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by Lalith Edrisinha

Today is the 45th anniversary of the tragic death of the country's then People's Prime Minister S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike.

People’s Prime Minister S.W.R.D.Bandaranaike

Here we reproduce some articles that appeared in the Daily News and Observer on that day and after, to recapture the jovial mood in which the seriously wounded, renowned raconteur and orator bore his injuries and the incredible concern he displayed for his assassin that brought out his innate humaneness, in what has been acknowledged as his finest hour.

The Governor General's message, messages of shock from the capitals of the world on the attempt on his life and messages of grief on the death that followed from all parts of the globe round off the inestimable grief that the sudden demise of the Prime Minister evoked.

His untimely death put paid to all his efforts to bring about communal amity and live up to his repute as a great internationalist.

'Foolish man: show him compassion'

The Prime Minister issued this statement soon after being taken to the operating theatre:

A foolish man dressed in the robes of a bhikkhu fired some shots at me at my bungalow this morning. I appeal to all concerned to show compassion to this man and not try to wreak vengeance on him.

I appeal to the people of my country to be restrained and patient at this time. With the assistance of my doctors I shall make every endeavour to be able to continue such service as I am able to render my people.

I appeal to all to be calm, patient and to do nothing that might cause trouble to the people.

To those closely connected with me, to Mrs. Bandaranaike and my children to the members of the Government and all my friends and well-wishers I make a particular appeal to be calm and to face the present situation with courage and fortitude.

Governor-General's message

"I am speaking to you at a grave moment in the history of this land. The Prime Minister was attacked this morning at his bungalow by an assailant who fired four shots at him at very close range. You have heard the message the Prime Minister gave the nation from the operating theatre of the General Hospital.

"I saw him just before he gave his message and he advised me to take all necessary steps to maintain law and order."

"The operation on the Prime Minister lasted five hours the bulletin issued by the surgeons indicates that the Prime Minister's condition after the long operation is satisfactory though he cannot be considered to be out of danger. The thoughts and prayers of the nation would be for his speedy recovery."

Late PM's last hours

Mr. Bandaranaike was rushed to the General Hospital. He lay on a stretcher for about 30 to 45 minutes pale, but quiet and composed while the X-rays and blood were got ready.

A few seconds before the operation was to begin the Governor-General, Sir Oliver Goonetilleke arrived. he leaned over and whispered something to the Prime Minister who replied "do everything that you think is necessary."

The two surgeons Dr. P.R. Anthonis and Dr. T.D.H. Perera moved over to the operating table. The two anaesthetists Dr. C. Umagaliya and Dr. S. Ponnambalam walked up from the far end of the theatre. Around stood Professor M.V.P. Peiris,Dr. Noel Bartholomeusz, Dr. L.D.C. Austin, Dr. Milroy Paul, Dr. C.J.L. Misso, Dr. J.H.F. Jayasuriya and several other surgeons.

Heart stopped

The hushed whisper died down as Dr. Anthonis steadied himself to begin the operation. He had barely touched the skin when some of those watching emitted a gasp. The anaesthetist had announced a stoppage in the beating of the heart.

Dr. T.D.H. Perera immediately cut through the abdomen and massaged the heart while Dr. Anthonis started repairing the badly damaged liver. The two surgeons worked in an almost eerie silence punctuated by the occasional thud of instruments as they came off the trays or were pushed into them.

The operation proceeded with Dr. Anthonis repairing the stomach, small bowel, large bowel and, the pancreas. Simultaneously Dr. Perera was working on the region of the chest from where he removed a bullet and repaired the damage.

The clock in the operating theatre ticked away, the two surgeons working feverishly. The elaborate blood transfusion apparatus was being employed to pump blood, seven-and-half pints in all, into the patient.

Dr. Anthonis and Dr. Perera looked up 330 minutes after the patient had been brought in and signalled to their assistants to wheel the patient out.

The surgeons threw off their blood stained overalls and rushed to the ward. After a few anxious minutes they began to relax. The post operative recovery appeared to be gratifying. The patient did not show signs of shock, and had a good pulse and pressure.

All relaxed

The anxiety was dying down. At 6 pm the patient was talking freely and showed little signs of pain.

Mrs. Bandaranaike, her brothers and some friends were beside the patient. The Prime Minister kept up a running chatter but interrupted it frequently to ask his wife almost in whispers: "Why did that monk shoot me." Mrs. Bandaranaike took her husband's hand and reassured him: "Don't worry about that you better get well soon," she said.

