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86-560: The Soulbury Commission ( Sinhala : සෝල්බරි කොමිෂන් සභාව Solbari Komishan Sabhawa ; Tamil : சோல்பரி ஆணைக்குழு ) was a prime instrument of constitutional reform in British Ceylon (modern-day Sri Lanka ) that succeeded the Donoughmore Commission . It was announced in 1944 and headed by Herwald Ramsbotham, 1st Viscount Soulbury . The immediate basis for the appointment of a commission for constitutional reforms

172-436: A "status quo" with regard to Indian workers. However, this was criticized by Senator Natesan, S. J. V. Chelvanayagam and followers who represented the emerging Tamil-nationalist fringe. Although Ponnambalam moderated his politics and moved to the center, there was thus no shortage of ultra-nationalists or militant groups who attacked Senanayake's synthesis of all moderate groups within his United National Party of Ceylon. Because

258-652: A Commission to Ceylon, pressing his case for self-rule. Goonetilleke was thereafter advised Senanayake on approaching the members of the Soulbury Commission when they arrived in Ceylon in December 1944. Goonetilleke became an "unofficial secretary" to the commission and significantly influenced it. On 13th November 1947, Sir Oliver Goonetilleke and not the Prime Minister D.S. Senanayake announced at

344-662: A Dravidian origin for this word. ), dola for pig in Vedda and offering in Sinhala. Other common words are rera for wild duck, and gala for stones (in toponyms used throughout the island, although others have also suggested a Dravidian origin). There are also high frequency words denoting body parts in Sinhala, such as olluva for head, kakula for leg, bella for neck and kalava for thighs, that are derived from pre-Sinhalese languages of Sri Lanka. The oldest Sinhala grammar, Sidatsan̆garavā , written in

430-499: A Sinhalese, and I do not think that the Leader of this Council ought to think of himself as a Sinhalese representative, but for once I should like to speak as a Sinhalese and assert with all the force at my command that the interests of one community are the interests of all. We are one of another, what ever race or creed." When the war ended, D. S. Senanayake was ready, on a mission to Whitehall to push for full dominion status instead of

516-663: A commemorative stamp in 1982, to mark the 4th death anniversary of Sir Oliver Goonetilleke. A biography under the title 'OEG' was written by Charles Joseph Jeffries, and memorials to Goonetilleke include a six-foot bronze statue by sculptor Tissa Ranasinghe , commissioned by his family and installed in 1967 at a major roundabout in Colombo. Oliver Goonetilleke first married Esther (née Jayawardena), sister of Brigadier Christopher Allan Hector Perera Jayawardena . They had three children, Joyce Wijesinghe, Shiela Sathananthan and Ernie Goonetilleke. Esther Goonetilleke died of an illness when

602-627: A declaration was made for a grant of government for all the matters of civil administration in Ceylon. The Senanayake, Goonetilleke and Jennings drafted a constitution, known as the "Ministers' Draft", and submitted it to the British Government in February 1944. At this time Goonetilleke who was appointed the Commissioner of Food went to Britain to discuss urgent food supplies. There he met Lord Soulbury who had been appointed to lead

688-509: A difficult decision when faced with the classic difficulty for a Governor-General, whether to dissolve Parliament, causing a new election, or call on a different faction to form a government when the Prime Minister (in this case Dudley Senanayake, son of his old friend) lost Parliament's confidence. In the event, he dissolved the parliament and called for fresh elections. He briefly held the portfolio of Minister of Finance from 21 March 1960 to 23 April 1960. Bandaranaike's widow Sirima Bandaranaike

774-684: A minority. The eminent Peradeniya historian, Prof. K. M.de Silva attributes this to the collapse of the Ceylon National Congress . This, as well as other factors led to a development of Tamil nationalism and communal feeling, displacing casteism to a secondary place in the nation's politics. Communal politics, which involved attacks on the Mahavamsa , suspicious examination of appointments to public office, opening of colonisation schemes etc., for communal bias became common place. G. G. Ponnambalam wrested control of Tamil politics from

860-572: A more precise date for Dominion Status. Arthur Creeh-Jones, successor to Hall in the Colonial office was much more receptive to Senanayake's request. Independence for India was announced by the Labour cabinet on 20 February 1947. Oliver Goonatilleke, who was handling the negotiations in Whitehall on behalf of Senanayake, argued that the immediate granting of Dominion Status was urgently necessary since

