Ceylon

on the World Today

WHEREVER one goes in Ceylon, one sees bhikkus — Buddhist monks — striding along the roadside in bright yellow-orange robes, carrying black umbrellas to protect their shaven heads from the sun. For 2500 years they have studied, meditated, and instructed the people. Recently they began to play an active role in national affairs, and in last April’s election they helped to mobilize nationalist feeling against the government of Sir John Kotelawala. As a result, Mr. Bandaranaike, the leader of a socialist coalition, formed a new government.

The 1956 election was a delayed reaction to more than 400 years of European rule. The Portuguese realized the value of this rich tropical island which controls the sea route around India. They occupied the southwest coast opposite India in 1505 and remained there until the Dutch threw them out in the seventeenth century. The British took over in the next century and extended their control over the entire island in 1815.

Many Ceylonese learned foreign ways. In fact Ceylon’s westernized English-speaking upper and middle classes are probably proportionately the largest in Asia. Nearly 10 per cent of the population became Christians and many of the rest went to mission schools. Everyone aspiring to a clerk’s job or a minor government post learned English; for the ambitious, Oxford and the Inns of Court were the road to success.

In 1948 Ceylon became an independent dominion within th;‘ Commonwealth. The Western-educated and largely Western-oriented elite took over from the British, and the United National Party, which represented the political influence of this elite, remained in power until this year.

Divided nationalism

Opposition leaders — who were also educated along Western lines &emdash turned to nationalist issues. Nationalism is tricky in Ceylon. Out of a total population of 8.5 million, almost 6 million are Sinhalese, an Aryan people which came to Ceylon in 548 B.C. There are also 2 million Tamils from South India and half a million Moslems. The Sinhalese are almost all Buddhists and the Tamils are Hindus.

Half the Tamils were brought over to work on the plantations and are not considered Ceylonese citizens. Fortunately life in Ceylon has been quiet and peaceful, and the communities have not clashed. But some political parties have long advocated that Sinhalese replace English as the official language of administration. During the post two years the Tamils have agitated for parity between Tamil and Sinhalese, and at the same time demands for “Sinhalese only” have grown stronger.

A Buddhist commission reported in February that Buddhism had been discriminated against under the British and was still at a disadvantage even in independent Ceylon; it called for the restoration of Buddhism to its rightful place.

Buddhist monks campaign

Sir John Kotelawala and his advisers decided to make the most of the language issue while they could. They changed to a policy of Sinhalese only and went to the polls. Influential Buddhists asked for a delay; they felt that an election would intrude upon the celebration of the 2500th anniversary of Buddha’s enlightenment.

Their request, however, was rejected. The bhikkus fasted for a day and, for the first time in modern Ceylon, went into politics. Large numbers of monks went from village to village condemning Sir John’s government, and leaflets described him as an enemy of Buddhism. The election became a contest between Westernism and the ideal of Sinhalization.

The bhikkus were, however, not united. There are three major sects in Ceylon, and the Buddhist clergy is not an organized hierarchy under central discipline. The bhikkus who campaigned were mostly younger men; many of the older and more conservative monks disapproved the involvement of bhikkus in worldly aflairs. But this came late in the campaign and had little effect.

The socialist manifesto

Mr. Bandaranaike had formed a pre-election coalition called the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna, or MEP. His own moderate socialist Sri Lanka Freedom Party joined with a number of independenis and a Marxist party to defeat Sir John. The socialist manifesto supported the report of the Buddhist commission of inquiry, called for nationalization of tea estates and other important enterprises, and promised pensions and unemployment benefits. It also advocated a neutralist foreign policy and the removal of British bases.

No-eontest agreements were made between the MEP and other parties, including the Communists. Together, the opposition parties attacked the government on several points. Rice is the staple food of Ceylon, and a government subsidy had kept prices down. But the United National Party raised the price and dropped a popular program of free lunches for school children. Sir John and his party had lost contact with the people; there were many charges of corruption and inefficiency. Their switch on the language issue had been too late and was too obviously opportunistic.

The MEP won principally because it had the support of the leaders of rural Sinhalese opinion: the schoolteachers who know no English, the traditional Ayur-Yedic physicians, and of course the bhikkus. It also appealed to the many thousands of graduates of Sinhalese senior schools who could not find suitable work. To all those people, adopt ion of Sinhalese was the symbol of restored opportunities and recovered rights.

Change brings opposition

A language bill was introduced declaring Sinhalese to be the one official language but allowing present arrangements to remain in force until 1960, or even longer if necessary. But the Tamils were worried. They feared that they could no longer educate their children in their own language; they claimed that their culture would be destroyed. Tamils in government service feared for their jobs, inasmuch as few of them know Sinhalese.

In June, while the language bill was being debated, the Tamils held a demonstration of nonviolent resistance near the House of Parliament in Colombo. Clashes with Sinhalese took place and two days of rioting began. Tamil shops were looted, and there were a number of casualties.

