|
|
 |
 |
| Sunday, 13 June 2004 |
 |
|
 |
Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
The day S.W.R.D. waved at me I was a young school boy then, my home town being Meewala in the Attanagalla electorate. As my schooling was done in Colombo, I was staying with one of our relations at Campbell Place, Borella, and used to come home only during school holidays and weekends. I had some cousins also living close to Campbell Place and sometimes they too joined me in my trips to home.
One day, his supporters had arranged a meeting in a neighbouring village, Kittammahara, and Mr.Bandaranaike was scheduled to address the meeting as the chief guest. The venue was a volleyball ground and there was a very large crowd gathered to see and listen to him. He arrived right on schedule in his car, neatly dressed in that white national costume. There was no fleet of escort vehicles or armed guards, not even a single policeman around to guard him. Obviously the common masses were his bodyguards. He was speaking for about half-an-hour, and my cousin, Francis and I were standing on an elevated ground away from the volleyball pit in order to get a better view of him. Great humanitarian Dignity, simplicity and friendliness were all wrapped up in this great humanitarian. After addressing the meeting and when he was about to go, suddenly he turned around, stretched his right hand high in the air and waved at me and my cousin with that friendly high-voltage smile of his. I can still remember this as if it was yesterday, but I am still wondering why he singled out both of us and waved at us that way, very well knowing we did not even have any voting rights yet. Well, soon the polling day came and then he scored a history-making landslide victory. Everyone was rejoicing his victory. There was no post election violence whatsoever. Also I can remember, it was after becoming the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka (then known as Ceylon), he began to write a story titled, "Maha Hene riri Yaka" which appeared in instalments either in Silumina or Lankadeepa, which I can't exactly remember now. Everyone was reading this story at that time. In those days newspapers were not so freely available as it is now. Only the market place or the temple had it. Though being a Christian, I used to get to the nearby temple every Sunday to read this story as I always liked to read thrillers and adventure stories, the same way I used to read those Western comic books of Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Tarzen, Davy Crokette, etc.-they were my heroes at that time and had their pictures hung all over my room until at later years, those places were taken by pictures of Elvis Presly, Ricky Nelson, Pat Boone, Jim Reeves and such teenage idols, for Rock `n' Roll era has dawned. The second and the last time I saw Mr. Bandaranaike was when I accompanied my mother to his residence at Rosmead Place on an official matter as my mother was the secretary of a local women organization. I can remember how he came out and spoke to my mother in a very friendly, clear-cut tone. He was never too busy to meet and talk to people for he was within reach of anybody. He thought he had a special mission in life, i.e. to serve the people. In doing so he made many sacrifices. Even part of his ancestral property, Horagolla Estate, was distributed free among the landless. Greatest revolutionary He was also the greatest revolutionary in local politics, not a violent one at that, but somebody like Mahatma Gandhi. He was a great statesman, above petty politics. During his short span of political life, he has left many a indelible landmark in modern history. I can remember how untiringly he pursued in making Sri Lanka also a member of the United Nations. In doing that he had to surmount many obstacles. At first, it was Russia who objected to our entry into the World Body branding Sri Lanka as a close alley of Britain, citing the then British Naval Base at Trincomalee as an example. But he could eliminate all such misunderstandings through friendly negotiations. When he made Sri Lanka's maiden speech at the UNO after obtaining its membership, mass media referred to him as 'UNO's Silver Tongue'. At that time there were only a fewer countries represented in the UN. Not even China or Japan had gained membership and he urged that they too should be admitted into this World Body without delay. In this regard I have been preserving a very rare, hard bound, 609 page book, published in 1963 where most of his important speeches and writings are recorded, included the first speech he made at the UN General Assembly on November 22, 1956. It is recorded on pages 379 to 390 in this book I am referring to. Including in it are also some of his early speeches made at the Oxford University where he was an undergraduate from 1921 to 1924. Some people tried to brand him as an anti-Western politician which was totally incorrect. I can even remember some of my school mates used to say, now that Mr.Bandaranaike has come into power, soon he will ban the import of Western comic books or even Elvis Presly records as was done by Russia. Obviously they were only repeating what they have overheard from others. No such thing ever happened. There was a free flow of comic books, records, movies, even bubble gum pictures, and such items of Western origin. As a promoter of Western music, I used to get a specially recorded half-hour Christmas programme done by that renowned singer, Hank Snow all the way from Nashville, Tennessee, USA. This was an extremely popular program broadcast over SLBC both on its local and ALL-Asia beams over many years, even during Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike era. Mr Bandaranaike was the first politician who talked about non-aligned foreign policy, which gave birth to the league of Non Aligned Nations. He always believed in gentleman politics where every citizen should enjoy equal rights irrespective of class, creed or nationality. - Jayaratne Perera |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security Produced by Lake House |
It was somewhere in the mid 50s Mr.S.W.R.D.Bandaranaike formed the Sri
Lanka Freedom Party and was contesting the Parliamentary Elections. He was
an instant hit in the political arena, for almost overnight his name
became a household name, and people began to talk about him with great
respect and adoration. He was a living legend for many and some even
called him `Prince Diyasena born'. Being a very young boy I was not
eligible for voting, but I can I remember how my friends and I proudly
wore those paper badges bearing Mr. Bandaranaike's picture. We were his
fans.
