{"id":112171,"date":"2021-02-28T17:16:26","date_gmt":"2021-03-01T00:16:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=112171"},"modified":"2021-02-28T17:16:26","modified_gmt":"2021-03-01T00:16:26","slug":"the-general-election-of-1956-part-7a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/02\/28\/the-general-election-of-1956-part-7a\/","title":{"rendered":"THE GENERAL ELECTION OF 1956 Part 7A"},"content":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Bandaranaike had\nadvocated an independent foreign policy for Sri Lanka long before he became\nPrime Minister. In 1952, Bandaranaike speaking in Parliament during the debate\non the Throne speech said that Sri Lanka has so far failed to   formulate a well defined and independent\nforeign policy. Sri Lanka should play an important and constructive role in\ninternational affairs. She should be neutral in power politics. Sri Lanka\nshould occupy a position in South Asia like that of Switzerland in Europe, he said.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1954,\nBandaranaike persuaded Sri Lanka Parliament to  \napprove Panchaseela. The\nPanchaseela policy advocated (i) mutual respect for each other\u2019s territory and\nsovereignty, (ii) non aggression, (iii) non interference in each other\u2019s\naffairs, (iv) equality and mutual benefit, (v.) peaceful coexistence. Panchaseela\nfirst appeared in a treaty in the   India-China agreement on the Tibet region,\nsigned in 1954 by Nehru and Chou en Lai. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Foreign\naffairs was not an issue in the first three General Elections, 1947-1956,\nobserved H.S.S.Nissanka. Those in power had no understanding of international affairs,\nsaid Bandaranaike. UNP depended on British advice and guidance in its foreign relations.\nThis was not in the interest of Sri Lanka, he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A non-aligned\nforeign policy was introduced to Sri Lanka by SWRD Bandaranaike. His first\npolicy statement as Prime Minister of Ceylon on April 20, 1956, outlining his\ngovernment\u2019s foreign policy and goals stated, “In its foreign policy, my\nGovernment will not align with any power blocs. Consideration will be given to\nexchange of diplomatic representatives with countries in which Ceylon is not at\npresent represented.”  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bandaranaike\u2019s\nforeign policy was a turning point in Sri Lanka\u2018s history, observed\nNissanka.  It marked a new beginning in\nforeign relations. V.L.B. Mendis said\nBandaranaike set the country\u2019s foreign policy on a new course.  Bandaranaike directed his foreign policy\ntowards relations which would help Sri Lanka\u2018s national security and economic\nprogress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bandaranaike\nset the compass when it came to Sri Lanka\u2019s international relations. All governments\nthat came after Bandaranaike have followed his policy of recognizing as many\nsovereign states as possible, if it was in the interest of Sri Lanka to do so. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\n1956 MEP government, when it came to power, quickly swung to a non aligned\nposition in foreign affairs. The foreign affairs    division in Radio Ceylon was headed by an\nEnglishman. SWRD did not like its rightwing slant. He appointed Mervyn de Silva\nto the post. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Before\n1956 Ceylon had diplomatic relations with 21 countries, with representatives in\n9 of them. Bandaranaike expanded this list. He established diplomatic relations\nwith Afghanistan, Greece, Israel, New Zealand, Philippines, Switzerland,\nThailand, Turkey and UAR.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nprevious UNP government had failed to send a representative to Canada despite\nthe fact that Canada had representation in Colombo.  The\nGovernment of Canada feels aggrieved about this. Their High Commissioner in Ceylon\nhas been very helpful to us. We will remedy this very quickly, said SWRD in\nParliament.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bandaranaike\ngave formal recognition to the state of Israel.  The previous UNP government had agreed to\ndiplomatic representation by Israel, said Bandaranaike. When I assumed office\nthe Israel Government, kept on pressing us to find out whether they could send\ntheir representative here as the previous Government had decided to recognize Israel,\nso I agreed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Israel opened\nits diplomatic mission in Colombo with a Charge\u2019de\u2019Affairs. Then the question\nof appointing our Representative to Israel arose. Arab states object, therefore\nI have laid it by, concluded Bandaranaike in Parliament. After Bandaranaike\u2019s\nassassination in 1958, interim Prime Minister, W. Dahanayake sent the representative\nto Israel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A\nnumber of world leaders visited Sri Lanka when SWRD was Prime Minister. They\nincluded Robert Menezies, Prime Minister of Australia, Walter Nash, Prime\nMinister of New Zealand, John Diefenbaker, Prime Minister of Canada, Harold\nMacmillan, Prime Minister of UK, Ludwig Erhard, Deputy Prime Minister of\nGermany, Soekarnao, President of Indonesia and Nobusuke\nKishi, Prime Minister of Japan. This was an\nimpressive recognition of SWRD and a tribute to his policy of non alignment,\nsaid Vernon L.B. Mendis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MEP government\nhad also established diplomatic relations with\nsocialist countries.  