By

D.B.S. Jeyaraj

When news reached me in Toronto that Philips Balendra Tampoe popularly known as Bala Tampoe had passed away in Colombo on September 1st 2014, I felt somewhat guilt ridden and remorse stricken. The reason for these feelings was that with Bala being no more there was no way in which I could undertake an envisaged project concerning the veteran Trade unionist.The project was to do a series of interviews with Bala Tampoe in a biographical mode and compile them into a book.

It was at a meeting with him in Colombo during November 2013 that Bala Tampoe requested me to interview and write about him. I was surprised because I had not expected such a request would be made to me by the great helmsman of the Ceylon Mercantile Union. The CMU deputy general secretary and Bala’s chief of staff Sylvester Maxwell Jayakody was present when this request was made.

Bala who was 91 years of age last year explained to me why he wanted such a book about him. He told me about how he had witnessed history in the making during his vibrant life of service to humanity spanning more than seven decades. Relying on his phenomenal memory, Bala related a whole series of events in the Island nation’s history from pre- independence to post –independence.He himself had played a small part in some of these happenings while being in possession of a unique insight into the others.

“ I am perhaps the last living person in Sri Lanka who knows and remembers these things and realise what has been happening in the country. I would like to record these events and my experiences of those and observations about those for the sake of posterity.I think it would be a useful contribution.It would be a great waste if my knowledge and insight about these matters are not written about”Bala told me ,staring intently with a strong sense of appeal in his eyes.

He said then that a niece of his from the extended Tampoe family who is living overseas and has three books to her credit had offered to write about his life. So too had the daughter of an erstwhile comrade and family friend who had even begun work on his biography.That project had later stalled .What Bala wanted now was a book based on interviews to be written by a detached outsider with a sense of objectivity and not by a member of the family or even a family friend. This was not to be a history of the CMU (about which much has been written)but more of a personal memoir with Bala’s recollections and opinion on the persons and events in his life and about his ideas and perspectives.

Bala Tampoe also told me about a well-known scribe agreeing to undertake this project.The person concerned had met with Bala and recorded several detailed interviews. Suddenly he had lost all interest and become inaccessible (this was told to me last Nov). It was against this backdrop that Bala now requested me to carry out the task. I could see and understand how keen he was and how important it was to him.

Interviews

The problem was that I was to return a few days later to Canada. Bala then suggested we could do interviews on skype. I was reluctant as I preferred the old fashioned face to face mode in matters like these. However I told him that I would give priority to his request and see what could be done.I said that I hoped to be back in Sri Lanka by the end of 2014 or beginning of 2015.I assured him that I would devote myself to this project of doing a series of interviews with him then.I also told him that he was most welcome to make alternative arrangements for the project if it was possible.

My agreeing to do the interviews stemmed from the regard I had for him since childhood and also due to the fact that he was a worthy subject to be written about and be interviewed. In recent times I had become disgusted with politics and politicians in Sri Lanka. It is with great effort that I force myself to write on politics and politicians nowadays mainly due to a sense of duty towards the Sri Lankan journals I write for and their editors who keep demanding for political stuff. In that context writing about or interviewing Bala would have been refreshingly different and would have provided an exhilarating taste of ambrosia to me.

More importantly I did feel strongly that Bala Tampoe was a legend in his lifetime whose life story and perspectives needed to be recorded and related. Despite the pressure of another appointment in Katunayake, Bala had spent about two hours talking to me at the CMU office in Kollupitiya when I met him in Sri Lanka last year.Bala spoke of many,many things and while conversing with Bala then I realised what a treasure trove of information the trade union veteran was.From DS Senanayake to Chandrika Kumaratunga he had seen many rulers “come and go” in post –independence Sri Lanka but Bala Tampoe like Tennyson’s brook had been going “on forever”.

Philips Balendra Tampoe may be no more today but the legendary leader of the oppressed and underprivileged will always be regarded as an incomparable Sri Lankan phenomenon!

Bala Tampoe was a colourful personality of multiple dimensions. Underground member of the Lanka Sama Samaaja Party(LSSP)during Second world war days;agricultural dept lecturer who lost his job due to involvement in a general strike; leader of the same trade union for more than six decades; fiery orator known for defiant speeches;last living witness of the independence ceremony of Ceylon when the union jack was replaced; key organizer of the historic 1953 “Hartal”;one time Central committee and Politibureau member of the largest Trotskyite party recognized by the fourth international;architect of many strikes including one which paralysed the Colombo harbour causing declaration of emergency ;one of the trouble-making leftists earmarked for incarceration at the Naval armoury by the 1962 coup d’etat planners;pioneer of collective agreement that proved to be a model for many such agreements;trade union leader who ushered in the payment of allowance scheme based on the rise in the cost of living index;man behind a series of strikes leading to progressive measures regarding termination of employment;co-leader of revolutionary breakaway group in LSSP that formed its own party;unsuccessful candidate in three parliamentary polls;lawyer who defended JVP comrades free of charge after the 1971 insurgency;dedicated trade unionist who drove to office and back for six days of work even at the age of 92.These are but a few facets of comrade Bala Tampoe.A multi-facted personality worth writing about and worthy of being written about.

