FEATURE: Independence in retrospect | Daily News

FEATURE: Independence in retrospect

 Sri Lanka which is popularly known as “Pearl of the Indian Ocean” and also as the “Granary of the Orient” is endowed with nature's blessings in abundance. She was also known as “Thambapanni” in the distant past and later as “Serendib” and eventually as “Ceylon”. About two thousand and six hundred years ago, this island was occupied by tribes called Yakka, Naga and Deva. It is chronicled that Prince Wijaya together with seven hundred of his friends, arrived at Thammanna and lived with a woman of Yakka tribe, named Kuveni.

His landing in the island coincided with the date of the passing away of the Buddha about 2560 years ago. Prince Wijaya was the eldest son of King Sinhabahu and Sinha Seewali who ruled the country of Lata in India. It has been mentioned that Buddha, on the dais where He was poising himself for His passing away, has asked God Sakra to provide protection to Prince Wijaya and his friends who landed in Lankadveepa. In deference to Buddha's words, God Sakra had entrusted God Upulwan to do the needful and God Upulwan gave protection to them and the country as recorded in Mahawansa.

Administrative structure

It is believed that Prince Wijaya and Kuveni had two children, one daughter and one son from whom the Adivasi generation of this island commenced to exist. Although Prince Wijaya later married a daughter of the ruler of the Pandyan Kingdom, no children were blessed from that wedlock. With the death of Wijaya, for a period of one year, this country remained without a ruler.

As wished by Wijaya, his brother Summiththa, the then ruler of Lata, sent his son by the name of Panduwasadewa to Lankadveepa and arrived at Kodannathiththa Port. King Suddhodhana the father of Prince Siddhartha had a brother by the name of Amithodhana whose grand-daughter Baddakachchyana came to this land during that period and eventually she entered into wedlock with Panduwasadewa holding his coronation in the island. Therefore it is evident that the Sinhala race descends from the dynasty of Panduwasadewa and Baddakachchayana.

According to Mahawansa, King Wijaya and his men transformed Anuradhapura to the capital of the kingdom and laid the foundation for the setting up of a prosperous State. Those men who accompanied Prince Wijaya set up colonies and took part in the then administrative structure. When King Dewanampiyatissa was the monarch during the Anuradhapura era, Emperor Asoka was ruling India. It so happened that they forged a strong bond of friendship between Emperor Asoka and King Dewanampiyatissa which resulted in the introduction of Buddhism to this island, as a glorious gift of the Emperor Asoka as chronicled in Deepawansa. According to Deepawansa, Emperor Asoka had sent a message to Dewanampiyatissa mentioning that, “I seek refuge in Buddha, Dhamma and Sanga. I shall become a faithful layman of Sakyamuni doctrine. Hence you are well advised to seek refuge in the Triple Gem. This is a sublime doctrine. As such, seek refuge in the Enlightened One.”

The arrival of Arahant Mahinda, the son of Emperor Ashoka records the establishment of the Buddasasana, the Order of Buddhism, in this country. Later the arrival of his sister Sangamitta who brought with her a sapling of the Sri Maha Bodhi followed by the setting up of the Order of Buddhism nuns (bhikkuni) in Sri Lanka. Thereafter Buddhist temples and stupas were constructed for the worshipping of the Buddhist devotees.

The benign social development that occurred as salutary results of establishing the Buddasasana during the Anuradhapura Era, was later weakened by foreign invasions into this country. Commencing from Sena and Guttika, the South Indians traders followed by Dravidian and Chola invaders, worsened the situation.

As a result of constant invasions from South India, Royal dynasty of our country moved from Anuradhapura to other areas such as Yapahuwa, Dambadeniya, Kurunegala, Gampola, Kotte and Kandy. During the Kotte Era, Sri Lanka was subjected to western invasion. In 1505, the Portuguese invaded the coastal areas of the island. This resulted in remarkable changes taking place in the social, cultural and religious spheres of the island.

These invaders who entered the maritime areas propagated their religion and consolidated their domination while resorting to exploitation of the countries that came under their sway and occupation. Nor was that all, they saw to it, that their cultural systems were infiltrated into the countries that they captured. They also converted the Maritime Provinces to centres of spice trade and thereby nourished their own State by what they plundered from the countries they conquered. The Portuguese in Sri Lanka did not stop at flourishing that trade in the island, but also in a subtle manner they infused their religious and cultural systems into the country, thereby bringing about radical, social and cultural changes. The Dutch, who invaded the coastal areas of our country in 1656, transformed the island into a commercial centre and also saw to it that their religion took roots in the country. This endeavour of theirs had wide influence upon the social and cultural trends in Sri Lanka.

