{"id":47454,"date":"2016-07-20T02:21:42","date_gmt":"2016-07-20T06:21:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=47454"},"modified":"2016-07-20T21:21:30","modified_gmt":"2016-07-21T01:21:30","slug":"maverick-c-suntheralingam-was-the-muhammed-ali-of-the-tamil-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=47454","title":{"rendered":"“Maverick” C. Suntheralingam was the Muhammed Ali of the Tamil Community"},"content":{"rendered":"

By<\/p>\n

Radhika Coomaraswamy<\/strong><\/p>\n

(C.Suntheralingam: – Grandfather\u2019s Letters – Edited by Anjalendran – A Review by Radhika Coomaraswamy)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Before I say a few words about the book, and in the spirit of full disclosure, I must first position myself re Mr. Suntheraligam. I am a grand niece of his in the way Sri Lankans define grand nieces. The direct line is not that close but my father and uncle stayed with him while going to Royal College while my grandfather circled the country as a civil servant. For that reason, Mr. Suntheralingam treated us as his grandchildren, never afraid to tender advice when he wanted to. <\/p>\n

\"C.

C. Suntheralingam (9 August 1895 – 11 February 1985)<\/p><\/div>\n

Mr. Suntheralingam was what you term a maverick, which according to the Oxford dictionary is someone who is \u201cunbonded\u201d. He never belonged to anyone or any party. He was always an independent. He made alliances according to his whims and principles but was apparently loved by many. <\/p>\n

What are the signs of his maverick status? Here are some examples- He was against all the Tamil parties of his era The All Ceylon Congress of GG Ponnambalam and the Federal Party of SJV Chelvanayagam and in the 1940s, called them all \u201ccareer communalists.\u201d But after Sinhala Only Act and the riots, he wrote a Declaration asking Parliament to debate a motion calling for the division of the country and the separation of an area called Eelam- named by him, based on an 1803 map. Everyone blocked his efforts but since it seemed so out in left field at that time, people were more amused than angry.<\/p>\n

\"Radhika

Radhika Coomaraswamy<\/p><\/div>\n

Another example of his maverick status was that he was extremely religious, a die hard Hindu but he memorized the bible and was an admirer of the principals and teachers at St. John\u2019s Jaffna and St. Joseph\u2019s college Colombo where he got his education. Strongly anti colonial, he still managed to praise the school for encouraging him to get the University scholarship to Oxford. The colleges did not allow individuals to speak any other language but English but they recognized him as a star pupil and seemed to have put a lot of effort into helping him reach his ambitions.
\n
\nA third example of his maverick status was that he was constantly at loggerheads with his contemporary Sinhalese politicians, D.S. Senanayake, Oliver Goonetileke, SWRD Bandaranaike but regardless of the harsh words between them, they consulted him regularly. He generously advised them on strategy and formulas within parliament that would help them win the small fights. There is a section in the book where he advises J.R. Jayawardene to use the sub judice principle to avoid a debate. Even in the late 1980s Mr Jayawardene was using the principle much to the frustration of citizen\u2019s groups. <\/p>\n

A fourth situation where he had a maverick interpretation was to do with Hindu temples. At the Nallur temple in Jaffna, there was a progressive administration. Led by leaders who admired Gandhi, including Mr. Suntheralingam, they stopped any animal sacrifice and they let the Dalit community as of right to come and and worship within the temple. But other temples had backward administrators. When the central government tried to intervene to stop these practices, Mr. Suntherlaingam came down on the side of the temples saying that the central government has no right to interfere in the affairs of the temple and change must come from within like in Nallur. This was not strategic thinking and today it would violate major international human rights commitments. Yet it is interesting to note that Mr. Suntheralingam was up there in front marching with the Dalit community when they entered Nallur but was not for their rights of worship when they were imposed by the center.<\/p>\n

A fifth case of his maverick status was displayed after the riots of 1958. He was filled with anger and outrage and the pages of this book are filled with this sense of pain and betrayal- after all the leaders of the country were his friends, However, he tried to take precautions to ensure innocent Sinhala civilians were not killed, The Nagadipa Vihara was damaged during the riots as well as the Amman kovil on the island. He worked with Sir Oliver Goonetilleke to get a replica from Myanmar, the source of the original statue and helped to rebuild both temples. Despite his strong belief in Hinduism, he was at ease with both Christianity and Buddhism.<\/p>\n

The final group with whom his position was unusual was with regard to women. He was socially conservative and was keen that women marry young. But the example of his own mother was a constant reminder of the strength of women. She was widowed young and brought up five sons all on her own, All of them would make their mark in post colonial Sri Lanka. He treasured every word of her advice. She was not literate and so every day the papers were read to her along with The Ramayana and the Mahabharata. She had strong opinions and very high expectations of her sons. So this fulsome praise for his mother and the fact that he wanted one of daughters to go the route of Vijayalaksmi Pundit implied that empowered women were not a threat to him. Even in my case he constantly encouraged my intellectual pursuits and unlike his wife and children never pushed me or my cousins to give up our careers. <\/p>\n

Mavericks are inevitably brilliant and admired for their extraordinary intellect. Suntheralingam was brilliant in maths and won every prize whether at St Joseph\u2019s college or Oxford. He graduated with a first class honours in Mathematics from Oxford University. He was the first professor of Mathematics at Colombo University, who was not white,<\/p>\n

