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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 November 2008
Ceylon is one of the few non-European members of the Commonwealth which has been reasonably successful in adapting the Westminster-style government to suit its own requirements. There are difficulties in operating the system—a heterogeneous population comprising religious, cultural, linguistic and caste groups whose differences are not seldom accentuated by the island's slow rate of economic growth—but despite these, it could be said from the experience of nearly twenty years of Parliament's working, that the willingness of parties and groups to differ on a constitutional plane with all the necessary corollaries of elections, political meetings, a legally established government and a recognized opposition is the generally accepted norm of political behaviour in Ceylon today.
1 (a)SirMonck-Mason Moore, Henry: Governor of Ceylon, 1944–1948;Google Scholar Governor General, 1948–49; worked in the early years of the century in Ceylon (1910–19) as an administrative official and a judicial officer and thereafter as Colonial Secretary, Bermuda, Chief Secretary of Nigeria and of Kenya, Governor of Sierra Leone, 1934–37, assistant and deputy under-Secretary of State at the Colonial Office, 1937–40, during which time the affairs of Ceylon came under his general supervision; and Governor of Kenya, 1940–44.
(b)Soulbury, Viscount: Governor-General, 1949–1954;Google Scholar a member of the British Parliament, 1929–41; parliamentary secretary to various ministries, 1931–36; Minister of Pensions, 1936–39; First Commissioner of Works, 1939–40; President of the Board of Education, 1940–41; Chairman of the Ceylon Commission on Constitutional Reform appointed by H.M. Government, 1944–45; and one of the principal architects of the present Constitution of Ceylon.
(c)Sir Oliver Ernest Goonetilleke: Governor-General, 1954–1962;Google Scholar Auditor-General, 1931–41; Civil Defence and Food Commissioner, 1942–45; Financial Secretary, 1945–47; Minister in the Ceylon Cabinet in 1947–48 and 1951–54; and Ceylon High Commissioner in London, 1948–51.
(d)His Excellency Gopallawa, William: Governor-General since 1962;Google Scholar Proctor of the Ceylon Supreme Court since 1924; member Urban Council, Matale, 1927–39 and its Chairman for nearly six years; Municipal Commissioner of the Municipal Councils of Kandy and Colombo, 1939–57; Ambassador of Ceylon in China, 1958–61 and in the U.S.A., 1961–62.
2 For details regarding the terms of appointment of the Ceylon Governor-General, see Parliamentary Debates (House of Representatives), Vol. 49, Columns 536–603.Google Scholar
3 For a discussion as to the reasons for Sir Oliver Goonetilleke's exit as Governor-General, see ibid., and Parliamentary Debatesr(Senate), Vol. 17, columns 2298–2300 for the text of the Prime Minister's explanation.Google Scholar
4 The Government of Canada (revised by Ward, Norman), Toronto, 1964, p. 163.Google Scholar
5 In ‘I Remember Ceylon’ in Times of Ceylon Annual 1963, Colombo, n.d.Google Scholar
6 Parliamentary Debates (House of Representatives), Vol. 49, columns 588– 595.Google Scholar
7 Ibid., column 594. Mr Senanayake read out extracts from the minutes of a meeting of the Opposition Parties held on Friday 26 March 1960 in the Committee Room of the House of Representatives at which Dr N. M. Perera, one of the Opposition leaders, said that attempts were being made to have the Governor-General removed. When a suggestion was made to address a ‘prayer’ to the Queen, Dr Perera advised against such a move on the grounds that no definite evidence was available.
8 See ‘Then and Now’ in Ceylon Observer (Sunday edition), 1 February 1959. The columnist, Mr J. L. Fernando, was a close associate of Mr D. S. Senanayake. The ‘trained one-man brains trust’ he refers to is none other than Sir Oliver Goonetilleke. Note, D. S. Senanayake was Prime Minister of Ceylon from 1947 to 1952.Google Scholar
9 See SirKotelawala's, JohnAn Asian Prime Minister's Story, London, 1956, p. 130.Google Scholar
10 11 and 12 Private information. The person referred to in footnote 11 is Mr H. H. Basnayake, retired Chief Justice, Ceylon. He played a prominent part in the general election of 1965 assisting the UNP, and thereafter participated in the leaders’ meeting referred to.Google Scholar
11 Further to footnote 12Google Scholar
12 see also footnote 13.Google Scholar
13 A daughter of Mr Gopallawa is married to a brother of Mrs Sirima Bandaranaike. Mr Gopallawa, it must however be noted, has other qualifications to commend him, such as his experience in local government administration and in diplomacy. He is also a Kandyan Sinhalese and a Buddhist. A prominent UNP spokesman, Mr A. Ratnayake, mentioned in the House on 17 August 1964 that his party was ‘quite satisfied’ with him and that he had up to that time been ‘strictly impartial and just’ (Parliamentary Debates (House of Representatives), Vol. 57, column 5) and the leader of the Lanka Sama Samaja (equal society) Party, Dr N. M. Perera, remarked on the same occasion that all sections of the people had welcomed the appointment. He called it ‘an eminently excellent choice’ (ibid., column 9). Mr Philip Gunawardena, the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (People's United Front) leader however criticized the appointment on the ground that the ‘personal relationship’ between the Prime Minister and the Governor-General was ‘not a satisfactory state of affairs’ (ibid.).
