{"id":120042,"date":"2021-11-05T16:35:25","date_gmt":"2021-11-05T23:35:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=120042"},"modified":"2021-11-05T16:35:25","modified_gmt":"2021-11-05T23:35:25","slug":"politics-in-sri-lanka-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/11\/05\/politics-in-sri-lanka-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"POLITICS IN SRI LANKA Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

This series\ncontains snippets of information on the Prime Ministers of Sri Lanka collected\nwhile researching into social issues. It is a by-product of my main research. The\nessays include bouquets as well as brickbats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

D.S. SENANAYAKE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

D.S. Senanayake (1884-1952) was the first Prime Minister of Sri\nLanka.   DS\u2019s father, Don Spater prospered by doing surface\nmining of plumbago and purchasing plumbago owned by others.  He lived in Mirigama. Mirigama was plumbago\narea. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

D.S.\nSenanayake started as a clerk in the Surveyor General\u2019s Department but left\nto manage the family properties. He was so successful in this that he was asked\nto manage other properties as well. He\nmanaged the Kahatagaha plumbago mines owned by the Attygalle family.  In 1914 he was a member of the commission\nthat went to Madagascar to inquire into its graphite industry. The others\nin the Commission were Henry de Mel and T.G .Hunter,\na mining expert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Don Spater sent his eldest\nson FR Senanayake to Cambridge and Middle Temple, London. FR  \nwas expected on his return to  \nenter politics and provide leadership for the independence movement. But\nFR died in 1926 and   DS came into\nprominence, noted by KM de Silva. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

D.S.\nSenanayake\u2019s standing as a successful manager of plantation and plumbago mines\nwas such that he was able to enter Parliament on that alone. There he established\na reputation for sound common sense and shrewd judgment of men and politics,\nsaid KM de Silva. He\nhad a fine memory. He never took a note but remembered everything, said HAJ\nHulugalle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nremarkable thing about DS Senanayake was that there was nothing remarkable\nabout him, said DB Dhanapala.  DS does not figure in the book by Ramachandra Guha on\nmakers of modern Asia, observed KM de Silva. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I do not\nthink the first Prime Minister of Sri Lanka can be dismissed in that manner. DS\ndid not lead the independence movement,  \ncertainly, he only functioned as its acceptable leader, but DS did not\nplay a completely passive role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Soulbury commission visited Sri Lanka,\nDS made sure that the Commission saw a well functioning successful colony. He\ntook them on a conducted tour balanced between agriculture and culture, to\nPeradeniya, Minipe, Kandy Dambulla Sigiriya, Polonnaruwa, Minneriya and\nAnuradhapura.  DS had also asked Sri Jayana\nto present a private performance of Udarata dance before Soulbury. I came\nacross this when writing on dance in British Ceylon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Soulbury tours involved a great\ndeal of organization, and the government officers and private citizens were\nwarned ahead to provide a welcome.  DS\nwanted the Commission to see that the Ceylon government was efficient. This effort of DS was very successful. The\nSoulbury Commission made special mention of these tours in their report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was\ngenerally agreed in 1951 that UNP was held together by the personality of its\npopular leader, observed Nayani Melegoda. Under\nMr. Senanayake, Ceylon was the most untroubled country in Asia, said\nHulugalle.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In December\n1951 DS accompanied by son Dudley   had visited Australia. There is a YouTube clip\non this which should be viewed by those who admire DS. He was interviewed on\nhis arrival.  He looked confident and\nspoke in fluent, stylish English. He said that he had come to see the\nagricultural advances made in Australia.  He looked a highly westernized Asian Prime\nMinister, complete with shaggy moustache. This news clip would have been shown\nin cinemas around the world .It would have enhanced the image of Sri Lanka. The\nlink is https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Q1nNZjbtXss<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

JR Jayewardene confirmed that DS was\nheavily pro-British. DS Senanayake had to consider the question of defence,\nsaid JR.  Since we could not afford to\nlook after ourselves DS decided the best people to look after us were the\nBritish and he signed a defence pact with them. We would allow them to use our\nbases with our consent and we would help the British if they were attacked. DS\nwas aware that the Englishmen were democratic at home and imbued with a sense\nof fairness. Once we got independence his distrust of them disappeared, said\nJR. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

