Features

The Surya Sena Saga

Published

4 years ago

2022/04/17

Sahan Weerasooriya

by ECB Wijeyesinghe

Those who think that Devar Surya Sena’s life has been one long sweet song, will be in for a rude shock.

His autobiography, titled “Of Sri Lanka I Sing,” which has just been released, is a gripping human document, with a wealth of amusing stories. It reveals how from a very early age he fought different kinds of prejudice — and won.

Devar Surya Sena who was christened Herbert Charles Jacob at his birth was, of course, the son of the renowned patriot Sir James Peiris, whom he revered. His maternal grandfather, Jacob de Mel, was a millionaire. Surya Sena’s mother was his eldest daughter. At the age of 17 she married James Peiris who was one of the most eligible men of his time.

“RIPPLEWORTH”

When Jacob de Mel gave his eldest daughter in marriage to James Peiris, there was much weeping and gnashing of teeth in many palatial homes between Galle and Colombo. With the help of Jacob’s financial ladder, James Peiris went up from rung to rung and found more time to devote to nationalist causes as well as to raise a family.

Surya Sena was the youngest of James Peiris’ four children — two boys and two girls. Though he spent most of his boyhood at “Rippleworth” in Turret Road, he was born in a house called “St. Leonard’s” in Flower Road. At “Rippleworth”, Surya Sena recalls James Peiris and his happy family used to congregate after dinner and read.

Suddenly, he says, Mrs. Peiris would get up with a newspaper in her hand and exclaim, “Dearie, look what this Editor says about you in his editorial! How dare he?” The affable James would lower his book for a moment and say: “My dear, I am a public man. They have a perfect right to criticize me as much as they like.”

“Yes, darling,” retorts Mummie, “but what this man says is a pack of lies.” James Peiris merely mutters: “Vincit veritas — truth conquers, my dear!” That was his motto and he lived up to it. For all practical purposes the Peirises lived in typical upper-class Western style.

To give the best education they could afford for their children, the whole family proceeded to England and Surya Sena remembers that he celebrated his ninth birthday (March 28, 1908) on board a German ship which rocked and rolled in the Bay of Biscay leaving over 400 passengers prostrate. Among the nine who weathered the storm were James Peiris and his little son.

TRAUMA

Surya Sena had his first traumatic experience of colour prejudice when he used to walk back from Colet Court, St. Paul’s Preparatory School at Hammersmith, in London, to the West Kensington house they had rented. Sometimes street urchins would call out “Look, there’s a nigger! Hullo Blackie! Have washed your face this morning?” followed by guffaws of laughter.

Surya Sena who was used to seeing white faces in their home in Colombo, had no feeling whatsoever about colour. But being laughed at repeatedly in the London streets made him colour conscious. When he was 16 Surya Sena entered the Tonbridge School in Kent, in the countryside, where the doctor’s stethoscope found a spot in his chest and he was advised not to play games.

To be a coloured boy in a public school in England and not to be allowed to play games has been described as the last word in cruelty. Earlier his brother, Leonard, got First Eleven colours for cricket in the same school and headed the batting averages. Surya Sena soon began to develop an inferiority complex, but he defied the doctor’s orders and not only played games, but regained his self-confidence through the medium of music and song.

He left Tonbridge two years too early, but not before the Headmaster, Charles Lowry, had referred to his winning the School Literature Prize in his annual report in these words: “Here we have H.C.J. Peiris, a boy from Ceylon, who comes 6000 miles across the sea to teach boys at Tonbridge how to write and speak English.”

ACCENT

Back at home 1916, owing to the war, Surya Sena’s friends and relations discovered, to his dismay, that he had acquired a strong “English accent.” and he came in for quite a bit of ragging. But three years in Ceylon almost rubbed it out. It was during these three years that he came under the influence of the great Rev. W.S.Senior, an Englishman who loved Ceylon. Senior coached him in Latin and Greek in preparation for Cambridge. When Senior wrote a “Hymn for Ceylon,” he hoped some day Surya Sena would write a tune for this. Years later, Surya Sena adapted the popular tune of “Danno Budunge,” harmonized it in four parts and fitted Senior’s glorious words in its beautiful melody.

