K. K.S. Perera
Rumors and anecdotes on Dudley Senanayake’s alleged involvement in the botched coup attempt of 1962 was a regular occurrence five decades ago; one such yarn doing the rounds in late sixties was when Royce de Mel, the sixth suspect, who after being acquitted by Privy Council was appointed General Manager of the Ceylon Hotels Corporation under JRJ, the State Minister.
‘It was on a hot summer’s evening in June 1974, the extraordinary conversation I am about to narrate took place’, says, Mr Neville Jayaweera. CCS, Former Chairman/Director General of SLBC, (NJ) relating his meeting with Sir John Kotelawala, former Prime Minister,1953-56 at his Farm in Kent, England.
Was it a ‘mid-summer night’s dream’ ?
NJ’s account and his concluding remarks, I find, one of the best analysis published on coup d’etat in 1962. However the allegations that Dudley was involved in the aborted attempt to topple Sirimavo’s regime as related by Sir John are based on flimsy grounds attributed to a statement by Felix Dias in parliament on February 13, 1962, quoting ‘hearsay’ from three junior suspects, two of whom were among the four who turned crown witness; Felix himself, never pursued the matter beyond that. Three other leaders made only a few passing remarks subsequently in interviews in 1979 with JRJ’s biographers [all three were JRJ loyalists.] My endeavor is to place a few facts opposing the theory of Dudley’s alleged involvement.
To quote from NJ’s four-installment series in the Sunday Island from February 3 to 24, Sir John in his narration, had made amusing statements like
"…Dudley’s initial role was to stand under the large clock of the General Post Office opposite Queen’s House, on the night of the coup, and light his pipe and Thattaya (meaning Sir Oliver) who was schedule to stand watch on the balcony (of Queen’s House) around midnight, would take that as (a signal) the coup was on and declare a State of Emergency" sounds silly. Further, an Emergency was already on in January ’62.
‘…the stories he related to me that evening, were certainly not malicious gossip nor did I think they were false’…says NJ; and he goes on quoting the former PM.
Dudley, Born in 1911, as the eldest son of D S Senanayake the first PM of Ceylon. He studied at St Thomas’ College, where he became Head Prefect, excelled in sports captaining cricket, tennis and boxing. At Cambridge he obtained a degree in Natural Science. Later he was admitted to the Middle Temple as a Barrister.
His first tenure as PM, at the invitation of Governor-General Lord Soulbury following the tragic death of father DS, created turmoil within ruling party, with majority of government parliamentarians, the cabinet and the UNP backing the 41-year old son over next in command and leader of the house, Sir John. However, his premiership was marred by persistent ill-health and in August 1953, an attempt by JRJ, the Finance Minister to withdraw the rice subsidy sparked-off an island-wide ‘hartal’ instigated by Marxist parties. The PM was compelled to authorize the use of fire-power to quell spread of violence resulting in nine deaths. These incidents upset the sensitive Dudley. Consequently in October 1953, affected by ill-health and indecisiveness he resigned as PM, handing over the reigns to his cousin, Sir John Kotelawala.
Extract- ‘I was so convinced that Sir John was "telling it as it was"…I urged my one time colleague Godfrey Gunatilleke of the Marga Institute, to have Sir John’s stories recorded on a tape for posterity. I believe that Gunatilleke sent one of the Marga staff,… to Kandawela, Sir John’s home…, to record his stories. Those priceless tapes…, may still be languishing somewhere in Marga’s archives"—NJ
Dr Godfrey Gunatilleke, Chairman emeritus, and Senior Advisor, Marga Institute, denies any knowledge of the above claim by his ‘one time colleague’, NJ. In fact he says, one of Marga’s former Directors, a historian, advised him on another occasion that recordings of politicians versions on important events does not contribute anything worth restoration as they have no historical value unless scrutinized and verified. An insightful opinion.