In Gal Oya, a government irrigation scheme, it was rumored that a Tamil army was on the march. Fighting broke out between Tamils and Sinhalese, and more than a hundred people were killed before the army ended the disturbances.

The Prime Minister reiterated that Sinhnlization would proceed slowly; he reassured the Tamils that their language would still be used for educational and cultural purposes. In early August he proposed to meet them halfway. The Tamils, who live mostly in northern Ceylon, want a state of their own under a federal government. Mr. Bandaranaike rejected this, and suggested instead a decentralization of administration, with regional councils to direct local public services. But the danger of further violence remains.

A economy

Cnder British rule Ceylon became a perfect example of a colonial economy. Industry is negligible, domestic food production no longer meets the country’s needs, and the economy depends upon the export of rubber, coconut products, and especially tea. If the London price of tea is high, Ceylon flourishes and government revenues are adequate; if not, the whole economy suffers. Most of the tea and rubber is grown on large estates cultivated by hired laborers, and many of the largest estates are owned by Europeans.

The island’s economy is very vulnerable, but Ceylon is one of Asia’s most prosperous nations. There is little hunger and little of the absolute poverty that is so common in India. The population is not now excessive, and much unused land could still be cultivated.

But trouble is on the way. Rubber growing is inefficient, India and Kenya will be increasingly dangerous competitors in the tea market, and fewer coconuts are grown each year. Domestic food production will barely keep pace with population increase, and if exports drop too far, Ceylon will not be able to pay for the rice it must import from abroad.

The Ceylonese realize that they must grow more food and diversify their economy. Former governments began irrigation, power, and agricultural schemes which will be continued and expanded. This will require capital, and Ceylon has little to spare.

Earlier experiments with governmentoperated industries failed and were closed down, but the new government hopes to try again on a bigger scale. Individuals, including foreigners, will be encouraged to invest, although the government may wish a voice in management.

Faced with these needs, and realizing that nationalization of estates would probably reduce production for export, the government is moving cautiously. As one minister put it, “We will nationalize ultimately, but ultimately is a. long time.”

The middle road

Foreign capital may not find Ceylon attractive as long as nationalization is the declared objective. The new government says it will not discriminate against either dollars or rubles; it already receives United States and Colombo Plan grants, and has been making inquiries in Moscow and Peiping. Mr. Bandaranaike emphasizes that he is not leaning toward Moscow but simply following a free policy of noncommitment to power blocs. At least one leader of the Buddhist political movement in Ceylon considers political neutralism simply a practical application of the doctrine of the middle road.

The Prime Minister made a tentative agreement with the British, who, after Ceylon’s independence, continued to occupy a naval base at Trincomalee and an air base north of Colombo. The British will leave, but Ceylon will maintain the bases — and perhaps permit the British to use them if necessary.

The new government also intends that Ceylon shall become a republic within the Commonwealth, but this step will not be taken for the present. Another problem is more pressing: Ceylon and India must agree upon the future of the million Tamils in Ceylon who are not Ceylonese citizens. Ceylon would like to be able to send them back to India, but India does not want to be committed to accept them.

Mr. Bandaranaike’s moderation has given the opposition an opportunity to claim that the MEP is forgetting its promises, and caution may be unpopular with part of his own coalition. One Trotskyite party, with fourteen seats, is the main opposition party. It doesn’t got along with the Communists, who have only three seats, but both parties favor parity between Tamils and Sinhalese. Another Trotskyite group declared for Sinhalese only and won five seats as a member of the MEP coalition. It will undoubtedly press for a more extreme policy.

The Prime Minister’s own party has 38 seats, and its leaders expect that their allies can be kept in line. Now that the United National Party has been so completely defeated, the next election is likely to be a contest between democratic and revolutionary socialism.

Other pressure will come from the villagers: rural schoolteachers will want higher pay, traditional physicians will want facilities and grants, and everyone will want welfare services. These demands cannot be met inexpensively, and if the government moves too slowly because funds are short, it will find itself in political trouble.

Buddhist renaissance?

What will the bhikkus want? The politically active Buddhists do not yet have a complete program. In feudal times the clergy had lands and privileges, control over education, and a strong voice at court. They would like to recover their old position, but most realize that times have changed. Much of their program is negative; they feel that Christianity has had special privileges and they want Buddhism to have at least an equal chance.

State grants have been given to Christian schools, and the Buddhists want all state-aided schools nationalized. They want state support for Buddhist activities and the observance of certain Buddhist rules — such as prohibition — by government leaders. But Buddhism is tolerant, and only extremists ask that it become the state religion.

A religious revival and a new nationalism have brought Ceylon a government which has much wider popular support than the last, and which may be able to lead Ceylon toward a stronger economy and a renaissance of Buddhist and Sinhalese culture. But Ceylon may yet suffer for it if nationalist feelings again lead to violence.