VIRGIN

Wading through the 306 pages of this book, the reader begins more and more to realize how much it resembles St. Augustine’s Confessions,” flavoured as it is with Newman’s “Apologia pro vita sua.” Surya Sena, is essentially an extrovert, unlike his wife, and bares his soul without blinking an eyelid. At Cambridge where he spent nearly four years (1919 to 1923) his friends teased him quite a lot. They called him a virgin because he had not kissed a girl. Actually, he says, he did not have the guts to be like his friends.

Before long he started doing a bit of flirting, just to be “normal” and I suspect he probably sacrificed his virginity for conformity. When he adds “facile descensus est Averno” (the descent to Avernus is easy), one can only presume that his moral backbone had received a shattering blow.

The refreshing candour with which Surya Sena tells the story of his life is worth many sermons from the pulpit. Right through his career the almost child-like faith in the Divinity that shapes our ends stands out like a beacon light and the humble “Non nobis, Domine” punctuates all his glories and triumphs.

Surya Sena says it is difficult for a Lankan youth of the 1950s, born into an independent and free Sri Lanka, to imagine the atmosphere that Ceylonese youths had to endure in the 1920s. Naturally the British felt far superior to the Asians whose countries they ruled, and colour prejudice was rampant.

Among his contemporaries at Cambridge who probably felt the same way were A.G. Ranasinha, Susantha de Fonseka, P.R.Gunasekera, Paul Pieris Deraniyagala, George R.De Silva and S.P.Wickremasinha. All of them in later years, distinguished either as diplomats, scientists or administrators.

One of the more colourful characters at the University at that time was the handsome six-footer, S.Tambiraja Saravanamuttu, the youngest of a band of famous brothers. He lost his Cricket Blue because he spoke too much. On his school cricket record Sara was given a Varsity Trial and stood a good chance of getting his Blue. The Saravanamuttu pride was, however, his undoing.

It happened this way. One day, says Surya Sena, the Captain of the Cambridge Cricket XI met Sara and said: “I say, Sara, you were not at practice last Saturday. What happened?” “My dear fellow,” said Sara, “even if I do not attend a single practice, I can hit any of your bowlers for a six at any time.” As may be imagined Sara was dropped and his chance of winning a Blue faded away. How Surya Sena (then H.C.J.Peiris) won the Winchester Reading Prize at Cambridge is another story worth relating.

READING PRIZE

The contest was open to the whole University and was a formidable test in reading the English language. It was customary for every College in the Varsity to enter 10 or 12 of its best readers. They are chosen by the respective Deans. At Surya Sena’s College, St. John’s, the Dean was a snooty fellow who saw red when he saw a brown or black face. He entered ten pink-faced men from St.John’s, but not Surya Sena.

Finding that there was no bar for an undergraduate to enter independently Surya Sena had the courage to send in his name. On the day of the contest in the vast University Senate Hall, 120 candidates lined up for the big race. There were no microphones or loud-speakers in the 1920s, and the three judges sat about 30 yards from the lectern.

The passages chosen for reading ranged from Chaucer to Chesterton, including Shakespeare, Spenser, Pepys, Bunyan, Thackeray, the Brontes, Milton, Dickens, Scott, Conrad, D.H.Lawrence, Browning, the Bible and Hooker’s Ecclesiastical Polity. The examiners called up each of the 120 candidates to read a passage from Chaucer or Hooker and the elimination began.

From 8.30 a.m. till sunset the fight went on until only four were left and Surya Sena was one of them. The other three were Vivyan Adams, the President of the Union, Stephen Neill, a man who got a First-class in the Classical Tripos and D. Perowne, one of the leading lights of the Dramatic Society.

At six p.m. after about nine hours of testing, the Chief Judge said: “That will be all-Thank you gentlemen. The judges are unanimous in the choice of this year’s Winchester prizeman. You will find the names on the Senate Hall door tomorrow morning.” The following day the undergraduates found that the name of H.C.J.Peiris led all the rest.