Viliam\n\u0160irok\u00fd Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia<\/a>   visited\nin 1958 accompanied by Czech Minister of Foreign affairs.President Josip Broz\nTito, President of Yugoslavia visited in 1959.\nSri Lanka was one of the first countries to establish diplomatic\nrelations with Cuba soon after Fidel Castro took power in 1959. \u2018Che\u2019 Guevara\nvisited Ceylon as Castro\u2019s special emissary in August 1959. Guevara visited\nYahala Kele rubber estate in Horana and planted a Mahogany tree there. Bandaranaike\nentertained these leaders at great expense, observed Nissanka. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joint\ncommuniqu\u00e9s were issued at the end of these visits.  Bandaranaike and Prime Minister Siroky of\nCzechoslovakia had discussed, inter alia, the stockpiling of atomic weapons. Japan and Sri Lanka jointly said nuclear\ntests should stop. Disputes between nations should be settled through\nnegotiation. Japan also promised to help Sri Lanka\u2019s economic development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1956, Sri\nLanka celebrated Buddha Jayanti, the 2500 anniversary of the   parinirvana of Gautama Buddha. Sri Lanka\ninvited heads of state to visit. King Mahendra of Nepal,   Prince Norodom of Cambodia,   Prince and Princess Mikasa of Japan     came. Also Prime Ministers of India and\nChina. For all five red carpet was unrolled, streets were decorated, and they\nwere taken to see places of interest Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa and Kandy, noted\nNissanka. Large crowds welcomed them. The\nchief justice of Burma, Justice Chan Htoon and Ven. Othani, high priest of\nJapan also attended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The visits of\nforeign heads of state made a great impact on the public, who were allowed to\nline the roads to welcome them. The wide publicity given in the local press to\nthese visits and the countries they came from encouraged the general public to\ntake an interest in foreign affairs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under SWRD Sri Lanka\ndiplomatic ties with India, China and Japan became strengthened.  SWRD wanted a close\nfriendship with Asian states.  Within a space of four\nmonths in early 1957, the Prime Ministers of India and China were in Sri Lanka as\nstate guests,   followed by Nobusuke Kishi,\nPrime Minister of Japan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 First to come was Chinese Prime Minister Zhou\nEn Lai. Followed by Indian Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, who visited in May\n1957, accompanied by daughter Indira. The highlight of his visit was a trip to\nAnuradhapura where a large crowd was present to listen to his address. Nimal Karunatilleke translated Nehru\u2019s\nspeech into Sinhala. Bandaranaike hosted official receptions at Temple Trees,\nfor Nehru and Chou en Lai, when they visited. \n <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rajendra\nPrasad, President of India visited in June 1959. Bandaranaike went to meet him\nat airport, carrying an umbrella.  Photograph shows SWRD and Sirima\nwaiting to greet President Rajendra Prasad at the airport. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

DS Senanayake\nthought India was going to invade Sri Lanka .He viewed India as an enemy.\nBandaranaike knew better. Bandaranaike brought India and Sri Lanka closer, said\nNissanka. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bandaranaike\ninsisted that relations with India had to be based on cordiality and that the issue\nof Indian labour must also be settled in a cordial manner.  Sirimavo followed this policy   in her\nrelationship with Indira Gandhi. The Sirima Shastri pact\u201d could be considered\nthe culmination of the discussion started by Bandaranaike. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

India helped\na lot during the floods of December 1957. India sent planes, helicopters,\nboats, clothes, food, medicine and engineers from Indian army Rescue Unit. Indian\nair craft flew more than 150 sorties, and dropped over a total of 600,000\npounds of food and medical supplies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