At 6.30 pm the surgeons held a quick consultation and decided to administer sedatives to keep the patient quiet. Physical and mental rest were vital.

The patient went into a deep slumber. Mrs. Bandaranaike sat beside her husband. The children had a look at the father and left for home. The surgeons kept a watching brief.

With the first streaks of day-light on Saturday the patient stirred again. A few minutes and he was wide awake. Two doctors walked up and asked him to show them his tongue. He cracked "ah ah you want to see my famous tongue."

The chatter began again, and when the surgeons came in he said: "You have now seen my guts haven't you?" The surgeon replied "Sir you are doing very well," Pat came the answer: "Don't you know, we politicians are a tough lot."

End came swiftly

At 7 am the Govern-General called again. The Prime Minister on seeing him said: "Your Excellency, I will have to cancel my trip to the United Nations. I don't feel fit enough."

Several times he moved his hand across and held his wife's hand. He was now very calm and quite. At 7.20 am the patient complained that he was feeling warm and asked to be sponged.

At 7.30 am the patient began to breathe heavily. His pulse was feeble. The surgeons looked on gravely. Again a heavy silence shrouded the room. The pulse was taken several times. At 7.45 am the doctors pronounced him dead.

Mrs. Bandaranaike hardly spoke. She looked on ashen faced her eyes heavy with sorrow. The end had come so suddenly.

Outside the room the doctors were in a cluster. They were telling each other how bravely the patient had borne it all. One of them observed: "I never saw a man face death so boldly, reacting to pain and serious operative procedure so jovially and so calmly.

'An outstanding man has gone' United Nations, Sep. 26

"Delegates attending the 14th session of the general assembly expressed shock and horror at the assassination of Mr. Bandaranaike.

"An Indian spokesman said it was "a most tragic affair". A stream of visitors went to the home of SIR CLAUDE COREA, Ceylon's Resident Representative, to offer their condolences, among the first callers were Mr. Vazili Kuzanesov, Soviet Deputy Foreign Minister and Mr. V. K. Krishna Menon, India's Defence Minister.

"Sir Pierson Dixon, Britain's resident representative, was also due to call on Sir Claude today."

NEW YORK: "The New York morning newspapers gave the assassination of Mr. Bandaranaike, top prominent positions on their front pages.

"The New York Times" carried 150 words on its front page with a photo and almost, a column inside. "The Herald Tribune" ran a half-column story under a two-column head and 100 words inside.

"Both "The News" and "Mirror" gave prominent position to the story under three and two column leads."

WASHINGTON: "The death of the Ceylon Prime Minister, shocked diplomatic circles here today.

"They expressed the hope that his assassination would not gravely disturb the political stability of a country with which the United States had close and friendly relations.

"Mr. Bandaranaike himself was regarded here as one of his country's ablest leaders and it was felt he would be sorely missed.

"News of Mr. Bandaranaike's death reached New York long after the United Nations delegates had dispersed for the week-end.

"Officials relayed it to the President of the General Assembly, Dr. Victor Andres Balaunde of Peru, and the Secretary-General, Mr. Dag Hammarskjoeld.

"Formal tributes to Mr. Bandaranaike will be paid when the Assembly meets again on Monday. He himself had planned to speak there next Friday during the world affairs debate.

"Mr. Bandaranaike came to the United Nations in 1956 and addressed the Assembly, impressing delegates with is oratorical style and causing many to compare this with that of Mr. Nehru, the Indian Prime Minister.

"The visit he had planned for next week had assumed special importance because of Ceylon's candidature and certain election to the Security Council in the forthcoming United Nations polls. Ceylon will succeed Canada in the Commonwealth seat of the 11-member council."

He was due to address the UN Assembly again on October 02, 1959 when the assassin struck.

Excerpts of Address to the United Nations General Assembly, New York, on 22nd November, 1956.

"As Prime Minister and Minister of External Affairs of my country, I am indeed very pleased to have the opportunity of attending this, my first session of the General Assembly.

"My country, together with many others, languished in the anteroom of this Organisation for many years, before, by a signal stroke of statesmanship last year, sixteen countries were admitted to membership of the United Nations.

"I regret that there are still countries which are awaiting admission, countries whose claims to such admission appear to many of us to be unquestioned, and whose admission will undoubtedly make more fully representative the membership of this great world organisation for peace. I hope that before long their claims will receive the consideration which is their due. Amongst them, I wish to mention in particular such countries as the People's Republic of China and Japan.

