{"id":111248,"date":"2021-02-01T16:27:49","date_gmt":"2021-02-01T23:27:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=111248"},"modified":"2021-02-01T16:27:49","modified_gmt":"2021-02-01T23:27:49","slug":"on-independence-and-february-4th-more-independent-than-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/02\/01\/on-independence-and-february-4th-more-independent-than-today\/","title":{"rendered":"ON INDEPENDENCE AND FEBRUARY 4th – MORE INDEPENDENT THAN TODAY"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stanley Gunaratne\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

It is disappointing to see a\nsignificant amount of revisionist history going around (even by supposed\neducated people) claiming that somehow we were not independent, or that the\ndate of this celebration should be on May 22nd. This would be an insult to history,\ndisrespectful to the sacrifices of the entire Independence movement (such as\nCaptain Pedris and the struggles of DS, Sinnalebbe, EW Perera etc) and the\nstark opposite of the truth. This notion showcases a need to re-establish\nhistory lessons to our People so that our children are not corrupted by leftist\nrhetoric: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. We were a fully independent nation\n(regained our independence) on February 4th 1948. A sovereign nation with a\ntotally independent foreign policy, our own national policies and had achieved\nfreedom from colonial rule.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. The Governor General was appointed\non the recommendation of the democratically elected Prime Minister of Ceylon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. The Privy Council arbitrated the\nlaw based solely upon the Constitution of Ceylon<\/strong> (Soulsbury Constitution)\nand laws made by the Parliament of Ceylon. Thus it upheld the legal Ceylon\nCitizenship Act. The courts in those days also functioned efficiently instead\nof endless stalling of cases and a politicised judiciary. Singapore used the\nPrivy Council for business cases well into the 1980s.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To say that we are not independent\nwould be to argue that New Zealand or the Solomon Islands are not independent\nnations today which would be ludicrous.<\/strong> Being a\nRepublic is a totally separate issue that should NOT be mixed up with\nIndependence. To do so would be a disservice and dishonour to the immense\nsacrifices of the Independence movement including the likes of Captain Henry\nPedris etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, we were a FREE NATION\nUNLIKE TODAY.<\/strong> Today we have zero independent foreign policy (appeasement of\nIndia), zero defence policy (appeasement of India), a totally politicised\nsystem (judicial cases decided by politicians, or by India). The Indo Lanka\nAccord strips this country of its independence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Please note in those days, “the\nQueen” was the Queen of Ceylon and referred to as such.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, if the only “issue”\nwas being\/becoming a Republic (something that did not exist in ancient times on\nour island), then that would have been ONE amendment <\/strong>to the Soulsbury\nConstitution. Instead, a government in 1970 which won less than 50% of the\nnational vote <\/strong>engaged in WHOLESALE change of the entire system and\npoliticised it, changed the name of the country to the name of a political\nparty and started engaging in revisionist history with zero national referendum\n(leftist rhetoric, Marxist ideology and Indian subservience are not part of\nour national culture).<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1948, we did not have Provincial\nCouncils, multiple ethnic laws, ethnic homelands, regional language areas\n(today the only administrative language that applies in all Provinces is\nTamil), “India first” as a policy of daily life, judicial stalling or\ncorruption. In those days the Governor Generals of Sir Oliver Goonitileke and\nWilliam Goppawala as the de facto Heads of State served with honour and\ndistinction as gentlemanly non partisan statesmen who acted with integrity and\nin the best interests of THIS country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And in 1948, the British returned the\noriginal Lion flag which was re-raised. The more important question is why we\ncelebrate Independence today when our modern day political class serve India\nwith absolute devotion and a dedication second to none! Our Independence\nmovement would be ashamed of them as should all of us. Let us hope that factual\nhistory<\/strong> is the order of the day and that Ceylon\/Sinhale regains her\nindependence by abolishing the Indo Lanka Accord (which is illegal under\ninternational law and strips us of our freedom to trade and engage with the\nworld at will) and becoming a bastion of excellence. Our nation of splendour, of\nbeauty and opportunity should realise her potential instead of suffering in\nthis sad state of endless mediocrity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“<\/em>Why\nshould one trade one tyrant five thousand miles away for five\nthousand Indian bootlicking mankollakaraya political\nparasite tyrants one mile away?” <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let us never forget the noble sacrifices of the Independence\nMovement heroes who we shall commemorate every 4th February on Independence\/National Day, of the noble Armed\nForces of this country who gave life and limb so that future generations may\nlive free of Indian terrorism and the daily struggles of a warm, friendly and\nwonderful People full of ingenuity, determination and courage. Let this\nbeautiful pearl island, this resplendent paradise nation, and its sublime\nwildlife and proud people prosper – hopefully under a new Constitution that\nrepresents an enlightened, clean and visionary Basic Law of the nation that is\nbased on common sense, the Rule of Law, meritocracy and above all Honour!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee oh\nCeylonese!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stanley Gunaratne\u00a0 It is disappointing to see a significant amount of revisionist history going around (even by supposed educated people) claiming that somehow we were not independent, or that the date of this celebration should be on May 22nd. This would be an insult to history, disrespectful to the sacrifices of the entire Independence movement […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-111248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111248\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}