946-779: A period of prior bilingualism: "The earliest type of contact in Sri Lanka, not considering the aboriginal Vedda languages, was that which occurred between South Dravidian and Sinhala. It seems plausible to assume prolonged contact between these two populations as well as a high degree of bilingualism. This explains why Sinhala looks deeply South Dravidian for an Indo-Aryan language. There is corroboration in genetic findings." In addition to many Tamil loanwords , several phonetic and grammatical features also present in neighbouring Dravidian languages set modern spoken Sinhala apart from its Northern Indo-Aryan relatives. These features are evidence of close interactions with Dravidian speakers. Some of

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1032-638: A press conference at the Galle Face Hotel around 7 pm that the 'Independence of Ceylon Act' was being introduced in the House of Commons at Westminster about the same time that evening. With the war drawing to a close and the closure of the Civil Defence Department, Goonetilleke left his post of Colonial Auditor which he held since 1931 to take up appointment as Financial Secretary of Ceylon in February 1946. The Financial Secretary

1118-676: A sub-accountant, which closed down a few years later following a run on the bank. He was then hired by D. R. Wijewardena as the manager of the Ceylon Daily News , which was one of two papers he owned at the time. He was an honorary lieutenant in the Ceylon Cadet Corps . In 1921, Goonetilleke joined the government service having been appointed the Assistant Auditor for Railway in the Audit Office and

1204-463: Is a conspicuous example of the linguistic phenomenon known as diglossia . Sinhala ( Siṁhala ) is a Sanskrit term; the corresponding Middle Indo-Aryan ( Eḷu ) word is Sīhala . The name is a derivative of siṁha , the Sanskrit word for 'lion'. The name is sometimes glossed as 'abode of lions', and attributed to a supposed former abundance of lions on the island. According to

1290-599: Is an Indo-Aryan language primarily spoken by the Sinhalese people of Sri Lanka , who make up the largest ethnic group on the island, numbering about 16 million. Sinhala is also spoken as the first language by other ethnic groups in Sri Lanka, totalling about 2 million speakers as of 2001. It is written using the Sinhala script , which is a Brahmic script closely related to the Grantha script of South India. Sinhala

1376-528: Is believed have been crucial in over-riding the foot-dragging of the Colonial office and conceding to Senanayake's demands. The appointment of a commission was made on 5 July 1944. Although the appointment of a commission without waiting for the end of the War was a great concession, the announcement of the Commission headed by Lord Soulbury was greeted with dismay by Senanayake and others. Their disappointment

1462-484: Is divided into four epochs: The most important phonetic developments of Sinhala include: According to Wilhelm Geiger , an example of a possible Western feature in Sinhala is the retention of initial /v/ which developed into /b/ in the Eastern languages (e.g. Sanskrit viṁśati "twenty", Sinhala visi- , Hindi bīs ). This is disputed by Muhammad Shahidullah who says that Sinhala Prakrit branched off from

1548-412: Is one of the official and national languages of Sri Lanka, alongside Tamil . Along with Pali , it played a major role in the development of Theravada Buddhist literature. Early forms of the Sinhala language are attested as early as the 3rd century BCE. The language of these inscriptions, still retaining long vowels and aspirated consonants, is a Prakrit similar to Magadhi , a regional associate of

1634-656: The British Commonwealth , in 1947 the first cabinet of ministers was formed with Senanayake as prime minister after the 1947 general elections . Goonetilleke was appointed as the Minister of Home Affairs and Rural Development on 26 September 1947. He had been appointed to the newly formed upper house of parliament, the Senate of Ceylon and became the Leader of the Senate when both houses were ceremonially opened by

1720-670: The Duke of Gloucester , marking the independence of Ceylon on 4 February 1948. His term as a Cabinet Minister did not last long as he resigned as Minister and Senator on 22 July 1948, and was succeeded by Edwin Wijeyeratne . Goonetilleke was thereafter appointed the first Ceylonese High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and served till February 1951. He returned to Ceylon in early 1951, to resume his cabinet position as Minister of Home Affairs and Rural Development and Leader of

