D. S. Senanayake cared most for the Kandyan peasants who had lost their land and means of livelihood due to the colonial land policy. He cared for all men and women engaged in subsistence agriculture. Further, while D.S. was an exemplary Buddhist leader, he engaged in building a "Sri Lankan identity" for citizens of all races and religions. The majority of his contemporaries recognized these qualities although that is not to say there were no jealous and biased individuals who tried to misinterpret D.S.’s socio-economic and political policies.  

The contribution D.S. made from his first appearance on the political stage through the temperance movement a century ago, is unmatched in Sri Lanka’s history. After 1505, D.S. was the first leader to be able to lead this whole island without even a verbal challenge to its territorial integrity or national independence. Although his political opponents still underestimate the freedom Sri Lanka achieved under his leadership, as well as his independent, non-aligned foreign policy, D.S. always stuck to his principles and his policies and never bowed down to western nations, especially in relation to Asian countries such as the People’s Republic of China, Japan, and Indonesia. D.S. showed extraordinary strength of character when standing up to western countries and aligning Sri Lanka with the above mentioned Asian nations. It was due to him that following the Great Revolution in China, Sri Lanka beat its giant political neighbour, India, to recognizing the new Chinese republic. D.S. also had the strength to close Sri Lanka’s ports to the armies that arrived from the Netherlands to suppress Indonesia’s independence struggle. After Japan lay defeated and wasted following World War II, D.S. played a large role in helping the country achieve independence without conditions. He took the initiative in the bloc of powerful countries that then formed the Commonwealth of Nations and sent his Minister of Finance, J. R. Jayewardene, to the 1951 San Francisco Convention that was convened to seal Japan’s post-defeat fate. It was D.S.’s advice that enabled J.R. to successfully plead for Japan’s case, even without support from professional diplomats.

 I believe that two of D.S.’s achievements towers above the rest. The first of these was his ability to lead his people through the last stage of the independence struggle without a drop of blood being shed. He ensured the territorial integrity of the nation and regained Sri Lanka’s sovereignty and independence.

D.S.’s other giant achievement was guaranteeing that most essential of factors for a nation’s security and existence: the people’s food security. To ensure this, as well as to tackle poverty, D.S. initiated extensive land development, agriculture, and irrigation projects.  

Just as Great Britain conquered India part by part, the colonial rulers returned the land to the native population of India in parts – as two countries. This separation soon went further as the establishment of Bangladesh turned the two independent states into three. The British colonists conquered Sri Lanka too in parts, first taking control of the southern and northern coastal areas and eventually annexing the Kandyan Kingdom in 1815. However, when the country won its independence, on the back of D.S.’s supreme skills of diplomacy and statesmanship, Sri Lanka gained independence as a single, independent nation state. D.S. correctly understood the role Britain needed to play during World War II and strategically supported the colonial power in such a way that following the war, Britain had no choice but to grant Sri Lanka independence. This is why Lee Kuan Yew in his biography, "From Third World to First", states, "When Ceylon gained independence in 1948, it was the classic model of gradual evolution to independence". This total and unitary independence did not happen randomly, but through the calculated and deliberate planning of an astute leader. As the Founder Vice Chancellor of the University of Ceylon and the Vice Chancellor of Cambridge University Ivor Jennings once wrote in The Ceylon Historical Journal, "He had not only the fire of complete conviction, but also the sense of strategy of a great general". 

Immediately following independence, Sri Lanka did not have its own army. In a bid to ensure the country’s security, D. S. signed a defence agreement with Great Britain. Although opponents stated that this was a sign of the incompleteness of Sri Lanka’s independence, it was a necessity at the time. Even our giant neighbour, India, in the time of Indira Gandhi, signed a defence pact with the USSR in a bid to guarantee her nation’s security. Japan and the Republic of Korea, two nations that have historically faced attack and aggression from more powerful neighbours, have defence agreements with the US, and to this day, maintain US defence bases on their territories. When we observe the challenges our island’s territorial integrity has faced from time immemorial and consider the statements and attitude of some Indian politicians in recent years and decades, it is obvious that not only during a time when we did not have our own defence forces, but even in the future, defence pacts with powerful nations may be essential. It is no secret that the independence struggle in Bangladesh eventually found success only due to the role India played in the events. D.S. very clearly stated that at a time when Sri Lanka did not have its own defence forces to protect its newly-achieved political independence and when there were no means to guarantee national security, signing a defence pact with a powerful nation was the sole option available, and with the political realities of that period, the obvious choice for such a pact was Great Britain. Political leaders make policy decisions based on contemporary realities. Unfortunately, some have difficulty understanding such realities.  

When D.S. established his colonization schemes to settle landless peasants, some claimed that he was sending them to be destroyed by "malaria mosquitoes larger than crows". However, these colonization schemes ultimately not only turned that first generation of settlers into a successful agricultural community, but also provided these families financial stability to ensure that the second and third generations gifted this nation many doctors, engineers, accountants, administrators, and businessmen. Some predicted that within twenty years, the Senanayake Samudraya would be silted up, but the political malice behind these claims becomes obvious when we see how the Senanayake Samudraya irrigates the Gal Oya valley to this day.  

These same malicious voices claimed that D.S. garnered Sri Lanka only asemi-independence. Yet this independence D.S. gained has allowed the country to establish not one, but two republican constitutions, and numerous amendments that were the need of the time. This independence has granted Sri Lanka the opportunity to sit in organizations such as the United Nations shoulder to shoulder with the most powerful nations of the world. 

D.S. had the self-confidence to take on responsibility for all its citizens. While his contemporary political leaders divided themselves along communal lines, D.S. was able to bring leaders of all communities within one political force to prove to the colonial rulers that native leaders had the political maturity to take over the reins of this nation. Although some critics underestimate D.S.’s role in history in a bid to exaggerate the image of their favourite political leaders, the extraordinary contribution D.S. made to this nation from the days of the State Council all the way to the post-Independence era is etched in the hearts of all grateful Sri Lankan citizens.