DS was pro-USA and against Communism. He\ngave harbour facilities to the US fleet on its way to the Korean War. DS permitted\nthe Rubber \u2013Rice pact with China, against America\u2019s wishes.  But at the same time, was negotiating with\nAmerica regarding selling our rubber in bulk to USA, said JR.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However DS supported Asian countries.  He refused to allow the Dutch to use Sri\nLanka\u2019s   airport for military action against Indonesia.\n In 1951 he asked J R to speak on behalf\nof Japan at San Francisco. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From\nthe very beginning UNP gained the trust of the minorities. Muslims, Moors and\nChristian were firm supporters, said KM de Silva. DS was on excellent terms with the\nPresident of the UNP, Dr. M.C.M. Kaleel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 DS was imprisoned during the 1915 Sinhala Muslim\nriots. When he was released DS went all over the country in the company of  Abdur Rahman, the Nominated Muslim Member of\nthe Legislative Council and brought about peace between the Muslim and\nSinhalese communities, recalled Imthiaz Bakeer Markar in 2021.<\/em> At large gatherings, I\nremember Mr. Senanayake saying how he went and lived in Muslim houses and had\nhis meals with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DS included\nthe Tamil Congress Leader G.G. Ponnambalam in his first post independence\nCabinet. Kandiah Vaithiananthan, later Sir Kandiah\nVaithiananthan, was his Permanent Secretary for Defence and external affairs. The\nSinhalese complained that most of the new industries were located in Tamil speaking\nareas  such as Valaichchenai, Paranthan, and\nKankesanturai. DS ignored the complaint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nSecretary of the DS Senanayake Memorial Society wrote in 2018 to say that that\nDS was a great and exemplary leader with a deep commitment to Buddhism. When\nDudley was born, DSS had offered 25 acres of land to Botale temple. DS had\nrestored Ruvanveli,      rehabilitated\nthe chaitya at   Mahiyangana and Kirivehera at Kataragama. He established\nthe Salgala forest monastery. He had attended religious ceremonies in major\ntemples. When he was sworn in as Prime Minister he had worshipped at Polwatte\ntemple in Colombo 3. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However,\nit is well known that DS refused to consider requests to make Sinhala the state\nlanguage and Buddhism the state religion. When Sinhala Maha Sabha brought\nbefore the UNP  the    issue of \nmaking Buddhism  the state\nreligion, DS had said, \u2018it goes against the concept of Buddhism .\u2018 DS had also\nrefused to set up a Buddhist Commission and the Buddhist had to do it\nthemselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