1806-474: The Far East and the likelihood that Ceylon would face a military threat from Japan , Goonetilleke was given the additional duty as Civil Defence Commissioner in the cabinet of Ceylon, heading the newly formed Civil Defence Department to undertake civil defense preparations. Some civil defence works such as knocking down buildings to create fire breaks in Colombo proved unpopular but proved to be justified when

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1892-683: The Federal Party . This party would present a deeply separatist agenda in its Tamil-language publications , but presented a more moderate picture in its English language presentations, where it was known as the Federal Party. The Federal party and the Marxist parties began to attack the Senanayake government, but at that time their support in the country was minimal. The greatest threat to Senanayake's policies came when Bandaranaike left

1978-691: The Imperial Japanese Navy carried out air raids on Colombo and other cities in the spring of 1942. In this capacity, Ivor Jennings , Principle of the Ceylon University College , served as Goonetilleke's deputy, and the two worked closely with D. S. Senanayake , the Minister of Agriculture and Lands. This group was known as "the Breakdown Gang" as they began to talk about much besides civil defence, including

2064-729: The Middle Indian Prakrits that had been used during the time of the Buddha . The most closely related languages are the Vedda language (an endangered, indigenous creole still spoken by a minority of Sri Lankans, mixing Sinhala with an isolate of unknown origin and from which Old Sinhala borrowed various aspects into its main Indo-Aryan substrate), and the Maldivian language . It has two main varieties, written and spoken, and

2150-587: The UNESCO National Commission of Ceylon According to Wilhelm Geiger , Sinhala has features that set it apart from other Indo-Aryan languages. Some of the differences can be explained by the substrate influence of the parent stock of the Vedda language . Sinhala has many words that are only found in Sinhala, or shared between Sinhala and Vedda and not etymologically derivable from Middle or Old Indo-Aryan. Possible examples include kola for leaf in Sinhala and Vedda (although others suggest

2236-594: The "constitutionalist" approach of Senanayake and others led to independence without the fire and violence of the Indian program, many contended that the "independence" was illusory. Fears were expressed, mainly by the Marxists, of secret clauses and a hidden treaty. Events were to prove that these claims were false. An ultra-nationalist Tamil movement which had previously grouped as the league of Tamil Federations denounced Ponnambalam and other Tamils as "traitors" and formed

2322-464: The 13th century CE, recognised a category of words that exclusively belonged to early Sinhala. The grammar lists naram̆ba (to see) and koḷom̆ba (fort or harbour) as belonging to an indigenous source. Koḷom̆ba is the source of the name of the commercial capital Colombo . The consistent left branching syntax and the loss of aspirated stops in Sinhala is attributed to a probable South Dravidian substratum effect. This has been explained by

2408-641: The 1977 general election, the newly elected Prime Minister J. R. Jayewardene , repealed the Criminal Justice Commissions Act and released all who were jailed under the provisions of the Act with an amnesty declared. This allowed Goonetilleke to return to Sri Lanka, where he died after a brief illness in 1978. A statue of Goonetilleke was erected by members of the public at Kanatte crossroads in Borella . The Government of Sri Lanka issued

2494-594: The Arunachalam-family elitist Colombo Tamil group and followed a stridently communal political program. This was matched by similar nationalist politics, led by S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike , the Sinhalese counterpart of Ponnambalam. The Tamil Congress, led by Ponnambalam, had evolved the policy of 50-50, i.e., allocation of an equal number of seats in the legislature to the Tamils with other non-Sinhalese, and

2580-796: The Buddhist Temporalities act of 1931, the Anuradhapura Preservation Ordinance of 1931, the question of ports in the Northern peninsula, a claimed discriminatory bias in education, medical services etc., favouring the Sinhalese. However, the commission concluded that "the evidence submitted to us provides no substantial indication of a general policy on the part of the Government of Ceylon of discrimination against minority communities". The extensive and lengthy orations of Ponnambalam were rewarded by

2666-650: The Colonial Auditor, he was an ex-officio member of the Executive Council of Ceylon in 1931. He took on additional duties as Chairman of the Salaries and Cadres Commission, Civil Defense Commissioner and Food Commissioner. He was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in the 1941 New Year Honours for services as Auditor General. With the onset of World War II in

