Features

1970 election results, I get my marching orders and Dudley’s death

Published

1 year ago

2025/02/16

Thilina Walpola

The crowd at Independence Square for Dudley Senanayake’s funeral

(Excerpted from Rendering Unto Caesar, by Bradman Weerakoon)

Mrs Bandaranaike’s United Front was returned to power with a total of 116 members. The SLFP won 91 seats – a record up to then – and its two Marxist allies, the Trotskyite LSSP won 19 and the Communist Party six seats. The elections had left Dudley’s UNP with only 17 seats in Parliament and he had barely made it in his own constituency, Dedigama. He had won the family pocket borough in 1965 with a majority of several thousands. This time round he could win with only a majority of just over 1,000 votes and that too after a re-count, to a novice in politics, the affable Dharmasiri Senanayake whose campaign tactics and manner had won Dudley’s warm appreciation. In fact he had confided to me some weeks after the campaign had started that he had at long-last found the perfect man to succeed him in Dedigama, but that he belonged to the wrong party.

Dudley resigns before all the results were in

The 1970 elections were a disaster for Dudley. He thought he had done well enough especially on the food production area and the prospect he had held out to the electorate of self-sufficiency in our staple dietary needs, and power through the Mahaweli ganga Diversion proposed scheme to win comfortably. Indeed G V P Samarasinghe, the secretary of defence and external affairs and Neville Jayaweera in broadcasting and information were quite confident that the UNP would win through easily. But the swing to Sirimavo was phenomenal and confounded all predictions. She won 91 seats and Dudley was reduced to 17.

The way in which he left office for the last time was characteristic of the man. We were all at Woodlands to see him come back that morning. He had been out the whole night at the count at the Kegalle Technical School. It had been a close fight and Nimal Karunatilaka, then his press secretary, had heard on the radio that he had lost and a re-count had been ordered by the returning officer since the margin was very close. As it turned out Dudley had won but only, with a reduced majority of 1,076 votes.

As the car drew up under the porch, he grinned broadly and said, “Hell of a thing, no,” and begged to be excused for a moment as he rushed up the stairs shouting out that he must “empty my bladder”. First things first was his motto. When he came down Nimal wondered how we could manage to stay on and suggested an immediate summoning of the cabinet to plan strategy. “What cabinet?” he queried. “All the fellows have lost. Bradman, get the resignation letter ready.” He had been through it all before.

When the umpire rules you out, you walk

I rushed back to my office in Senate Square to prepare the resignation letter. We had it signed around eleven and by noon the Governor-General, Gopallawa had the letter in his hands. I went back to my office and began the now familiar task of clearing out my drawers. I was quite certain that this would surely be my last time in that office.

The 1970 elections saw democracy at full throttle. But the anomaly which the “first past the post” electoral system had engendered, was evident once more. While the UNP with 37.9 per cent of the popular vote was only able to secure 17 seats, the SLFP with 36.9 per cent of the total votes had secured 91 seats.

I get my moving orders

The sweeping majority, which Mrs Bandaranaike and her United Front government had obtained, enabled the government to have a two thirds majority and institute major policy changes. But one of the first of her acts was the very practical one of changing her senior staff. I was standing by at home for the news and it came within the next few hours. Dharmasiri Pieris phoned and informed me that Mrs Bandaranaike had asked him to be her secretary.

I was delighted and invited him over to my home at de Fonseka Pace for a handing-over chat. Dharmasiri was the ideal candidate – his relations with Mrs Bandaranaike, which had officially begun in the prime minister’s office in the 1960-1965 era when he was assistant to me, were excellent. He had successfully avoided being marked as political in any sense; he had a clear and logical mind and was circumspect in coming to a decision.

He would stick with any difficult assignment and not give up or pass it to another. Above all, he was a sportsman and played by the rules of the game. We had often partnered each other in difficult situations at the crease and had a mutual respect and admiration for each other’s cricketing skills. I had no doubt at all that he would turn in another superlative performance, and he did.

Dudley suffers massive heart attack and passes on

Soon after the reconciliation between Dudley and J R in 1973, Dudley who was only 62, passed away after suffering three heart attacks. He was taken to Durdans from his Woodlands home but the cardiac arrest could not be averted.