Kandyan Kingdom

The British captured the Dutch-occupied areas of the country in 1796. The British adopted a different strategy to capture not only the coastal areas but also the entire island. To achieve this objective, they ensured that the kingdom of the hill country collapsed by unleashing plots to weaken the administration of the kingdom.

The Sinhala Chieftains, who got deceived by the machinations and the manipulations of the English, allowed them to conquer the Kandyan Kingdom which culminated with the capture of King Sri Wikrama Rajasingha, the last king of the country and they entered into Kandyan Treaty on March 2, 1815. The Kandyans supported the English to rid the Kandyan Kingdom from the Nayakkarr Dynasty. But the national independence which our forefathers protected at tremendous sacrifices, was never bargained for the betrayal of their heritage, traditions, culture and customs. The Kandyan aristocrats visualized a dream of establishing a Sinhala dynasty under Ehalepola with the assistance of the English. The Kandyan hierarchy's aim was to protect the country, the nation, Buddhism and the venerable Tooth Relic under an administration well disposed towards the aspirations of the Sinhalese.

Three years after the Kandyan treaty, many of the conditions laid down in it were violated by the British. The provision in the treaty solemnly pledging to protect the Buddhist Order, Buddhist places of veneration as stipulated in the 5th Article, were blatantly violated. This triggered off the first independence struggle against Europeans in our country. The Kandyan rules who had to retreat under the pressure of the English machinations later had to eventually be the prisoners of the English. This independent struggle which ended in bloodshed and volumes of tears, culminated with in the destruction of entire Uva Wellassa. It should be noted that Uva Wellassa, where the struggle began, got irreparably damaged with its consequences running into centuries.

Executive powers

In 1848 the second independent struggle broke out in Matale, in the hill country, but unfortunately it was unsuccessful. The Sinhala leaders discarding the idea of wresting back the independence by arms and a struggle, resorted to sharing the powers of administration with the English. The result of it was the arrival of Colebrooke-Cameron Commission which introduced many administrative changes in 1833. Colebrooke and Cameron who were ardent liberals firmly believed that the State should not interfere in economic and social activities. They did not mean that people should be given economic and social independence. Rather their belief was to enable the British entrepreneurs to extract maximum profits from our resources.

The British administration saw to it that there were many radical changes which resulted in the eradication of the Rajakariya system (feudalism). They also wanted to ensure that the agricultural economy based on tea and coffee initiated by the British capitalist class becomes stronger and therefore facilities were provided for that purpose including the bringing in labourers from India. They re-demarcated the country into five provinces, instead of the sixteen that had been there in the past. They introduced an English education system and a judicial system all over the island.

The most significant of the recommendations was the curtailing of unlimited executive powers of the Governor and the transfer of such powers to the legislature consisting of 15 members including three representatives of Sinhalese, Tamils, Burghers and three for the Europeans. That was the first occasion where the Sinhalese got an opportunity to have their representation.

However, the representation the Sinhalese expected was not discernable in the changes recommended. In the basic changes brought about in the economy was the creation of an economy based on money. The emergence of a local commercial class and the economy depending upon imports and exports also saw the light of day. This resulted in the Kandyans facing an acute shortage of lands and the agricultural economy collapsed with some other significant adverse changes. Sri Lankans were not satisfied with the changes effected and therefore the Sri Lankan leaders sought to get more administrative powers to satisfy the needs of the country. Therefore they wanted to obtain broader representation for the Sri Lankans and more powers in the new administrative set up.

Although there were only five provinces till 1889, the number was increased to 9 for the purpose of administration and it remains so even today. This system introduced by the English, ensures the establishment of a unitary system of administration. These changes brought about the liquidation of State monopoly on trade and introduced free trade and the systematization of English education for the purpose of training Sri Lankans for State administration. These resolutions were effected by an Executive Committee comprising a Secretary for the Dominion, Service Chief and the Attorney General with the Governor presiding over the meetings. In 1889, they increased the number of unofficial representations to eight by adding a representative for the Kandyans and one for the Muslims.

Political and economic goals

For the purpose of achieving political and economic goals, Sri Lankans established the Low Country Planters Association, the Chilaw Association, and the Sri Lanka National Association. In the early part of 20th century, these organisations demanded more constitutional reforms since 1833 to 1910, the population of Sri Lanka had increased sharply and also the income and there had been major constitutional changes in Malta, Mauritius Islands, Cyprus and Jamaica, allowing them to elect their own representatives. They argued that they should effect changes in keeping with the spirit of modern times. In Sri Lanka the argument continued, should have the right to their own representatives and their own legislation. They further recommended that the Governor should not preside over the meetings of the Legislature.

