{"id":113824,"date":"2021-04-26T17:06:08","date_gmt":"2021-04-27T00:06:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=113824"},"modified":"2021-04-26T17:06:55","modified_gmt":"2021-04-27T00:06:55","slug":"the-general-election-of-1956-part-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/04\/26\/the-general-election-of-1956-part-11\/","title":{"rendered":"THE GENERAL ELECTION OF 1956 Part 11"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

The possibility of a coup d’etat had been known from 1958.\u00a0 In Parliament in November 1958 NM Perera had dropped hints of a plan for a coup d\u2019etat. He referred to Sidney de Zoysa, not by name, but as a person who was gathering power by placing his men in key positions in the police force. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Philip\nGunawardene picked this up and expanded on the subject in Parliament in 1958. Sydney de Zoysa was a trouble maker, he said. During the emergency\nof 1958 where ever Sydney went, there was trouble. People were thrashed,\nBuddhist monks were turned out of their temples and   there would be an attack by the police after Sydney   left.\nSydney has gone to Gal Oya, where the 1958 race riots had started, and given\n\u2018political lectures\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Philip accused\nSidney de Zoysa of leading a conspiracy to wreck the MEP government.  Sidney was brewing\ndiscontent in the higher ranks of the police. Good men in the police service\nwere removed from their positions and replaced by Sydney\u2019s men, Philip said.  The chief of CID had been removed and Sidney\u2019s\nstooge put there. Sidney was regularly meeting naval officers and army officers\nto bring about a coup. He was at Diyatalawa, recently, canvassing   army officers to support him in overthrowing\nthis government, Philip said.     <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On\nMay Day 1959, speaking at a public gathering Philip made open accusation\nagainst Sydney de Zoysa.  He appealed to\nPrime Minister to get rid of Sydney. Instead SWRD gave permission to Sydney to\nsue Philip for defamation. The defamation case was heard in 1960. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Judge\nagreed that the statements made were defamatory, but   the Penal Code made an exception for statements\nmade in good faith in the public interest.  \nPhilip\u2019s May Day speech was made in that spirit.   Also,\nPhilip\u2019s unflattering observations about Sydney, that Sydney molested and ill\ntreated people, was correct. Philip\u2019s prediction of a junta was also correct. A\njunta led by Dahanayake, came to power after the death of Bandaranaike said the\nJudge. The judge acquitted Philip. He said that Philip had created a very favorable\nimpression, specially compared to Sydney. Philip was candid and truthful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sidney\nde Zoysa   had links to the right wing of\nthe MEP. Sydney de Zoysa\u2019s brother Dickie was one of the persons behind the\ncompany set up by Buddharakkita, Ceylon Shipping Lines.   When\nDahanayake became Prime Minister he appointed Sidney as Permanent Secretary to\na newly created Ministry of Internal security. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nhis 1958 speech in Parliament, Philip had also pointed out that there was foreign\ninvolvement in the matter. Powerful forces are at work, Philip told Parliament. The people\nof this country must be warned. There are vested interests, foreign as well as\nlocal that would like to see the MEP government    go. They wish to\nset up a government under them rather than permit the MEP government to carry\non, continued Philip. They wish to set up a\nreactionary junta. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Philip also drew attention to the close\nconnection between foreign embassies and senior officers in the armed services.\nHe specifically mentioned the US embassy. He said that the US embassy invited military\nofficers to parties and got them drunk. Philip said that some control should be\nexerted. Hereafter military officers should get state permission to attend\nthese functions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