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2752-553: The Donoughmore Commission where there had been a spiraling of communal demands as accusations and denunciations (which) provoked counter-accusations, ... until communal tension reached ... in outbreaks of violence. (sic) It enabled G. G. Ponnambalam to strut about the political arena for a few months unimpeded", while the Board of Ministers maintained a quiet dignity while doing behind-the-curtain politics. Thus

2838-716: The Eastern Prakrits prior to this change. He cites the edicts of Ashoka , no copy of which shows this sound change. An example of an Eastern feature is the ending -e for masculine nominative singular (instead of Western -o ) in Sinhalese Prakrit. There are several cases of vocabulary doublets , one example being the words mæssā ("fly") and mækkā ("flea"), which both correspond to Sanskrit makṣikā but stem from two regionally different Prakrit words macchiā (Western Prakrits) and makkhikā (as in Eastern Prakrits like Pali ). In 1815,

2924-820: The Federal Party developed into violent confrontations which, over time lead to the emergence of the Tamil United Liberation Front TULF which in 1976 declared, in the city of Vaddukkoddei , a policy of a separate state for the Tamils. This was an idea which had been part of the thinking of the Federal Party since its inception, although it did not come to the fore-front till 1976. Sinhala language Sinhala ( / ˈ s ɪ n h ə l ə , ˈ s ɪ ŋ ə l ə / SIN -hə-lə, SING -ə-lə ; Sinhala: සිංහල , siṁhala , [ˈsiŋɦələ] ), sometimes called Sinhalese ( / ˌ s ɪ n ( h ) ə ˈ l iː z , ˌ s ɪ ŋ ( ɡ ) ə ˈ l iː z / SIN -(h)ə- LEEZ , SING -(g)ə- LEEZ ),

3010-620: The Gogerly Scholarship. After completing his secondary education, Goonetilleke joined the teaching staff of Wesley College as an assistant teacher. He later earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of London as an external student . After gaining his degree, he left his teaching post after he was passed over for a scholarship to the College of Agriculture, Pune . He joined O. B. Wijeyesekera's Bank of Colombo as

3096-486: The Indo-Ceylon talks, this change of attitude was a reaction to the increasing agitation of the Marxist trade-unionists whose power was misjudged by the colonial administration as well as most politicians of that era. Thus Senanayake was supported by many Tamil leaders including Ponnambalam, and constitutionalists like Dr. Ivor Jennings, in regard to the Indian citizenship act. The Soulbury commission had also recommended

3182-499: The Italian Ambassador Count Paolo di Michelis di Sloughhello, when he was informed about the assassination attempt he stopped the ceremony and rushed to Rosmead Place. He informed parliament to continue and at 11 AM declared a state of emergency, bringing the military to full readiness and mobilizing reservists. Bandaranaike, who was rushed to hospital and into emergency surgery, died twenty-two hours after he

3268-542: The Marxists and small nationalist groups. An important piece of legislation, enacted in 1948, and modified in 1949, was the Indian Citizenship act, which limited citizenship to Indian workers who had at least 10 years of residence in the country This was similar to the requirement which was then current in most European countries. Although Senanayake had consistently supported their citizenship under less strict conditions as early as 1923, and as late as 1941 in

3354-481: The Prime Minister's nephew), stated in Parliament on 18 February that Goonetilleke had been cited in the investigations as having been involved in the conspiracy. Goonetilleke, while denying that he had played any such role, indicated that he had no objection to being questioned by the police. But this was not enough for Mrs Bandaranaike, who was determined to force him out of office if she could. Bradman Weerakoon ,

3440-708: The Prime Minister's secretary , was dispatched to London in person, there to convey to the Queen Mrs Bandaranaike's request that a new Governor-General be appointed. On 26 February, Radio Ceylon announced that the Queen had accepted the Prime Minister's recommendation that William Gopallawa be made the new Governor-General, his term to take effect on 20 March. Gopallawa was Mrs Bandaranaike's uncle, and she hoped that he would be more subservient to her than Goonetilleke had ever been. Meanwhile, Goonetilleke quietly vacated Queen's House on 2 March and afterwards left

3526-461: The Senanayake cabinet and formed the Sinhala nationalist Sri Lanka Freedom Party (Sri Lanka Nidahas Pakshaya)(SLFP). Senanayake died in a horse riding accident in 1952, and after that the low-key, behind-the-curtain approach of Senanayake was displaced by direct communal agitation for linguistic and other demands of the two communities, led by the SLFP and the Federal Party. The "satyagraha" sit-ins of

