{"id":112236,"date":"2021-03-02T16:30:47","date_gmt":"2021-03-02T23:30:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=112236"},"modified":"2021-03-02T16:30:47","modified_gmt":"2021-03-02T23:30:47","slug":"the-general-election-of-1956-part-7b","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/03\/02\/the-general-election-of-1956-part-7b\/","title":{"rendered":"THE GENERAL ELECTION OF 1956 Part 7B"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

 SWRD Bandaranaike made an impact on the\ninternational scene and brought honor and recognition to his country, said VLB Mendis.  His untimely death two years after assuming\noffice, deprived the country of an astute leader who could have played a major\nrole  in  international \naffairs said Bandu de Silva. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bandaranaike\nfirst made an impact in India. SWRD led the Sri Lanka delegation to the Asian\nRegional Conference held in New Delhi in 1947.\nSWRD\u2019S   proposal for a setting up Asian\nSecretariat was accepted. His\ncontribution received publicity.  The calls for Asian Federation were endorsed\nby Solomon Bandaranaike of Ceylon and Aung San of Burma,  said one report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Vernon Mendis said,\nEven before he became Prime Minister SWRD gave a foretaste of his inborn\nstatesmanship by his impressive role at the Asian Relations Conference held by\nNehru in New Delhi in 1947, where SWRD presented his vision of Asia as a brotherhood\nof independent states. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

SWRD   also\nattended the conference on Indonesia held in New Delhi in 1949, presided over\nby Nehru, after the Dutch assault on Indonesia.  DS Senanayake was not interested in\nIndonesia\u2019s independence from the Dutch. Nehru had to remind him to send a\nrepresentative to the New Delhi Conference and he sent SWRD. The conference which consisted over 400\ndelegates and observers could not extend more than moral support to Indonesia\u2019s\nstruggle against the Dutch in its independence movement, said Bandu de Silva. But Bandaranaike would have found the\nexperience useful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