America\ndid not like the 1956 MEP government. \nTIME said the government was seen as a high risk regime.  It was swinging sharply to the Left. US Assistant Secretary of state William\nRouwntree visited Ceylon in 1958 to check on this. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Philip\u2019s 1958\nspeech was the first time that the country became aware that a conspiracy was brewing,\nsaid Ananda Meegama. Philip\u2019s allegations of 1958\nwere political dynamite, for they indicated that there was a group working\novertime to over throw the government and also perhaps replace Parliamentary\ndemocracy with a military dictatorship. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meegama\nsays that Philip\u2019s announcement of an impending coup triggered the events that\nled to his and William Silva\u2019s eviction from government.  It was necessary to remove Philip from the scene,\nbefore Bandaranaike was killed, because otherwise\nhe may have replaced SWRD. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Philip\nhad pointed out the danger of keeping on the old gang\u201d in army and police. He\nsaid the <\/p>\n\n\n\n

High\nofficers of the army and navy, particularly navy, do not look with friendly\neyes towards the people of Ceylon and our independence in the control of our affairs. The\nhigher echelons of the police and armed service were also unhappy about the\nprogressive measures of the MEP.  The\ndangers of a coup were ever present. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Philip had informed SWRD, directly that\nseveral leading officers in police and army were\nplotting to overthrow the government. But\nthe MEP government   failed to make the much needed reforms in\npolice and armed services. SWRD was getting ready to do something about this when he was\nkilled. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead of the\nexpected coup there was an assassination. Bandaranaike\nwas killed on September 26.1959. At that time it was thought that the monk\nBuddharakkita had done it, because he did not get a sugar tender. It is now\nsuggested that USA was behind the assassination. Bandaranaike was assassinated\nby a Buddhist monk at a time when the CIA was weaponising Buddhism, to contain\nthe spread of Communism from the USSR and China, said Darini Rajasingham\nSenanayake .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was a time\nwhen US, UK and retreating European empires were instigating assassinations,\ncoups and regime-change in third world countries, from Patrice Lumumba in Congo\nto Mossadegh in Iran, to Suharto in Indonesia, she added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the MEP government did not fade away after the assassination\nof Bandaranaike. Sirimavo who took over was much firmer\nthan SWRD and more decisive.The sudden departure of Electric Eel did\nnot diminish his influence on the island. It seems to be even more powerful now\nthat when he was alive, complained Flybynight in his Island inthe Sun series.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 So Sirimavo also had to go.\nIt was best to do so through a coup.  Philip had warned Sirimavo in 1960 that there could be a\ncoup very soon.. Sri John has met some of his old war comrades in the Volunteer\nforce, said Philip.  Also, there was a\nconference of the Ceylon Cadre battalions which was attended by the former\ncommander, who had come from Pakistan to attend it, this would have been Major\ngeneral Anton Muttukumaru who was then ambassador to Pakistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\ncommanding officer of the army was present, at this conference, continued\nPhilip. Rear Admiral of the navy was  also present [possibly Royce de Mel]. The only\noutsider invited to this conference was Fr. Peter Pillai.  Next they are going to have another conference\ncalled nuclear conference in Diyatalawa, continued Philip. All important\nofficers have been asked to attend this conference. I think that beneath the\nnuclear conference there must be  \nanother conference, concluded Philip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The coup  plans went through\nsmoothly. The coup was planned for January 1962. A group of  senior officers in the military and police planned\nto topple the government during the night of 27 January 1962. Those involved\nwere Colonel<\/a> F. C. de Saram<\/a> (Deputy Commandant, Ceylon Volunteer Force<\/a>), Colonel Maurice De Mel<\/a>, (Commandant, Ceylon Volunteer Force<\/a>), Rear\nAdmiral<\/a> Royce de Mel<\/a> (former Captain of the Royal Ceylon Navy<\/a>), C.C. Dissanayake<\/a> (DIG<\/a>, Range I), Sydney de\nZoysa<\/a> (retired DIG) and Douglas\nLiyanage<\/a> (Deputy Director of Land Development),<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The plan was\nfor troops to seize strategic positions and installations, cordon off Colombo\npreventing troops from the Panagoda Cantonment<\/a> reaching\nColombo and   arrest all ministers. Sir<\/a> Oliver Goonetilleke<\/a>, Governor General  would be asked to dissolve Parliament and take\ndirect control of the state. He would be assisted by a Governing Council of Dudley Senanayake<\/a> and Sir<\/a> John Kotelawala<\/a>, with Wijayananda Dahanayake<\/a> also invited\nto join.