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| Sunday, 14 November 2004 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Memoirs of Sirima R.D.Bandaranaike : Formation of UNP and after When the Party had to face the General Elections in 1956, which came rather suddenly, because Sir John dissolved Parliament one year earlier. S.W.R.D. did not have the ready cash to spend for the Party at the Elections. Mostly, all his candidates were not people with much means. They were mainly rural base persons.
There were no capitalists to give him funds unlike for the UNP. So he had to depend on whatever he had of his own money and those of his friends and well-wishers who were able to contribute their little mite to the Election Fund. So S.W.R.D. decided to take a loan from the Bank for which he had to mortgage a property in Colombo. The only property he had in Colombo was the house we lived in Rosmead Place. The deeds were examined by Bank Lawyers and the usual procedure followed to see that there were no encumbrances. As there were none, the Loan was approved. But something strange happened somewhere, and he never got the loan. From a very reliable source, he (SWRD) heard that instructions were given from the top not to give the loan to him. This was done, I feel, as not to give him the loan. They never expected him to offer his only property (his living house) for the mortgage. Intrigues Fortunately, for him, a lawyer friend who was aware of the intrigues that were going on to stop the loan realising the injustices done to him, came to him like a 'Messiah' and offered to give him that amount of money he needed as a loan even without interest to be returned after the Elections. The late, Mr. A. P. Jayasuriya and I had to sign the pro-note for the purpose. This is what you call 'a real friend in need'. After the Election was over, and S.W.R.D. became Prime Minister, the Bank Chairman who adopted delaying tactics in the granting of the loan, and who even treated him shabbily by keeping him waiting long outside his room when S.W.R.D. went to meet him to discuss the loan before the election, became very polite and courteous to him after he became Prime Minister. He offered to grant the loan which had already been approved before the election, but not granted because of pressure from the top.
Anyway, S.W.R.D. took the loan because he had to pay it back to the lender who was good enough to give it to him even without interest. As he did not live long - only 3 1/2 years as Prime Minister, when he met with his untimely death, it fell upon my shoulders to pay back this loan. I kept on paying it in instalments as stipulated in the Loan Agreement. Though he had vast acreages of land left for him by his late father, they did not bring him the income it should have, due to neglect and robbing. Whatever he got, he used for his politics. And in addition, after his death, we were called upon to pay heavy death duties for which we had to sell some properties. So I paid back the loan with whatever I got including my allowance as Prime Minister. UNP tactics I have only mentioned a few instances of the tactics used by the UNP to obstruct S.W.R.D. in his political life while he was a member of the UNP Government and after he left. The so-called newspapers, particularly Lake House continuously carried on a campaign of vilification and maligning him at every turn. They were out to destroy him politically. No doubt it made his path very difficult. We had to fight the newspapers all the way and in spite of them, he finally succeeded. Lake House commission The Lake House commission report had this to say: "The impression that the Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd., as a matter of policy, supported the United National Party and what are called the local capitalist interests had been widely held in this country. That that impression is an accurate one became apparent to us from documents produced before us as well as from the evidence given by the directors themselves. As a result of this policy of the newspaper company supporting the United National Party during its periods of rule in this country as well as generally opposing and criticising other Parties during the latter's turns of office, the company fell into disfavour with the Parties opposed to the United National Party." In November 1956, S.W.R.D. had to go abroad to New Delhi to meet Prime Minister Nehru and some other Asian leaders for a discussion on the Suez crisis. This was a serious concern and a delicate issue to World Peace. After the leaders met in Delhi, it was decided that S.W.R.D. go to New York and represent them at the United Nations and express their concern, etc. He returned to Ceylon, and within a few days left for New York via London. I too accompanied him. We stopped in London for just a day to enable him to meet Sir Anthony Eden, then Prime Minister of Britain to discuss with him the problems of the Suez war. They had a lengthy discussion and finally S.W.R.D. had advised him to withdraw his troops and commence negotiations. The old association and friendship at Christ Church probably had some bearing on the discussions, because on our return from New York, we again stayed over in London for a few days. While we were at dinner at the High Commissioner's residence (Sir Claude Corea) he got a call from Mr. Selwyn Lloyd requesting him to see him at his residence. In answer to his call, S.W.R.D. with the High Commissioner went to his flat. He had announced to him that Sir Anthony Eden had wanted him informed that he had decided to withdraw his troops and commence negotiations. Naturally, S.W.R.D. has told him how happy he was to hear this news. Sir Anthony Eden was out of London at the time. Soon after that he resigned from the Premiership. S.W.R.D. was so excited at the news that he had forgotten and left his pipe and pouch at Mr. Selwyn Lloyd's Flat. Next morning, Sir Claude went and collected it. The troops were withdrawn and the war ended. At UN At the United Nations, S.W.R.D. made his address and expressed serious concern and spoke strongly against the action taken by Britain. He said: "The moment that even a token