Features

Dudley Senanayake takes over, my relations with Mrs. B deteriorates

Published

12 months ago

2025/01/19

(Excerpted from Rendering Unto Caesar by Bradman Weerakoon)

Dudley Senanayake was not only the youngest to serve as prime minister (he was 41 years old when called upon to do so by the Governor-General Lord Soulbury and succeeded his father D S in 1952) but also the one who had to fill the position the most number of times. The second occasion was after winning the election he called in 1952 and the third, the shortest tenure, after narrowly winning in March 1960. He actually went through the formal swearing-in ceremony before the governor general four times.

Now in 1965, fully matured after five years as leader of the opposition to Sirimavo’s first administration, he was back in office at the head of an assorted seven-party national government.’ It was called contemptuously by his opponents the ‘hath havula’ (in simple English, ‘the devil’s brew’). But he had a comfortable majority if he could hold the coalition together.

The UNP alone under his leadership had won 66 seats, and with the help of the Federal Party (14 seats), the SLFSP C P de Silva’s breakaway group from the SLFP (five seats), the Tamil Congress (three seats) and one each from the MEP, LPP and JVP not the Janata Vomukti Peramuna(which was yet to emerge, but the’Jatika’ Vimukti Peramuna of KMP Rajaratne) he was well ahead of Mrs Bandaranaike whose SLFP had won 41 seats.

This time, hardened by the long spell in the opposition, Dudley was a different being. I found him pugnacious and much more confident. The challenge of running a fractious team which included for the first time in government, the Federal Party in addition to such well known mavericks as Iriyagolle and Dahanayake (now resurrected from Galle) and the redoubtable Philip Gunawardene kept the adrenaline running. I knew I was going to enjoy the trip if I could stay the course. The problem was whether I could, or would be allowed to, considering the background of my close association for the past five years with the administration of Sirimavo Bandaranaike.

There were strong forces at work to have me out and replaced with someone more close to the UNP. My first sense of this was when I presented myself at the swearing-in ceremony of the new prime minister and Cabinet at Queens House before the Governor-General William Gopallawa. He had been Sirimavo’s choice soon after the abortive coup d’etat of 1962. Dudley was charming and greeted me in his usual cheery way but there were many black looks from the other UNP supporters around him.

The feisty Wimala Kannangara, soon to be a deputy minister in the new government, characteristically forthright but not with too much hostility, greeted me with, “What are you doing here? Aren’t you Mrs Bandaranaike’s blue-eyed boy?” Actually, this was the first time I had heard myself being called so. In the five years that he had been in the opposition I had seen Dudley only once or twice once at a DPL reception and the second time at his home when I called to condole with him on the death of his mother.

On the latter occasion I walked with the other mourners to Kanatte from his Woodlands home.

The swearing-in encounter was not the end of the matter. A week or two later, after I started working with Dudley, he appeared unusually serious one morning. He inquired of me whether I had been seeing Mrs Bandaranaike recently. I said I hadn’t. He laughed and said he was only checking because a delegation led by a very prominent monk associated with the UNP, the Ven’ble Malewana Gnanissara, had told him in all seriousness that they had information that I was seen recently at Rosmead Place in deep conversation with Mrs Bandaranaike. Dudley in his characteristic way accepted what I said, also adding that he had no problem with my meeting her socially, if I so desired and was certain that I would keep that within limits. This made me all the more convinced that I should avoid seeing her at all, even if social events were to bring us together.

About a month later, Dudley told me that he had had another group come to him with a similar story of my meeting Sirimavo. He had reprimanded them and said that if he believed all the stories which were coming to him about his officials, he would have only Carolis his valet left to work for him. This was the end of the matter but is illustrative of the campaign of ‘tale carrying’ that is rampant in the country and viciously erupts, especially at times of transition.

My relations with Mrs Bandaranaike begin to deteriorate

It had been a tearful farewell when Sirimavo left Temple Trees after Dudley had been sworn in as leader of the National Government. He had generously passed the word round that since 65 Rosmead Place was not immediately available, the house having been rented out to the Egyptian ambassador at the time, she could, if she wished, stay on at TT for a while. Sirimavo did not take advantage of the offer, made other arrangements and left within a few days.

She hoped, in her final conversations, that Dudley would not deal too harshly with me for having served her government so closely. I replied that I did not think he would because I had worked with him earlier and, moreover, I did not really mind being transferred out-station after 10 continuous years in Colombo. I even hoped it would be Puttalam where I could begin to plant coconut on a 25-acre block of jungle land a group of us public servants had got on leasehold some years earlier.

The only request she made of me was that a Ms Soma Bandaranaike whom she had appointed as manageress at TT would be kept on, as she needed the income the job gave her. I undertook to do my best. One morning soon after Dudley Senanayake took over, Mrs Bandaranaike spoke with me on the telephone about the manageress of Temple Trees who had been brought in during her time. This was Soma Dias Bandaranaike who was a relative and had done a good job if keeping the cooks and house boys in control.