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3612-659: The Senate in March 1951 succeeding Edwin Wijeyeratne and served till April 1952. Following the Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake 's resignation after the Hartal 1953 , Sir John Kotelawala succeeded him. Goonetilleke was appointed by Kotelawala to his cabinet as Ministry of Finance and the Treasury on 14 October 1953, while holding the post of Leader of the Senate. Once again his ministerial tenure

3698-428: The Sinhalese, where the 25% Tamils, 75% Sinhalese , would lead to only about 25 Tamil seats in a chamber with 100 representatives,( p308). Ponnambalam, an English-educated Hindu lawyer justified this by pointing out that there were roughly equal numbers of English educated (i.e., upper caste) Sinhalese and Tamils, and that this would also guarantee a place of political parity for the Tamils. Thus Ponnambalam proposed that

3784-477: The bill took care to be absent or abstain. Finally, the debate and the vote of acceptance on the eighth and ninth of September 1945 was the most significant indication of general reconciliation among the ethnic and regional groups. Far exceeding the 3/4 majority required by the Soulbury Commission, Senanayake had 51 votes in favour and only three votes against the adoption of the constitution. The vote

3870-681: The chronicle Mahāvaṃsa , written in Pali, Prince Vijaya of the Vanga Kingdom and his entourage merged in Sri Lanka with later settlers from the Pandya kingdom . In the following centuries, there was substantial immigration from Eastern India, including additional migration from the Vanga Kingdom (Bengal), as well as Kalinga and Magadha . This influx led to an admixture of features of Eastern Prakrits. The development of Sinhala

3956-495: The commission in public or "official" sittings. Senanayake and his associates held private meetings where the commissioners were the guests of honour. In fact, Oliver Goonetilleke became an "unofficial secretary" to the commission and significantly influenced it. This enabled Senanayake and his advisors to present their views without getting into confrontational politics with the Tamil Congress , led by G. G. Ponnambalam who

4042-530: The commissioners by introducing a provision for multi-member constituencies in suitable areas, allowing for greater representation for ethnic minorities like Tamils, Muslims and other groups. The commissioners also recommended inclusion of provisions relating to communal discrimination. The first was that "the Parliament of Ceylon shall not make any law rendering persons of any community or religion liable to disabilities or restrictions to which persons of other communities are not made liable, ...". Another provision

4128-457: The commissioners. They stated that "any attempt by artificial means to convert a majority into a minority is not only inequitable, but doomed to failure". Ponnambalam's proposals were considered to be a means of conferring a minority supremacy amounting to virtual minority rule, and "denial of the democratic principle"( p. 311). The Hindu Organ , an influential newspaper of the time, condemned it as something that "can only be maintained against

4214-601: The country. His tenure had lasted eight years and had included five prime ministers. Goonetilleke settled into a retired life in London, in a self-imposed exile. In the investigation into the attempted military coup, some of the crown witnesses tried to link him and former Prime Ministers, Dudley Senanayake and Colonel Sir John Kotelawala , with the conspiracy; this was never proven. In his retirement in London, Sir Oliver with his considerable accumulated wealth became an underwriting member of Lloyd's of London and moved in

4300-567: The draft constitution would be examined by a "suitable commission or conference", after the victory over the Axis powers. However, Senanayake pressed for an immediate consideration of their proposals. There was great reluctance and no sense of urgency on the part of the Colonial office. However, Senanayake, Oliver Goonetilleke and others had developed impressive contacts with Lord Mountbatten who, as Supreme Allied Commander of South-East Asia had worked from Colombo . A telegram from Lord Mountbatten

4386-548: The ethnic and religious groups. To this end he masterminded the appointment of Arunachalam Mahadeva , a respected Tamil politician as the minister of Home Affairs. Senanayake began to formulate a draft constitution following the conditions laid down by the Colonial Secretary of State in 1943. There were three aspects to the effort. The first was the abandonment of the Donoughmore Constitution and

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4472-483: The features that may be traced to Dravidian influence are: ඒක ēka it අලුත් aḷut new කියලා kiyalā having-said මම mama I දන්නවා dannavā know ඒක අලුත් කියලා මම දන්නවා ēka aḷut kiyalā mama dannavā it new having-said I know "I know that it is new." ඒක ēka it අලුත් aḷut new ද da Q කියලා kiyalā having-said මම mama I දන්නේ Oliver Goonetilleke Oliver Ernest Goonetilleke