United Nations force is established on Egyptian territory, it will be sufficient occasion, in the interests of us all, for Israeli forces to be withdrawn behind the armistice line, and British and French forces to be withdrawn from Egyptian territory. I cannot conceive that either Egypt or Israel would make an assault upon forces of the United Nations. I just do not believe it. So that it is really not required for a large force of the United Nations to be present before those forces are withdrawn. The first and the most vital thing is a withdrawal of forces from Egyptian territory now as early as possible. If that does not happen, even if under the guise of "volunteers" - and we know what "volunteers" mean - other countries, in order to secure the observance of the decisions of the United Nations, take steps, I fear that the results may be very far-reaching and all our efforts so far may be swept away in a moment. There is another important thing, of course: the early clearing of the Suez Canal. That is very important to all of us, particularly to my country. Most of the trade of Ceylon - seventyfive per cent of it - passes through the Suez Canal. I take it that, not only for us but for other countries, Western as well as Asian, it is important that the Suez Canal be cleared as early as possiblde. I feel that it should be done under the auspices of the United Nations. There is one point regarding that matter, namely, whether the clearing of the Canal should start at once in full force, prior to any substantial withdrawal of foreign forces from Egyptian territory or whether it should begin subsequent to that. I hope that such quibbles will not stand in the way of the practice of doing the thing that is necessary. I personally feel that a substantial withdrawal of foreign forces from Egyptian territory at once would greatly facilitate the further task of clearing up the Suez Canal. I am quite sure that Egypt - at least, this is my hope - will not object to the United Nations, under its flag, using whatever material and tackle - and it is rather specialised tackle which is required for this purpose - that are available, whatever source it happens to come from, in order to clear the Canal. While in London, we visited the House of Commons while it was in session. Fiery speeches were made and the situation was tense and even paper balls (not paper weights) were thrown at each other. The Prime Minister was not there and it was left to the Foreign Secretary to reply. After he became Prime Minister in 1956, it was not at all a period without troubles. There was a spate of strikes engineered by left parties. They hardly gave him time to settle down and get down to govern. Apparently, they feared that he would start implementing his socialist policies which were realistic and much more acceptable than Marxist policies. So the Leftists' tactics was to keep him occupied by settling strikes and not giving him time to implement his policies. And apparently workers too felt that here was a man sympathetic to them and so they wanted to get as much of their demands as possible. I remember, when somebody asked him why are you tolerating all this nonsense of strikes as he called it, his reply was: "You see the UNP Government during their regime never attempted to solve the workers' problems. In fact, they suppressed them and they had no rights. They put a wet blanket over all the problems. They did not want to face them. I have come not to run away or hide from problems, but to solve them. I have lifted that blanket so the problems are coming up. I am now facing the problems and trying to solve them". Harassed Not only the Leftists, reactionaries both outside and within too harassed him - a clear case of a man in the centre being attacked from both extremes. He introduced progressive legislation and laws for the benefit of workers and declared 'May Day' a holiday and a Provident Fund for workers who had no pension rights. But the workers, sorry to say, used these very laws to strike and harass him. If they were sincere, they should have helped him to implement his Socialist policies. S.W.R.D.'s first visit abroad after he became Prime Minister was to U.K. in 1956 to attend the Commonwealth Prime Minsters' Conference in London. I accompanied him. It was a strange coincidence that Sir Anthony Eden who was his contemporary at Oxford and were both in Christ Church occupying the adjoining rooms in the hostel were both Prime Ministers of their respective countries at the same time. He presided at the Conference. In fact, it was said that one day when S.W.R.D. was walking across the courtyard at Oxford, Sir Anthony had remarked: "there goes the future Prime Minister of Ceylon". Ceylon was still a colony then. Lady Eden, niece of Sir Winston Churchill, entertained the wives and daughters of the Prime Ministers who attended the Conference at Downing Street - the British Prime Minister's residence. Indira Gandhi had accompanied her father Prime Minister Nehru. It was there that I met Indira and then subsequently at other Conferences such as the Non-Aligned Conference. We began a friendship that lasted almost 25 years until her death. Sir Anthony and Lady Eden invited my husband and me to spend the week-end at 'Chequers' - the official country home of the British Prime Minister. It was an interesting weekend and they not only discussed politics, but about their days spent at Oxford, which was most interesting to me. While in London, he did not fail to contact the doctor who had saved his life when he was a small boy. Dr. Aldo Castelain was his name. He apparently happened to be in Colombo at the time and he was called in by the family Doctor Rockwood, who diagnosed his ailment to be Diptheria and rather advanced case. He immediately took the patient in hand and cured him. S.W.R.D. contacted the doctor in London and wanted him to lunch with us at the Hotel. The doctor was very happy to see him after so many years. (To be continued) Reproduced with the kind permission of ANCL Editorial Consultant Malalgoda Bandutilleke custodian of the manuscript and pictures. |
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