which should be viewed by those who admire DS. He was interviewed on
his arrival. He looked confident and
spoke in fluent, stylish English. He said that he had come to see the
agricultural advances made in Australia. He looked a highly westernized Asian Prime
Minister, complete with shaggy moustache. This news clip would have been shown
in cinemas around the world .It would have enhanced the image of Sri Lanka. The
link is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1nNZjbtXss
JR Jayewardene confirmed that DS was
heavily pro-British. DS Senanayake had to consider the question of defence,
said JR. Since we could not afford to
look after ourselves DS decided the best people to look after us were the
British and he signed a defence pact with them. We would allow them to use our
bases with our consent and we would help the British if they were attacked. DS
was aware that the Englishmen were democratic at home and imbued with a sense
of fairness. Once we got independence his distrust of them disappeared, said
JR.
DS was pro-USA and against Communism. He
gave harbour facilities to the US fleet on its way to the Korean War. DS permitted
the Rubber –Rice pact with China, against America’s wishes. But at the same time, was negotiating with
America regarding selling our rubber in bulk to USA, said JR.
However DS supported Asian countries. He refused to allow the Dutch to use Sri
Lanka’s airport for military action against Indonesia.
In 1951 he asked J R to speak on behalf
of Japan at San Francisco.
From
the very beginning UNP gained the trust of the minorities. Muslims, Moors and
Christian were firm supporters, said KM de Silva. DS was on excellent terms with the
President of the UNP, Dr. M.C.M. Kaleel.
DS was imprisoned during the 1915 Sinhala Muslim
riots. When he was released DS went all over the country in the company of Abdur Rahman, the Nominated Muslim Member of
the Legislative Council and brought about peace between the Muslim and
Sinhalese communities, recalled Imthiaz Bakeer Markar in 2021. At large gatherings, I
remember Mr. Senanayake saying how he went and lived in Muslim houses and had
his meals with them.
DS included
the Tamil Congress Leader G.G. Ponnambalam in his first post independence
Cabinet. Kandiah Vaithiananthan, later Sir Kandiah
Vaithiananthan, was his Permanent Secretary for Defence and external affairs. The
Sinhalese complained that most of the new industries were located in Tamil speaking
areas such as Valaichchenai, Paranthan, and
Kankesanturai. DS ignored the complaint.
The
Secretary of the DS Senanayake Memorial Society wrote in 2018 to say that that
DS was a great and exemplary leader with a deep commitment to Buddhism. When
Dudley was born, DSS had offered 25 acres of land to Botale temple. DS had
restored Ruvanveli, rehabilitated
the chaitya at Mahiyangana and Kirivehera at Kataragama. He established
the Salgala forest monastery. He had attended religious ceremonies in major
temples. When he was sworn in as Prime Minister he had worshipped at Polwatte
temple in Colombo 3.
However,
it is well known that DS refused to consider requests to make Sinhala the state
language and Buddhism the state religion. When Sinhala Maha Sabha brought
before the UNP the issue of
making Buddhism the state
religion, DS had said, ‘it goes against the concept of Buddhism .‘ DS had also
refused to set up a Buddhist Commission and the Buddhist had to do it
themselves.
D.S.
Senanayake became Minister for Agriculture in 1931. He held this position for
17 years. In 1935 he drew
attention to the need to use the Mahaweli waters. This is
forgotten today. My recall is that SA Wickremasinghe also drew attention to the
Mahaweli waters at a talk given before the SLMA, (then Ceylon Branch of BMA)
in the 1930s or 1940s.
In the 1930s, DS Senanayake started the process of restoring old
abandoned tanks and irrigation systems in the Dry Zone and settling Sinhala
farmers from the Kandyan areas as colonists in the Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa
and Kantalai areas, said Ajit Kanagasunderam.
This was the central plank of DS’s policy and was done to
alleviate the acute land hunger among Kandyan peasantry whose ancestors had
their lands confiscated for coffee and tea plantations. His objective was to
create a nation of “self-sufficient, prosperous peasantry”. These
irrigation, rehabilitation and settlement projects, although piece meal, were
done at a very reasonable cost and can be considered a great success, concluded
Kanagasunderam.