The man who later assumed the name Devar Surya Sena had beaten the cream of the University scholars and speakers in reading their own language. He was not only the- first coloured man, but the first non-English contestant to win the coveted prize. Among those who came to congratulate him was Sir Anton Bertram, the former Chief Justice, an orator of no mean order.

It is not possible within the course of one brief article to follow the eventful trail of Surya Sena and his devoted wife, Nelun Devi, whom he virtually worshipped, through four Continents.

WORLD TOURS

They used their God-given gifts of music and song to spread the gospel of moral re-armament. Surya Sena was almost losing his faith in human nature owing to the rebuffs he had received on account of his colour when he met the dynamic Dr. Frank Buchman, the leader of the Oxford Group, who had transformed the lives of millions by his insistence on being Absolute in four things – honesty, purity, unselfishness and love.

After he became involved with the MRA, Surya Sena’s voice took on a richer timbre and he used it to move and change thousands of people’s hearts. It is difficult to find a finer exponent of Dr. Buchman’s philosophy than Surya Sena.

The elegant literary style and the wealth of material it contains make Surya Sena’s life-story which is illustrated with 30 art plates, a valuable aid to the sociologist, psychologist and even the theologian. It is a pity that there is no index to such a glorious parade of famous names. I have one grouse. There are too many typographical errors. They should not be allowed to mar the next edition.

(Excerpted from The Good at Their Best first published in 1978)

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Features

Rebuilding the country requires consultation

Published

8 hours ago

2026/01/13

Sahan Weerasooriya

A positive feature of the government that is emerging is its responsiveness to public opinion. The manner in which it has been responding to the furore over the Grade 6 English Reader, in which a weblink to a gay dating site was inserted, has been constructive. Government leaders have taken pains to explain the mishap and reassure everyone concerned that it was not meant to be there and would be removed. They have been meeting religious prelates, educationists and community leaders. In a context where public trust in institutions has been badly eroded over many years, such responsiveness matters. It signals that the government sees itself as accountable to society, including to parents, teachers, and those concerned about the values transmitted through the school system.

This incident also appears to have strengthened unity within the government. The attempt by some opposition politicians and gender misogynists to pin responsibility for this lapse on Prime Minister Dr Harini Amarasuriya, who is also the Minister of Education, has prompted other senior members of the government to come to her defence. This is contrary to speculation that the powerful JVP component of the government is unhappy with the prime minister. More importantly, it demonstrates an understanding within the government that individual ministers should not be scapegoated for systemic shortcomings. Effective governance depends on collective responsibility and solidarity within the leadership, especially during moments of public controversy.

The continuing important role of the prime minister in the government is evident in her meetings with international dignitaries and also in addressing the general public. Last week she chaired the inaugural meeting of the Presidential Task Force to Rebuild Sri Lanka in the aftermath of Cyclone Ditwah. The composition of the task force once again reflects the responsiveness of the government to public opinion. Unlike previous mechanisms set up by governments, which were either all male or without ethnic minority representation, this one includes both, and also includes civil society representation. Decision-making bodies in which there is diversity are more likely to command public legitimacy.

Task Force

The Presidential Task Force to Rebuild Sri Lanka overlooks eight committees to manage different aspects of the recovery, each headed by a sector minister. These committees will focus on Needs Assessment, Restoration of Public Infrastructure, Housing, Local Economies and Livelihoods, Social Infrastructure, Finance and Funding, Data and Information Systems, and Public Communication. This structure appears comprehensive and well designed. However, experience from post-disaster reconstruction in countries such as Indonesia and Sri Lanka after the 2004 tsunami suggests that institutional design alone does not guarantee success. What matters equally is how far these committees engage with those on the ground and remain open to feedback that may complicate, slow down, or even challenge initial plans.

An option that the task force might wish to consider is to develop a linkage with civil society groups with expertise in the areas that the task force is expected to work. The CSO Collective for Emergency Relief has set up several committees that could be linked to the committees supervised by the task force. Such linkages would not weaken the government’s authority but strengthen it by grounding policy in lived realities. Recent findings emphasise the idea of “co-production”, where state and society jointly shape solutions in which sustainable outcomes often emerge when communities are treated not as passive beneficiaries but as partners in problem-solving.