Nonagenarian

Hence I considered it a great honour and rare privilege that “Battling”Bala Tampoe who had battled against formidable foes in the past should find me suitable to record his life and times. The task was going to be a labour of loving respect without any remuneration.Both of us were aware like Marvell that “time’s winged chariot was drawing near” though we did not voice our thoughts openly.Planning to meet a nonagenarian in a year’s time was somewhat in the realm of uncertainty but I felt quite confident as Bala seemed quite hale and hearty in spite of his age.

When I saw him last year Bala seemed quite fit despite the withering gaze of age and the toll of nine decades.He was quite sprightly in his walk and had a firm handshake as usual.The physical movements were somewhat slower but unimpaired. His hair remained still with a silvery grey hue.

While conversing I discovered that the fire in the doughty fighter for workers rights was still blazing away.He was in full command of his faculties.His mind was razor sharp as usual.The flow of ideas and words gushed forth as in the past. The familiar gritting of teeth frequently occurred.The fiery glint in his eyes was very visible at close quarters.His memory was fantastic.

Thus I felt that it would be possible to do a series of interviews with Bala in a years time.When I wished Bala this year on his 92nd birthday on May 23rd I even related an anecdote concerning a journalist and British Prime minister Winston Churchill. Apparently Churchill was interviewed by a young British journalist on the occasion of the old lion’s 90th birthday on Nov 30th 1964.While departing the youthful scribe had asked in lighter vein whether he would be able to interview Churchill on his 100th birthday. Churchill had looked at the journalist intently and replied “I don’t see why you cannot young man. You seem quite healthy to me”.Alas Churchill passed away on Jan 24th 1965 within two months of making this quip on his 90th birthday.Bala to whom I mentioned this anecdote on his 92nd birthday passed away within four months on September1st 2014.

With Bala’s death the envisaged project where I was planning to travel to Colombo and do interviews with him too is now dead.How I regret that I did not re-arrange my life schedule and find the time and means to return to Sri Lanka early and do the series of interviews with him.How I regret that I did not do the interviews on Skype at least and then follow it up later with direct interviews in person.I shall always feel guilty and remorseful on this account.

Tribute

Nevertheless I will try and reduce these feelings of regret by writing a few articles on the life and times of Bala Tampoe. This would be poor compensation indeed for the unrealised project of a series of exhaustive interviews with Bala. Still it would provide some form of relief to me and also help serve as my tribute to the memory of a man who battled through his life fighting for the underdog against overwhelming odds.

Bala Tampoe has been one of those formidable figures who have fascinated me since childhood. I first heard of Bala Tampoe as a six year old boy in 1960 which was a watershed year to me. There were two parliamentary elections that year in March and July.My father though a lawyer was then in Govt service working as a Labour officer.He went outstation for both elections as a presiding officer in a polling booth. This fact and the enormous quantity of political propaganda unleashed during the successive election campaigns impacted greatly upon an impressionable six year old.Though I certainly could not comprehend fully what politics or elections were all about, the reality of experiencing election campaigns aroused much excitement.My abiding interest in politics had its beginnings in 1960.

We were then living in Hulftsdorp which came under the Colombo Central electorate.PB Tampoe or Bala Tampoe contested Colombo Central in both elections as a Lanka Sama Samaaja Party(LSSP)candidate under the key symbol.It was during the election campaign that I first heard of Bala Tampoe whose name was in wide circulation in the Colombo central constituency.My father would take me along for meetings conducted by the LSSP. He had been an ardent supporter of the LSSP from his schooldays. I was regaled during childhood with tales related by him of events like the “Suriya mal”movement,the Bracegirdle affair,the Bogambara Prison escape by LSSP stalwarts during war,the 1953 Hartal etc.

In 1960 March my father and most LSSP supporters anticipated an LSSP triumph and Dr.NM Perera becoming Prime Minister. The LSSP that contested 101 seats got only 10 in March.I remember my dejected father lamenting for many years the fact that not even a single seat was won by the LSSP in the Tamil areas whereas the party lost out in the Sinhala areas due to its commendable language policy aiming at parity of status for Sinhala and Tamil.I also remember the frustration he and numerous others experienced when the LSSP joined the SLFP Govt in 1964. Thereafter he supported the Breakaway LSSP revolutionary group led by Edmund Samarakody and Bala Tampoe. After Edmund and Bala split, my father lost all interest in the LSSP and drifted away.Ultimately he ended up supporting the UNP in Kurunegala due to personal friendship with some leading Wayamba politicians.