14 The prime ministers concerned were the Right Honourable Sir John Kotelawala (1953–1956), Mr S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike (1956–1959), Mr W. Dahanayake (1959–1960), Mr Dudley Senanayake (March 1960–July 1960) and Mrs Sirima Bandaranaike (1960–1965).Google Scholar
15 See SirJeffries', CharlesCeylon—The Path to Independence London, 1963, p. 80.Google Scholar
16 SirKotelawala, John, op. cit., p. 130.Google Scholar
17 Fernando, J. L., Three Prime Ministers of Ceylon, Colombo, 1963, p. 80.Google Scholar
18 Op. cit., The press referred to is the Ceylon Daily News which is the most widely read newspaper by the English-educated intelligentsia.Google Scholar
19 See SirKotelawala, John, op. cit., pp. 79–80 for the text of a communication addressed by him to Lord Soulbury pressing his claims for the premiership. Sir John states Lord Soulbury ‘never answered my letter’ (p. 81).Google Scholar
20 See Fernando, J. L., op. cit., pp. 53–55.Google ScholarNote, Sir John denied he had anything to do with the contents of the publication and his resignation, therefore, did not become necessary. Evidence released later however indicated that he himself was the author. See letter of resignation of Sir Lalita Rajapakse in the Ceylon Observer, 17 October 1953.Google Scholar
21 Parliamentary Debates (House of Representatives), Vol. 26, column 20.Google Scholar
22 See SirJennings, Ivor, The Constitution of Ceylon, 3rd edition, London, 1953, p. 171.Google Scholar
23 See Parliamentary Debates (Houses of Representatives), Vol. 46, column 1528.Google Scholar
24 This was given publicly in the Ceylon Daily News at this time. The writer has checked on this information from official sources, and found it correct.Google Scholar
25 See ‘Memoirs’ by Peiris, B. P. in the Sunday Mirror of 12 June 1966.Google Scholar
26 For a critical discussion of the Governor-General's role see my ‘The Governor-General and the State of Emergency, May 1958–March 1959’, in The Ceylon Journal of Historical and Social Studies, Vol. 2, No. 2, July 1959, pp. 160–81.Google Scholar
27 Parliamentary Debates (House of Representatives), Vol. 33, columns 40–41.Google Scholar
28 Op. cit., Vol. 31, column 42.Google Scholar
29 Op. cit., column 41.Google Scholar
30 For details relating to all these activities, see my ‘The Governor-General and the State of Emergency, May 1958–March 1959’.Google Scholar
31 See Samasamajist (the official organ of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party) of 25 June 1959.Google Scholar