4558-423: The federal proposals. The British historian Jane Russell argues that the official boycott of the Soulbury Commission by the Board of Ministers led by Senanayake was a "statesman-like action, if not a diplomatic coup. The fact that the more ... communal-minded (politicians) held aloof ... , enabled the minorities to have the floor unchallenged. This manoeuvre avoided a repetition of the situation ... of

4644-458: The formulation of a Westminster Model . The second was that the Governor's reserve powers and other controls of the Imperial government would be abandoned and there would be full responsibility in internal civil matters. However, the crown's reserve powers would be retained especially in regard to limitations set upon the Ceylonese legislature regarding religious and ethnic minorities. The Crown would also retain defence and external affairs. The third

4730-419: The gap between the two groups. However, the presence of a commission gave the Kandyan groups a chance to claim some powers for themselves, just as the Tamil Congress was largely arguing to secure Tamil interests. The Kandyans proposed a Federal scheme where the Up-country region, the Low-country, and the North would be three federal states. Their suggestions were rejected by the commissioners who found no merit in

4816-431: The island of Ceylon came under British rule . During the career of Christopher Reynolds as a Sinhalese lecturer at the School of African and Oriental Studies, University of London , he extensively researched the Sinhalese language and its pre-1815 literature. The Sri Lankan government awarded him the Sri Lanka Ranjana medal for his work. He wrote the 377-page An anthology of Sinhalese literature up to 1815 , selected by

4902-459: The legislature should be: "based on the balanced scheme of representation that would avoid the danger of concentration of power in one community, but would ensure its equitable distribution among all communities and the people as a whole"(, p. 92). Ponnambalam also proposed further constitutional mechanisms to "safeguard minority rights". Ponnambalam's schemes for securing the continued parity of status of Tamils, met with severe disapprobation by

4988-418: The moderates were under increasing pressure from left-wing and nationalist extremist groups. The British government made the official announcement on 18 June 1947 that the Island would receive "fully responsible status within the British Commonwealth of Nations". G. G. Ponnambalam had in the 1930s begun to declare that he is a "proud Dravidian" and had rejected the "Ceylonese Concept" of Senanayake and others at

5074-431: The new labour government was prepared to accept the Soulbury report, it was firmly opposed to granting Dominion Status. The British were willing to consider Dominion status six years after the Soulbury constitution, say in 1953-54, although this was not revealed to the Ceylonese politicians. In 1947, with the general election to the new parliament scheduled for August–September 1947, Senanayake once again pressed Whitehall for

5160-428: The politics of the 1930s had become very communal or racist, with the first Sinhala-Tamil riot occurring in 1939, after an inflammatory speech by G. G. Ponnambalam , a leading Tamil politician. Senanayake and the Board of Ministers resorted to an official boycott of the commission as an expression of their disapproval of the widening of the scope of the commission. However, this merely meant that they did not appear before

5246-443: The situation and issue orders to the armed forces to suppress the rioting with force. Goonetilleke authorized the armed forces to shoot rioters, and the armed forces restored order in a few days. Goonetilleke once again was forced to take decisive action, on 25 September 1959 when Prime Minister Bandaranaike was shot at his home at Rosmead Place while meeting the public. Goonetilleke was at Queens House accepting letters of credence of

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5332-438: The social circles of the day. He was also an avid horse racing enthusiast and horse owner with his horses racing at Epsom and Ascot . He was a steward at both the Ceylon Turf Club and the Galle Gymkhana Club . In 1964, he was accused by Philip Gunawardena of moves against the Bandaranaike government. Goonetilleke also faced many accusations of exchange fraud, for taking considerable sums of money out from Ceylon. In 1972, he

5418-415: The status discussed in the 1943 Colonial secretary's report. During August–September 1945 Senanayake argued that the limits on Ceylon's external sovereignty (defence and external affairs), adhered to by the Soulbury report were unworkable and unnecessary. Senanayake suggested the confirmation of Dominion status by an Order in Council, and delivered a draft to G. H. Hall, the new Secretary to the Colonies. While

