Friday, Ociober 23. I‘759

SCARLET AND BLACK

Page Three

 

 

Life In Lanka—Parl II

Alumnus Analyzes Assassination;
Presents His Opilnon o_f_(2aﬂi

by Allan of Fisher

Colombo, Ceylon—Since writ

ing my first article much has

,., .. . s happened or

*2 this Island 01

Lanka. 1 might

have even mack

.the title of this

comm e nt. a l‘ 3

“Death in Lan~

ka.” You are all

aware of the

assassination oi

the late Ceylon

Prime Minister,

5. w. R. D. Barn

. d a r a n a i k e,

“5“" whose tragic

death shocked the world two
weeks ago.

I had not planned to coin-
ment upon the political sit—
uation in Ceylon until 1 had
been here for
There is much background in-
formation which one should
possess if he is going to
attempt to understand the
present situation and general
setting of government, politics
and economics in Ceylon But
I shall forego this for the
present and deal with events
connected with the assossina.

tion.
I think I was one of the few

shocked by the news that the
Prime Minister had been shot.
I had not heard very many
compliments about Bandarana«
ike’s government prior to and
upon my arrival in Ceylon.

The general feeling seemed
to he that the country was
much worse off than three
years ago when Sri Lankn
Freedom party nnderthelead-
ership of Bandaranaike rode
to power upon a wave of what
I shall call “Sinhalese-Buer
hist nationalism"

The population of Ceylon is
over nine million. Of this 70
oer cent are Sinhalese, of whom
90 per cent are Buddhists. The
next largest racial group is the
Tamils. most of whom are Hin-
du. Each of these racial groups
has its own language, Shinhala
and Tamil respectively.

English has provided com-
munication between these two
linguistic—religious groups. The
Tamil—speaking Hindus are
about 21 per cent of the popu—
lation, They are oi South In—
dian extraction; more than half
of these are so-called Ceylon
Tamils, who are descendants of

some time. ‘

l

 

ter the island In the eleventh
Century. They enjoy full legal
equality with the majority,
Sinhalese.

The rest are lndian Tamils
who were brought to Ceylon by’
the British as laborers on theJ
plantations and are more recent
arrivals These indian Tam s
do not wish to be repatriated
to lndia, but thcy are not cspec~
ially wanted by the Sinhalese.
Only half of them are eligible
for citizenship under the special
Citizenship Act of 1949 (amend-
ed in 1952). These facts are
needed to understand the sizes
and positions of these varous
groups in relation to the politir
cal situation.

Ever since independence
came to this island in 1948 the
topic of a national language
has been a political issue.
During the British rule (from
London) from 1802 to the year
of independence, there was no
doubt that English would re-
main the official language.
But: with their exit, the lingu-
istic problem developed, evolv—
ing out of evel‘rprcscnt
Sinhalese—Tamil conflict. l,

In 1956 the linguistic problem

 

a Sinhalese Only act, which
would make sinhala the official
language of Ceylon. This prome
ise was strengthencd by the
personal support of over 12,000
Buddhist monks who campaign-
ed in his favor against the gov.
ernment which was then in
power.

Bandaranaike‘s coalition won
the election and he became
Ceylon's fifth Prime Minister.
The immediate passage of the
Sinhalesc Only act set off a
series of disorders, which was
the first outbreak of racialism
on such a scale. In two months
over 150 people were killed,

In ‘August 1957 the Tamils
threatened an island~wide civil
disobedience campaign. This was
averted by a pact between Ban»
daranaike and the leader of the
Tamil Federalist movement,
When the pact was jettisoned
in May, 1958. immediately large
scale rioting and bloodshed took
place. Before the government
was able to end the communal
riots, thousands had lost their
lives as the Sinhalese and the
Tamils fought one another, often

‘burning opponents alive. With a

state of emergency declared, the

invaders who first began to en- larmy was finally able to end

 

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Bill McClintock. vice president of Honor “G” gives a “Shllcks,
I thought I would Mn for sure" look to photographers us he
crowns the 1959 Hwnewming Queen Joan Christensen,

 

the killing. There was a strictl
government censorship of the

lbeCame an election issue. Ban- press, similar to the one which

l , , , . .
people in Ceylon who was not'daranalke promised thc Sinhalese was ,mposed ““5 week 0,, 0c.

tober 6,

There is no news at pres-
ent about the government or
anything oonnected with the
assassination of Bandaranaike.
The press in response is rcfus- l
ing to print any news con-
cerning the government The ,
editorial collll'nns for the past
five days have been complete-
ly blank with only a thick ,
black ,line surrounding the
blank, white area. This hlauk
reaction is a reflection of the
feelings of the uninlomeﬂ
Ceylon puhlic.

The government does not seem
to be pleased with this maneu-
ver of the press and has begunI
attacking the press over Ceyon’s
only radio stationegovemment-
operated Radio Ceylon.

These are the current reac-l
tions to the assassination an

the succeeding events. The im-
mediate reactions to the shoot-l
ing and death of Bandaranaikel
which 1 shall deal with in the.
next article were also very in—1
tcresting. These reactions in~
clude the atmmpts to save Ban-
deranaike's life, the panic and
shock among the people, and
the reaction toward the whole
of the Buddhist clergy.

PROOFS TO BE CHOSEN

According to Bill Kell, Cy-
clone editor, iuniors and seniors
will be receiving notices in
their mailboxes to come to the
cyclone office to decide on their
proofs. it will be necessary to
bring 53 in order to see the
proofs. Office hours will be
from 4:30 to 5:15 on Monday
and Thursday afternoons.

;wus

C of HP Meeting
Evaluates Prepping

The c of HP last Tuesday
lnight formed a joint committee
with faculty representatives far

' the purpose of evaluating this

year‘s prepping program. Dean
of the College R. Homer Norton
and C of HP President Dick
Ramsdell will be in charge of
the meetings. Members of the
committee will include one fac—
ulty advisor from each men's
hall, all c of HP members, and
every faculty member who is
an alumnus of the college.

In other action, the council
voted to donate ssutothisyear's
fund-raising drive and
[to allot $25 to the Off-Campus
[Social committee for repairs at

ACID AND BASE

Cont. from p. 2

all dissatisfied with something
It is called the Grinnellian Re-
bellion, and it will appear like
magic in your mailbox to remind
you of all the things that are
wrong with New Grinnell.

l Th? Gﬁnnellian Rebellion
raises many hig questions it
seems to raise big questions.
seems' to raise big questions.

Possibly the higgest question
the Grinnellian Rebellion
raises is, however, the ques-
tion of how long it will take
the administalion to suppress
the Grinnellian Rebellion. You
had better Iead it while it
lasts.

Its editors remain veiled in
the mist of secrecy, for fear of‘
being purged, If you, by any
chance, want to contribute some-
thing really hitter and Cutting,
you will have a hell of a time
ﬁnding the editors to submit
it to. Do not Sign you: name,
unless of course, you are plan<
ning to leave school anyway,

 

 

 

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