NJ quotes Sir John, "I say,! I know you think that Dudley was a man of great integrity. You know, there is no such thing as integrity in politics. That is all balderdash !… will you believe me when I say that Dudley and I were both ring leaders of the attempted coup of 1962 ? Here are the names of the buggers (sic) who met in my house on consecutive evenings in early January 1962 at Kandawala to plan the coup… They shared all their plans with us three! In fact even Thattaya (Oliver) was in the know" [emphasis mine]
NJ, now convinced, confirms his earlier statement on Marga,
‘ I have placed an enormous trust in Dudley Senanayake as a model politician and Prime Minister and in fact, had given him my all within the call of duty: Sir John…also agreed even to speak into a tape recorder, provided it will not be made public except posthumously. Consequently, a few months later, when Sir John returned to Sri Lanka for his winter holiday that year, on my initiative the Marga Institute recorded his whole story on tape’[emphasis mine]
‘…during that holiday…he invited my family, to breakfasts at Kandawela…There again in the presence of several invitees he…comedy of how Dudley hid under his table-cloth…, he kept everyone including foreign guests in stitches"—NJ, further comments, ‘Sir John’s demonstration…added flavour and credibility to the whole Dudley story’
Dudley Senanayake, the Leader of the Opposition, rose immediately after the Minister’s long speech on February 13 1962, denying any involvement in the coup and volunteered to face any inquiry as well. Even the worst critics of Dudley in the house, especially the Marxist leaders like Drs NM Perera, Colvin R de Silva and Keunamen, disapproved minister’s suggestion. The trial judges rejected evidence incorporating the names of the three politicians, by some accused as trash invented by coup leaders. At the trial no firm evidence surfaced in support of the theory, but the rumors continued to persist. It is surprising, how Mr Neville Jayaweera, who was in the Ceylon Civil Service, at the time miss all this information and says, "It’s news to me"
When the suspects were acquitted by Privy Council in 1965, Dudley Senanayake was back in the saddle as Prime Minister; serving his third term, with JRJ as second in command. However, strained relations between the two of them a year later made J R Jayewardene, rush to, Sir John at Kandawala, on April 13, 1966, to place his grievances with the party stalwart; Having nothing to lose and being out of politics, Sir John scrupulously dealt with the topic and spoke about involvement of Dudley and himself in the planning of abortive attempt. The truth is when the coup leaders met him for advice, Sir John suggested that they involve Dudley and Sir Oliver; but to please JRJ and sling mud at his bete-noire, by saying that they held two final meetings at old Kitulwatte plumbago stores at Borella and also at his Kandawala house on the last two days ie Jan 25 & 26th , chaired by Dudley. This he contradicts with NJ, when he asserted that both meetings were held at Kandawala and in early January. Then again on September 15, 1979, interviewed by the biographers of JR, he shifted the venue of both meetings to Plumbago Stores, Borella.
Sir John related the story, on 11th January 1968, to Esmond Wickremasinghe (father of Ranil, and Lake House boss), [K M de Siva/Howard Wriggins-1994-Leo Cooper-pp,118.] who insisted that he put it in writing, which document, the biographers say a copy is preserved at JRJ Centre; however the writers attempt to trace same with a very obliging staff at the center was unsuccessful. (All documents including manuscripts on the subject are well preserved in file no. MMS 321 ). Next revelation was with NJ in 1974. Sir John narrated the tale for the last time in September 1979, of course with many contradictions, to JRJ biographers. There are so many conflicting notions among the four; and also on each occasion he told his listener that he is ‘spilling the beans’ for the first time!
“I say, Jayaweera! You know I have never spilled the beans to anyone like I have done to you, who the hell(sic) knew about Dudley’s involvement in the attempted coup of 1962” —NJ’s article part 3
He said so in ‘66, ’68, ’74 and in 1979. –[Ref,J R Jayewardene of Sri Lanka, Vol. Two-pp 114/116]
It is no secret that both Sir John and JRJ had ‘an axe to grind’ with Dudley. Sir John’s dating back to 1952 ‘Premier Stakes’ - a slanderous political pamphlet, (Kele-Pattara) published in 1952 shortly after PM, D S Senanayake’s death, unfolding the scheming that ‘knocked-out’ Sir John from the ring with Dudley succeeding his father. It was known to be authored by Sir John himself, who had hired a journalist to ghost write it for him.
The circumstances compelled the new PM Dudley to call for Kotelawala’s resignation from the cabinet; however, the matter was amicably resolved. Later, in 1965, when Dudley became PM for the third time, Sir. John who had been eyeing the position of Governor-General returned to the island expecting the job. But Dudley did not oblige, hitting the last nail in the coffin of their relationship.
Significantly, not one amongst the coup leaders breathed a word about either Dudley’s or Sir John’s involvement, although the authorities being suspicious of their connivance, had made every effort to extract evidence and fabricate a case for prosecution. Was it that they did not want to spill the beans or had nothing to divulge?
NJ, referring to Col. F C de Saram, says, ‘de Saram went alone to Temple Trees and surrendered, confessing that he was alone responsible…’
De Saram who was connected to the Bandaranaike’s through marriage to an Obeysekera, was a ‘kinsman’ of SWRD. He was surprisingly asked to call at the PM’s official residence by himself on Sunday morning, while the rest of the four leaders Sydney (ex- DIG), Maurice de Mel, Commander of the Volunteer Force and ‘Jungle’ Dissanayake DIG,[Royce was underground] were arrested in their homes by the military on Saturday night itself and taken to Welikada directly. F C de Saram, the old Royalist, Barrister, Oxford blue and former All Ceylon Cricket captain, arrived at Temple Trees by 9.00 am to appear before the ‘inquisition’ [Bradman Weerakoon,2004,-Rendering unto Caesar-pp 104], and never thought he would be arrested. Felix Dias Bandaranaike, himself a lawyer belonged to the same Obeysekara/de Saram/Bandaranaike clan. PM, Sirimavo was generous enough with FC; but FC de Saram’s ‘blueprint’ says to dispatch Felix to Army dungeon and Sirimavo to ‘house arrest’ with her children, when he becomes overall Commander of Forces on 28TH morning.
