WHY NOT CELEBRATE THE REPUBLIC DAY?

Today, the 22nd day of May, is the 53rd anniversary of the Republic of Sri Lanka. It is not a national holiday.

- By Dr Nihal Jayawickrama

The government has chosen not to celebrate it. It has instead preferred to honour the 4th of February, the day on which, through the good grace of the British monarch, Ceylon graduated from a Crown Colony into a British Dominion. I do not seek to belittle the efforts of D.S. Senanayake and Sir Oliver Goonetilleke, who, in the midst of a world war, succeeded in securing the self-governing status of Ceylon. Our neighbour, on the other hand, celebrates its Republic Day, 26th January, with spectacular cultural pageantry, while also marking August 15th as Independence Day.

On May 12, 1946, King George VI, by an Order-in-Council issued at the Court of Buckingham Palace, provided a Constitution “for the Island of Ceylon”, and expressed the “sympathy” of His Government, “with the desire of the people of Ceylon to advance towards Dominion Status”. On December 10, 1947, a Bill passed by the British Parliament and assented to by the King provided that “as from February 4, 1948, His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom shall have no responsibility for the government of Ceylon”, and “Ceylon shall be included in the definition of ‘Dominion’ in British statutes”.