32 See Peiris, B. P., ‘Memoirs’ in the Sunday Mirror of 5 June 1966.Google Scholar
33 Ibid.
34 See Parliamentary Debates (House of Representatives), Vol. 48, columns 1381–1385 for further details.Google Scholar
35 This was done on the occasion of the second Throne Speech of Bandaranaike's, S. W. R. D. government on 13 June 1957.Google Scholar
36 Private information.Google Scholar
37 The words in question were worked into the following paragraph and are italicized: ‘undeterred by the death of the late Mr S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike who showed them the road, the people of the country have persisted in their determination to forge ahead to new horizons, under the care and leadership of my Prime Minister whose courage and unwillingness to be swayed by pressures, has won universal regard …’, see Parliamentary Debates (House of Representatives), Vol. 43, column 23.Google Scholar
38 S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike advised the Governor-General to remove one of his parliamentary secretaries, Mr C. R. Beligammana, when the latter declined to tender his resignation. On 8 December 1959, Mr W. Dahanayake advised the Governor-General to remove from office five of his cabinet ministers who belonged to the SLFP from which party Mr Dahanayake severed connexions on 7 December, and on 6 January 1960, the same Prime Minister had the remaining five SLFP ministers in his cabinet dismissed by the Governor-General.Google Scholar
39 See Parliamentary Debates (House of Representatives), Vol. 16, columns 1337–38.Google Scholar
40 See Ceylon Observer (late edition) of 12 December 1953.Google Scholar
41 See ‘I Remember Ceylon’, by Viscount Soulbury.Google Scholar
42 Fernando, J. L., op. cit., p. 81.Google Scholar
43 At a farewell public dinner, see Ceylon Daily News (Colombo edition) of 25 June 1949.Google Scholar
44 In ‘Lord Soulbury and Ceylon’, in The New Lanka, Vol. V, No. 4, July 1954, p. 16.Google Scholar
45 At a public meeting held in Colombo to commemorate the first anniversary of the death of D. S. Senanayake. Lord Soulbury added however that, looking back in the light of subsequent events, he felt that when they differed, his Prime Minister had been much more often right than wrong. See Ceylon Daily News (Colombo edition), 23 March 1953.Google Scholar
46 Mr C. Suntheralingham, Minister of Trade and Commerce, in a letter to the Editor, Ceylon Daily News.Google Scholar
47 Fernando, J. L., op. cit., pp. 82–84.Google Scholar
48 Ibid.
49 As told to the writer by some of these candidates.Google Scholar
50 For details of this episode, see Peiris, B. P. ‘Memoirs’ in the Sunday Mirror of 15 May 1966. Peiris writes that the Governor-General when asked how his presence at the meeting should be recorded remarked that he had noted Peiris taking down notes and added: ‘cut them all out. I was not present at this meeting.’Google Scholar
51 For Mr Bandaranaike's explanation of the role played by the Governor-General, see Parliamentary Debates (House of Representatives), Vol. 36, columns 12–13. As a result of this ‘boycott’, S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike effected a re-allocation of functions among his ministers. This did not please the two left-wing ministers in his cabinet and they tendered their resignations.Google Scholar
52 Ibid., Vol. 37, columns 1007–8.
53 Many of these schools were owned and managed by the Roman Catholic Church. References to Sir Oliver's role were made in the House of Representatives. See Ibid., Vol.40, column 2363 and Vol. 42, column 1003.
54 For the details, see ibid., Vol. 56, columns 868 and 872.
55 Or whenever vacancies occur through death or resignation in this category of appointed senators.
56 Or whenever any vacancy arises through death or resignation.
57 J. L. Fernando records one instance where Prime Minister Dudley Sananayake, despite obvious reluctance, was prevailed upon by the Governor-General at the time, Lord Soulbury, to appoint Mr L. M. D. de Silva, Q.C., as Ceylon's representative to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. It cannot be gainsaid however that the ultimate responsibility for the appointment lay with the Prime Minister. See op. cit., pp. 55–56.Google Scholar
58 The UNP obtained 42 out of a total of 95 elected seats. Note that there is provision in the Constitution for not more than six members to be appointed to the House of Representatives after a general election by the Governor-General acting on the advice of the Prime Minister to represent unrepresented or inadequately represented interests (Section 11 (2)).
59 There was a fresh delimitation of constituencies in 1959 and the number of seats was increased from 95 to 151. In addition there were the six Appointed Members.
60 Mr Dudley Senanayake mentioned this to the Federal Party leaders in the course of his discussions with them.
61 Shortly after Mr Senanayake had accepted the commission to form a government, Mr Badiudin Mahmud, a personal emissary of Mrs. Bandaranaike who was later to become her Minister of Education, met the Federal Party leader, Mr S. J. V. Chelvanayakam, and told him that the Governor-General, Sir Oliver Goonetilleke, had informed Mrs Bandaranaike that he had entrusted the formation of a government to Mr Dudley Senanayake on the latter's assurance that he had secured the support of the Federal Party. Mr Chelvanayakam denied that he had given any such promise of support. Mr Dudley Senanayake, too, when asked by the Federal leaders about the truth of this statement, denied that he had made any reference to support from the Federal Party when he met the Governor-General. Mrs Bandaranaike later tried to contact the Governor-General to tell him that this report was incorrect, but the Governor-General could not be contacted during that evening. (The writer has personal knowledge of these events.)