5504-421: The steps that might be taken to move Ceylon to complete independence after the war. He was knighted in 1944 with a KBE for his services as the Civil Defense Commissioner in the New Year Honours . However, on 18 December 1946, questions were raised in the House of Commons by Douglas Dodds-Parker on irregularities in the Auditor-General's Report on Civil Defence Expenditure for 1943–44 and 1944–45. In 1943,

5590-449: The strongly confrontational approach that had developed in British India. Only the Marxists, a tiny minority, had attempted to create confrontational conditions which they believed to be a harbinger of the impending proletarian revolution against Imperialism. D. S. Senanayake was the leader of the "constitutionalist" wing of the Sri Lankan independence movement. He began to develop a "Ceylonese" vision for Sri Lanka, i.e., co-operation of all

5676-401: The three children were very young and before Goonetilleke entered the civil service. During his self-imposed exile in London, Goonetilleke married Phyllis Miller, who was the secretary of the Soulbury Commission , whom he had befriended during the period of the Commission circa 1944, and lived near Marble Arch at 14, Albion Gate , Hyde Park Place, London W2 prior to his death in 1978. He was

5762-407: The time. At the end of the Soulbury submissions, he decided to moderate his politics, and publicly advocated "responsive cooperation" with the Sinhalese leaders. He joined the cabinet of D. S. Senanayake who became the first prime minister of independent Ceylon in 1948. S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike , the Sinhalese Nationalist counterpart of Ponnambalam had also joined the cabinet, leaving the opposition to

5848-409: The united opposition of the Sinhalese by British bayonets". The submissions in front of the Soulbury Commission also included specific grievances of the Ceylon Tamils regarding claimed unfair discrimination against their community. These included claims of discrimination in appointments to the Public Service, claims of settlement policies in newly opened colonisation schemes which favour the Sinhalese,

5934-426: The visit of the Soulbury Commission and the final Soulbury Report did much to reconcile the minority communities with the Sinhalese leadership under D. S. Senanayake. The voting in the third reading (in March) of the "Free Lanka" bill of January 1945, was supported by all the Muslim members, and by T. G. Rajakulendran, S. P. Vytilingam, and V. Nalliah. Some of the other minority members who did not want to openly support

6020-505: Was "in many ways a vote of confidence by all communities in ... Senanayake", and the minorities were as anxious as the majority for self-government. Senanayake's speech in proposing the motion of acceptance made reference to the minorities and said "throughout this period the Ministers had in view one objective only, the attainment of maximum freedom. Accusations of Sinhalese domination have been bandied about. We can afford to ignore them for it must be plain to every one that what we sought

6106-409: Was Prime Minister when Goonetilleke succeeded to the position and took up residence in Queen's House . He was a friend of the powerful philanthropist Sir Ernest de Silva who assisted him in the ascension to Governor-General. He remained in office after the election of the left-wing S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike as prime minister defeating Sir John Kotalawela in the 1956 general elections . Bandaranaike

6192-404: Was allowed to dominate many of the official hearings. Tamils, both indigenous and of Indian descent, were about 25% of the population, and had a strong, dominant position in the early legislatures of the country. The introduction of Universal Franchise in 1931 completely changed the character of Ceylonese politics, where Tamil politicians found it very difficult to accept that they would become

6278-647: Was born on 20 October 1892 in Trincomalee in the northeast of Ceylon. He was the fifth child of eight and the only son of Alfred Goonetilleke and Emily Jayasekera. His father who served in the Ceylon Postal Service was the postmaster of Trincomalee at the time of his birth. He was educated at Wesley College in Colombo where he won many prizes and scholarships including the Hill Medal and

6364-514: Was brief, lasting only till June 1954. During this time he served as the Minister in Attendance to the Queen during her Royal visit to Ceylon. Shortly after a visit by Queen Elizabeth II to Ceylon in April 1954, the decision was taken to appoint a Ceylonese native to the post of Governor-General , succeeding Lord Soulbury . D. S. Senanayake had died in 1952, and Colonel Sir John Kotalawela

6450-441: Was due to the widening of the scope of the commission beyond what was set out by the Colonial Secretary in 1943, to also consult with "various interests, including the minority communities concerned with the subject of constitutional reforms in Ceylon". Senanayake was a man who preferred behind-the-curtain negotiations instead of confrontational public hearings. He felt that such consultations would simply become very divisive. In fact,

