All about JR’s infamous Referendum
Early
in 1983 I found myself without a job, and out of favour with much of
Colombo. But by then it had become clear to me that Colombo really had
no standards at all, and one really had no moral option at all but to be
an outsider.
This was not because of S. Thomas which fascinating as it had been,
was not at all significant in terms of the country as a whole. Rather,
it was that while the whole esoteric drama of my dismissal was being
played out, the country suffered the worst assault on its integrity it
had had to face since independence.
Civic rights
This was the referendum of 1982, whereby J.R. Jayewardene extended
for six years the life of the Parliament in which he had a massive
majority. This was by virtue of the first past the post system, which he
had recognised was unfair, so he had replaced it with a system of
proportional representation. It was obviously also potentially
destructive because, by having an utterly unrepresentative Parliament,
there was a danger of dissent being driven underground. But then he
decided to keep it going for a further six years through a Referendum,
which he made clear he would use all the powers at his disposal to win.
When I had resigned over the deprivation of Mrs Bandaranaike’s Civic
Rights, which I saw as the first nail in the coffin of the country, most
people thought I was exaggerating the danger. The following year, when
we had the appalling thuggery of the District Development Council
elections in Jaffna, with the burning of the Jaffna Public Library, more
people saw the writing on the wall. And yet, most people in Colombo,
including the Tamil elite, continued complacent. Most of them continued
to believe in Jayewardene, and voted for him at the Referendum.
One of the few who understood the implications of the move was
Chanaka Amaratunga. He had been a protege at Oxford, where I had helped
him get into my college, and then argued his case when he was in danger
of being sent down for total academic indolence, which he justified on
the grounds that politicking at the Oxford Union was more important.
He did, however, get a degree, and then went on to do postgraduate
work in London. He excelled at that, and what began as a Master’s degree
was turned into a doctorate on the advice of his supervisor.
Deep convictions
He used to come back at intervals, which indeed is how I was
persuaded to take up the position at S. Thomas'. He had also set up a
body called the Council for Liberal Democracy, which I was initially
wary of, because he said he had established it with JR’s blessings.
Though he had been upset at the treatment of Mrs Bandaranaike, he
thought my fears were exaggerated, and expressed the belief that, though
some elements in the UNP had authoritarian tendencies, JR himself was
basically decent.I found this ironic, because back in England, in 1978,
which was his freshman year, he had been deeply critical of J R.
I was impressed by the developments in Sri Lanka, and thought JR
entirely responsible for the change, whereas Dudley Senanayake had
seemed to me a leader without much initiative. Chanaka, however, was
deeply critical. Though his loyalty to the UNP was absolute in those
days, he saw Dudley as an utterly decent politician of deep convictions,
while JR was essentially an ambitious intriguer.
By 1980 that had changed. He was less fond of Premadasa than he had
been earlier, when he had told me that Premadasa had nearly joined the
Dudley front, but his real bugbear was Lalith Athulathmudali, whom he
saw as potentially a dictator. He claimed indeed that JR had encouraged
the formation of the CLD so as to provide space for liberal thinkers
such as Gamini Dissanayake, of whom he thought very highly.
In 1981, with the conduct of the DDC elections, Chanaka had begun to
worry. Still, he came back to work for JR’s re-election, when the
Presidential election was advanced to 1982. I missed this, because I was
in Indonesia, but I came back to find the Referendum had been announced.
It was also reported that JR had insisted that his MPs give him undated
letters of resignation, so he could later clean out those who were
unsuitable. I was deeply saddened to find that it was Ranil who was
reported as having gone round distributing and collecting these letters
at the Group Meeting at which JR sprang his surprise.
Referendum
When Chanaka came to see me after that, I told him that I assumed he
would somehow find an excuse for the Referendum too. His answer was
forthright. He felt it was wrong, and he would fight it as best he
could. And so it was that, in the midst of my inquiry I think it was, I
accompanied him to meetings with various people he thought of as Dudley
loyalists, whom he urged to speak out against the Referendum.
I was disappointed at the response. Even those who were categorical
in their condemnation refused to say anything publicly. These included A
C Gooneratne, who had been Chairman of the Party, and Rukman Senanayake,
Dudley’s nephew. They both wanted Chanaka to find more people to join
them, but this proved impossible. JR later got rid of Gooneratne, having
heard about his sentiments, so it struck me as sad that he had not had
the courage of his convictions. It was only Hugh Fernando of those who
had supported Dudley in the struggle between JR and him who took a
stand. He later became the first Chair of the CLD.
Disappointment
So it was only Chanaka and one or two of his younger friends who
campaigned energetically, if not very effectively, with leaflets quoting
Dudley’s declaration that there were some things which should not be
done in a democracy however large the majority. Asitha Perera, who came
from an SLFP family contributed actively, but their other great mate,
Rohan Edrisinha, who was more solidly UNP, was lukewarm.
The great disappointment was Richard. Though initially he had
expressed horror at the idea of the Referendum, he later decided that it
was desirable that the Government continue in a strong position. Lalith
Athulathmudali, who was a great family friend, may have swayed him, but
I also think something of his old rivalry with Chanaka, whom he thought
I was foolish to encourage, may have contributed.
But his essential decency reasserted itself, after he had been to one
or two of the meetings to which Lalith had sent him. He said he found
horrifying the approach of people like the then UNP Chairman, N G P
Panditharatne, whom he had previously thought of as a decent model of
the old school. The instructions had been that the Referendum had to be
won at any cost, and this turned out to include thuggery and
intimidation of the worst sort.
Thus Vijaya Kumaranatunga was thrown into jail on trumped up charges,
essentially because he had proved to be the most effective campaigner
during the Presidential election for Hector Kobbekaduwa, who had emerged
as the SLFP candidate. It was claimed that he had engaged in a Naxalite
plot to take over the Government after a Kobbekaduwa victory, but the
investigation concluded with the assertion that evidence could not be
found, since evidence was naturally thin on the ground when there was a
plot to have a coup after an electoral victory. I used to think that
Tyrell Goonetilleke, supposedly an excellent police officer, had shown
himself hopelessly servile, but I now wonder whether he was not being
openly cynical about the preposterous task he had been given.
Of course the Referendum was won, with massive stuffing of ballot
boxes in addition to intimidation of the Opposition and limitations on
their campaigning. Not entirely surprisingly, the West said nothing,
delighted at the strengthened position of their favourite politician. JR
claim to have rolled up the electoral map for ten years was music to
their ears. |