The evidence in favor of the claim, that former PM, Dudley Senanayake was involved in the conspiracy, are fragile, weak and insubstantial. Apart from Sir John’s unconvincing accounts which are somewhat flimsy and malicious in nature, there are no other records available. Nor did they surface during the investigations, trial stage or even after the acquittal of all suspects. Apart from Sydney de Zoysa’s and Royce de Mel’s interview to JRJ’s biographers in September 1980, Zoysa, according to the biographers had said referring to Sir John’s revelation, ‘some of it was clearly at variance with truth’, de Mel who first declined to talk, later mentioned about a meeting held at old plumbago stores in Borella that he attended with other coup leaders, where, he said, both Sir John and Dudley participated. He recalled a statement attributed to Dudley which said, ‘the coup was the only way of giving strength to the constitution’. And also he lamented that Dudley Senanayake gave the suspects no help during dark days of imprisonment and trial.
Douglas Liyanage had made few comments, but ‘in a lighter vein’;–[Ref.JRJ of Sri Lanka vol ii-]. But these are all insubstantial, weak and biased. If one has to accept the word of learned author’s here, who admit that none of the other coup leaders they met ever spoke on the matter but Royce de Mel, the former Navy Commander, who lost his job following a Far Eastern cruise and Douglas Liyanage, the first accused. One was made GM of the Hotels Corporation and the other Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of State by none other than JRJ. JR, his biographers say, had warned Sydney de Zoysa, when he tried to ‘sound out JR’s views on the plan. JR had sent him packing with; “Sydney, I hear some of your people are planning… don’t do it”. But they did not comment on why JR failed to act, if he felt that a conspiracy was being hatched.
The long standing enmity between the above three families, which formed the upper layer of the UNP hierarchy, and politics of the island for over half a century, could be attributed to Mudliyar D C G Attygalle’s enormous fortune of over 10,000 acres of land and island’s best plumbago mines. Each of his three daughters were given in marriage with dowries of thousands of acres. Ellen married F R Senanayake (Dudley’ uncle), Alice with 2,058 acres to John Kotalawala. Snr. (Sir John’s father), and Lena with 2,861 acres to T G Jayewardene (JR’s uncle). Kotalawala recieved about 900 acres less than Senanayake and Jayewardene.
The enmity started with the murder of Francis Attygalle, the only brother of Alice, Ellen and Lena and heir apparent to the balance wealth that included all the mines; further he was managing the properties as well. After he was murdered the family fortunes went to his sisters.
[Kumari Jayewardene-2007; ‘Nobodies to Somebodies’-, pp194/288]
The Senanayakes took a great effort to bring the culprits to book, which finally ended with John Kotalawala Snr. (Sir John’s father) being arrested for allegedly planning of the murder of his brother-in-law. That was the beginning of enmity. Kotalawala Snr. committed suicide in jail during the trial. The jealousies and many other petty rivalries among the closely connected Senanayakes, Kotalawalas, Jayewardenes and Attygalles through inter-marriages, contributed to unfortunate dilemma of their politics and personal relations that lasted for generations. [Coomaraswamy, 1988]
White paper
C C Dissanayake –DIG, [the 2nd suspect], had told one of his subordinates…that a large organization was behind the move to overthrow the government, that certain political leaders ‘were in the know of it’, and that persons even higher than that were in it…A police officer whose statement was recorded had said that he had been told by one of the leaders of the coup that Sir John Kotalawala and Mr Dudley Senanayake ‘were in the know’ of the plan to overthrow the government.-Felix Dias-(White Paper-1962)
Coup leaders used Dudley Senanayake as their bait; either explicitly or implicitly to convince the not-so-loyal or reluctant second level officers who they believed would not consent to a coup as something alien to established patterns and traditions in local politics. The government understood reality and put an end to that line of investigation after Felix’s initial statement. That left an opportunity for some in Dudley’s own party to grab the opportunity to whack the Senanayake clan to satisfy their deep-rooted animosities. Sir John’s amusing demonstration and vocabulary in the presence of his guests of how Dudley hid under the table cloth as told by Neville Jayaweera is in poor taste.
Considering that Dudley was a public figure and should be subject to public scrutiny, I confess that keeping the story secret was wrong! Hence this narrative!’—NJ. He ends the series not discussing some of what was said with the explanation ‘The latter stories were trivia and gossip with no historical or national relevance.’ This may well apply to those parts of the `yarn’ that brought Dudley into the coup.
A mid-summer night’s dream or a comedy of errors ?
‘He lived a life of gross materiality and sensuality… Deep and unspeakable loneliness…Shorn of all the pomp and the adulation that surrounded him when he was center stage, he seemed to dread living on the edge of oblivion’—NJ on Sir John Kotalawala.
It was the philosopher, Jean-Jacques Rousseau (18thC), who said, “Insults are the arguments employed by those who are in the wrong.”
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