Tribute to a shining star in the political firmament

Reviewed by Indrajith Coomaraswamy

Sirimavo Bandaranaike was a dominant figure for much of Sri Lanka's post-Independence history. For four decades, she was at the heart of the country's politics. The world remembers her as the first woman Prime Minister. It is entirely fitting, therefore, that there should be a Commemorative Volume honouring both this achievement and her distinguished political career. The editor and sponsors of this volume have been successful in mobilising a cast of contributors of the highest calibre and eminence, a number of whom worked very closely with her. They are to be commended for producing a volume that is not merely a hagiography. Instead, it offers a much dispassionate analysis of her life and times.

SIRIMAVO Honouring the world’s first woman Prime Minister memoirs, photographs and key speeches of Mrs. Bandaranaike Published by The Bandaranaike Museum Committee

A common thread that runs through the whole volume, particularly the memoirs of those who worked closely with her, is that Mrs Bandaranaike was a woman with personal characteristics of the highest quality. These were reflected in her multiple roles as wife, mother and national leader. Her integrity, sincerity, caring nature, courtesy and strong sense of duty are acknowledged by all. There is also consensus that the manner in which she conducted her foreign policy provides an exemplary template for a country with Sir Lanka's geopolitical realities.

On domestic matters, the Volume brings out a much more mixed record. This was probably inevitable, as Mrs Bandaranaike was centrally caught up in a turbulent post-colonial history marked by a confluence of social and economic trends that have resulted in two youth insurrections and a separatist conflict. The politics of handling these historic forces have hitherto proved too challenging for all of Sri Lanka's leaders. A number of the contributions allude to the fact that well-intentioned policies resulted in perverse outcomes because the overall landscape, both domestic and external, was often complex and difficult.

Personality

In reviewing this Volume on a thematic basis, one can start by asking the question: What kind of person was the world's first woman prime minister? Here, Dharmasiri Peiris' personal memoir and Bradman Weerakoon's tribute provide the perspectives and insights of two people who worked extremely closely with her as her Secretary.

Pieris recalls her visible growth in stature and maturity while in office, as well as her increasing self-confidence and the capacity "not to be hustled or intimidated" even by the formidable figures, particularly in her second Cabinet (1970-77). He also points out that she valued the advice of bright and experienced persons, but ultimately she made the decisions. In addition, Peiris shares the valuable insights of an insider on her approach to work.

Peiris also records his appreciation of her understanding of the role of public servants and her scrupulous avoidance of requesting them to engage in any party political activity. While Mrs Bandaranaike's personal conduct was exemplary in this respect, Jayampathy Wickramaratne, in his article on the 1972 Constitution, points that "the entire public service was placed under the control of the political executive, eroding the independence it enjoyed." He points out that this was the outcome of a policy intended to reduce the capacity of the bureaucracy to obstruct decision-making and perpetuate the status quo. The disconnent between Mrs Bandaranaike's extremely high personal standards and the actions of her governments is a recurring theme.

Insight

Bradman Weerakoon, in his Tribute, offers penetrating insights into her political philosophy and the benchmarks she would have set to assess her own performance. He writes that she was a loyal supporter, at most times, of her husband's twin policies of socialism, which she interpreted as putting people first, and fostering national pride, a loyalty to things local and the cultural heritage of the country. Weerakoon goes on to posit that she herself would want to be judged by the extent to which she was able to advance her husband's vision: the four freedoms (from ignorance, ill health, want and fear). He argues that her resolution of the "Indian Question"; her preservation of the "welfare state" in the context of a hostile external economic environment (including the first oil price crisis); her leadership of the Non-aligned Movement and her role in the emergence of the Global South; and her constitutional reforms (1972) that cut the umbilical cord of connection with the former colonial power should be seen "as mileposts in the evolution of her husband's dream for 21st century Sri Lanka.

Sam Wijesinha, long-time Secretary-General of Parliament, and confidante of many political leaders, in his piece on "Mrs Bandaranaike in Parliament," stresses that she possessed "a quality somewhat rare in a political personality, sincerity, that unique quality to which leaders she came into contact with responded warmly." He identifies this as an important determinant of her many foreign policy successes. Mr Wijesinha points out that the attempted coup of 1962 was a major challenge faced by her during her first stint as Prime Minister. He also cites instances which highlighted Mrs Bandaranaike's commitment to, and respect, for Parliament.