Soma filled a permanent post but since she had come in by personal selection, she should normally have left with the change of government. However, she hadn’t any other job to go to and Mrs Bandaranaike suggested that if I could, she might be kept on. However, Dudley had his own ideas about who should manage the household and had been able to persuade a friend, a highly qualified and responsible retired health department administrative secretary, one Wijesuriya to take on the job.

He was really overqualified to be manager of TT but since the prime minister wanted him to be there and `Wije’ was willing, there was nothing to be done but give Soma a month’s notice and ask her to find some other job. Getting Soma out and putting Mr Wijesuriya in, caused some concern to Mrs Bandaranaike and I could sense the petulance when she called me. She, only half in jest, asked whether Dudley wanted the coast clear to bring in one of his girl friends. It was the first difficult conversation I had with her and I did not think I had managed that particular encounter at all well.

Leaders of the National Government discuss the DDCs

Dudley’s first priority was to cement relations with his new allies of the Federal Party. It was the first time in history that a national party representing the Tamil community was in partnership with the majority community in governing the country. Over the three years that the FP was in the cabinet, Dudley tried hard to make his concept of district development councils work. The DDCs would include all the members of Parliament in the district and would be vested with sufficient powers to exercise limited autonomy in critical areas of public concern.

But in attempting to take away powers from the central line ministers and pass them down to the districts he found himself thwarted by most ministers. No one was willing to give up anything. They wanted all the powers for themselves. The notion of devolution or subsidiarity was not yet in their thinking at all.

The discussions on the subjects and functions which might be devolved, under the direction and control of the central government, were often heated and tempers rose especially in the cross-talk between the Federal Party and the Tamil Congress. Once in the middle of a serious discussion where the intriguing subject of elimination of pests and noxious plants was being discussed at great length, and whether this subject should come under the DDC of the central government, G G Ponnambalam, with a mischievous twinkle in his eye, remarked that the subject might be better amended to read elimination of pests and noxious persons and given to the DDC, directing his look straight at Dr Naganathan. Naganathan who was not given to taking things lying down literally exploded in rage.

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Features

Maduro abduction marks dangerous aggravation of ‘world disorder’

Published

23 hours ago

2026/01/8

Sahan Weerasooriya

Venezuelan President Maduro being taken to a court in New York

The abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by US special forces on January 3rd and his coercive conveying to the US to stand trial over a number of allegations leveled against him by the Trump administration marks a dangerous degeneration of prevailing ‘world disorder’. While some cardinal principles in International Law have been blatantly violated by the US in the course of the operation the fallout for the world from the exceptionally sensational VVIP abduction could be grave.

Although controversial US military interventions the world over are not ‘news’ any longer, the abduction and hustling away of a head of government, seen as an enemy of the US, to stand trial on the latter soil amounts to a heavy-handed and arrogant rejection of the foundational principles of international law and order. It would seem, for instance, that the concept of national sovereignty is no longer applicable to the way in which the world’s foremost powers relate to the rest of the international community. Might is indeed right for the likes of the US and the Trump administration in particular is adamant in driving this point home to the world.

Chief spokesmen for the Trump administration have been at pains to point out that the abduction is not at variance with national security related provisions of the US Constitution. These provisions apparently bestow on the US President wide powers to protect US security and stability through courses of action that are seen as essential to further these ends but the fact is that International Law has been brazenly violated in the process in the Venezuelan case.

To be sure, this is not the first occasion on which a head of government has been abducted by US special forces in post-World War Two times and made to stand trial in the US, since such a development occurred in Panama in 1989, but the consequences for the world could be doubly grave as a result of such actions, considering the mounting ‘disorder’ confronting the world community.

Those sections opposed to the Maduro abduction in the US would do well to from now on seek ways of reconciling national security-related provisions in the US Constitution with the country’s wider international commitment to uphold international peace and law and order. No ambiguities could be permitted on this score.

While the arbitrary military action undertaken by the US to further its narrow interests at whatever cost calls for criticism, it would be only fair to point out that the US is not the only big power which has thus dangerously eroded the authority of International Law in recent times. Russia, for example, did just that when it violated the sovereignty of Ukraine by invading it two or more years ago on some nebulous, unconvincing grounds. Consequently, the Ukraine crisis too poses a grave threat to international peace.

It is relevant to mention in this connection that authoritarian rulers who hope to rule their countries in perpetuity as it were, usually end up, sooner rather than later, being a blight on their people. This is on account of the fact that they prove a major obstacle to the implementation of the democratic process which alone holds out the promise of the progressive empowerment of the people, whereas authoritarian rulers prefer to rule with an iron fist with a fixation about self-empowerment.

Nevertheless, regime-change, wherever it may occur, is a matter for the public concerned. In a functional democracy, it is the people, and the people only, who ‘make or break’ governments. From this viewpoint, Russia and Venezuela are most lacking. But externally induced, militarily mediated change is a gross abnormality in the world of democracy, which deserves decrying.