SWRD\ndeveloped a personal friendship with Nehru. That is not surprising. Both came\nfrom \u2018aristocratic\u2019 families and had been educated in Oxford and Cambridge,\nrespectively. They would have felt comfortable with each other. Also they were\nin the same boat. Both were struggling to administer intractable, newly independent states.  When Bandaranaike   died,\nIndia ran its flag at half mast, and declared a day of national mourning. The\nmessages of condolence when Bandaranaike died  \nshowed that the rest of Asia too, mourned his death, observed HSS\nNissanka. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nprevious UNP government had followed a strong\nanti-Communist and pro western foreign policy.<\/strong>  UNP was considered\nto be a party which had sold Ceylon to America. D.S.Senanayake\npermitted US planes to fly over Sri Lanka airspace during the Korean\nWar. Ceylon had signed two treaties, in\n1951 and 1954, agreeing to broadcast Voice of America. Sri Lanka\u2018s  statement at the Japan Peace conference at San\nFrancisco  in 1951  was  to\nhit Russia, not  to help Japan,  said Bandu de Silva. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kotelawala,\nthe next Prime Minister, took a firm anti-Communist stand at Bandung in 1955. Kotelawala\ndid not allow Soviet scientists to come to Ceylon to\nobserve the eclipse of the sun in 1956, but permitted French planes to\nfly over Sri Lanka airspace to Vietnam. John\nFoster Dulles, US Secretary of State visited in early 1956. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bandaranaike\nchanged this. Bandaranaike established diplomatic relations with six communist\nbloc countries, while maintaining the cordial relation with the western bloc.\nThe communist countries were China, Russia, Czechoslovakia, Rumania, Poland and\nYugoslavia.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This brought\nbenefits. In 1959, China, Poland and Yugoslavia,\ngave scholarships. It also brought assistance\nfrom USA  through Fulbright grants.\nIn 1963 or so, University of Peradeniya had 2 visiting professors from USA, Georg\nLerski was one and also two Fulbright undergraduates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The socialist\nideology started to come in. Many writings from the Communist bloc were\ntranslated and circulated throughout Sri Lanka including rural areas.  Books on socialism were available\nat low prices in bookshops. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was also an influx of\nfilms from these communist countries. University of Peradeniya showed many well\nmade communist bloc films. They came from at least three different communist\ncountries. From Poland came the films of Andres Wajda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bandu de\nSilva said that this socialist policy was due to Philip Gunewardene, not SWRD. Bandu compared the MEP manifesto of 1956\nwith the SLFP manifesto of 1951. The MEP manifesto displays the uncompromising\nposition of Philip Gunawardena more than the pacifist position of SWRD. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bandaranaike was the first to open diplomatic relations with the\nPeoples\u2019 Republic of China and the Soviet Union. In August 1956 SWRD sent a delegation to\nvisit China and Russia and report back on the feasibility of establishing\ndiplomatic relations, said Wiswa Warnapala.  Diplomatic relations were approved in September\n1956. SWRD informed Britain and USA of his intention to open diplomatic relations\nwith China and Russia, thus avoiding abrasiveness in implementing foreign\npolicy decisions, observed Bandu de Silva. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was a public debate on the ambassadors for these two\ncountries. The choice was of critical importance. Competent individuals had to\nbe selected. Wilmot Perera went to China. \nSince India was sending Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan to Moscow, SWRD also sent\nan academic, G.P. Malalasekera. \nMalalasekera   had to cover Czechoslovakia,\nYugoslavia, Poland, Austria and Rumania as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

SWRD established diplomatic relations with China in\n1957. Chou en Lai visited in February 1957 during his tour of Asian\ncountries. He came with Vice Premier He\nLong.  Chou had been invited to\nparticipate at the ninth celebrations of Sri Lanka\u2019s Independence. Chou en Lai\ntoured the island. He offered flowers at Dalada Maligawa, climbed Sigiriya,\nvisited a colonization scheme and met colonists. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bandaranaike and Chou issued a joint statement. China  \ngave a loan of 75 million rupees for a period of five years. Scholarships\nto study in China were offered. Bandaranaike was\nspecially honored by Chou en Lai with the gift of a conference hall which later\nbecame the BMICH, said VLB Mendis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chinese\nculture arrived in Sri Lanka, notably Beijing Opera, followed by other Chinese\ndance and drama troupes.   