Deprived people

Ramya Chamalie Jirasinghe's essay on "Mrs Sirimavo Bandaranaike and the Lanka Mahila Samiti (LMS)" provides important background to understanding the making of the first Woman Prime Minister. Her "radala" upbringing bred in her a strong sense of duty towards those who depended on her, particularly the poor and vulnerable. Ms Jirasinghe argues that this was reinforced through her work with LMS, which brought her into contact with some of the most deprived people in the country, at a time when ordinary village life was being devastated by the twin effects of the Great Depression and a severe malaria epidemic.

Valuable insights into Mrs Bandaranaike as a person, particularly her compassion can also be gained from selected writings of the late Tilak Gooneratne, who was Sri Lanka's High Commissioner in London during the 1971 Insurrection, and the Prime Minister's correspondence with his wife.

Mrs Bandaranaike's contribution, as Foreign Minister, has received acclaim in Sri Lanka and abroad. The Commemorative Volume does full justice to this aspect of her career, with contributions notably from Ambassador Jayantha Dhanapala, one of Sri Lanka's most eminent diplomats, who was also a UN Under Secertary-General; and the late Lakshman Kadirgamar, whom many consider to be Sri Lanka's second best Foreign Minister after Mrs Bandaranaike herself. Her role in the founding of the Non-aligned Movement (1961) and the chairing of its summit (1976); the signing of the Sirima-Shastri Pact; her leadership in convening the Colombo Conference (six non-aligned nations) as a means of mediating in the Sino-Indian War (1962); the permitting of refuelling facilities for Pakistan's aircraft during the Bangladesh War while still maintaining excellent relations with India; the resolution of the Kachchativu issue; and her initiative to establish an "Indian Ocean Peace Zone" are all covered authoritatively by the eminent contributors.

Commitment

Analysis is also provided on Mrs Bandaraike's firm commitment to Non-alignment and her leadership role within the movement; her ability to maintain excellent relations with India, while having close ties with Pakistan and strengthening the relationship with China; her support for the Palestinian cause and her renown in the Arab world; and her success in maintaining her support of the West. The success of her Non-aligned policies was amply demonstrated when her call for assistance during the 1971 Insurrection was answered by countries from across the whole spectrum of international politics.

The late Kadirgamar said: "She took sensible, practical decisions from day to day on matters of foreign policy, bearing in mind always this concept of non-alignment, of fairness, of justice, of trying to work out solutions on a practical and pragmatic basis." Ambassador Dhanapala writes: "Decades later, the name of Sirimavo Bandaranaike, among Sri Lanka's leaders, remains best known internationally.

That is a tribute to a leader whose flair for international relations was intuitive and innate, and whose style in the conduct of foreign policy, the metier in which, unlike many of her predecessors and successors, she excelled, was intensely personal." It is also recorded that she was the first person to appoint a career diplomat as an Ambassador and Head of Mission and that she was committed to giving the Foreign Service its due.

An Indian perspective on "Srimati Lanka" is provided by Ambassador Gopalakrishna Gandhi, grandson of the Mahatma and senior Indian diplomat, who was also High Commisioner in Sri Lanka. He concludes "Sirimavo Bandaranaike was no ordinary woman. But this wasn't just because she was the world's first woman Prime Minister."

Foreign policy

While the narratives on Mrs Bandaranaike as a person and her foreign policy are extremely positive, the essays on her domestic policies convey a far more mixed picture. Jayadeva Uyangoda explores Sri Lanka's process of state formation under the United Front (UF) government of 1970. His analysis draws two major conclusions: (i) the ethnicisation of the politics of electoral democracy made the evolution of a pluralistic state virtually impossible and resulted in the emergence of a state with an ethnic majoritarian character; and (ii) Emergency Rule, which has virtually become the norm in Sri Lanka since 1971, has facilitated the transition from a broadly liberal democratic state to an illiberal authoritarian state.