Given my father’s support for the LSSP it was but natural for him to attend pro-LSSP meetings in 1960. Since Bala Tampoe was the Colombo Central candidate I saw much of him at these election meetings in the vicinity. There were posters and leaflets all over the area.Bala Tampoe with his fire and brimstone speeches made an indelible impression on me even though I could not understand all what he was saying then. I also remember that his son Dhiresh was at St.Thomas’prep school in Colpetty.He was a few classes above me.Fellow students including myself would stare intently at the boy who was Bala Tampoe’s son.

Colombo Central

One of the things I recall about 1960 is the fact that people expected Bala Tampoe to definitely become an MP as Colombo Central had three members.Not only my father, but many of his friends who were supporters of other parties also thought Bala Tampoe would win.In March 1960 when the LSSP was expected to romp home as winners ,Bala was a favourite in Colombo Central.Yet it was Dr.MCM Kaleel and Ranasinghe Premadasa of the UNP along with the Communist party’s Pieter Keuneman who won. Bala Tampoe came fourth out of fifteen candidates polling 22,228 votes.

In July 1960 the number of candidates had dwindled to six. For some reason the expectation again was that Bala Tampoe would be elected as first MP. But again that was not to be. Sir Razeek Fareed from the SLFP came first with Pieter Keuneman and Dr. Kaleel coming second and third respectively. Bala Tampoe came fifth behind Ranasinghr Premadasa. His vote tally had shrunk to 16,406.

Bala Tampoe’s next attempt at the Parliamentary hustings of March 1965 was also a dismal failure.He contested not from the LSSP of old but from a new Trotskyite Avatar.The LSSP had undergone a crisis when the party leadership opted to form a coalition govt with the SLFP led by Prime minister Sirima Bandaranaike in 1964.14 members of the then LSSP central committee dissented. These included Bulathsinhala MP Edmund Samarakkody, Moratuwa MP Meryl Fernando, Theoretician V.Karalasingham and Bala Tampoe.The dissident group formed the LSSP-R or LSSP-Revolutionary party minus the Karlo group of Karalasingham that rejoined the parent body. The mainstream LSSP was expelled from the fourth international and the LSSP-R was recognized in its place as the Ceylon section of the fourth international.

The LSSP-R contested the 1965 parliamentary elections but did not fare well. Bala Tampoe contested in Colombo Central again but this time under the lamp and not key symbol.He came fifth out of ten candidates polling only 4,559 votes.Both sitting MP’s Edmund Samarakkody and Meryl Fernando also lost faring even more poorly than Bala. The personal electoral defeats of Bala Tampoe in 1960 and 1965 were blessings in disguise for trade unionism and the CMU . Bala Tampoe devoted himself more fully to trade unionism in general and the CMU in particular.

Though called the CMU still,the amended name of the union is now The Ceylon Mercantile, Industrial and General Workers Union. Bala Tampoe has for many decades been the driving force behind the CMU in the capacity of General Secretary. He became the CMU General Secretary in 1948 and remained so for 66 years till he died.I do not know whether any comparative study was ever made but I do feel that being general secretary of a trade union for 66 years is an unsurpassed world record.

Jaffna Tamil

Being General Secretary of the CMU for 66 years since 1948 has been a marvellous achievement . All the more so because of comrade Bala’s ethnicity in Sri Lanka’s deeply divided society.Philips Balendra Tampoe is of Jaffna Tamil origin.The membership of the CMU though multi-ethnic is predominantly Sinhala.This fact has been highlighted often by many observers of Sri Lanka’s political scene.It is however noteworthy that Bala has never projected himself as an Ethnic Tamil or engaged in communal politics.

Bala was born in Negombo on May 23rd 1922. Both his parents were of Jaffna Tamil stock.His father Francis Tampoe-Philips was an excise officer under British rule who served in various parts of what was then known as the Madras presidency in India. The Madras presidency consisted of most districts of present day Tamil Nadu , several regions of present day Andhra Pradesh and parts of present day Kerala, Karnataka and Orissa states in India.

Bala’s mother was Beatrice Thangamma Saverimuttu. Though hailing from Jaffna she was born in Kurunegala.Her father was Mudaliyar A.G.Saverimuttu who had been chief post master at the General post office in Colombo for many years. The rank of Mudaliyar had been conferred on him by the British rulers in recognition of his distinguished service to the crown.

