In 1918, Ceylon's Legislative Council member George Wille cited
an interesting metaphor to describe the growing weariness among the Ceylonese
about the lack of political rights, despite being tied to Britain for over a
century. Speaking at the second reform conference organized by the Ceylon
Reform League and Ceylon National Association, Wille compared the nation of
Ceylon to a stepson under the care of "a kind, but not a very progressive
parent - a parent who has got very many children of his own to look after, in
preference to his stepchildren." The resolution proposed by Sinhalese
politician James Peiris called for the vigorous development of self-government
institutions in the country as the basis for the realization of responsible
government as an integral part of the British Empire. The resolution sought a
greater opportunity for the people to exercise their political rights.
Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam, the President of the Reform League,
argued that in Ceylon, the British merchant and the planter exercised too great
an influence over public policy and measures. Decades of stagnation on the
political front led to growing advocacy for more political rights, and the
setting up of the Ceylon Reform League and the Ceylon National Association in
1917, giving impetus to the push for constitutional reforms. The setting up of
the Ceylon National Congress in 1919 further galvanized calls for more
political autonomy for the country. Infighting between high-profile members
within the Congress delayed progress, with sharp differences on important
issues such as the granting of universal suffrage for citizens.
Constitutional reforms to replace the Legislative Council came
following the setting up of the Donoughmore Commission, with elections to the
first State Council held in 1931. Two leading advocates of political autonomy,
D. B. Jayatilaka and D. S. Senanayake, dominated the Council. With universal
suffrage introduced between 1928 and 1931, leftist parties made inroads into
the political arena. Among those elected to the Second State Council were the
leading figures of the Marxist Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP), N. M. Perera,
and Philip Gunawardena.
The final phase of transfer of power that granted Dominion
Status to the country was dominated by D. S. Senanayake, who became Sri Lanka's
first Prime Minister. D. S. appointed two of the country's leading lawyers, L.
M. D de Silva and H. V. Perera, as his local advisers to assist him in
negotiations for the transfer of power.
By Polito