By way of damage control, the US could take the initiative to ensure that the democratic process, read as the full empowerment of ordinary people, takes hold in Venezuela. In this manner the US could help in stemming some of the destructive fallout from its abduction operation. Any attempts by the US to take possession of the national wealth of Venezuela at this juncture are bound to earn for it the condemnation of democratic opinion the world over.

Likewise, the US needs to exert all its influence to ensure that the rights of ordinary Ukrainians are protected. It will need to ensure this while exploring ways of stopping further incursions into Ukrainian territory by Russia’s invading forces. It will need to do this in collaboration with the EU which is putting its best foot forward to end the Ukraine blood-letting.

Meanwhile, the repercussions that the Maduro abduction could have on the global South would need to be watched with some concern by the international community. Here too the EU could prove a positive influence since it is doubtful whether the UN would be enabled by the big powers to carry out the responsibilities that devolve on it with the required effectiveness.

What needs to be specifically watched is the ‘copycat effect’ that could manifest among those less democratically inclined Southern rulers who would be inspired by the Trump administration to take the law into their hands, so to speak, and act with callous disregard for the sovereign rights of their smaller and more vulnerable neighbours.

Democratic opinion the world over would need to think of systems of checks and balances that could contain such power abuse by Southern autocratic rulers in particular. The UN and democracy-supportive organizations, such as the EU, could prove suitable partners in these efforts.

All in all it is international lawlessness that needs managing effectively from now on. If President Trump carries out his threat to over-run other countries as well in the manner in which he ran rough-shod over Venezuela, there is unlikely to remain even a semblance of international order, considering that anarchy would be receiving a strong fillip from the US, ‘The World’s Mightiest Democracy’.

What is also of note is that identity politics in particularly the South would be unprecedentedly energized. The narrative that ‘the Great Satan’ is running amok would win considerable validity among the theocracies of the Middle East and set the stage for a resurgence of religious fanaticism and invigorated armed resistance to the US. The Trump administration needs to stop in its tracks and weigh the pros and cons of its current foreign policy initiatives.

Features

Pure Christmas magic and joy at British School

Published

23 hours ago

2026/01/8

Sahan Weerasooriya

Students of The British High School in Colombo in action at the fashion show

The British School in Colombo (BSC) hosted its Annual Christmas Carnival 2025, ‘Gingerbread Wonderland’, which was a huge success, with the students themseles in the spotlight, managing stalls and volunteering.

The event, organised by the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA), featured a variety of activities, including: Games and rides for all ages, Food stalls offering delicious treats, Drinks and refreshments, Trade booths showcasing local products, and Live music and entertainment.

The carnival was held at the school premises, providing a fun and festive atmosphere for students, parents, and the community to enjoy.

The halls of the BSC were filled with pure Christmas magic and joy with the students and the staff putting on a tremendous display.

Among the highlights was the dazzling fashion show with the students doing the needful, and they were very impressive.

The students themselves were eagerly looking forward to displaying their modelling technique and, I’m told, they enjoyed the moment they had to step on the ramp.

The event supported communities affected by the recent floods, with surplus proceeds going to flood-relief efforts.

Features

Glowing younger looking skin

Published

23 hours ago

2026/01/8

Sahan Weerasooriya

Hi! This week I’m giving you some beauty tips so that you could look forward to enjoying 2026 with a glowing younger looking skin.

Face wash for natural beauty

* Avocado:

Take the pulp, make a paste of it and apply on your face. Leave it on for five minutes and then wash it with normal water.

* Cucumber:

Just rub some cucumber slices on your face for 02-03 minutes to cleanse the oil naturally. Wash off with plain water.

* Buttermilk:

Apply all over your face and leave it to dry, then wash it with normal water (works for mixed to oily skin).

Face scrub for natural beauty

Take 01-02 strawberries, 02 pieces of kiwis or 02 cubes of watermelons. Mash any single fruit and apply on your face. Then massage or scrub it slowly for at least 3-5 minutes in circular motions. Then wash it thoroughly with normal or cold water. You can make use of different fruits during different seasons, and see what suits you best! Follow with a natural face mask.

Face Masks

* Papaya and Honey:

Take two pieces of papaya (peeled) and mash them to make a paste. Apply evenly on your face and leave it for 30 minutes and then wash it with cold water.

Papaya is just not a fruit but one of the best natural remedies for good health and glowing younger looking skin. It also helps in reducing pimples and scars. You can also add honey (optional) to the mixture which helps massage and makes your skin glow.

* Banana:

Put a few slices of banana, 01 teaspoon of honey (optional), in a bowl, and mash them nicely. Apply on your face, and massage it gently all over the face for at least 05 minutes. Then wash it off with normal water. For an instant glow on your face, this facemask is a great idea to try!

* Carrot:

Make a paste using 01 carrot (steamed) by mixing it with milk or honey and apply on your face and neck evenly. Let it dry for 15-20 minutes and then wash it with cold water. Carrots work really well for your skin as they have many vitamins and minerals, which give instant shine and younger-looking skin.