D.S.\nSenanayake became Minister for Agriculture in 1931. He held this position for\n17 years. In 1935 he drew\nattention to the need to use the Mahaweli waters. This is\nforgotten today. My recall is that SA Wickremasinghe also drew attention to the\nMahaweli waters at a talk given before the SLMA, (then Ceylon Branch of  BMA) \nin the 1930s or 1940s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the 1930s, DS Senanayake started the process of restoring old\nabandoned tanks and irrigation systems in the Dry Zone and settling Sinhala\nfarmers from the Kandyan areas as colonists in the Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa\nand Kantalai areas, said Ajit Kanagasunderam. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was the central plank of DS\u2019s policy and was done to\nalleviate the acute land hunger among Kandyan peasantry whose ancestors had\ntheir lands confiscated for coffee and tea plantations. His objective was to\ncreate a nation of “self-sufficient, prosperous peasantry”. These\nirrigation, rehabilitation and settlement projects, although piece meal, were\ndone at a very reasonable cost and can be considered a great success, concluded\nKanagasunderam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DS decided to shift landless families from the densely populated wet\nzone to the less populated Dry zone. DS thought it would be good to turn them\ninto prosperous farmers of the Dry Zone.  The villagers were reluctant because there was\nMalaria in the Dry Zone.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nState Council was critical of this policy of colonizing the Dry Zone\nwhile plenty of land was available in the wet zone. It was possible to bring\ninto cultivation an extent of 10,000 to 15,000 acres of land in the south and\nwestern provinces at a lesser cost than the proposed new schemes. Land\nCommission also was not enthusiastic about Dry Zone colonization. Dry Zone had\nmalaria, drought, scarcity of water, and wild animals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But DS went\nahead. DS wanted colonization of the Dry Zone. Minneriya was the first scheme. The plan was\nto develop\n50,000 acres of land at Minneriya. They were given six acres of wet land and\n2.5 acres of dry land. Money was given as an outright grant and was not to be\nrecovered. The first group of land recipients under this scheme arrived at\nMinneriya on April 30, 1933. But as D.S. Senanayake himself admitted, some of\nthem failed as cultivators.  They were probably not farmers to start with\nand did not possess the necessary skills. They were\nengaged in low income jobs like casual labor back home.  Some died of malaria.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These\ncolonists of the 1930s faced elephant attacks. Junglewallah recalled that Forest\nDepartment officials had been asked by DS to drive off the herds of elephants\nthat were devastating the cultivated lands of the colonists in the newly opened\nout settlements in Minneriya and Hingurakgoda. The colonists were chiefly from\nMr. Senanayake\u2019s electorate, Mirigama, including his ancestral Botale, and\nthere had been numerous instances where the elephants had destroyed huts and\nkilled the colonists. The settlers were threatening to pull out and return home\nunless something was done to drive off the elephants. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Minneriya\nproject was able to withstand these problems.  Between 1936 and 1940, landless peasants as\nwell as some middle class people of the Wet and Intermediate Zones were settled\nin Minneriya. From 1936 onwards, the government adopted a policy of paying\nmoney to new settlers to clear the land and build houses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Minneriya\nColonization scheme became successful and a complex settlement pattern evolved\nof which 90 percent were agricultural settlements, said WI Siriweera. The Minneriya scheme was very successful, agreed Meegama. Minneriya was DS\u2019s great achievement, said\nKM de Silva. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After Minneriya\ncame Karaganda colonization scheme of 17,000 acres, fed by  \nBalaluwewa. This was followed by    Hingurakgoda, Bakamuna, Hunilowewa, Nachchaduwa  and\nMinipe colonization schemes,  climaxing with Gal Oya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Minipe\nela scheme started in 1934. When I left Minipe in 1945 Malaria was coming under control and there\nwas a clamor for allotments, recalled M. Rajendra. Once malaria was controlled,\nthere was a dramatic change. Applications exceeded availability. The size of allotment\nwas reduced. The restoration of the\nancient irrigation system was also promoted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gal Oya\nProject was started in 1949. This project was a shining example of what can be\nachieved \u2013 all objectives were met, it was financed from our own resources and\nmanaged by Sri Lankans and there was never any hint of scandal. It was a pity\nthat at the end communal anti-Tamil riots marred the record but this did not diminish\nthe achievement itself, said Kanagasunderam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DS decided\nthat it was important to preserve the peasantry. The\npreservation of the peasantry was to be the basis of the new land policy of the\ntime. Decades\nlater, this was heavily condemned. Critics called it, the unusual phenomenon\nof re-peasantisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 This new peasantry would be settled in the Dry\nZone. There would be outright grants of land, leases under peasant proprietor\nscheme, and a new tenurial system where alienation by the grantee by sale or\nmortgage would be restricted and lands alienated would pass to a nominated\nheir. \nGrantees could not subdivide the allotment, thus preventing\nfragmentation. Also they could not mortgage the land.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

DS\u2019s\nobjective was to create a nation of “self-sufficient, prosperous peasantry\u201d.\nWhat he did however, was to create an impoverished   dependant peasantry. Philip Gunawardena,\nwho became Minister of Agriculture in the 1956 government, was very critical of\nthe colonization schemes of D.S Senanayake. \nThe independent peasant small holder as dreamt\nby DS Senanayake   does not exist, said\nPhilip. The majority of the owner cultivators held less than one acre and that\none acre could not provide a living for a family. Many small holders were wage\nlaborers as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 In a recent Patha Dumbara survey 45 % neither\nowned paddy nor had anything to do with paddy production. The remaining 55 %\nalso did not depend wholly on paddy cultivation.  A pauperized peasantry has been created. .\nThis is the picture, of the much idolized ‘peasant proprietor,’ said Philip in\n1957.  Many had\nbecome tenant farmers in these schemes.  There was indebtedness and wage laborers  , confirmed others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Increasing\nthe peasant ownership of small lots of paddy would not solve anything, said\nPhilip. Paddy cannot be grown in small un-economic units. You\ncannot offer land divided up into five acres and three acres, as high land and\nlow land  and ask the farmer to cultivate,\nbecause he cannot get a good return. Also the fertility of the land varies. It was not possible to apply\nmodern techniques of farming to small holdings of 5 or 3 or 2 acre farms\neither.  You need large units.   The land had to be worked in large units to\nbe productive, concluded Philip.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