Dr.Uyangoda points out that Dr Colvin R.de Silva, one of the key architects of the 1972 Constitution, had subsequently described the Emergency as facilitating "legislation by the Executive." Dr Uyangoda also highlights the coming to maturity of the shift in the class basis of the state, initiated in the mid-1950s. He writes: "a new bloc of intermediate social classes in the Sinhalese society developed a shared commitment to seeking and securing state power." Dr.Uyangoda argues that Mrs Bandaranaike's success in securing parity of status for this power bloc with the UNP-led bloc comprising the "capitalist, landed and professional elites was no mean feat." However, in my view, while it was certainly a progressive development, this also created fault lines in Sri Lankan society based on class and ethnicity, which still remain unresolved.

Education

Swarna Jayaweera's essay on "Facets of Education in the 1960s and 1970s in Sri Lanka" provides fascinating insights into the education policies of the Mrs Bandaranaike's two governments. She points out that the whole focus of the 1960-65 period was the extension of educational opportunity, while the emphasis in 1970-77 was on the restructuring of education as a response to the pressures of the economic and political environment. In her view, the reforms of the 1970s were an immediate response to the high incidence of youth unemployment and unrest. Professor Jayaweera indicates that the 1972 reforms were "a massively ambitious exercise to change the structure and content of education" and that the reforms attempted to integrate academic education and aspects of vocational education through a reorientation of the curriculum.

Professor Jayaweera records that despite the expansion of opportunities, access to science education was highly skewed. She recalls that the policy response to this was not a focus on improving school facilities in disadvantaged districts, but changes to selection procedures in University admissions. She states that, in 1971, lower marks were accepted from Sinhala medium students to qualify for University admission, while language-based standardisation (manipulation of marks) and district quotas based on population distribution were introduced from 1973 and 1976 respectively. District-based quotas benefited students from disadvantaged districts. However, according to Professor Jayaweera: "the alienation of Tamil students and their families arising from media-wise standardisation exacerbated the traumatic ethnic conflict and led to the exodus of professionals overseas seeking higher education opportunities for their children."

On a personal note, as an individual belonging to that particular social group, I would argue that media-wise standardisation, though relatively short-lived, had a major impact even on Tamils who were integrated into the country's mainstream. It undermined their faith in the system and created a sense of not belonging. Professor Jayaweera contends that with the benefit of hindsight, "a phased policy to extend equal opportunity to those in disadvantaged districts would have proved a more beneficial and enduring approach." However, politicians under pressure, following the 1971 Insurrection, were in too much of a hurry to arrive at such a policy outcome.

Professor Jayaweera concludes that the focus on promoting equal educational opportunity, in 1960-65, served to prevent the "emasculation of free education in subsequent decades." However, she argues that the reforms of the 1970s served to illustrate the "vocational fallacy" in education.

Retrospective

Jayampathy Wickramaratne's erudite retrospective on the first Republican Constitution provides not only an excellent analysis of its strengths and weaknesses but also insights into some of the internal dynamics within the constitution-making process.

Jawid Yusuf, in his essay on "Mrs Bandaranaike and the Minorities," makes the case for minority engagement in the mainstream political parties. He argues that this was a view shared by Mrs Bandaranaike herself. Mr Yusuf contends that it was: "a misrepresentation of facts to suggest that her policies were deliberately designed to adversely affect minorities. The more accurate reading of Mrs Bandaranaike's policies was that, even in the occasional situations where a negative impact was felt by the minorities, it was the result of well-intentioned but badly thought-out policy rather than a deliberate targeting of the minorities." He argues that she foresaw the dangers arising from communal parties and identified them as an obstruction to the resolution of the grievances of any community in a pluralist society. He cites a number of measures which, in his view, were intended to ensure that minorities were "an integral part of the Sri Lankan nation": fulfilling the promise to establish a university in Jaffna; a conscious policy of ensuring Tamil and Muslim representation on the boards of Statutory Bodies and Government Corporations; agricultural policies that benfited the Jaffna farmer (whom she described as an "embodiment of intelligence, hard work, perseverance and thrift"); the educational upliftment of the Muslims; and an inclusion of a proposal to create a non-contiguous unit of all Muslim majority areas in the North and East in the manifesto for the Presidential Elections for 1988.