After his first attack and on hearing the news in Batticaloa, I decided that I should drive down to Colombo to see him since I had heard that he was critically ill. That was one time in my career that I did not have to wait for my leave to be approved. I just downed tools, got into my car and drove down to Colombo. He was conscious when I walked upstairs to his room. I clasped his hand and he smiled wanly. That was the last time I saw him alive for late that night he passed away.

I stayed in Colombo for the funeral and what a funeral that was! He died while in the opposition and he was only a Member of Parliament – holding no office, but Colombo had never seen signs of mourning such as this. There was no bus transport on the day of his funeral, perhaps because the government had deemed it so, but that did not stop the people from coming. At one point at Galle Road, they were about eight-deep walking in an informal procession which stretched for miles from the south into Colombo. At the Independence Square where a great pyre had been constructed, an enormous orderly crowd assembled.

On my having been Secretary when he was the last prime minister, I had a ringside seat to watch the proceedings. Even in a country where funerals are usually very elaborate, Dudley Senanayake’s on April 21, 1973 was an extraordinary one. It was estimated that over one million people attended the funeral at Independence Square that day. It was not a state funeral since Dudley at that time held no official position. He was only a member in the opposition. J R Jayewardene captured the mood of the vast crowd in his funeral oration that evening with a quotation from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, which he enriched in style. As the flames rose around the casket of his comrade-in-arms, at sunset that evening, JR bade him a moving farewell:

“Goodnight sweet Prince,
May hosts of devas sing thee to thy sleep,
he intoned in his deep voice, as many in the vast crowd wept openly.

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Features

Proactive peacemaking becomes a paramount need

Published

17 hours ago

2026/06/4

Sahan Weerasooriya

Wasting wars: Some war-displaced people in Lebanon. BBC

It may be some time before the full impact of food inflation is felt in the West. Until such time the world would continue to keep itself in suspense over whether the Trump administration is in earnest when it seeks to convey the impression that it is backing a negotiated solution in West Asia.

As is usually the case, consumer stress would be one of the final determinants of political change. To the degree to which the average US consumer somehow ‘muddles through’ and puts the food on the table, to the same extent would the Republican sections of the US public in particular be tolerant of the Trump administration’s inconsistent handling of the West Asian war and the main issues stemming from it. That is, there would be no grave popular disaffection and a demand for political change in the short term.

However, the indications are that the Trump administration’s support base is suffering some erosion in the wake of the current economic crisis. While reports indicate that Democratic sections are firming-up their opposition to the political centre, Republican support for Trump is also showing signs of waning, we are given to understand.

The above developments are probably why Trump is on record as having given Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a ‘dressing down’ recently on his seeming intransigence on the question of giving negotiations a chance in West Asia. The show of displeasure could be really aimed by Trump at containing the impatience of the American public.

However, the current ground situation in the Middle East, particularly the uncontained bloodshed, is likely to impress on the thinking sections of the world that more than temporary political change is needed in West Asia and the US.

A well thought out political solution that addresses all the contentious issues at the heart of the Middle East conflict is what enlightened opinion would demand, and very rightly. Right now, the ‘peace efforts’ initiated by the Trump administration give the impression of being piecemeal solutions at best.

There have been, of course, numerous initiatives in the past aimed at bringing permanent peace to the Middle East. These failed mainly because they did not address in full the root causes of the conflict.

At bottom the Middle East conflict is mainly about race and religious hate bred by socio-economic and material inequalities. For instance, if the Palestinian people were not displaced and deprived of land occupied by them at the time of the founding of the Israeli state, ethnic enmities would not have grown to the current unmanageable proportions.

When addressing the above questions, though, it must be remembered that the Israelis too were a displaced people who were entitled to land and a state of their own in the Middle East. Basically, out of these seemingly irreconcilable and conflicting demands have grown the Middle East imbroglio.

Middle East peace is considerably about reconciling these demands and arriving at a solution that would ensure the creation of two states that would opt for peaceful co-existence thereafter.

As long as the US does not see the need for a non-partisan solution that addresses the needs of both ethnicities and religions and goes all-out, as it were, to have it implemented, the Middle East would continue to bleed.