"I naturally wish to say a few words on the two questions that are exercising our minds today: Suez and Hungary. I do not propose to delay you with a reiteration of the whole history that has led up to these tragic happenings.

"The first and the most vital thing is a withdrawal of forces from Egyptian territory now as early as possible.

"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 - seventy-five 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 possible. I feel that it should be done under the auspices of the United Nations.

"I wish to say a few words about Hungary. These seemed to be a feeling in the minds of some people that some of our countries were indifferent, or even lukewarm, about certain happenings in Hungary. I wish strongly to repudiate this charge.

"What happened? It will interest the Assembly to know that when the very first draft resolution regarding this Hungarian episode was introduced here, it was done in such a desperate hurry, it was sent from the Security Council to the General Assembly so quickly for a vote to be taken within a few hours, that some of us had no opportunity to bring our minds to bear on the problem or even to send instructions to our representatives here as to how they were to vote.

I was fast asleep in Colombo when an urgent cablegram from our permanent representative here was received by the Permanent Secretary, asking for instructions as a vote was going to be taken. I had not all the facts or data before me. I could not even get my office open in order to get such papers as were available there at that hour of the night.

"We are rather respectable in Colombo. We go to bed fairly early and we remain there till morning. What could I do? I instructed my Permanent Secretary to send off immediately a cablegram to our representative here, making certain general suggestions and asking him to consult with other groups with which we associate in taking action. We abstained from voting. That is how that abstention came about.

"However, let us remember this. Mere dialectics are not sufficient in dealing with these situations. Let us learn the lessons which Egypt and Hungary teach us. Let us deal with the immediate, pressing problems, and let us gear up the World Organisation, if we can, to prevent the recurrence of such incidents in the future. That seems to be the wise course to follow.

"We gain nothing by undue mutual recriminations and revilings. As a Buddhist, I remember the story of Buddha and the answer he gave to an opponent who came before him and abused him for hours.

He listened to him patiently and said: "My dear friend, if you invite guests to a banquet and the guests do not come, what do you do with the food that is prepared?"

"Oh", was the reply, "I and my family will consume the food if the guests do not arrive." So he said to the man who had abused him: "You have offered me your abuse. I am not receiving it.

You can take it yourself." Mutual recrimination and the wounding of one another's feelings by sharp retorts and angry words will not help us very much.

"Many of our countries in Asia have re-emerged into freedom after three or four hundred years of colonial imperialist rule. In this epoch of newly-gained freedom, we find ourselves faced with a dual problem - a problem within a problem. First, there is the problem of converting a colonial society - politically, socially and economically - into a free society, and then there is the problem of effecting that conversion against a background of changing world conditions.

"World is in a state of change and flux today. The world is going through one of those rare occasions - they happen at certain intervals - of a changeover from one society to another, from one civilisation to another. We are living today, in fact, in a period of transition between two civilisations, the old and the new. During a period like this, all kinds of conflicts arise - ideological, national, economic, political. That has happened in the past, and in the past those conflicts were settled by some nice little war here or there. Today we cannot afford the luxury of war, for we all know what it means.

"We are supposed to be the "uncommitted" nations. I strongly object to that word. We are committed to the hilt. We are committed to preserve decency in dealings between nations, we are committed to the cause of justice and freedom as much as anyone is.

That, briefly, is our position in Asia. I trust it will not be misunderstood. "Sometimes the feelings comes over me, as I am sure it does over many of us, that the fight is not worthwhile - that there is, in fact, no hope for mankind to escape the perplexities, problems, conflicts, hatreds and enmities that seem to be arising all about us. But sometimes when I feel like that, I am fortified by the thought that through the dark fabric of human history there passes one golden thread of unfailing strength and firmness - the unconquered, unconquerable spirit of man.

"It has manifested itself through the ages in various, diverse, different ways: first of all, the unconquerable spirit of man fighting for bare survival and existence; later, fighting for various causes - national causes may be, or the cause of justice, the cause of freedom or the pursuit of truth on the part of the great religious leaders down through history. Today it is needed in the cause of human friendship and of peace.

"What is peace? Peace is not merely a negative thing - the absence of one set of people trying to kill another set of people. No doubt the prevention of war is a necessary factor for peace, but peace, believe me, is something much more positive than that, for peace in its true sense means human understanding, human friendship and co-operation out of which, indeed, peace in its true form alone can rise.

I look upon the United Nations as the one machine available to mankind today through which it can express this unconquerable spirit of man in its efforts to achieve that peace, friendship and collaboration."

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