Socialism

Leelananda de Silva, an eminent economist, who has held senior positions both in Sri Lanka and abroad, has addressed Mrs Bandaranaike's role in economic affairs in his essay. He cites Lesjek Kolakowski's definition of socialism to encapsulate Mrs Bandaranaike's philosophy: "an obstinate will to erode by inches the conditions which produce avoidable suffering." He points out that the dominant economic paradigm at the time involved significant state engagement in socio-economic development. This was a time when Dependency Theory was prominent, and the seminal work by Prebisch and Singer influenced many governments to pursue autarkic import-substitution strategies.

Mr de Silva recounts that economic policy-making at that time was collegial and Ministers had significant authority to develop their own agenda. Hence compromises had to be made. Overall, the economic policies pursued by Mrs Bandaranaike's governments were markedly less successful than her foreign policy. By 1977, the economy was afflicted by low growth, low investment and high unemployment

De Silva sees Land Reform as the major policy action of the 1970-77 period. He writes: "the Insurgency of 1971 was interpreted by the government, at the time, as a call, among other things, for economic relief through land reform." This may be attributed to the disillusionment of unemployed rural youth.

In Mrs Bandaranaike's time, planning was taken down to the regional level for the first time and a new Planning Service was created.

Negotiations

De Silva recalls that the years 1970-77 were also those during which North-South negotiations on a New International Economic Order were at their peak. Initially, as the Chair-in-Waiting and then as Chair of the NAM, Mrs Bandaranaike and Sri Lanka were very much at the heart of these negotiations. Mr de Silva also points out that she played an important role in Dr Gamani Corea's appointment as the Director-General of UNCTAD. During this period, Mrs Bandaranaike made several important proposals, two of which led to the establishment of IFAD and an International Fertiliser Subsidy Scheme (subsequently closed). De Silva provides interesting insights into these campaigns. Her active involvement in the field of international relations in agriculture resulted in her being awarded the prestigious CERES Medal by the FAO.

Ambassador Manel Abeysekera writes: "The significant impact of Mrs Bandaranaike's advocacy of women's rights was both implicit in her persona, in which femininity and motherhood and empowerment were synthesised, and explicit in her words and actions." She points out that Mrs Bandaranaike believed that the denial of equal rights to women was a blemish on the face of civilisation.

Photographs

The Commemorative Volume contains historic photographs and a selection of important domestic and international speeches by Mrs Bandaranaike.

This book vividly reinforces the fact that Madam Sirimavo Bandaranaike has left an indelible imprint on the history of Sri Lanka. She was, by common consent, a woman with extraordinary qualities. Her conduct of Foreign Policy is unsurpassed in post-Independence Sri Lanka. He less successful domestic policy had to contend with the challenges of: (i) having to implement the progressive project of advancing the interests of the power bloc that emerged in 1956 in the context of zero sum economic conditions created by dramatic terms of trade decline and demographic pressure; and (ii) the need to respond immediately to an armed insurrection prosecuted by youth who originated from her own political base. The confluence of these pressures generated challenges that her governments were not able to address effectively. To be fair by Mrs Bandaranaike, it is possible that no government would have been able to do so.

This Commemorative Volume touches on all aspects of Mrs Bandaranaike's life. The editor and sponsors are to be congratulated for assembling a stellar cast of contributors to produce a publication that honours an extraordinary life.

BOOK LAUNCH

Swarna Varna

Jayakody Seneviratne's latest Sinhala novel Swarna Varna will be launched at Dayawansa Jayakody Bookshop, Colombo 10 on March 29 at 10 a.m.

Seneviratne is an award-winning author. He is the author of several other Sinhala novels such as Kumarihamy, Lokuputha, Vajirapani, Kolaniya, Athavesiyo, Sudu Rukara, Rantharuva, Rubara Doni, Hithuvakkari and Ridi Sela.

Swarna Varna is a Dayawansa Jayakody publication.

Tourism and Gender Relations - A sociological analysis

Saman Handaragama's Tourism and Gender Relations - A sociological analysis will be launched at the National Library and Documentation Services Board auditorium, Colombo 7 today at 3.30 p.m.

The book presents a sociological analysis of the changing gender relations in a coastal community in the south of Sri Lanka.

Dr. Subhangi Herath will make a critical evaluation of the book. Mahinda Pathirana will speak on "Postmodernism and the rising world," Dr. Ramanie Jayatilaka will be the chief guest at the launching ceremony.