Chinese literature, including Mao\u2019s speeches\nstarted flowing into the country, said Nissanka. Sinhala writers translated\nChinese revolutionary literature to Sinhala. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were cultural exchange programmes. Ceylonese artists\nperformed in China. In the early 1960s,\nthere were beautiful Chinese paper cut outs, book marks and other such items,\nfor sale in Chinese stalls at exhibitions.  Reprints of Chinese paintings were   also available. The scroll with a black\nflying horse was very popular. High quality books on Chinese culture were\navailable at exhibitions in the 1970s too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bandaranaike established\ndiplomatic relations with   Russia In\n1957. Wiswa Warnapala found, when he went to USSR as Counselor, in the 1970s that\nduring Malalasekera\u2019s time, the ambassadors from India and Sri Lanka had had easy\naccess to the top leadership of the Soviet Union, including   Khrushchev,\nthen General Secretary of the Communist Party. Malalasekera had given talks at\nRussian universities on Sri Lanka. Russian magazines had published articles on\nSri Lanka, including some on native Sinhala medicine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Sri Lanka, Russia gave scholarships to Sri Lankan students, to\nstudy medicine and engineering at prestigious Russian universities. Sri Lanka exported tea, rubber, coconut oil\nand coir products to Russia. Tea was the major export item to Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri Lanka signed 3 agreements with Russia in 1958. The most\nimportant agreement was the agreement on cooperation in economic and technical spheres.\nThrough this agreement Sri Lanka was able to gain Russian assistance in many\nfields\u2019. The projects including Oruwala Steel Mill, Modera Flour Mill, Kelaniya\nTyre Factory, Samanala Weva hydro-energy project, Russian aid and technology. Sri Lanka also received heavy machinery such\nas tractors, tippers, cranes. Russia helped some housing projects, too.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This agreement\nreferred to above listed 16 areas of assistance. They were \nKelani Ganga flood control, Malwatu oya dam and irrigation canals, clearing\nof jungle land for sugar cane at Kantalai, clearing of land at Hambantota for\ncotton,  mining of peat at Muthurajawela,  pilot plant for extracting flour form\nmanioc,  setting up factory for motor car\ntyres and tubes,   metal works centre, a\nflour milling plant with an annual capacity of up to 70,000 tons of wheat ,\nconstruction  of a grain elevator up to\n20,000  capacity, plant for building\nmaterials and prefabricated units for house construction, cold storage plant\nfor 200 tons of vegetable and fruits,  assistance\nfor utilizing by products of salt manufacture, development of fisheries\nand  assistance  for science laboratories in schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was a\nflood of Russian literature into the country. There were low priced, well bound\neditions of the writings of Marx Engels, Lenin, also Tolstoy, Chekhov,\nDostoevsky, and recalled Nissanka. A three volume version of Das Kapital was\navailable at less than two US dollars. The Russian novel was studied in the\nSinhala Departments of the University .Modern Sinhala works were translated\ninto Russian, by Russian scholars who had learned Sinhala in a very short time.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sinhala\nintelligentsia became aware of Russia\u2019s role in science and technology. The public\nalso saw plenty of Russian films, including the ubiquitous \u2018Cranes are flying\u2019.\nRussian film festivals were held in Colombo and University of Peradeniya. I saw \u2018Ivan the Terrible\u2019 by Eisenstein at Peradeniya.\nThe image of Russia as a land of cold winters, regimentation, purges and forced\nlabor, began to fade, observed Nissanka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The link with\nRussia had another benefit, later on. During the visit of Prime Minister Sirimavo\nBandaranaike to Russia, in the 1970s, Sri Lanka asked Russia to provide a\nstatue of SWRD. . Lev Kerbel was asked to do it, as he had done many such   statues. Kerbel observed that most of the\nmonuments in Sri Lanka were colonial. He wanted his to be different. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kerbel said he\nwanted to portray SWRD as a people\u2019s leader. He worked on the premise that it\nwas SWRD who had brought real freedom to people of Sri Lanka. The statue was to\nbe the posture of dynamic personality striding forward anticipating numerous\nvistas of political and social change.  That\nwas the answer to the question, why such a big monument to such a small made individual.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In order to\ndo the statue Kerbel studied Sri Lanka history, people and culture and also the\npolitical philosophy of SWRD. Kerbel had also spoken to the family, SLFP\npoliticians and the Left.  