COLOMBO POWERS\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1954  C.C. Desai ,High Commissioner for India\nhad  persuaded Sir John Kotelawala to\nconvene an Asian Prime Ministers Conference in Colombo , attended by  Prime Ministers of Ceylon, India, Pakistan,\nBurma, and Indonesia. This was the first meeting of the Colombo Powers\u201d.\nColombo Powers only lasted for three years but it did gain temporary\nrecognition as a significant bloc in politics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1956,\nColombo Powers held a meeting in Delhi, to discuss the Suez Crisis, the\ninvasion by Israel and Russian troops entering Hungary. It was attended by the\nPrime Ministers of Ceylon, India, Burma and Indonesia.  Pakistan was unable to be present. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Colombo\nPowers issued a joint communiqu\u00e9.  The\nColombo powers said that invasion of Egypt by Britain, France and Israel was\nnot justified. There should be an immediate withdrawal from Egyptian territory.\nSimilarly, USSR should immediately withdraw from Hungary. There should be a\nceasefire and the people of Hungary should be left free to decide their\ndestiny. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bandaranaike\nrepresented Colombo Powers at the UN General Assembly of 1956.  I was the only Prime Minister in this part of\nAsia, who could visit the west and attend the United Nations Organization at\nthat time, he told Parliament.  At the UN\nI was able to explain our views and take the matter further than the brief\ncondensed form in which they appeared in the joint communiqu\u00e9. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1959 SWRD has held a\nmeeting of the Colombo Powers which was attended by India, Pakistan and\nIndonesia. There he noted that the loans and assistance given by\nforeign countries may become a problem for the receiving countries. There is no\nfurther information on the Colombo Powers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FOREIGN POLICY<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bandaranaike   wanted\nto promote foreign relations which helped Sri Lanka interests, its security and\neconomic progress. But his policy was not confined only to this. He also advocated\nfor Sri Lanka, active engagement in preventive diplomacy, between the power\nblocs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bandaranaike\u2018s\nforeign policy had many facets. He supported non-alignment with military blocs,\nadherence to Panchaseela and Bandung principles, firm opposition to any form of\ncolonialism or the domination of small powers by big powers and positive\nsupport of national liberation movements. He\nproposed friendship with all nations while reserving the right to be critical\nof them and oppose them should the need arise. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bandaranaike    advocated \u2018dynamic neutralism\u2019,  where neutral countries reserved the right to\ncriticize if they felt a country did not act correctly. Dynamic neutrality also\nmeant that neutral countries would strongly oppose attempts by big powers to\nbully a small country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 In his address to the U.N. he said that neutral\nnations do not simply sit on the fence. We are not\nuncommitted nations, “We are committed to the hilt: we are committed to preserve\ndecency in dealings between nations; we are committed to the cause of justice\nand of freedom as much as anyone is. That, briefly, is our position in Asia,\u201d\nhe said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bandaranaike\nalso supported Asian solidarity.\nBandaranaike had suggested  in Delhi  an economic conference of the Bandung powers leading\nto a regional development plan for Asia. I put forward\nthe idea, which was accepted by the other Prime Ministers at Delhi, to start as\na beginning of our co-operation a Joint Economic Consultative Committee in\nColombo, said Bandaranaike to Parliament. The\nconference seems to have taken place. HSS Nissanka in his book refers to an\nAfro Asian economic conference in Colombo in May 1959.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UNITED\nNATIONS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ceylon applied for membership to United Nations in 1948. Russia\nvetoed the application,  saying that Sri\nLanka still had a defense agreement with UK. In\n1954, Nehru offered to   get Ceylon into\nthe UN, but Sir John was not interested. Sri Lanka eventually obtained\nmembership of the United Nations on 14 December 1955. In 1955, UN had decided\nto admit 16 members including Ceylon to the UN, in a single list which\ncontained in equal proportion, countries which supported USA and those which\nsupported Russia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ceylon seemed unprepared for the honor. US newspapers ran a\nphotograph on that day, with the caption, Outside the United Nations General\nAssembly building in New York, the Ceylon national flag is hoisted for the\nfirst time while a Ceylonese official stands beside it and a hurriedly gathered\nteam led by Annersley de Silva, Ceylon Trade Commissioner in New York, took\ntheir seats in the General Assembly building behind the name board marked\n\u2018Ceylon\u201d on 14 December, 1955\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike taking over as Prime Minister in April 1956\ntook immediate measures to open Sri Lanka’s UN office in New York. R. S. S. Gunawardena  who was Ceylon’s Ambassador in USA was\nappointed concurrently as the first Permanent\nRepresentative to United Nations<\/a>, Mr.\nBandaranaike was faced with several problems in managing Sri Lanka\u2019s mission in\nNew York City, due to lack of officers in foreign service ,said Nissanka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

My guess is that\nthis photo shows, right to left, RSS Gunawardene, SWRD Bandaranaike, and\nGunasena de Zoysa.  I cannot identify the\nfourth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SWRD attended\nthe UN General Assembly session in November 1956. He was the first Prime\nMinister of Ceylon to do so and the first Sri Lankan Head of Government to\naddress the UN. In his first speech in UN,\nSWRD uttered the usual pleasantries and then plunged straight into the burning\npolitical issues of the time. He began by drawing attention to the fact that\ncertain countries, notably China and Japan was not yet in the UN. He hoped that\nthis would change soon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He then went\non to discuss Suez. The Suez crisis had dangerous implications he said.  He wanted the US-French forces withdrawn\nimmediately from Suez, and the Canal cleared, preferably under the auspices of\nthe UN,   as soon as possible. 75% of the\ntrade of Sri Lanka passes through the Suez. He\ntook the same position regarding the USSR intervention in Hungary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Bandaranaike  \nthen went on to speak of newly independent nations. Many states in Asia\nhave re-emerged into freedom after three to four hundred years of colonial\nrule. They now face the difficult problem of converting colonial states into a\nfree states, in the midst of changing world conditions.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He concluded by saying My country\nis a small one, a weak one and a poor one, but I venture to think that today,\nparticularly in an organization such as this, the service that a country can\nrender \u2013 that a member can render \u2013 is not to be measured alone by the size of\nthat country, its population, its power or its strength.\u201d Sri Lanka will support the work of the UN, to the best\nof its ability. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

