The Story of freedom goes on

By Ranjith Ananda Jayasinghe

Sri Lanka celebrates its 59th year of Independence today. This is a narration of the revolution our National Heroes were involved in the struggle for freedom from colonialism.

Sri Lanka achieved its independence by non-violence compared to India's rebellion for freedom with much violence and bloodshed. The island ruled by the Portuguese, Dutch and British consequently for 443 years achieved independence in the first half of the previous century. Many factors contributed towards this achievement mainly the uprising of national leaders against the brutality of the British Officers meted to the people during the communal riots between the Sinhalese and Muslims in 1915 which was oppressed using terror tactics that led to further aggression. Both the guilty and the innocent were taken into custody. A number of national heroes were sentenced to death. D.B. Jayathilleke, D.S.Senanayake, W.A.Silva,

The moment Ceylon was proclaimed independent. Viceroy Glouster with Prime Minister D.S. Senanayake

C. Batuwanthuduwa and Alexander Wijewardena were taken into custody. Later the British rectified such unjustifiable acts; it contributed towards the march to freedom accelerating the pace to achieve a democratic government. The change in the history of governance was imminent. D.R.Jayawardena, Sir James Peiris and prominent leaders such as D.S.Senanayake, F.R.Senanayake, D.B.Jayatileke, Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan, P. Arunachalam were the pioneers in the struggle for freedom. The Government's Excise Policy was always a target of attack as liquor pervaded every nook and corner of the island in abundance spreading much misery in the country. Branches of societies came into force with speeches delivered by stalwarts to protect the masses from this menace. Leaders began to agitate against the administration. The Ceylon Reform League was formed with P.Arunachalam as the first President followed by conferences on the subject of 'Our Political Needs' which was presented by a Joint Committee of the National Association and the Ceylon Reform League to the Colonial Secretary.

The people were made aware of their rights and duties, leaders of all nationalities irrespective of diverse religions bonded together to prove themselves a strength to be reckoned with forged ahead with the aim of being the representatives of the masses in the Legislative Council. Numerous excuses were put forward by the British to delay reforms to the Constitution and the British argued that Sri Lankans were not educated enough to vote. Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan was then the only elected member in the Legislative Council. Two major debates, one on the motion of the Attorney General, Sir Anton Bertram, to constitute a special tribunal to deal with the trial of the alleged offenders and to make provision for riot compensation and confirm assessments made. This debate brought to light the atrocities by Brigadier - General Malcom. In 1917 another seat was allocated in the Legislative Council and Dr.Marcus Fernando was selected for the position.

A Memorandum setting out the national version of the origin and course of the Riots were prepared by the national leaders and dispatched to the Secretary of State for the Colonies through E.W.Perera, a Barrister-at-Law who is said to have carried the document in his shoe for fear of its interception by authorities. Perera known as the 'Lion of Kotte' was able to deliver the Memorandum to continue with the aim of achieving the objective of independence and self-government. In 1924 the revised Constitution was granted by Order in Council and minor amendments were made. Yet the national leaders were persistent in gaining self-governance and franchise. In 1926 S.W.R.D.Bandaranaike was selected for the post of Secretary of the Ceylon National Congress and the agitation for the reform of the Constitution continued which led to the appointment of the Donoughmore Commission.

The Donoughmore Commission in their report provided the right to vote and in 1931 for the first time in South Asia the masses in Sri Lanka received the franchise under British rule and 61 representatives were selected of which 50 ministers voted by a national voting system, 8 ministers selected by the Governor with 3 posts assigned to British Officers, that of the Secretary of State, Financial Treasurer and the Legal Secretary. The Council was divided into seven executive committees with separate functions assigned and each committee had its own Chairman who was the Minister. This was the foundation to increased participation in politics from the Sri Lankans over the island by their own ministers.

The second State Council was selected in 1936 and the outbreak of the Second World War made the British use colonies as their base and Peradeniya was used as a military headquarter for Asia. The British compromised with the national leaders to work with the allied armies with a pledge of liberating the county of colonialism if they aided them in the efforts to win the war. India received the same proposition and the allied forces won the war in 1945 and both India and Sri Lanka demanded independence as promised. This brought in the Soulbury Commission in 1944 to Sri Lanka and John Simons Commission to India respectively. National leaders including D.S.Senanayake insisted on freedom to rule completely without any governance from Britain, free from the Donoughmore and Soulbury Commissions. The State Council under the leadership of D.S.Senanayake together with the representatives of the State Council had sent a memorandum to the British Government regarding the kind of legislation Sri Lanka required. This did not augment much favor from a minority group and those with interest on trade. The Soulbury Commission reported the need for a parliamentary method of governance free from a dominion state. The Soulbury Commission proposed a parliament and an Upper House or Senate, a general election held in 1947 brought in the first sitting of the parliament, leading to the gaining of independence on 4th February 1948 which abolished the State Council and colonialism.