However, staunching the blood flow through the creation of two states would be only half the job done, though a very important part of it. More pernicious, pervasive and difficult to remedy are the inter-ethnic and inter-religious hatreds that have been unleashed over the decades.

However, if substantial, long-lasting peace is to be fostered in the region the latter ‘demons’ would need to be exorcised from the hearts and minds of the communities concerned. No doubt an uphill task but one that must be undertaken by those who wish the region well.

The UN would need to put its ‘best foot forward’ in such undertakings but it is time that it dawned on the international community and other caring quarters that Middle East peace, and all other such uphill challenges, require proactive peacemaking on the part of all civilized sections for their effective management. That is, public involvement in peacemaking too is a must.

Since hatreds are harboured in the human consciousness the enmities embedded in the latter need to be managed and defused judiciously alongside other undertakings in a peace process. In the case of West Asia, such enmities could be even spread globe-wide besides being multi-dimensional. For instance, it ought to be thought-provoking that Iran is insistent on a peace initiative that would also include Lebanon.

Besides security considerations it is also ethnic and religious affiliations that account for Iran making this demand. For instance, the Shias are a numerically important religious community in Lebanon and they provide a significant number of Hizbollah fighters, who are in a vital sense carrying out a ‘proxy war’ for Iran. It also needs to be factored in that Iran is a Shia-majority country.

Thus trans-border religious affiliations could add to the complexities and enormity of ethno-religious conflicts. However, the task of managing centuries-long enmities needs to be launched and prodded on with by peacemakers since a downing of arms alone would not guarantee substantive peace.

It is not realized sufficiently that the process of ending hatreds begins with mutual apologies by antagonists to a conflict for the harm inflicted on each other. This would be anathema in some ears but there is no getting away from the requirement. It is the vital first step to permanent peace anywhere.

In fact there could be no reconciliation worth speaking of without such mutual apologies. It is a point worth re-iterating in these times when even the government of Sri Lanka is voicing the need for national reconciliation. Well, without the words, ‘I am sorry’, there could be no permanent end to enmities – they would do well to remember.

The above requirements may not go down very well with governments, but they resonate in the hearts and minds of most people, since they are inheritors of religious traditions of some kind.

This is a principal reason why peacemaking works well when publics too are involved in them. The effectiveness of such campaigns increases several fold when they have a Mahatma Gandhi or a Jawaharlal Nehru at their helm. A strong proactive involvement by the public in peace could lead to the emergence of such leaders at some point in these campaigns.

Features

Dialog Brings Sri Lanka’s Largest Digital Vesak Experience to Matara

Published

17 hours ago

2026/06/4

Sahan Weerasooriya

From left to right: Hon. Saroja Savithri Paulraj, Hon. Sunil Handunnetti, and Lasantha Theverapperuma experience the Dialog 5G Ultra-powered VR tours.

Official Digital Partner of the 2026 ‘Dakshina Prabha’ National Vesak Zone

Dialog Axiata PLC, Sri Lanka’s #1 connectivity provider, collaborated with the Ministry of Buddha Sasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs to bring one of Sri Lanka’s largest and most technologically advanced Vesak experiences to the ‘Dakshina Prabha’ National Vesak Zone. The three-day celebration, in Matara attracted more than hundred thousand visitors, who engaged with a series of innovative digital activities powered by Dialog 5G Ultra, including Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Virtual Reality (VR) experiences, digital pandols and a Data Dansala. The opening ceremony was attended by Hon. Sunil Handunnetti, Minister of Industry and Entrepreneurship Development and Hon. Saroja Savithri Paulraj, Minister of Women and Child Affairs, along with distinguished guests and Dialog’s senior management.

One of the key attractions at the venue was the Dialog 5G Ultra-powered Virtual Reality (VR) experience, which attracted more than 35,000 participants. The activation enabled devotees to virtually visit and pay homage to sacred Buddhist sites, including the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi in India and the Atamasthana in Anuradhapura, directly from the Vesak zone in Matara.

Visitors receive complimentary mobile data through Dialog’s QR-powered Data Dansala.

