Features
A civil service, military and police conspiracy
THE SIXTY-TWO COUP – III
A group of senior police and military officers attempted to overthrow the Sirimavo Bandaranaike government. They were driven by three critical events in the years leading up to January 1962. The coup participants belonged to the Westernised urban middle class who were alarmed at the undermining of the secular plural state
and government.
(Continued from yesterday)
By Jayantha Somasundaram
The conspiracy to mount the coup began to take shape in the provinces where the army had been deployed to counter both illicit immigration from India and the Tamil satyagraha. While the leaders of the Coup were senior police and army officers, there was also one influential civil servant, Douglas Liyanage, who would be the first accused in their subsequent trial, Queen v Liyanage. He was the Government Agent of the Mannar District, through which army units would be rotated on anti-illicit immigration duty.
In the army, the conspiracy originated in the artillery with leadership provided by Colonel Maurice de Mel, Chief of Staff, Colonel F. C. ‘Derek’ de Saram, Deputy Commandant of the Ceylon Volunteer Force and Lt. Col. Willie Abrahams. In the Police, there were two chains of command: DIG C. C. ‘Jungle’ Dissanayake, who directed metropolitan officers and former DIG Sidney de Zoysa who directed provincial officers.
In January 1961, he brought key Army officers into the coup, which was to be carried out by troops from the 3rd Field Regiment and the 2nd (Volunteer) Anti-Aircraft Regiment of the Ceylon Artillery (CA), 2nd (V) Field & Plant Regiment, Ceylon Engineers; 2nd (V) Regiment, Ceylon Signals Corps (CSC) and Armoured cars of the Sabre Troop of the Ceylon Armoured Corps (CAC).
Jungle Dissanayake was an outstanding police officer. In 1942, he and Derek de Saram were selected by British Intelligence to head the underground resistance should Ceylon fall to the Japanese. Through him senior officers in Colombo were introduced to the coup. Beginning on the 13th he recruited Superintendents of Police (SP) W. E.C. Jebanasam, M. B. Dedigama and C.R. Arndt and Assistant Superintendents of Police (ASP) Terrence Wijesinghe, Colin Van den Driesen, Dumbo Jayatilleke and P R Seneviratne. They were to detain politicians and secure key police installations like the Radio Control Room.
On the 16th, as instructed by DIG Jungle Dissanayaka, Stanley Senanayake SP Colombo called a meeting of his gazetted officers (ASP and above) asking them to arrange for the trailing of leftists whose movements were to be conveyed to W. E. C. Jebanesam SP Colombo Crimes. About a week later Dissanayaka summoned Colin van den Driesan ASP Depot and told him that he was assigned to arrest Felix Dias.
Arrest the Navy Commander
On the 25th Sidney de Zoysa travelled south, meeting SP Elster Perera in Galle, SP David Thambyah at Matara and SP F. H.V. Brohier and ASPs C. S. Orr and V. K. Arumugam at the Police Training School Katukurunda. That evening Major Weerasena Rajapakse MBE CAC, Maj Victor Joseph CAC, Maj Wilton White CA and ASP Colin Van den Driesan had dinner with de Saram. He told them that it was necessary to overthrow the government of Sirimavo Bandaranaike.
Meanwhile, a co-ordinated reconnaissance was carried out to prepare for the securing of Colombo’s three key telecommunication centres – the Central Telegraph Office (CTO), the Maradana Exchange and the Havelock Town Exchange. It was led by Col Basil Jesudasan, Commander 2nd (V) Ceylon Signal Corp. They would paralyse local and overseas telecommunication and instead set up new secure lines at Police HQ and Army HQ for the use of the Coup participants.
On the morning of Saturday 27th Jungle Dissanayake during their morning walk at Galle Face Green informed SP Stanley Senanayake that orders had come through from the top to arrest a number of politicians, and that the Governor-General was aware of these measures and approved of them. Later, Jungle Dissanayake summoned ASP Johnpulle and told him: “We are taking over the government, today.”