H.M.Gunasekera\nsaid he had a recording of Voice of America interview with Bandaranaike during\nhis visit to US. At the start the interviewer was very sarcastic, determined to\ndegrade this visitor who took a pro-communist stand, observed Gunasekera. The quality\nof SWRD replies were such that the interviewer\u2019s tone changed noticeably.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On his return\nto Sri Lanka Bandaranaike voiced his concerns about the UN. Bandaranaike   wanted to see certain changes in the UN. Year after\nyear-the question of the revision of the Charter has been brought up, he said.\nVarious questions are involved in the revision of the Charter. The power of the\nveto, as it is provided in the Security Council, is one of the largest snags.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 I am of the opinion, and I have conveyed it to\nour Representative, he said in Parliament that certain resolutions should be passed\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

if necessary, an amendment to the Charter itself, but leaving out the\nmore controversial matters with regard to veto power, and so on, of the\nSecurity Council. \n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[We cannot\nhave   a repeat of the 1956 happenings,] said\nBandaranaike, military forces going in, fears of another world war. The UN must\nhave some machinery ready for their Observation Groups to move quickly into\naction to prevent countries from going into other countries, as has\nhappened    in regard to the Suez Canal\nand in Lebanon and Jordan.  Also, the\ntime has come when some permanent Police Force of the United Nations must be\nset up.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nvisit to the UN in 1956 was the only overseas trip Bandaranaike made as Prime Minister.  He made a Statement in\nthe House of Representatives in December 1956 on his visit. I thought that as soon as possible after my\nreturn the House would like to hear from me a fairly full and detailed\nstatement regarding the trip that I made to attend the U. N. O., about the\nvarious important personalities with whom I had an opportunity of discussing\nmatters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bandaranaike\nsaid that when he was in the US for the UN sessions, he had also met the US\nPresident. I had a full discussion with President Eisenhower, I was able to\ndiscuss with the President fully, satisfactorily and leisurely all the points I\nwished to discuss with him, Bandaranaike said. Then\nBandaranaike went to Canada   to\nexplain the stand of the Colombo powers.  He invited John Diefenbaker to visit Ceylon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 On his return trip Bandaranaike visited India and\nPakistan. SWRD has given\na speech in India on his way back from the UN. He had spoken without any notes\nas usual and the diplomats had said that this speech was the best they had ever\nheard in that hall, said B.P.Pieris in his book \u2018Memoirs of a Cabinet secretary\u2019 .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On my way\nback I called at Pakistan, Bandaranaike told Parliament. We were very well received by the Government\nof Pakistan. We were guests of the President himself. I had talks with the\nMinisters as well as members of the Government. They were very friendly. Of\ncourse, there were certain points on which our views disagreed with theirs. I\nwas left with the impression that Pakistan they would be quite willing to join\nJoint Economic Consultative Committee to be held in Colombo.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It will thus\nbe seen, that perhaps these peregrinations of mine were not without their value\nand use. I feel a great deal of understanding and friendliness has been created\nwhich will no doubt accrue to our mutual benefit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bandaranaike\ngained the support of China and Japan, through his first and only speech at the\nUN. In his speech in UN General Assembly, SWRD\ndrew attention, very early on, to the fact that certain countries, notably China\nand Japan was not yet in the UN. He hoped that this would change soon.  He resisted pressure from USA and other\nwestern countries not to do say this, observed Nissanka.  The support given by Sri Lanka at the UN has\nbeen gratefully remembered by China and Japan, said Nissanka. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bandaranaike\nmade it clear back in Sri Lanka that this was not mere rhetoric. He firmly\nstated in Parliament, in reply to a query, that he supported the entry of China\nto the UN. The point has been raised whether the People’s Republic of China\nshould be a member of the United Nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course,\nshe should be a member. We have been pressing that all along, Bandaranaike\nsaid. Those familiar with the history of the admission of China to the UN will know\nthat we have always been pressing that outside and in the General Assembly as\nwell as in the Committees of the Security Council. I think we are moving\ntowards it and we can hope, before long, that it will be an accomplished fact. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