DS decided to shift landless families from the densely populated wet
zone to the less populated Dry zone. DS thought it would be good to turn them
into prosperous farmers of the Dry Zone. The villagers were reluctant because there was
Malaria in the Dry Zone.
The
State Council was critical of this policy of colonizing the Dry Zone
while plenty of land was available in the wet zone. It was possible to bring
into cultivation an extent of 10,000 to 15,000 acres of land in the south and
western provinces at a lesser cost than the proposed new schemes. Land
Commission also was not enthusiastic about Dry Zone colonization. Dry Zone had
malaria, drought, scarcity of water, and wild animals.
But DS went
ahead. DS wanted colonization of the Dry Zone. Minneriya was the first scheme. The plan was
to develop
50,000 acres of land at Minneriya. They were given six acres of wet land and
2.5 acres of dry land. Money was given as an outright grant and was not to be
recovered. The first group of land recipients under this scheme arrived at
Minneriya on April 30, 1933. But as D.S. Senanayake himself admitted, some of
them failed as cultivators. They were probably not farmers to start with
and did not possess the necessary skills. They were
engaged in low income jobs like casual labor back home. Some died of malaria.
These
colonists of the 1930s faced elephant attacks. Junglewallah recalled that Forest
Department officials had been asked by DS to drive off the herds of elephants
that were devastating the cultivated lands of the colonists in the newly opened
out settlements in Minneriya and Hingurakgoda. The colonists were chiefly from
Mr. Senanayake’s electorate, Mirigama, including his ancestral Botale, and
there had been numerous instances where the elephants had destroyed huts and
killed the colonists. The settlers were threatening to pull out and return home
unless something was done to drive off the elephants.
The Minneriya
project was able to withstand these problems. Between 1936 and 1940, landless peasants as
well as some middle class people of the Wet and Intermediate Zones were settled
in Minneriya. From 1936 onwards, the government adopted a policy of paying
money to new settlers to clear the land and build houses.
The Minneriya
Colonization scheme became successful and a complex settlement pattern evolved
of which 90 percent were agricultural settlements, said WI Siriweera. The Minneriya scheme was very successful, agreed Meegama. Minneriya was DS’s great achievement, said
KM de Silva.
After Minneriya
came Karaganda colonization scheme of 17,000 acres, fed by
Balaluwewa. This was followed by Hingurakgoda, Bakamuna, Hunilowewa, Nachchaduwa and
Minipe colonization schemes, climaxing with Gal Oya.
Minipe
ela scheme started in 1934. When I left Minipe in 1945 Malaria was coming under control and there
was a clamor for allotments, recalled M. Rajendra. Once malaria was controlled,
there was a dramatic change. Applications exceeded availability. The size of allotment
was reduced. The restoration of the
ancient irrigation system was also promoted.
Gal Oya
Project was started in 1949. This project was a shining example of what can be
achieved – all objectives were met, it was financed from our own resources and
managed by Sri Lankans and there was never any hint of scandal. It was a pity
that at the end communal anti-Tamil riots marred the record but this did not diminish
the achievement itself, said Kanagasunderam.
DS decided
that it was important to preserve the peasantry. The
preservation of the peasantry was to be the basis of the new land policy of the
time. Decades
later, this was heavily condemned. Critics called it, the unusual phenomenon
of re-peasantisation.
This new peasantry would be settled in the Dry
Zone. There would be outright grants of land, leases under peasant proprietor
scheme, and a new tenurial system where alienation by the grantee by sale or
mortgage would be restricted and lands alienated would pass to a nominated
heir.
Grantees could not subdivide the allotment, thus preventing
fragmentation. Also they could not mortgage the land.
DS’s
objective was to create a nation of “self-sufficient, prosperous peasantry”.
What he did however, was to create an impoverished dependant peasantry. Philip Gunawardena,
who became Minister of Agriculture in the 1956 government, was very critical of
the colonization schemes of D.S Senanayake.
The independent peasant small holder as dreamt
by DS Senanayake does not exist, said
Philip. The majority of the owner cultivators held less than one acre and that
one acre could not provide a living for a family. Many small holders were wage
laborers as well.
In a recent Patha Dumbara survey 45 % neither
owned paddy nor had anything to do with paddy production. The remaining 55 %
also did not depend wholly on paddy cultivation. A pauperized peasantry has been created. .