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wikipedia said\nthat the coup leaders had intended to send Sirimavo to the United Kingdom by\nplane with her family to join her daughter who was studying at Oxford at the\ntime.  This is unlikely. She would have\nbeen a threat to them wherever she was.   \nThey would have had to kill her. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The coup was\naborted at the last minute after an informant revealed the plans to the Prime Minister.\nThe coup leaders were arrested and put into prison. The\npress focused on the discomfort and harassment these poor arrested leaders were\nfacing in jail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since no\nshots were fired and no troops deployed, the Penal Code could not be used\nagainst the coup leaders. . Therefore the  government passed a new law called Criminal Law (Special Provisions) Act, No. 1\nof 1962.<\/em>  Supreme Court convicted\n11 of the 24 accused including Col F.C. de Saram, Col. Maurice de Mel, Rear\nAdmiral Royce de Mel, Douglas Liyanage, and Sidney de Zoysa. They appealed to Privy  Council<\/a>. Privy\nCouncil held the Special Act of 1962   violated the \nCeylon constitution and had denied fair trial.  The coup leaders\nwere acquitted on this technical point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For\ndecades the intelligentsia had suspected that the UNP leaders had a hand in the\ncoup. The names of Sir<\/a> Oliver Goonetilleke<\/a>, and former\nPrime Ministers Dudley Senanayake<\/a> and Sir<\/a> John Kotelawala<\/a> had come up\nin the investigation and at the  trial. Sir Oliver was removed from the position of Governor\nGeneral.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Wikipedia said that years later  J. R. Jayewardene<\/a> had stated\nthat at a meeting on 13 April 1966  he\nwas told by  Sir John Kotelawala that he\nand Dudley Senanayake had been aware of the coup. JR\u2019s\nbiographers, K.M. de Silva and H Wriggins, 1988, recorded advice that JR had given\nto the key conspirator, Sydney de Soyza. Sirimavo  when she found out  had decided to keep the matter a secret.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the 1962 coup had succeeded, there would have been\ncivil war, with the 3rd<\/sup> field regiment of the Ceylon Artillery\ntaking on the Ceylon Light Infantry possibly at the Kirulapona Bridge as the\nregiment came in from Panagoda. The government later disbanded the 3rd regiment\nand raised another infantry regiment, the Gemunu Watch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of the 24  arrested 12 were Sinhalese, 6 were  Tamils and 6 Burghers. All were from the westernized upper class, property owning,\nwell-educated and with right-wing ideologies. It showed\nthe public that an antinational minority still wielded power in the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All\n24 conspirators  were Christians. The\npercentage of Christian and Catholic in the armed force during the time of the\ncoup was well above the national average for these two groups. Higher\nofficers of the navy were Catholics. Recruitment to the army and navy are done\nby  boards which are all Catholic said Philip.\n   And\nthe  Catholic Church  in Sri Lanka is against progressive movements,\nhe added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today\u2019s\nthinking is that most of the regime changes of the Third World or newly independent\ncountries were engineered by the USA. USA was considered responsible\nfor the1958 and 1977 coups in Pakistan and 1960 and 1980 coups in Turkey. Britain\nand the United States were active in 1965 coup by Suharto against President\nSukarno in Indonesia, said analysts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

CIA played a\ncrucial role in the Ba\u2019ath coup d\u2019\u00e9tat in November 1963 against PM Qassim in\nIraq, against Kwame Nkrumah in Ghana and against Patrice Lumumba in Congo. CIA\nhad a hand in coups in Ecuador in 1950and early 1960s. There was direct U.S .involvement\nin1949 and 1951 coups in Syria, analysts said. (continued) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS The possibility of a coup d’etat had been known from 1958.\u00a0 In Parliament in November 1958 NM Perera had dropped hints of a plan for a coup d\u2019etat. He referred to Sidney de Zoysa, not by name, but as a person who was gathering power by placing his men in key positions in […]<\/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-113824","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\/113824","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=113824"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113824\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}