Sir Susantha de Fonseka

KBE KBE may refer to: * Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, post-nominal letters * Knowledge-based engineering Knowledge-based engineering (KBE) is the application of knowledge-based systems technology to the domain o ...

(25 April 1900 – 1 January 1963) was a

Ceylonese Sri Lankan or Ceylonese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Sri Lanka * A person from Sri Lanka, see Demographics of Sri Lanka ** Sinhalese people, the ethnic majority ** Sri Lankan Tamils, an ethnic minority ** Sri L ...

statesmen and diplomat. He was the

Deputy Speaker The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England. Usage The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hungerf ...

of the

State Council of Ceylon The State Council of Ceylon was the unicameral legislature for Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), established in 1931 by the Donoughmore Constitution. The State Council gave universal adult franchise to the people of the colony for the first time. It r ...

The Winter of Discontent (from 1961 to 1964)
/ref> and following Ceylon's independence from Britain his first

Ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sov ...

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

and first

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. De Fonseka took an active part in the country's struggle for universal suffrage and self-determination.Prelude to independence
by Aryadasa Ratnasinghe

Early life and education

Born Kalutaravedage Deepal Susantha de Fonseka, his father was Dr C. P. De Fonseka and his mother was Muthutantrige Leonora Fernando Sri Chandrasekara, a daughter of Muthuthanthrige Simon Fernando Sri Chandrasekera (1829–1908) of

Sirinivasa Sirinivasa is the official residence of the Mayor of Colombo. It is located on Sir Marcus Fernando Mawatha (formerly Edinburgh Crescent), Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo, Sri Lanka. The mansion was originally built by Mudaliyar Simon Fernando Sri C ...

. He was raised by his maternal uncle W Arthur de Silva who was a member of the

Legislative Council of Ceylon The Legislative Council of Ceylon was the legislative body of British Ceylon, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) established in 1833, along with the Executive Council of Ceylon, on the recommendations of the Colebrooke-Cameron Commission. It was the first f ...

and the Minister of Health from 1936 to 1942 in the second

. De Fonseka was educated at

St. John's College Panadura St John's College is a school in Panadura, Sri Lanka, that was founded in 1876. It is a National school with a student population of 2500 and staff of about 100. History St. John's College was initially known as 'Primary State English School' w ...

Royal College, Colombo Royal College, Colombo is a selective entry boys' school located in Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Started as a private school by Rev Joseph Marsh in 1835, it was established as the Colombo Academy by Sir Robert Wilmot-Horton in Janua ...

, and went on to study at

Downing College, Cambridge Downing College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge and currently has around 650 students. Founded in 1800, it was the only college to be added to Cambridge University between 1596 and 1869, and is often described as the olde ...

, where he gained his MA. After leaving Cambridge, he entered the

Inns of Court The Inns of Court in London are the professional associations for barristers in England and Wales. There are four Inns of Court – Gray's Inn, Lincoln's Inn, Inner Temple and Middle Temple. All barristers must belong to one of them. They have ...

and qualified as a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

. Upon his return to Ceylon, he became the principal of

Sri Sumangala College ''Suko Pagngnaya Patilabho'' , motto_translation = Joy is the result of Wisdom , location = Horana Road , city = Panadura , country = Sri Lanka , coordinates = , type ...

Panadura Panadura ( si, පානදුර, translit=Pānadura; ta, பாணந்துறை, translit=Pāṇantuṟai) is a city in Kalutara District, Western Province in Sri Lanka. It is located approximately south of Colombo and is surrounded on a ...

, after which he went on to become the editor of ''

The Morning Leader ''The Morning Leader'' is a Sri Lankan English-language newspaper. It is published by Leader Publications (Pvt) Ltd. Its sister publications are The Sunday Leader and Iruresa. ''The Morning Leader'' was refounded by Lasantha Wickramatunge Lasa ...

''.

Political career

De Fonseka contested the

1931 Ceylonese State Council election The first election to the State Council of Ceylon were held from 13 to 20 June 1931. This was the first election in a British colony which used universal adult franchise. Background In 1931 the Donoughmore Constitution replaced the Legislative ...

and was elected to the State Council from Panadura in June 1931 and was re-elected in the

1936 Ceylonese State Council election The second election to the State Council of Ceylon was held from 22 February to 7 March 1936. Background The first State Council was dissolved on 7 December 1935 and candidate nominations took place on 15 January 1936. Seven constituencies on ...

from Panadura. During the second State Council, when Sir Vaitilingam Duraiswamy was elected speaker, de Fonseka contested the post of Deputy Speaker and won against

Major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

E. A. Nugawela Major Edward "Eddie" Alexander Nugawela, Efficiency Decoration, ED (21 September 1898 – 5 July 1972) was a Ceylonese lawyer, soldier and politician. He was the first Cabinet (government), Cabinet Minister of Education in independent Sri Lanka (t ...

, who later became a Minister in the first Cabinet of

D. S. Senanayake Don Stephen Senanayake ( si, දොන් ස්ටීවන් සේනානායක,; ta, டி. எஸ். சேனநாயக்கா; 21 October 1884 – 22 March 1952) was a Ceylonese statesman. He was the first Prime Mi ...

