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by D. T. Aponso Sariffodeen

Right Honourable D. S. Senanayake was the first Ceylonese to create a constitution for Ceylon. In this undertaking he had the assistance of Dr. (later Sir) Ivor Jennings and Mr. (later Sir) Oliver Goonetilleke. As Ceylon cooperated with Britain in its endeavour of war, Britain was obliged to assist Ceylon in its venture towards self-government.

Ceylon's decision to assume this role of 'collaborator' was not derived at coincidentally; it was a carefully calculated manoeuvre that was initiated by D. S. Senanayake so that Ceylon could gain constitutional advantages from Britain.

He instigated the tenet of total co-operation towards the war effort in exchange for independence of Ceylon during the early years of World War II. Although constitutional reforms were held in abeyance during the war years, Senanayake's strategy precipitated the declaration of 1943, which marked an important turning point in the independence history of Ceylon.

Declaration

This declaration, which was issued on May 26, 1943 entailed three propositions.

Firstly, it invited the Ministers to draft Ceylon's own constitutional scheme. Secondly, it stated that the complete constitutional scheme would be examined by a commissioner or conference.

Thirdly, it elucidated that the Ministers' scheme would be adopted as Ceylon's constitution if it met the approval of three quarters of the State Council Membership, excluding the Officers of State, the Speaker and any other officer residing. This last clause was intended to safeguard minority rights, for it imposed conditions where the minorities were concerned by requiring the approval of 43 out of 58 Members of the State Council.

Even though this was perceived as a difficult task, Senanayake accepted the challenge, for he was certain that he would be able to create a constitution that would be acceptable to the minorities of Ceylon. He was certain that the length of the constitution would play a significant role in getting it approved by Members with assorted political opinions in the State Council.

Therefore, he focussed on a short constitution, for it was necessary to insert provisos that granted protection to the racial and religious minorities of Ceylon. Although Ceylon's communal problem in comparison to India was not so acute, some political leaders, especially among the Tamil and Indian minority groups, feared Sinhalese domination and discrimination.

A less complex and short constitution, Senanayake believed, would grant these parties rigidity and flexibility to find common ground with the minority community.

Challenge

The question of minority representation posed the toughest challenge to Senanayake in creating his first constitution. He instructed Jennings to did everything possible to meet the fears expressed by the minorities, however, not to provide for communal representation.

Senanayake believed that communal representation aggravated communal dissension within Ceylon, therefore, need to be excluded. Jennings inquired if he was to give Ceylon Tamils increased representation, and Senanayake responded: "I don't care if they are Tamils provided they are elected as Ceylonese."

Senanayake further clarified that he did not mind how the various parts of the island were represented, provided that he did not mind how the various parts of the island were represented, provided that representation was based on a principle and that principle did not involve communal representation. Senanayake instructed Jennings to avoid any numerical formula such as fifty-fifty or sixty-forty, for everybody would haggle about it, and it would be communal haggling.

Minority safeguard were secured in the formula Senanayake chose with Jennings' advice.

They focussed on the sparsely populated provinces in Ceylon and ascertained that a seat could be created for every 75,000 inhabitants and another could be created for every 200 square miles in area. Jaffna province had three seats and a fourth was created by adding the Jaffna lagoon.

Furthermore, in an attempt to allay minority fears Senanayake also included clauses against discriminatory legislation; provided for an independent Public Service and Judicial Service' granted the Governor with powers to form Delimitation Commissions and stated the requirement of two-thirds of majority in the State Council, in case of constitutional amendments.

Supported

Senanayake supported the idea of adopting a Second Chamber and found common ground with S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, the Minister of Local Administration. Its objective was to gain more power to the hands of the elected politicians and introduce a Cabinet system; thereby they intended to develop a smooth working relationship and display the effectiveness of that system.

Together they circulated a note to the Ministers addressing the benefits of a second chamber. It stated that Ceylon could benefit from having a Second Chamber, for it gave minority representation and imposed legislative safeguards.

The younger guard in the State Council, on the other hand, perceived the Second Chamber as an institution that granted the bourgeoisie an opportunity to oppose popular legislation. The ideology of a Second Chamber, therefore, created a split in the State Council. Senanayake excluded the idea of a Second Chamber from his constitutional scheme, for the declaration of 1943, he argued, did not provide for an opportunity to adopt a Second Chamber, for it demanded the approval of three-quarters of majority in the State Council.

Constitution

Once the draft was completed Senanayake urged the Colonial Office for a Commission or Conference to examine his scheme. Instead of sending a Commission to examine the draft proposal by the Ministers, the Colonial Office sent a team to create a constitution for Ceylon, thus deviating from their original premise.

A disappointed Senanayake withdrew the draft constitution and informed the Colonial Office that the Ministers declined to take part in the deliberations of the proposed Commission. The publication of the Ministers' scheme was deferred, however, it was published as a Sessional Paper of Ceylon. When the Soulbury Commissioners arrived in Ceylon, they used Senanayake's constitutional scheme as their working papers.

The Ministers boycotted the Commission by not partaking in their sessions. This boycott gained momentum as it adopted the slogan 'Quit Ceylon' along the lines of the Indian Congress, and denounced the Declaration of 1943. A Bill entitled the Ceylon (Constitution) Bill also known as Sri Lanka Bill was placed before the State Council by SWRD Bandaranaike.

He had obtained the sanction from Senanayake to adopt his constitutional scheme, which was now the working papers of the Soulbury Commission, however, relieved it of all the conditions and restriction on self-government that was required by the Declaration of 1943. In other words, the Sri Lanka Bill demanded full Dominion Status of Ceylon, instead of self-government in international affairs, which was stipulated by the Declaration of 1943.

The minority communities supported this Bill entirely, for the State Council passed the Bill on the 22nd of March 1945, by 40 votes to 7, with one member declining to vote and with Senanayake voting for the Bill.

In other words, the minority members were comfortable with the constitution Senanayake had created for Ceylon, for they found common ground with the majority community in that constitutional scheme.

Balanced

Senanayake was not a communal politician. His motives were to gain as much power as possible in Ceylonese hands and to create a government that included all communities in governing Ceylon. This nature of Senanayake becomes evident with the publication of the Soulbury report. The Soulbury Commission had adopted Senanayake's constitution almost to its entirety, even his idea of the Second Chamber, which he believed would grant minorities better safeguards.

Finally, when the motion to accept the Soulbury Constitution was placed before the State Council, it passed with 51 members voting for it and 3 members against.

Senanayake had accepted the challenge to create a communally balanced constitution that required only 43 votes. However, the Soulbury Constitution that had adopted Senanayake's constitution verbatim won him more than the stipulated three-quarters majority in the State Council, thus proving that the safeguarded the minorities within his constitutional scheme.

The writer is from Cambridge University doing a Doctoral Dissertation on Rt. Hon D. S. Senanayake. She has researched all documents available in the British archives.

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