Another recommendation they advanced was that the Legislative Council should have full financial control. But the then Governor Henry McCullum had informed that such recommendations should be ignored. But the Secretary in-charge of the Colonies agreed to concede the right to vote for Europeans, Burghers and the educated Sri Lankans. Therefore in 1910, new constitutional changes were recommended. Accordingly 21 members were nominated to the Legislative Council, 11 were officials and 10 un-officials in the new set up. Only educated Sri Lankans hailing from medical, engineering, surveying, law, notaries were considered eligible Sri Lankans to enjoy the right to vote.

In the meantime a renaissance to restore religion, culture etc, was getting into its stride. Among them Ven. Migettuiwatte Gunananda, Ven. Hikkaduwe Sri Sumangala, Col. Henry Steele Olcott Anagarika Dharmapala, Hevavitharana brothers, Charles Batuwanthudawe, Ven. Battaramulle Subhuti, Walisinghe Harischandra were the outstanding personages. There were also the leading lights of the temperance movement which were established in 1912, such as F. R. Senanayake, D. S. Senanayake, Sir D. B. Jayathilake, Dr. C. W. W. Kannangara, A. E. Gunasinghe, Piyadasa Sirisena etc who played a very important role in this movement. It was Arumugam Nawalar who gave leadership to Hindu cultural revival, while Siddhi Lebbe played that role for the Muslims.

Donoughmore constitutional reforms

Although the Colebrooke-McCullum recommendations gave a fillip to political advancement yet, on the whole the Sri Lankans were not happy about the outcome. In 1919 people who wanted more relief and reforms gathered around the Sri Lanka National Congress and they demanded that more members should be elected to the Legislative Council, and franchise should be broad-based, executives should be selected from those elected by the people, the legislature should deal with the annual budget, the Speaker of the Council should be elected by the legislators etc.

In August 1920 there was an agreement on the composition of the Council and number of membership of the council was increased to 37 which consisted 14 officials and 23 unofficial members. Under these constitutional amendments a limited number of people were able to get voting rights, but they constituted only 4% of total population. They still continued representation on a communal basis. This tendency displayed Britain's willingness to rule the country on a communal basis.

However there were many shortcomings in the Manning reforms. The glaring weakness was that the right to franchise was based on education and income. As a consequence of this dissatisfaction during the period of Governor Clifford, a commission headed by Lord Donoughmore was appointed to go into the reforms required for the country. 1931 was a landmark in the evolution of political history of this country because universal suffrage was extended to the entire people. In the wake of it, welfare measures for the society were implemented and social upliftment were expedited. With that trend, new political philosophies got under way and new political institutions saw, the light of day.

Under the Donoughmore reforms, 50 electorates were set up and there was a definite indication of some degree of self government coming into being. But three major portfolios we reserved for the government nominees, who represented defence, finance and law. Including those three officials the number of members increased to 61.

The State Council set up under Donoughmore constitutional reforms was endowed with legislative and executive powers and enjoyed much more freedom to ensure sound administration. The salient feature of this new set up was the removal of communal representation and the introduction of executive committee system which was a training ground for our representatives to acquire proficiency and efficiency in handling complex ministerial posts which demand great responsibility. However, E. W. Perera in 1932 brought forward eight proposals to contribute to constitutional changes. The State Council accepted all the proposals except the one in regard to the committee system. There were many positive proposals such as the one to curtail the powers of the Governor Andrew Caldecott accepted them and on December 22, 1944; a commission headed by Lord Soulbury arrived Sri Lanka. Mr. D. S. Senanayake who was the Leader of the Council represented Sri Lanka and in the discussions he maintained that the Governor’s power should be curtailed and an Upper House called the Senate should be set up and that our country should be given Dominion status. The white paper regarding this matter was forwarded in November 1944. There were 51 votes in support of it and 3 against it. Therefore on May 15, 1946 and Sri Lanka Constitutional Legislation was proclaimed by a Royal Order.

Commonwealth countries

The very wide powers conferring upon the country's legislature under the Soulbury constitution were proclaimed on July 10th 1947, a general election was to be held in consequent to it. Accordingly 95 members were to be elected and six to be nominated. In terms of the Soulbury Constitution, the Legislature was called the Parliament. The Parliament was to be composed of three institutions, the King of England, the House of Representatives and the Senate alias the Upper House. Under the Soulbury Constitution the Governor was the nominal executive and the representative of the British Monarch. He was to be appointed on the advice of the Prime Minister. The Senate was to comprise 30 members.