Cyclone Ditwah destroyed more than physical infrastructure. It also destroyed communities. Some were swallowed by landslides and floods, while many others will need to be moved from their homes as they live in areas vulnerable to future disasters. The trauma of displacement is not merely material but social and psychological. Moving communities to new locations requires careful planning. It is not simply a matter of providing people with houses. They need to be relocated to locations and in a manner that permits communities to live together and to have livelihoods. This will require consultation with those who are displaced. Post-disaster evaluations have acknowledged that relocation schemes imposed without community consent often fail, leading to abandonment of new settlements or the emergence of new forms of marginalisation. Even today, abandoned tsunami housing is to be seen in various places that were affected by the 2004 tsunami.

Malaiyaha Tamils

The large-scale reconstruction that needs to take place in parts of the country most severely affected by Cyclone Ditwah also brings an opportunity to deal with the special problems of the Malaiyaha Tamil population. These are people of recent Indian origin who were unjustly treated at the time of Independence and denied rights of citizenship such as land ownership and the vote. This has been a festering problem and a blot on the conscience of the country. The need to resettle people living in those parts of the hill country which are vulnerable to landslides is an opportunity to do justice by the Malaiyaha Tamil community. Technocratic solutions such as high-rise apartments or English-style townhouses that have or are being contemplated may be cost-effective, but may also be culturally inappropriate and socially disruptive. The task is not simply to build houses but to rebuild communities.

The resettlement of people who have lost their homes and communities requires consultation with them. In the same manner, the education reform programme, of which the textbook controversy is only a small part, too needs to be discussed with concerned stakeholders including school teachers and university faculty. Opening up for discussion does not mean giving up one’s own position or values. Rather, it means recognising that better solutions emerge when different perspectives are heard and negotiated. Consultation takes time and can be frustrating, particularly in contexts of crisis where pressure for quick results is intense. However, solutions developed with stakeholder participation are more resilient and less costly in the long run.

Rebuilding after Cyclone Ditwah, addressing historical injustices faced by the Malaiyaha Tamil community, advancing education reform, changing the electoral system to hold provincial elections without further delay and other challenges facing the government, including national reconciliation, all require dialogue across differences and patience with disagreement. Opening up for discussion is not to give up on one’s own position or values, but to listen, to learn, and to arrive at solutions that have wider acceptance. Consultation needs to be treated as an investment in sustainability and legitimacy and not as an obstacle to rapid decisionmaking. Addressing the problems together, especially engagement with affected parties and those who work with them, offers the best chance of rebuilding not only physical infrastructure but also trust between the government and people in the year ahead.

by Jehan Perera

Features

PSTA: Terrorism without terror continues

Published

8 hours ago

2026/01/13

Sahan Weerasooriya

When the government appointed a committee, led by Rienzie Arsekularatne, Senior President’s Counsel, to draft a new law to replace the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), as promised by the ruling NPP, the writer, in an article published in this journal in July 2025, expressed optimism that, given Arsekularatne’s experience in criminal justice, he would be able to address issues from the perspectives of the State, criminal justice, human rights, suspects, accused, activists, and victims. The draft Protection of the State from Terrorism Act (PSTA), produced by the Committee, has been sharply criticised by individuals and organisations who expected a better outcome that aligns with modern criminal justice and human rights principles.

This article is limited to a discussion of the definition of terrorism. As the writer explained previously, the dangers of an overly broad definition go beyond conviction and increased punishment. Special laws on terrorism allow deviations from standard laws in areas such as preventive detention, arrest, administrative detention, restrictions on judicial decisions regarding bail, lengthy pre-trial detention, the use of confessions, superadded punishments, such as confiscation of property and cancellation of professional licences, banning organisations, and restrictions on publications, among others. The misuse of such laws is not uncommon. Drastic legislation, such as the PTA and emergency regulations, although intended to be used to curb intense violence and deal with emergencies, has been exploited to suppress political opposition.