1956 was an\neventual year in the world affairs. There was the Suez Crisis, the invasion of\nEgypt by Israel, the invasion of Hungary by Russia, the entry of United States\ntroops to Lebanon and British troops to Jordan. All these were referred to the\nUN and Sri Lanka voted on UN\u2019s resolutions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

HSS Nissanka\nhas laboriously tabulated the voting behavior of Sri Lanka at the UN. A study\nof the voting pattern of Sri Lanka showed, said Nissanka that Sri Lanka had\nvoted on the merit of each issue, as decided by Bandaranaike and not on pressure\nby the power blocs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All voting\ndecisions were determined by Bandaranaike. He\nhad once given instruction to his representative at 3 am. Bandaranaike has courageously exercised his\nindependent judgment resisting the pressure that would have been exercised,\nusing the issue of trade and aid, said Nissanka. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Afro-Asian countries formed a caucus and consulted each other\nbefore taking decisions at the United Nations.\nSri Lanka joined them. Sri Lanka’s voting correlations with Afro – Asian\ncountries were very high, compared to its correlation with U.S.A. the U.S.S.R.\nand the UK, said Nissanka. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where USA and\nRussia took opposite sides, Sri Lanka sometime voted with USA sometime with\nRussia, depending on the issue. In some case Sri Lanka did not vote with India\neither. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bandaranaike   got away from the UK orbit too. Her voting\ncorrelation with British was lower than that with USA, USSR.  Sri Lanka opposed\nthe stand taken by Britain in Suez crisis. There were eleven resolutions over Suez and in 6 of these Sri\nLanka voted against U.K.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri Lanka was\nstern with the UN when necessary. Sri Lanka complained that it was not given sufficient\ntime to consider the resolutions on Hungary. The vote was\ntaken in a few hours. They had not been given even 24 hours to study the problem and instruct\ntheir representative in UN.. Could the UN\nnot have given sufficient time for member to study the matter, Sri Lanka asked Sri Lanka\nabstained from voting as they had not studied the matter. In the case\nof the second resolution on Hungary, Sri Lanka  \nagreed with one half and disagreed with the other, but since the vote\nwas on the whole resolution, we abstained again.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

UN\nSECURITY COUNCIL (1959)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri Lanka had\nclearly impressed in the UN, thanks to Bandaranaike\u2019s speech and the\nindependence shown by Sri Lanka in its voting in the UN. Sri Lanka\u2019s voting\nbehavior at UN during the regime of Bandaranaike gave her a certain amount of\nworld recognition and prestige during the short period of four years, said\nNissanka. Such mature political behavior brought prestige to Sri Lanka at UN. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sri Lanka\nrepresentative at the UN was elected as an office bearer on a number of\ncommittees of the UN and her special agencies.\nUN appointed an advisory committee to guide the UN Emergency Force. Sri\nLanka was nominated to this body by Iran and was unanimously approved. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1959, Sri\nLanka applied for membership of UN Security Council, the most powerful body in\nthe UN. Sri Lanka was elected unanimously, without any opposition, as one of the non permanent members of the\nSecurity Council. The presidency of the Council is held by each of the members\nin turn for one month, and Sir Claude Corea, Sri Lanka\u2018s representative at the\nUN,  became the President of the United\nNations Security Council in May 1960. (continued)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS  SWRD Bandaranaike made an impact on the international scene and brought honor and recognition to his country, said VLB Mendis.  His untimely death two years after assuming office, deprived the country of an astute leader who could have played a major role  in  international  affairs said Bandu de Silva. Bandaranaike first made an […]<\/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-112236","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\/112236","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=112236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112236\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}