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 statesman and diplomat. He was the

Deputy Speaker Deputy or depute may refer to: * Steward (office) * Khalifa, an Arabic title that can signify "deputy" * Deputy (legislator), a legislator in many countries and regions, including: ** A member of a Chamber of Deputies, for example in Italy, Spain ...

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 ...

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 so ...

Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...

and first

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. 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 Chan ...

. 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 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 form of represe ...

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

. De Fonseka was educated at St. John's College Panadura,

Royal College, Colombo Royal College, Colombo also known as; Royal Colombo, Colombo Royal College or Colombo Royal) is a Single-sex education, boys' school located in Cinnamon Gardens, Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Started by Joseph Marsh (priest), Joseph Mar ...

, and went on to study at

Downing College, Cambridge Downing College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge and currently has around 950 students. Founded in 1800, it was the only college to be added to the university between 1596 and 1869, and is often described as the oldest of ...

, 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 s ...

and qualified as a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

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

Sri Sumangala College Sri Sumangala College (), in Panadura, Sri Lanka, was founded on 3 March 1909 at Rankoth Viharaya, in memory of Ven. Weligama Sri Sumangala Thero, who played an important role in Buddhism in Sri Lanka, Sri Lankan Buddhism. It is one of the oldest ...

Panadura Panadura (; ) is a main city in Kalutara District, Western Province, Sri Lanka, Western Province in Sri Lanka. It is located approximately south of Colombo. Panadura was an electoral district in Sri Lanka until 1989 and is surrounded all sides b ...

, after which he went on to become the editor of '' The Morning Leader''.

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 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 franch ...

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 most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

E. A. Nugawela Major Edward "Eddie" Alexander Nugawela, ED (21 September 1898 – 5 July 1972) was a Ceylonese lawyer, soldier and politician. He was the first Cabinet Minister of Education in independent Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) (1947–1954), later Cabinet M ...

, who later became a Minister in the first Cabinet of D. S. Senanayake. With the formation of the Ceylon Naval Volunteer Force 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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated, with many nations mobilisin ...

, he was mobilized in 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 powe ...

who saw it as an act of disloyalty by a 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 (UNP; , ) is a Centre-right politics, centre-right political party in Sri Lanka. Founded in 1946, the party was one of Sri Lanka's two main parties for several decades. The UNP has served as the country's ruling party ...

in the 1947 general election to Henry Peiris, the candidate from the

Lanka Sama Samaja Party The Lanka Sama Samaja Party, often abbreviated as LSSP ( literally: Lanka Equal Society Party, Sinhala: ලංකා සම සමාජ පක්ෂය, Tamil: லங்கா சமசமாஜக் கட்சி), is a major Trotskyist po ...

, 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, formerly romanized as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar. Yangon was the List of capitals of Myanmar, capital of Myanmar until 2005 and served as such until 2006, when the State Peace and Dev ...

, 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 Knight Commander (or Dame Commander) is the second most senior grade of seven British orders of chivalry, three of which are dormant (and one of them continues as a German house order). The rank entails admission into knighthood, allowing the rec ...

of The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire 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 ...

. 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 tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

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

Theravada Buddhism ''Theravāda'' (; 'School of the Elders'; ) is Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school's adherents, termed ''Theravādins'' ( anglicized from Pali ''theravādī''), have preserved their version of the Buddha's teaching or '' Dhamma'' in ...

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, whose father was also Susantha's cousin. B. F. Perera 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 Sri Lankan diplomats Sri Lankan barristers Ceylonese advocates Sinhalese people Sri Lankan 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