International Standards

The writer’s basic premise is that, for an act to come within the definition of terrorism, it must either involve “terror” or a “state of intense or overwhelming fear” or be committed to achieve an objective of an individual or organisation that uses “terror” or a “state of intense or overwhelming fear” to realise its aims. The UN General Assembly has accepted that the threshold for a possible general offence of terrorism is the provocation of “a state of terror” (Resolution 60/43). The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has taken a similar view, using the phrase “to create a climate of terror.”

In his 2023 report on the implementation of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, the Secretary-General warned that vague and overly broad definitions of terrorism in domestic law, often lacking adequate safeguards, violate the principle of legality under international human rights law. He noted that such laws lead to heavy-handed, ineffective, and counterproductive counter-terrorism practices and are frequently misused to target civil society actors and human rights defenders by labelling them as terrorists to obstruct their work.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has stressed in its Handbook on Criminal Justice Responses to Terrorism that definitions of terrorist acts must use precise and unambiguous language, narrowly define punishable conduct and clearly distinguish it from non-punishable behaviour or offences subject to other penalties. The handbook was developed over several months by a team of international experts, including the writer, and was finalised at a workshop in Vienna.

Anti-Terrorism Bill, 2023

A five-member Bench of the Supreme Court that examined the Anti-Terrorism Bill, 2023, agreed with the petitioners that the definition of terrorism in the Bill was too broad and infringed Article 12(1) of the Constitution, and recommended that an exemption (“carve out”) similar to that used in New Zealand under which “the fact that a person engages in any protest, advocacy, or dissent, or engages in any strike, lockout, or other industrial action, is not, by itself, a sufficient basis for inferring that the person” committed the wrongful acts that would otherwise constitute terrorism.

While recognising the Court’s finding that the definition was too broad, the writer argued, in his previous article, that the political, administrative, and law enforcement cultures of the country concerned are crucial factors to consider. Countries such as New Zealand are well ahead of developing nations, where the risk of misuse is higher, and, therefore, definitions should be narrower, with broader and more precise exemptions. How such a “carve out” would play out in practice is uncertain.

In the Supreme Court, it was submitted that for an act to constitute an offence, under a special law on terrorism, there must be terror unleashed in the commission of the act, or it must be carried out in pursuance of the object of an organisation that uses terror to achieve its objectives. In general, only acts that aim at creating “terror” or a “state of intense or overwhelming fear” should come under the definition of terrorism. There can be terrorism-related acts without violence, for example, when a member of an extremist organisation remotely sabotages an electronic, automated or computerised system in pursuance of the organisation’s goal. But when the same act is committed by, say, a whizz-kid without such a connection, that would be illegal and should be punished, but not under a special law on terrorism. In its determination of the Bill, the Court did not address this submission.

PSTA Proposal

Proposed section 3(1) of the PSTA reads:

Any person who, intentionally or knowingly, commits any act which causes a consequence specified in subsection (2), for the purpose of-

(a) provoking a state of terror;

(b) intimidating the public or any section of the public;

(c) compelling the Government of Sri Lanka, or any other Government, or an international organisation, to do or to abstain from doing any act; or

(d) propagating war, or violating territorial integrity or infringing the sovereignty of Sri Lanka or any other sovereign country, commits the offence of terrorism.

The consequences listed in sub-section (2) include: death; hurt; hostage-taking; abduction or kidnapping; serious damage to any place of public use, any public property, any public or private transportation system or any infrastructure facility or environment; robbery, extortion or theft of public or private property; serious risk to the health and safety of the public or a section of the public; serious obstruction or damage to, or interference with, any electronic or automated or computerised system or network or cyber environment of domains assigned to, or websites registered with such domains assigned to Sri Lanka; destruction of, or serious damage to, religious or cultural property; serious obstruction or damage to, or interference with any electronic, analogue, digital or other wire-linked or wireless transmission system, including signal transmission and any other frequency-based transmission system; without lawful authority, importing, exporting, manufacturing, collecting, obtaining, supplying, trafficking, possessing or using firearms, offensive weapons, ammunition, explosives, articles or things used in the manufacture of explosives or combustible or corrosive substances and biological, chemical, electric, electronic or nuclear weapons, other nuclear explosive devices, nuclear material, radioactive substances, or radiation-emitting devices.