Under the Independence Act, the Parliament had full powers of introducing new laws and to replace the Governor -General, the power to sign international treaties and to appoint governmental officials etc. By then S. J. V. Chelwanayagam has severed his connection with the Tamil Congress and formed a new party called Federal Party. He instead of supporting a Unitary State, clamoured for a Federal State. The new era of the common man dawned with S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike coming into power in 1956.

It is also significant that the new government established diplomatic relations with socialist countries in addition to the existing relations with the commonwealth countries. Taking into consideration the claims made by minority Tamils, both S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike and Mr. Dudley Senanayake made every possible endeavour to enter into a pact with Chelvanayagam for the purpose of resolving differences, but unfortunately they failed due to various influences and interference.

Sirimavo Bandaranaike came into power in 1970 obtaining two thirds majority in the Parliament and the First Republican constitution was adopted in 1972. Through it, we severed our last vestige of Dominion Status of Britain and obtained full freedom. According to the new constitution adopted on May 22, 1972, Sri Lanka was made an Independent Sovereign Republic. There after the Prime Minister and the Cabinet of Ministers performed in a system similar to that of the Westminster Model.

1972 Republican Constitution had conferred Buddhism the foremost place and guaranteed to protect it, and to foster it's a governments’ responsibility while protecting and safeguarding the rights of the other religions. Article 18 categorically guaranteed that the law should be absolutely and impeccably fair and reasonable to every citizen and that one could enjoy freedom of thought and conscience, freedom and to profess any religion, the right to live in any part of the country etc. Guaranteeing of such rights could be seen as a very desirable trend.

In 1977, exercising its 5/6 majority, the UNP Government elected, pledged to establish a righteous society under the 1978 the Second Republican Constitution. It sought to strengthen State institutions which had been sluggish, up to then. Executive Presidential System with absolute executive powers was created. Very wide constitutional reforms were introduced to bring about desirable changes in the economic, social and political spheres. This Second Republican Constitution had both desirable and undesirable changes upon the Sri Lankan society. The open economic policy adopted by the government to expedite the process of development could not reach the expected beneficial results mainly due to fact that the country had to face a very cruel, and prolonged war. Sri Lanka in order to establish a strong democratic country strove to reach development targets. At times many amendments were brought in a very short period thereby creating serious crises and adverse consequences.

Historic political revolution

The adoption of the 17th Amendment to the Constitution in 2001 became very impressive as it introduced a constitutional council and independent commissions to ensure the smooth functioning of the government administration in compliance with the values and norms of democracy. In 2010 the 18th Amendment was enacted abolishing the 17th Amendment with a view to achieving the personal and selfish ambitions of the powers-that-be. This amendment cast a black path on the fabric of political history of our country and thereby turned our political scenario topsy-turvy.

The 19th Constitutional Amendment was enacted abolishing the 18th Amendment and brought in independent commissions to fulfil the aspirations of the people and to consolidate democracy. This was the result of the historic political revolution that took place on January 8, 2015. The 19th amendment is the high watermark of democratic evolution of the country.

During the last seven decades after the independence, our efforts to establish a peaceful State underpinned by sustainable development have been made inefficient and ineffective by the 30 year war and also by the insurrections in 1971 and in 1987/88 we had to encounter. More than 60 thousand lives were devoured by this devastating war and it unleashed a near total destruction to our economy. Government's lacking adroitness, have followed inimical economic policies to such an extent, that we are now caught in the debt trap of enormous of foreign debts.

The present government which has vowed to establish a righteous society is determined to take a new course of action to bring about reconciliation among the communities and to ensure sustainable economic growth, to uphold the rule of law, to ensure the independence of the judiciary, to protect and safeguard democratic rights, the right to information etc. Further the Government is committed to effect transition in the country to ensure the establishment of a law-abiding State which upholds the tenets of justice.

The extension of the blessings of the people for the first time to form a National Government with the key role to be played by the two main political parties could be considered a landmark in the history of the country. It is indeed very significant that all possible measures have been taken to restore democracy while ensuring the independence of the judiciary and upholding the rule of law, which would protect and safeguard the salient features and values of democracy and transforming a country plunged into wilderness, vibrant again in the light of democracy and freedom.

So far, even after the lapse of 69 years after independence, we have failed to realize the vision of our forefathers. We have to attribute it to the unfortunate situation prevailing in the country.

Now we have pulled ourselves out of that dark period and are heading towards an era of prosperity where there is lasting communal amity which would finally bring about sustainable economic development.

Therefore let us think in a sense of brotherhood, sinking all our differences, such as caste, colour and creed and join hands with one another in a spirit of goodwill as Sri Lankans. Time is opportune for us to usher in a new era where all can live in peace and harmony.

Chiran Jayatu Sri Lanka! 

 


Add new comment