DS was\nresponsible for creating the Government Film Unit in 1948. World War II had ended\nand Mountbatten’s South East Asia Command (SEAC) was disbanding. Large stocks\nof military equipment went under the hammer but not the film section. DS took\nall the equipment and sent it to the Irrigation Department stores in Colombo.  It\nwas a windfall. There were cameras, tripods and trolleys. Two professional\nMitchell 35mm Cine cameras with full lenses in excellent condition also a 35 mm\nGaumont Kalee and Walturdaw projectors. H.A.J. Hulugalle was made Director of\nInformation, and was asked to start a Government Film Unit. The Mission Hut\nbuilding of the RAF in Ratmalana became the GFU headquarters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DS\nwas also responsible for hiring the documentary film maker Guilio Petroni to\nhead the Government Film Unit. Petroni\nhad been recruited by three nationalist Sinhala business men who had set up a\ncompany  Vishvaranga Movietone Company.\nThey had traveled to Italy in search of a documentary filmmaker in order to\ntrain young aspiring Ceylonese in the art of the film. Petroni arrived here\nwith two others, Frederico Serra and Giogio Calabria to find that the company\nno longer existed. They were then recruited by DS Senanayake  to\nrun the Government Film Unit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

DS\ninterest in cinema did not end there. DS Senanayake wanted a film made   of his colonization schemes.  He wanted a film about a\npeasant family in the dry zone in the Polonnaruwa area. It was to be\ncalled \u2018New Horizons\u2019 and Petroni was to direct it using a full shooting\ncrew. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Prime\nMinister came to the GFU in Ratmalana to see the rushes. He did not like what\nhe saw. He wrote to Hulugalle saying that certain\nchanges should be made to the film New Horizons\u201d under production in the GFU. This\nletter is reproduced in full in Hulugalle\u2019s book on DS. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 DS gave an elaborate list of all the things he\nwanted shown in the film.  DS wanted the\nfilm to start with an abandoned tank shown together with dagobas. He suggested Padaviya\ntank. Then some good village scenes showing the clearing and planting of chena,\nby villagers. This should be depicted in greater detail, he said with reference\nto the rushes he saw. Preparation of both high and low land must be shown.  There should be a shot of watchers perched on\nthe fork of a tree, driving away wild animals. There should be an elephant or\ntwo to show the difficulties famer has to undergo. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then\nthe film must move on to the irrigation scheme. A map of the whole area should\nbe given with contours showing how the scheme would look when  completed. Then the actual construction work\ndone by the Irrigation Department should be shown. This could be filmed at\nHurulu. The complete anicut must be shown, take Minipe also Elahera. Then\nclearing of jungle must be shown. First the old method where the undergrowth is\ncleared by hand the trees felled and stumps taken out by hand. Then the new\nmethod at Gal Oya where it is done by bulldozers and heavy drag chains. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

DS\nSenanayake wanted a house belonging to a colonist shown together  with the plan of the house.. They must show\nthe man being given the keys to the house as well as plants to be grown on high\nland, such as coconut, jak, lime, mangoes, and oranges. Then he  must be taken to the cattle pool and advised\nthat he could purchase two head of cattle, cow and bull. He must be told,\nbetter get  a cow for milking purposes\nand share the bull for cultivation with another bull. The film must show the\ncattle being purchased on credit card and repayment made on installments.   The\nfilm must also show the medical services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 The last scene should not be a rest house\nscene. Village people do not dine that way said DS. Instead have a visitor come\nto the colony, to   meet a colonist who\nis now very prosperous.  The visitor must\nbe shown eating well at a table piled with rice, curries, fruits etc. the film\nmust end with the visitor asking how he too can become a colonist. Hulugalle had doubts as to whether all this\ncould be crammed into one film and whether the director would agree. (Continued)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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\u2019s father, Don Spater prospered […]<\/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-120042","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\/120042","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=120042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120042\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}