6536-612: Was head of the Treasury and responsible for all financial policy of the colony. As the Financial Secretary, Goonetilleke sat in the Board of Ministers . He was the first Ceylonese to hold the post of Financial Secretary. He held the position until his resignation in September 1947. He was awarded KCMG in the 1948 New Year Honours for his service as Financial Secretary, Ceylon. With Ceylon gaining dominion status within

6622-423: Was later confirmed by Parliament. Following the assassination of Bandaranaike, the country faced a period of political instability. The Premiership of Dahanayake lasted only one year, and during that time many changes to his cabinet took place. Fresh elections were called, but the elections in March 1960 were indecisive in their outcome, as Dudley Senanayake formed a government for a brief period. Goonetilleke had

6708-549: Was not Sinhalese domination, but Ceylonese domination. We devised a scheme that gave heavy weight to the minorities; we deliberately protected them against discriminatory legislation. We vested important powers in the Governor-General ;... We decided upon an Independent Public Service Commission so as to give assurance that there should be no communalism in the Public Service. I do not normally speak as

6794-510: Was pressured to remove Goonetilleke and reduce the pay of the Governor-General by members of his left-wing coalition. On 24 May 1958 Communal riots erupted, and Prime Minister Bandaranaike did not make a formal response. With violence spreading throughout the island, Goonetilleke declared a state of emergency on 27 May 1958 and deployed the armed forces to quell the rioting, while Bandaranaike allowed Goonetilleke to take control of

6880-554: Was selected by his party, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party as its leader and won elections in July 1960 . Goonetilleke called on Bandaranaike to form a government, and thus she became the world's first female prime minister. In January 1962, information surfaced of an attempted military coup against the government of Mrs Bandaranaike. Felix Dias Bandaranaike , Parliamentary Secretary for Defence and External Affairs (and

6966-621: Was shot. Bandaranaike had been scheduled to go to New York to attend the UN General Assembly in late September 1959. The Leader of the House C. P. de Silva was in London undergoing treatment and Bandaranaike had sent a letter to the Governor General recommending that he appoint Wijeyananda Dahanayake , Minister of Education as acting prime minister during his absence. With this letter present, Goonetilleke appointed Dahanayake as prime minister on September 26, 1959, and

7052-644: Was that any bill which evoked "serious opposition by any racial or religious community and which, in the opinion of the Governor-General is likely to involve oppression or serious injustice to any community must be reserved by the Governor-General"( p. 101). The low-country Sinhalese and the Kandyans had largely co-operated in their politics during the 1930s. Bandaranaike 's marriage to the Ratwatte family, influential in Kandyan circles, had also helped to bridge

7138-615: Was the 1944 draft constitution of the Board of Ministers, headed by D.S. Senanayake . This commission ushered in the Soulbury Constitution and independence to the Dominion of Ceylon in 1948. Its constitutional recommendations were largely those of the 1944 Board of Ministers' draft, a document reflecting the influence of Senanayake and his main advisor, Sir Ivor Jennings . The struggle for independence in Ceylon had been fought on "constitutionalist" lines rather than on

7224-511: Was the ratification of the new constitution by a 3/4 majority in the State Council of Ceylon. Senanayake and his advisors worked quickly and a draft was made ready for submission to Whitehall in 1944. Groups who opposed the move towards independence, notably British business groups and certain church dignitaries criticized the rapid moves in what they termed "lack of consultation". The 1943 Colonial Secretary's discussions envisaged that

7310-535: Was thereafter promoted as the Assistant Colonial Auditor. Goonetilleke was the first Ceylonese to be appointed as Colonial Auditor of the crown colony of Ceylon on 25 June 1931. With the implementation of the Donoughmore Constitution , the title of the head of the Audit Office was changed to Auditor General of Ceylon and Goonetilleke became the first to hold the new appointment on 7 July 1931 and served in this capacity till February 1946. As

7396-501: Was tried in absentia and sentenced to four years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 950,000 ($ 125,000) for exchange control offences by the Criminal Justice Commission . He was not extradited, his daughter Sheila Sathananthan was given a two‐year suspended sentence and fined $ 72,000 and her husband Coomaraswany Sathananthan was jailed for two years and fined $ 35,000. Following the defeat of Bandaranaike in

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