Bala was born and baptised as a Christian.His given name then was Balendra Tampoe-Philips. Due to compelling circumstances during school days, his mother registered his name as Philips Balendra Tampoe when admitting him to Royal College in 1934. Ten years later after graduating Bala was appointed as lecturer in Botany and Horticulture at the Peradeniya School of Agriculture in February 1944. It was then that he legally changed his name to Phiips Balendra Tampoe and placed advertisements to that effect in newspapers. He became known thereafter in a general sense as Bala(derived from Balendra) Tampoe or PB Tampoe.

Tampoe-Philips

When I inquired about the origins of the Tampoe-Philips name Bala explained thus-

“The first paternal ancestor to convert to Christianity from Hinduism was my great grandfather. He took the name Mathew Philips.He might have been given his Christian name as well as his surname by the Christian missionary – who was probably an American – who baptised him .Mathew Philips was born in 1817 and died in 1852. He was a Tamil Pundit and Teacher. He was also the Head Catechist and General Agent in the American Mission church of that time”.

“My paternal grandfather was John Francis Philips, who owned a coconut estate in Pallai in the Jaffna peninsula where my father was born.My grandfather also raised herds of cattle in Pallai. (Cattle and Coconuts-C and C ,Bala chuckles)He married the daughter of Thamotherampillai Mcgowan Tampoe the first Ceylonese Magistrate of Jaffna under British rule in this country. She was my grandmother.It may be of interest to note that well known film director Robin Tampoe, was a son of a brother of my father’s mother. My father who was the eldest son in the family adopted the surname Tampoe-Philips by adding his mother’s maiden name to his father’s.That is how my original name got to be Balendra Tampoe-Philips.

When I asked him to relate the circumstances under which he had to change his name from Balendra Tampoe Philips to Philips Balendra Tampoe, Bala had an interesting tale to relate.He also spoke about his siblings and mother in this regard-

“My father Francis Tampoe-Philips worked in different areas of the Madras presidency. I was the third of six siblings, with two elder sisters, a younger sister and two younger brothers, all of whom, but for me, had been born in various towns in the Madras Presidency. I happened to have been born, on 23rd May 1922, in Negombo, because my mother had gone there to stay with a younger sister of hers, when she was expecting a child, who turned out to be me”.

“My eldest sister Zena died of double pneumonia, at a little over eight years of age, in Bangalore, in August 1927. Shortly afterwards, my younger brother Narendra, a year younger than me, died of diptheria. Soon afterwards my baby brother who was nine month’s old also died of the same ailment. I was left with two sisters, Irma, a year older, and Cynthia Jayatri, three years younger than me. The three of us were taught at home by our mother, as we could not gain entrance to schools in Bangalore straight away, when my mother decided to stay there with us instead of accompanying my father to various stations in the Madras Presidency”.

B.T.Philips

“My mother sent an application for my admission to a leading Anglican boy’s school, Bishop Cotten’s College, in Bangalore .The application was accepted and my mother was notified that her son was admitted under the name B.T.Philips. In those days there were ethnic quotas in school admissions in India and students were classified accordingly. The school officials had mistakenly categorised the name BT Philips as an English or Anglo –Indian student. We did not know this”.

“ It was when I went to Bishop Cotten’s, in 1930, on the date of admission, with my mother, that the school authorities discovered that I was neither English nor Anglo- Indian.The British Headmaster informed her, to our utter dismay, that I could not be admitted, as I was neither the one nor the other! The quota for admission at that time was four English or Anglo-Indian students, to one Indian. That quota had already been filled, we were told.So I was deprived of admission to that prestigious institution”.

“A kindly English lady who had befriended my mother gave us a children pre-school education, and then later on she got us admitted to Clarence School in Bangalore, in 1931. It was run by a Seventh Day Adventist Mission, to which she belonged”.

“In April 1934,my mother returned to stay permanently in Ceylon, with me and my two sisters. I got admitted to Royal College, later that year, thanks to the good offices of Professor C.Suntheralingam, who was then the Professor of Mathematics in the University College, Colombo, He later became MP for Vavuniya and became a Minister in D.S.Senanayake’s first Cabinet at the time of independence for Ceylon.When I was entered into Royal College, Colombo, in 1934, by my mother she registered me under the name Philips Balendra Tampoe. This was to avoid any possible confusion over my ethnicity as in the case of what had occurred previously in South India, when my mother’s application for my admission to Bishop Cotten’s College, in Bangalore ended in failure”

This then is the story of how Bala Tampoe’s father Francis Philips became Francis Tampoe-Philips and how the son Balendra Tampoe –Philips turned into Philips Balendra Tampoe.

D.B.S.Jeyaraj can be reached at dbsjeyaraj@yahoo.com