When the DIG’s Personal Assistant ASP Terrence Wijesinghe and ASP Lionel Jirasinghe arrived, Jungle Dissanayake instructed them to take a party of two sub inspectors, two sergeants and thirty constables to trail and thereafter arrest Commodore Rajan Kadirgamar MVO, acting Captain of the Navy at midnight. They were to then take him to Army Headquarters (AHQ) to be handed over to SP C.R. Arndt before reporting to Queen’s House, the Governor General’s residence. The code word for the operation was ‘Holdfast’ and the password to enter AHQ was ‘Yathura’.
On the afternoon of the 27th January Jungle Dissanayake summoned his senior officers for a final meeting at his Longden Place residence. According to his son T. D. S. A Dissanayake’s account in The Politics of Sri Lanka Vol III the final instructions to Terry Wijesinghe were “Please report to me at Queen’s House at 22.59 hours. I will be in charge of all operations there. Just in case you are challenged by the sentries, the password will be Dowbiggin (Sir Herbert Dowbiggin was Inspector-General of Police from 1912-1937).”
The Gentlemen’s Coup
Next to arrive was ASP Lionel Jirasinghe to whom the DIG said, “Jirasinghe, I am sorry if I forgot to tell you. No officer of mine will carry even side arms tonight. This will be a real gentleman’s coup d’etat exactly what General Ayub Khan did in Pakistan a few years ago. After you complete the duties I have already assigned you from 22.00 hours to 01.00 hours tonight, you will assist the Army at “Temple Trees” (the Prime Minister’s residence). You should please report to Lt. Colonel Willie Abrahams, the Commanding Officer of the Ceylon Artillery. The password will be ‘The British Grenadier’, (which is the marching tune of the Ceylon Artillery).”
Sirimavo Bandaranaike
DIG Jungle Dissanayake went on, “When troops surround ‘Temple Trees’ around 23.59 hours, Colonel F. C. de Saram, a cousin of S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike will personally speak to the Prime Minister and ask for her surrender. After the coup d’etat is over, Major General F. C. De Saram, General-Officer-Commanding Ceylon, will command all military establishments. He will also personally handle all details at Temple Trees and ensure that the Prime Minister will be our guest. Only the finest of gentlemen from the Ceylon Artillery, which was once commanded by Colonel F. C. de Saram, will be posted at ‘Temple Trees’. Do please help the Army in whatever way you can in your capacity as a perfect gentleman.
“At Temple Trees, “please treat the Prime Minister with the greatest respect and her children with the greatest of care. Food for the Bandaranaike family will be ordered directly from the Galle Face Hotel. Any doctors of their choice may visit them at “Temple Trees” at any time. Jirasinghe, you are a real gentleman who went to Trinity College, Kandy. You would have become an even better gentleman had you gone to Royal College. I am putting you in charge of Police operations at ‘Temple Trees’, commencing 0100 hours tonight.”
The last to arrive was SP Stanley Senanayake. Jungle Dissanayake instructed him: “At 2200 hrs I will issue a Take Post Order. I want the Colombo Police to clear all thoroughfares by 2230 hrs. (ASP Traffic) Bede Johnpillai should be in charge of that operation. Col F. C. de Saram will move his troops and armoured columns swiftly commencing 2300 hrs. By 1.00 hours (Sunday 28th) all military operations will be completed and the Governor-General will dissolve Parliament and remove the Prime Minister from office.”
The final meeting of the conspirators was held at the Kinross Avenue beach in Bambalapitiya. Former Navy Commander Rear Admiral Royce de Mel OBE, his brother Col Maurice de Mel, Col Willie Abrahams, Maj Ignatius Loyola, Lt Col Noel Mathysz, Maj Rajapakse, Maj White and Capt J.A.R. Felix attended.
To be continued tomorrow