62 See The Ceylon Daily News Parliament of Ceylon 1965, Colombo, n.d., pp. 23–7.Google Scholar
63 See Sir Ivor Jennings, ‘Change of Government. The Constitutional Position’, in Ceylon Daily News (Colombo edition) of 4 April 1952. J. L. Fernando states that in numbers there were more in the government party who were behind the demand that Mr Dudley Senanayake should succeed his father and that it was told to him that several groups of parliamentarians had submitted petitions to the acting Governor-General against Sir John Kotelawala. Op. cit., pp. 43 and 45.Google Scholar
64 J. L. Fernando states that Mr. Dudley Senanayake, during his tenure of the premiership in 1952–53, invariably answered the question of who his successor should be by naming Mr J. R. Jayewardene. Op. cit., p. 52.Google Scholar
65 SirKotelawala, John, op. cit., p. 92.Google Scholar
66 See Peiris, ‘Memoirs’ in the Sunday Mirror, 20 February 1966.Google Scholar
67 In fact before accepting Mr Senanayake's advice to dissolve, the Governor-General first sent for Mr C. P. de Silva, the Leader of the Opposition at the time, as well as the other Opposition Leaders, to explore the possibilities of an alternative government being formed. The Governor-General was apparently not convinced that Mr C. P. de Silva could form a stable administration and so he acceded to Mr Senanayake's request. For the facts, see my ‘The Governor-General and the Two Dissolutions of Parliament’ in The Ceylon Journal of Historical and Social Studies, Vol. 3, No. 2, July–12 1960, pp. 194–207.Google Scholar
68 See Peiris, ‘Memoirs’ in the Sunday Mirror, 19 March 1966.Google Scholar
69 See de Smith's, S. A. views in The New Commonwealth and its Constitutions, London, 1964, p. 85.Google Scholar
70 For the full text of the ‘prayer’, see Ceylon Observer (Sunday edition), 13 December 1959.Google Scholar
71 See Peiris, ‘Memoirs’, in the Sunday Mirror, 5 and 12 June 1966.Google Scholar
72 The Ceylon Daily News Parliament of Ceylon 1965, Colombo, n.d. states that the Governor-General consulted the Crown's law offices and the latter, as stated in the newspapers, advised that Mrs Bandaranaike be told that unless she resigned, she would be dismissed, see p. 24.Google Scholar
73 See Times of Ceylon (late edition) of 6 and 7 October 1947.Google Scholar
74 ‘The House of Representatives’ in Ceylon Daily News, Supplement of 27 November 1947.Google Scholar
75 See Fernando, J. L., op. cit., p. 84.Google Scholar
76 Ibid., pp. 82–84.
77 Fernando, J. L. states that Sir Oliver's reasons were that: (a) as the Buddha Jayanti was being celebrated—the anniversary of the introduction of Buddhism into Ceylon 2,500 years ago—Sir John should go to the country with the appeal that his government should be returned and the celebration would then be organized in the way it should be; and (b) Mr Dudley Senanayake was organizing a prohibition crusade and before this could become a menace to the government, Parliament should be dissolved. Op. cit., p. 83.Google Scholar
78 Mr Senanayake's UNP had only 50 seats in a House of 151 elected members (there are in addition six members appointed by the Governor-General on the advice of the Prime Minister) as against the SLFP's 46. At the division, Mr Senanayake's government was defeated by 93 votes to 61 with one abstention.
79 In an interview with Mr Dudley Senanayake.
80 For the full facts, see my ‘The Governor-General and the Two Dissolutions of Parliament…’.
81 ‘Dissolution of Parliament and the Governor-General's Powers’, in Ceylon Daily News of 1 April 1960.Google Scholar
82 For the full text, see Ceylon Observer (Sunday edition) of 24 April 1960.Google Scholar
83 See Parliamentary Debates (House of Representatives), Vol. 41, column 411.Google Scholar
84 Ibid., Vol. 39, column 865.
85 For the full text of the letter to the Governor-General, see Ceylon Daily News Parliament of Ceylon 1965, Colombo n.d., p. 14.Google Scholar
86 See Jennings, , Cabinet Government, 3rd edition, London, 1959, p. 416.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
87 See Parliamentary Debates (Senate), Vol. 19, columns 515–18.Google Scholar
88 Dr Colvin R. de Silva, deputy leader of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party.Google Scholar
89 Morrison, Herbert, Government and Parliament, London, 1962, p. 81.Google Scholar
90 P. 171 (3rd edition).Google Scholar