He also decided to enter the legal profession like his brothers. One of them was Mr. S Thyagaligam who would go on to be a lion at the bar and become Mrs. Bandaranaike\u2019s trusted lieutenant. Mr., Suntheralingam became a barrister at law at Gray\u2019s Inn getting a first class both in the criminal law and Roman Dutch law. A cousin of mine who went to hear him argue a case at the Privy Council found the hall spellbound with his rhetoric, the quality of facts, the delivery of ideas etc.\u2026but all the cases were dismissed within minutes by the House of Lords because, from their frame of reference the causes seemed too eccentric and out of the ballpark. <\/p>\n

When he returned from the UK he had a stint at teaching and then as civil servant. He also spent sometime as deputy principal of Amanda College because of his closeness to Mr. Kularatne. The intellectual and political elite were all his friends and they persuaded him to join the first cabinet of independent Sri Lanka in 1947.He seemed to have been in the inner circle but he gave in his resignation when the government passed the India-Pakistan Resident Registration Bill in 1948. That to him was the first betrayal. From that date onwards he tries to balance the personal friendships he has with these individuals and his deep sense of pain and betrayal, which is in some sense, are at the core of this book. <\/p>\n

One interesting part of the book is that through these letters to his grandchildren, he describes what took place during the handover of power at independence. Though historians have written about it, it is not really in the public consciousness. The figure who appears all-powerful during this period is his friend Oliver Goonetilleke and Mr. Suntheralingam seems to have been a close ally in the negotiations and the participation, suggesting strategies and tactics. Some were accepted some were not. For scholars interested in this period this book does give unusual insights into how these negotiations were conducted but from the view of Mr. Suntheralingam. One important fact he does disclose is that there was an agreement among UNP party leaders that after D.S. Senanayake\u2019s tenure, Mr. S.W.R.D Banadaranaike was to become the leader of the UNP. He believed that refusing to honour that commitment is what led to such hardship in the years ahead,<\/p>\n

At the centre of this book is the Sinhala Only Act and the riots of 1958. These as I said were moments of unbearable pain for Mr Suntheralingam. He had the belief like many of his generation of Tamils like Arunachalam that the day of independence was two nations coming together as one. He did not realize that the vast majority of Sinhalese did not see it that way. From the viewpoint of these Tamil leaders, with these post colonial actions by Sinhala leaders, the Tamils were being reduced to a small minority and deprived of a national status. Suntheralingam\u201ds book will reveal to the reader that that was a big pill to swallow. For those who want to understand the minds of that generation of Tamil leaders, this is one of the best books to read.<\/p>\n

Since the 1990s and the rise of a brutal insurgency in the north and the east, we see violence in Sri Lanka through that lens- State vs. insurgent or State vs. terrorist. But during the 1950s right up to the late 1980s, violence was really about riots, when thugs and mobs took the to the street and burnt houses, shops and people. Suntheralingam witnesses this outbreak with real shock and anger. He bombards his leader friends while making all attempts to see that his own electorate his safe. He feels that his best friend, who was the Governor General, allowed too much impunity and he blames him publicly and personally, throughout the book. His break with Sir Oliver Goonetilleke comes at that point.<\/p>\n

Suntherlingam did not go to Royal College, though all of his grandsons would. He was the first generation immigrant down south from the north. He was driven by his mother, his teachers in his school and by the fire in his belly. He wrote his first mathematical equation on the beach near St Johns and within a decade would be receiving a first class honours degree in Mathematics from Oxford- a story similar to the famous mathematician, Ramunujan. He also had a warm and loving wife whom the family deeply cherished and daughters who would act as his conscience. It is clear that he played an important role at independence and worked closely with DS Senanayake and Oliver Goonetilleke. But the travails and the ethnic politics of the 50\u2019s threw him helter skelter and being a maverick who would not work with major parties, he was often left isolated.<\/p>\n

After these bitter events and the loss of his parliamentary seat, he retreated from public life and entered his letter-writing phase, not only to grand children but to the media and leading figures and institutions around the world. It was perhaps an attempt at awareness raising and catharsis. For many reading this book there may be a better understanding of why sentiments for a separate state emerged and the particular mindset of Tamil leaders of that generation. Others may be put off by the social conservatism- a conservatism that not any of his grand nieces can deny. But he was always someone who would listen, argue and change his mind. As you read the book you will see him doing that on certain social issues. As a niece who lived much of her life in New York City, I found my views on some issues were at loggerheads with his. But I would jump into the car whenever my father went to visit Mr. Suntheralingam- first those sessions were never boring and secondly I had an opportunity to argue and debate with an elder who would not take anything I say amiss. His dedication to public service was absolutely profound- what he felt to be public service- and that gave him the energy to go on regardless of the circumstance. That is why in the Tamil popular consciousness he is seen as a lion who roared for his people. Large crowds gathered at his funeral. Perhaps he was the Mohammed Ali of the Tamil community, unbonded, dancing on his toes, sparring with his partners, and speaking words that only he could muster in his old inimitable style.<\/p>\n

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By Radhika Coomaraswamy (C.Suntheralingam: – Grandfather\u2019s Letters – Edited by Anjalendran – A Review by Radhika Coomaraswamy) Before I say a few words about the book, and in the spirit of full disclosure, I must first position myself re Mr. Suntheraligam. I am a grand niece of his in the way Sri Lankans define grand …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘“Maverick” C. Suntheralingam was the Muhammed Ali of the Tamil Community’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47454"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47454"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47454\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47466,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47454\/revisions\/47466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}