This is the picture, of the much idolized ‘peasant proprietor,’ said Philip in
1957. Many had
become tenant farmers in these schemes. There was indebtedness and wage laborers , confirmed others.
Increasing
the peasant ownership of small lots of paddy would not solve anything, said
Philip. Paddy cannot be grown in small un-economic units. You
cannot offer land divided up into five acres and three acres, as high land and
low land and ask the farmer to cultivate,
because he cannot get a good return. Also the fertility of the land varies. It was not possible to apply
modern techniques of farming to small holdings of 5 or 3 or 2 acre farms
either. You need large units. The land had to be worked in large units to
be productive, concluded Philip.
DS was
responsible for creating the Government Film Unit in 1948. World War II had ended
and Mountbatten’s South East Asia Command (SEAC) was disbanding. Large stocks
of military equipment went under the hammer but not the film section. DS took
all the equipment and sent it to the Irrigation Department stores in Colombo. It
was a windfall. There were cameras, tripods and trolleys. Two professional
Mitchell 35mm Cine cameras with full lenses in excellent condition also a 35 mm
Gaumont Kalee and Walturdaw projectors. H.A.J. Hulugalle was made Director of
Information, and was asked to start a Government Film Unit. The Mission Hut
building of the RAF in Ratmalana became the GFU headquarters.
DS
was also responsible for hiring the documentary film maker Guilio Petroni to
head the Government Film Unit. Petroni
had been recruited by three nationalist Sinhala business men who had set up a
company Vishvaranga Movietone Company.
They had traveled to Italy in search of a documentary filmmaker in order to
train young aspiring Ceylonese in the art of the film. Petroni arrived here
with two others, Frederico Serra and Giogio Calabria to find that the company
no longer existed. They were then recruited by DS Senanayake to
run the Government Film Unit.
DS
interest in cinema did not end there. DS Senanayake wanted a film made of his colonization schemes. He wanted a film about a
peasant family in the dry zone in the Polonnaruwa area. It was to be
called ‘New Horizons’ and Petroni was to direct it using a full shooting
crew.
The Prime
Minister came to the GFU in Ratmalana to see the rushes. He did not like what
he saw. He wrote to Hulugalle saying that certain
changes should be made to the film New Horizons” under production in the GFU. This
letter is reproduced in full in Hulugalle’s book on DS.
DS gave an elaborate list of all the things he
wanted shown in the film. DS wanted the
film to start with an abandoned tank shown together with dagobas. He suggested Padaviya
tank. Then some good village scenes showing the clearing and planting of chena,
by villagers. This should be depicted in greater detail, he said with reference
to the rushes he saw. Preparation of both high and low land must be shown. There should be a shot of watchers perched on
the fork of a tree, driving away wild animals. There should be an elephant or
two to show the difficulties famer has to undergo.
Then
the film must move on to the irrigation scheme. A map of the whole area should
be given with contours showing how the scheme would look when completed. Then the actual construction work
done by the Irrigation Department should be shown. This could be filmed at
Hurulu. The complete anicut must be shown, take Minipe also Elahera. Then
clearing of jungle must be shown. First the old method where the undergrowth is
cleared by hand the trees felled and stumps taken out by hand. Then the new
method at Gal Oya where it is done by bulldozers and heavy drag chains.
DS
Senanayake wanted a house belonging to a colonist shown together with the plan of the house.. They must show
the man being given the keys to the house as well as plants to be grown on high
land, such as coconut, jak, lime, mangoes, and oranges. Then he must be taken to the cattle pool and advised
that he could purchase two head of cattle, cow and bull. He must be told,
better get a cow for milking purposes
and share the bull for cultivation with another bull. The film must show the
cattle being purchased on credit card and repayment made on installments. The
film must also show the medical services.
The last scene should not be a rest house
scene. Village people do not dine that way said DS. Instead have a visitor come
to the colony, to meet a colonist who
is now very prosperous. The visitor must
be shown eating well at a table piled with rice, curries, fruits etc. the film
must end with the visitor asking how he too can become a colonist. Hulugalle had doubts as to whether all this
could be crammed into one film and whether the director would agree. (Continued)