Dialog also conducted an AI Digital Vesak Greeting Card Competition from 21 May to 01 June 2026, attracting numerous entries from across the country. The shortlisted designs were showcased across 20 large LED screens throughout the venue and across Matara City, and were also made available for download via mobile devices. Further, through the use of AI, traditional Jathaka Katha were reimagined in a digital format, demonstrating how technology can be used to preserve and enhance cultural and religious heritage. Together, these initiatives blended traditional Vesak celebrations with emerging technologies, offering visitors a unique and immersive way to engage with Vesak traditions.

Extending the spirit of Vesak through connectivity, Dialog conducted a special Data Dansala powered by its QR Reload platform, enabling visitors to receive complimentary mobile data by scanning QR codes placed across the venue. In addition to the Matara National Vesak Zone, similar Data Dansala activations were also conducted at the Gangaramaya and Bauddhaloka Vesak zones in Colombo.Visitors also had the opportunity to create personalised Vesak-themed digital photos through an AI Photo Booth, generating AI-enhanced portraits using their own photographs and adding a contemporary digital element to the Vesak celebrations.

Visitors watch AI-generated Jathaka Katha

Commenting on the initiative, Hon. Sunil Handunnetti, Minister of Industry and Entrepreneurship Development, said, “The 2026 Dakshina Prabha Vesak Festival marked the first time AI-powered digital innovations were incorporated into a National Vesak Festival in Sri Lanka. Presenting Buddhist stories and teachings through technology created a new and engaging way for visitors to connect with these traditions. We thank Dialog for supporting this initiative and for working closely with us to bring our vision to life. Their contribution played an important role in making this first-of-its-kind event a reality.”

Lasantha Theverapperuma, Group Chief Marketing Officer of Dialog Axiata PLC said, “We thank the Government of Sri Lanka for the opportunity to support the 2026 Dakshina Prabha National Vesak Festival and for embracing technology as part of this year’s celebrations. As the Official Digital Partner, we were privileged to contribute through our Dialog 5G Ultra and AI capabilities, creating new ways for visitors to engage with Vesak traditions while preserving their cultural significance for future generations.”

Beyond supporting the National Vesak Zone in Matara, Dialog also enhanced the Gangaramaya and Bauddhaloka Vesak zones through a range of digital activations during the Vesak season. The company additionally continued its sustainability initiatives, including the Thirasara Aloka Poojawa, which illuminated rural places of worship through solar-powered lighting solutions.

Features

Beauty, elegance and talent…for women

Published

17 hours ago

2026/06/4

Sahan Weerasooriya

Universal Woman is an international pageant focused on “beauty, elegance, and talent” for women, positioning itself as a platform to shape global ambassadors. The 2026 edition will be held in Cambodia, and Sri Lanka will be there, as well.

According to reports coming my way, contestants, at the international event, will work with industry trailblazers, under international standards.

Sri Lankan supermodel, runway and pageant trainer Chulpadmendra Kumarapathirana, is the National Director for Universal Woman Sri Lanka 2026.

With over two decades in the industry, Chula was crowned Miss Sri Lanka 2006, and has since shaped the next generation of titleholders through her Colombo-based Chulpadmendra Catwalk Studio, widely regarded as one of the country’s leading modelling academies.

The team behind Universal Woman Sri Lanka 2026

A former host of Derana Miss Sri Lanka for Miss World 2008 and a judge for Miss Universe Sri Lanka 2025, Chula now serves as National Director for Universal Woman Sri Lanka 2026, leading the franchise’s search for Sri Lanka’s delegate to the international final in Cambodia.

Applications for Universal Woman Sri Lanka 2026 are being taken, via WhatsApp: 077 659 4994, says Chula.

The judging panel for Universal Woman Sri Lanka 2026 includes Senaka De Silva, Pageant Aesthetic Advisor & Chairperson of the Judging Panel, Angela Seneviratne, Caroline Jurie, Rozelle Plunkett, and Suraj Mapa.

Universal Woman Sri Lanka 2026 officially began its journey with a first round of auditions, held in Colombo, marking the start of an exciting new chapter in Sri Lanka’s pageant industry.

Launching the first round of auditions

The platform aims to empower women while selecting an intelligent, confident, and inspiring representative to compete at the Universal Woman International Pageant 2026 in Cambodia, this September.

Universal Woman Sri Lanka now moves forward with the vision of creating one of the country’s most prestigious and empowering pageants while preparing to crown a queen who will proudly represent Sri Lanka on the international stage.