. With the formation of the

Ceylon Naval Volunteer Force The Sri Lanka Volunteer Naval Force (SLVNF) is the active-duty volunteer reserve force of the Sri Lanka Navy. The SLVNF, which consists of the volunteer force and the volunteer reserve is separate from the Regular Naval Force, which consists of th ...

on 1 January 1938, de Fonseka volunteered and was commissioned as one of two Paymaster Sub Lieutenants along with Noel Gratiaen on 4 March 1938, becoming the first Ceylonese to become naval officers. With the outbreak of

World War 2 World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, he was mobilized on September 1939 and was attached to Naval Headquarters in Kochchikade. As a member of the State Council and its deputy speaker, Paymaster Lieutenant de Fonseka was allowed to attend the State Council which he did in uniform. With the British Government purchasing rubber produced in Ceylon at a fixed price below market rates, De Fonseka made a strong speech condemning this move by British Government in the State Council in uniform. This was brought to the attention of Admiral Sir Geoffrey Layton,

Commander-in-Chief, Ceylon The Commander-in-Chief, Ceylon was a military post created during World War II to form a unified command for all British military, naval and air units in Ceylon. The first to be appointed to this post was Admiral Sir Geoffrey Layton, whose powers ...

who saw it as an act of disloyalty by an naval officer, specially since the speech was made while in uniform, had De Fonseka, commission withdrawn. De Fonseka claimed it a breach of parliamentary privileges', yet the decision was not reversed. De Fonseka took an active part in the country's struggle for universal suffrage and self-determination. First it was with the Donoughmore Commission and later with the Soulbury commissioners (1943–1945). Susantha de Fonseka as the State Council member for Panadura, moved a motion in the State Council, by November 1944, to the effect that the Ministers "be directed to introduce immediately a Bill conferring on this country a constitution of the recognized dominion type for Free Lanka".Arise, Sir Susantha
De Fonseka.com He lost his seat contesting from the

United National Party The United National Party, often abbreviated as UNP ( si, එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය, translit=Eksath Jāthika Pakshaya, ta, ஐக்கிய தேசியக் கட்சி, translit=Aikkiya Tēciyak Kaṭci), ...

in the 1947 general election to

Henry Peiris Mahatelage Henry Peiris (2 May 1910 – 1959) was a Ceylonese Marxist politician and a pioneer member of the country's socialist movement. Peiris was a Lanka Sama Samaja Party activist, a compatriot of Leslie Goonewardene and the editor/publi ...

, the candidate from the

Lanka Sama Samaja Party The Lanka Sama Samaja Party, often abbreviated as LSSP (Literal translation, literally: Lanka Socialist Party, Sinhalese language, Sinhala: ලංකා සම සමාජ පක්ෂය, Tamil language, Tamil: லங்கா சமசமா� ...

, marking the end of his political career.

Diplomatic career

In 1949, Susantha de Fonseka was appointed as Ceylon's first High Commissioner to

. He was a very popular figure in

Rangoon Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...

, often making speeches in Burmese. Ambassador de Fonseka built up such close contacts with the Burmese leadership that he was associated with Prime Minister U Na when Karen guerrillas surrendered. Thereafter D. S. Senanayake sent him on an important diplomatic assignment to Peking in 1952. It was this assignment which laid the foundation for the rubber-rice pact between Ceylon and China. He was knighted as a

Knight Commander Commander ( it, Commendatore; french: Commandeur; german: Komtur; es, Comendador; pt, Comendador), or Knight Commander, is a title of honor prevalent in chivalric orders and fraternal orders. The title of Commander occurred in the medieval mili ...

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

on 12 April 1954 in the

1954 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours 1954 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The appointments were made to celebrate t ...

. Later, in 1956, Fonseka became Ceylon's first Ambassador in Japan.‘Japanese Week’ : Celebrating 60 years of friendship , The Sunday Times Sri Lanka
/ref> While there, he together with the

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

G P Malalasekera, organized a conference of the World Fellowship' of Buddhists. He propagated

Theravada Buddhism ''Theravāda'' () ( si, ථේරවාදය, my, ထေရဝါဒ, th, เถรวาท, km, ថេរវាទ, lo, ເຖຣະວາດ, pi, , ) is the most commonly accepted name of Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school' ...

and built a dagoba in Japan.

Personal life

Sir Susantha de Fonseka, was a cousin of Justice E.R. de Fonseka and the uncle and godfather to popular cinema icon

Tissa Abeysekara Deshanabu Tissa Ananda Abeysekara (7 May 1939 – 18 April 2009 as තිස්ස අබේසේකර) was a Sri Lankan filmmaker, actor, writer, director, screen playwright and political activist. He is better known as a script writer for th ...

, whose father was also Susantha's cousin.

B. F. Perera Benjamin Franklin Perera, CMG, OBE, CCS (1901-19??) was a Ceylonese civil servant and diplomat. He was the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs. He was Ceylon's Ambassador to the Soviet Union (1968-1969), Ceylon's Ambassador to West G ...

was his brother-in-law, married to his sister Phoebe Elaine de Fonseka.

Legacy

Sir Susantha de Fonseka, the ''Father of the Free Lanka Bill'' is remembered as one Sri Lanka's pioneering diplomats and for promoting constitutional reforms on the long walk to independence. In his memory the ''Sir Susantha De Fonseka memorial Prize for Arts'' is awarded annually at Royal College, Colombo.

External links & References

DPL who won all hearts, Jinadasa Fernando Gunasekera - Ceylon Daily News, 24 March 1988.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:de Fonseka, Susantha 1900 births 1963 deaths Ambassadors of Sri Lanka to Myanmar Ambassadors of Sri Lanka to Japan Deputy speakers and chairmen of committees of the Parliament of Sri Lanka Members of the 2nd State Council of Ceylon Members of the 1st State Council of Ceylon Sinhalese politicians Sri Lankan diplomats Sri Lankan barristers Ceylonese advocates Sinhalese lawyers Sri Lankan Theravada Buddhists Alumni of Royal College, Colombo Alumni of St. John's College, Panadura Alumni of Downing College, Cambridge Ceylonese Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Ceylon Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Officers Royal Navy officers of World War II Ceylonese military personnel of World War II