Ceylon was instrumental in leading efforts at the United Nations in raising concern over the discrimination of Buddhists in South Vietnam. Mobilizing world opinion, Mrs Bandaranaike wrote to Indian Prime Minister Nehru, Burmese leader General Ne Win, Prime Minister of Laos Prince Souvanna Phouma, Cambodian leader Prince Sihanouk, Japanese Prime Minister Ikeda, Thai Prime Minister
Mrs Bandaranaike decided in June 1963 to make the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation the sole importer and distributor of petroleum products in the country. This decision was taken owing to the lack of a satisfactory mechanism of conserving foreign exchange and ensuring an uninterrupted supply of oil. As such the CPC Act of 1963 was enacted
Visiting India, Mrs Bandaranaike sought the concurrence of Prime Minister Nehru for the proposals that had been formulated in Colombo with regard to the tension between India and China. Speaking in New Delhi, Mrs Bandaranaike said “I think it is a lesson of history that war does not solve any question: it only provokes more
Mrs Bandaranaike visited China to apprise the Chinese Government on the outcome of the deliberations in Colombo. She secured a positive response and China expressed its gratitude to Mrs Bandaranaike for her initiative and efforts to promote a peaceful settlement. The visit was also an opportunity to reaffirm the Bandung Principles, whereby it was agreed
Pursuant to growing tension between India and China and the standoff that was being experienced, Mrs. Bandaranaike convened what came to be known as the Colombo Conference, bringing together the leaders ofBurma, Cambodia, Egypt, Ghana and Indonesia to mediate and reach a possible solution to the conflict between the two Asian giants. India accepted the
Mrs Bandaranaike invited Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to visit Ceylon. The visit was significant as it saw the inauguration of the Bandaranaike Ayurveda Research Centre in Nawinna and also included an address to Parliament, both of which he readily accepted, despite it being at the height of the Sino-Indian tension. Given the closeness in
Given the destruction that had been wrought in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the devastating effects that were felt for decades, Ceylon was quick to react to the American testing of a nuclear device. Writing to US President John F. Kennedy, Mrs Bandaranaike claimed that “Coming at a time when there is universal demand for the
Mrs Bandaranaike, with the consent of Queen Elizabeth II, oversaw the appointment of William Gopallawa as Governor-General in succession to Sir Oliver Goonatilleke. He took the oath of office at 8.57am on 02 March 1962 in the presence of Mrs Bandaranaike and the Chief Justice H. H. Basnayake.
An attempted coup d’état planned for the night of 27 January 1962 was quelled owing to the timely information received and the immediate action taken to arrest those involved in planning it. Mrs Bandaranaike, aided by the Parliamentary Secretary for Defence and External affairs, Felix Dias Bandaranaike, acted swiftly to safeguard democracy, arresting the perpetrators
With the United States of America introducing the Disposals Policy whereby rubber prices dropped in the world market owing to the release of natural rubber from the US stockpiles, Mrs Bandaranaike asserted the position of Ceylon, stressing that the great importance of the rubber industry to Ceylon and the serious consequences which the decline in
In November 1961, Mrs Bandaranaike, the Founder President of the Vipassana Meditation Centre, inaugurated the new building of the organisation. Since 1955, this centre had been devoted to meditation. The brainchild of Prime Minister S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, the Centre is located in the heart of the city of Colombo and was nurtured by
Attending the first Non Aligned Movement Summit in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, Mrs Bandaranaike became a founding member of the Movement along with great world leaders like Nehru, Tito, Sukarno, Nasser and Nkrumah. Speaking in Belgrade, Mrs Bandaranaike said “I am happy to attend this great conference not only as a representative of my country but also
Marking her presence on the world stage, Mrs Bandaranaike undertook her first official visit to London, to attend the 11thCommonwealth Prime Ministers’ Conference. Whilst being the first Commonwealth Conference at which a woman Head of Government had attended, Mrs Bandaranaike joined the ranks of Harold Macmillan of the United Kingdom, Jawaharlal Nehru of India, Ayub
Having assumed the office of Prime Minister, it was necessary for Sirimavo Bandaranaike to occupy a seat of Parliament or the Senate, which was the Upper House of Parliament, within a space of three months. Accordingly, M. P. de Zoysa Jnr resigned from his seat in the Senate, paving the way for her to be
Ascending to the premiership of Ceylon, Sirimavo Bandaranaike became the first woman to ever hold the position of Prime Minister. The second General Election of 1960had given the Sri Lanka Freedom Party a comfortable victory with which to govern the country. At 4.30pm Mrs Bandaranaike took the oath of office as Prime Minister of Ceylon
On 26th September 1959 Prime Minister S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike succumbed to gunshot injuries sustained the previous day, when he was shot by an assassin at close range at his home, ‘Tintagel’. Plunging the nation into mourning, his death, just three years into his premiership, resulted in a vacuum in the leadership of the
At the time of Mrs Bandaranaike giving birth to a son, S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, who was the then Minister of Health and Indigenous Medicine, was at the foot of the Sri Maha Bodhiya in Anuradhapura. Named after this ancient capital of Sri Lanka, Anura Priyadarshi Solomon Dias Bandaranaike followed in his parents’ footsteps,
The second child of the Bandaranaike family was also born at ‘Wendtworth’. Having graduated from Sorbonne University in Paris with a degree in Political Science, she returned to Sri Lanka to take up the role of Director of the Land Reform Commission in the country. Elected Chief Minister of the Western Province, Prime Minister and
Born at ‘Wendtworth’ their first Colombo residence, Sunethra Dias Bandaranaike, as the eldest child of two Prime Ministers,leads a life dedicated to the arts and philanthropy. Following her obtaining an Honours Degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the University of Oxford, she worked towards establishing and strengthening the youth and women’s wing of the
The Lanka Mahila Samithi (LMS) had been founded by Dr Mary Rutnam in 1930, as a women’s movement geared towards the upliftment of rural conditions and improvement of the socio-economic conditions of villagers in remote areas. Shortly after marriage, Sirimavo Bandaranaike joined several women’s organisations and enrolled as a member of the Lanka Mahila Samithi