I had to visit\nhim at every stage of the work to    discuss certain aspects, recalled Wiswa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 The Arts council of Russia had to approve the\nclay statue while the political committee too examined it. Deputy Minister for\nForeign affairs, Firubin, and Sudrikov, Head of Asia Department of foreign\nministry wanted it to be a political contribution. Firubin had been to Sri\nLanka and had met SWRD. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bandaranaike\u2018s\nforeign policy had far reaching benefits. By linking with the Communist bloc,\nand also with several other countries in Europe and Asia, Bandaranaike had\nexpanded the world view of the Sri Lanka public. They were now shown a more\ndiverse view of the world.  This was\nsomething new for Sri Lanka who till then only knew the views of it colonial\nrulers. It enabled Sri Lanka to get out\nof the orbit of Britain and the Commonwealth.  Cultural links with other countries was   encouraged. USA, China and Russia started to\ncommunicate directly with the people of Sri Lanka. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However,\nBandaranaike’s far reaching foreign policy was not given the recognition it\ndeserved until H.S.S. Nissanka took up the subject for his postgraduate study\nin the 1970s. The work was published under the title, The Foreign Policy of\nSri Lanka: Under S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike by H. S. S. Nissanka, Department of Government\ninformation, Sri Lanka, 1976.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nissanka was\none of the first, if not the first, to introduce S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike\u2019s\nforeign policy to the world through an academic contribution said Bandu de\nSilva. His book remained for a long time, a standard reference work among\nstudents of Sri Lankan foreign policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marshall\nSinger of the University of Pittsburgh who supervised the thesis said, he found\nit to be an outstanding thesis which added considerably to our understating of\nSri Lanka\u2019s foreign policy of the time. It should be made available to as wide\na group of scholars as possible as a publication\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1956, when\nBandaranaike became Prime Minister, there were only 14 Officers in the Foreign\nService. The first recruits had been personally selected by D.S.\nSenanayake.   There was no separate Ministry\nof Foreign affairs.   The Foreign Service\nwas an extension of the Defence Ministry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some officers\nlacked any knowledge of international affairs. One officer told Bandaranaike\nthat Ceylon\u2019s foreign policy was same as Nehru\u2019s. The Foreign Relations Advisor,\nwho was a top Civil Servant, had pretended he had not heard of the Suez\ninvasion and Bandaranaike wanted him removed from the Ministry by noon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Bandaranaike wanted a strong Foreign Servicewith experienced diplomats   trained in the art of conducting foreign\npolicy, which would support a dynamic foreign policy.He saw the importance of having\ncareer diplomats, who could rise up in the service as in other countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bandaranaike removed the Civil Service hold on the Foreign Service. Bandaranaike gave\norders to device a new scheme of recruitment. “I want a scheme to take in\npeople with foreign experience.” he said. Two batches were selected through a competitive interview, alone. We\nhad two batches recruited during Bandaranaike\u2019s premiership who were entirely\nrecruited on the basis of interviews said Jayantha Dhanapala. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jayantha\nDhanapala observed that    Bandaranaike\ndid this, because he realized that interview skills were vital for a potential\ndiplomat.  Bandaranaike met these two\nbatches of recruits. That was the first time a Prime Minister had met new\nrecruits, though that was a common practice in many other countries, recalled\ndiplomat Bandu de Silva.  (Continued)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS Bandaranaike had advocated an independent foreign policy for Sri Lanka long before he became Prime Minister. In 1952, Bandaranaike speaking in Parliament during the debate on the Throne speech said that Sri Lanka has so far failed to   formulate a well defined and independent foreign policy. Sri Lanka should play an important and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-112171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kamalika-pieris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112171","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=112171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112171\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}