Under section 3(5), “any person who commits an act which constitutes an offence under the nine international treaties on terrorism, ratified by Sri Lanka, also commits the offence of terrorism.” No one would contest that.

The New Zealand “carve-out” is found in sub-section (4): “The fact that a person engages in any protest, advocacy or dissent or engages in any strike, lockout or other industrial action, is not by itself a sufficient basis for inferring that such person (a) commits or attempts, abets, conspires, or prepares to commit the act with the intention or knowledge specified in subsection (1); or (b) is intending to cause or knowingly causes an outcome specified in subsection (2).”

While the Arsekularatne Committee has proposed, including the New Zealand “carve out”, it has ignored a crucial qualification in section 5(2) of that country’s Terrorism Suppression Act, that for an act to be considered a terrorist act, it must be carried out for one or more purposes that are or include advancing “an ideological, political, or religious cause”, with the intention of either intimidating a population or coercing or forcing a government or an international organisation to do or abstain from doing any act.

When the Committee was appointed, the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka opined that any new offence with respect to “terrorism” should contain a specific and narrow definition of terrorism, such as the following: “Any person who by the use of force or violence unlawfully targets the civilian population or a segment of the civilian population with the intent to spread fear among such population or segment thereof in furtherance of a political, ideological, or religious cause commits the offence of terrorism”.

The writer submits that, rather than bringing in the requirement of “a political, ideological, or religious cause”, it would be prudent to qualify proposed section 3(1) by the requirement that only acts that aim at creating “terror” or a “state of intense or overwhelming fear” or are carried out to achieve a goal of an individual or organisation that employs “terror” or a “state of intense or overwhelming fear” to attain its objectives should come under the definition of terrorism. Such a threshold is recognised internationally; no “carve out” is then needed, and the concerns of the Human Rights Commission would also be addressed.

by Dr. Jayampathy Wickramaratne
President’s Counsel

Features

ROCK meets REGGAE 2026

Published

9 hours ago

2026/01/13

Sahan Weerasooriya

JAYASRI: From Vienna, Austria

We generally have in our midst the famous JAYASRI twins, Rohitha and Rohan, who are based in Austria but make it a point to entertain their fans in Sri Lanka on a regular basis.

Well, rock and reggae fans get ready for a major happening on 28th February (Oops, a special day where I’m concerned!) as the much-awaited ROCK meets REGGAE event booms into action at the Nelum Pokuna outdoor theatre.

It was seven years ago, in 2019, that the last ROCK meets REGGAE concert was held in Colombo, and then the Covid scene cropped up.

Chitral Somapala with BLACK MAJESTY

This year’s event will feature our rock star Chitral Somapala with the Australian Rock+Metal band BLACK MAJESTY, and the reggae twins Rohitha and Rohan Jayalath with the original JAYASRI – the full band, with seven members from Vienna, Austria.

According to Rohitha, the JAYASRI outfit is enthusiastically looking forward to entertaining music lovers here with their brand of music.

Their playlist for 28th February will consist of the songs they do at festivals in Europe, as well as originals, and also English and Sinhala hits, and selected covers.

Says Rohitha: “We have put up a great team, here in Sri Lanka, to give this event an international setting and maintain high standards, and this will be a great experience for our Sri Lankan music lovers … not only for Rock and Reggae fans. Yes, there will be some opening acts, and many surprises, as well.”

Rohitha, Chitral and Rohan: Big scene at ROCK meets REGGAE

Rohitha and Rohan also conveyed their love and festive blessings to everyone in Sri Lanka, stating “This Christmas was different as our country faced a catastrophic situation and, indeed, it’s a great time to help and share the real love of Jesus Christ by helping the poor, the needy and the homeless people. Let’s RISE UP as a great nation in 2026.”