The hoary stories of “Army purges’’

By An Old Soldier

Lakbimanews 7th February 2010, carries an article about “the first army purges since 1962’’ by Ranga Jayasuriya.
This is a misleading story. There have been many ‘purges’ in the army since 1962.
In 1962 the coup leaders were found guilty by the country’s highest courts of law but were released by a UK Privy Council judgement on technical grounds. Apparently the Attorney General of Ceylon was not able to be present at the hearing which was held with the former opposition in power.
The responsible persons were not taken back to the service but many were given state jobs. Ninety nine percent of them were Christians. One Buddhist officer was a crown witness, then an adverse witness, who later became the Army Commander.
Most of the officers were from an Artillery regiment but also included the Chief of Staff of the Army who was from the CLI.
There was an alleged coup in 1966. The army commander Maj Gen Udugama who was on an official visit to Yugoslavia was recalled and arrested on arrival at the airport. It was said that Col Attygalle had given JR Jayawardene a statement before the arrest. He later became the army commander and exceeded his term by 6 years. JRJ was President when Attgalle finally retired.
Most of the accused were non commissioned officers from non combatant units.
About 15 officers (in an army of 5,000 soldiers including Lieutenant (later Lt Gen) Kobbekaduwa were sent on compulsory leave. No one was questioned, given charge sheets or even asked for explanations. They were mid ranking officers and cut off from their professional calling in the prime of their careers.
Most of them were old boys from prestigious and famous private schools in Kandy, Colombo and Galle. All were Buddhists.
Other officers were questioned by the CID for their alleged involvement. They included Capt (later Major General Wimalaratne). They were Buddhists.
A Buddhist monk, who was in a crowd, protesting on the Galle Road at Kollupitiya was shot dead by the security forces (Police?). The cemetery was ringed by troops at the crack of dawn before the monk’s cremation at Kanatte.
The 1966 case was thrown out at the conclusion of the prosecution’s case as there was no prima facie evidence to proceed. Some of the state witnesses were found to be perjurers. None of the accused were taken back to the army until 1970, when Mrs Bandaranayake led the SLFP to victory in the elections. All were taken back to the army subsequently. Some of them later became Major Generals.
In 1977 when the UNP under JR Jayawardene came into power with Ranil Wickramasinghe as a junior minister, a list was submitted to the Army Commander , Attygalle, containing the names of officers including a few who were commanding officers of regiments. The Army Commander Attygalle is said to have added more names to the list. They were all asked to retire. No charge sheets were given.
They were all Buddhists.
There were only 3 regular infantry battalions in the army then. It has nearly 120 infantry battalions today.
Two civilian accused were said by the CID to have committed suicide by jumping out of the window from the 4th floor and by hanging while in custody, respectively.
In 1982 after the notorious referendum of JR Jayawardene, retired army officers including some of the above, were incarcerated for 8 months and released without any charges being made. Some left the country. There were no HR activists then. Several others were questioned on the notorious 4th floor of the CID but, there were no deaths then even by ‘hanging’ or ‘ jumping from the 4th floor.’
In 1988 when Premadasa was President, probably much against his will, then Brigadier Kobbekaduwa, who had become a national icon by that time, after the Vadamarachchi operation, and other campaigns, was recalled from the course he was following at the Royal College of Defence Studies in UK.
He was never openly accused of anything. Anti government accusations were made by 2 officers of similar rank (who later became Army Commander and Chief of Staff) who were deliriously envious of Kobbekaduwa’s professional reputation and national acclaim.
The course was arguably at the most prestigious war college in the world. The British authorities made it clear to the government of SL that if Kobbekaduwa was not allowed to get back and continue the course it was unlikely that another opportunity would ever be given to SL.
Kobbekaduwa went back and in later years both Gens. Janaka Perera and Fonseka attended the same course.
It should be noted that all these manoeuvres took place when the army was not actively engaged in military operations and not fighting with the LTTE (1988 and 2010) .
It can be said that politics has always played a significant role in the selection of commanders of the army in Sri Lanka where fealty to the government in power by whatever criterion existed was favourably considered. Gen Fonseka made it on his reputation as a hard driving battle commander.
The 2010 Presidential election brought out politics in the army with a vengeance for reasons which are abundantly and sadly clear. The other 2 services have relatively been free from politics. SL politicians who are natural born street fighters, especially against defenceless people, fortunately have no idea of how to fly planes or navigate ships.

Ranga Jayasuriya replies:

As far as the alleged coup in 1966, It should be recalled that all the charges against the accused -Major General Richard Udugama, the then commander of army, N Q Dias, a retired Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Defence and External Affairs , and Henpitagedera Gnanashia Thera, a well known Buddhist monk affiliated to the SLFP -- were dropped and that the jury unanimously acquitted the accused in the plot to topple the government.
Pieter Keuneman famously described the laughable effort to implicate Major General Udugama as a “lavatory coup.”
That is in contrast to the 1962 coup, of which 11 out of 23 suspects were convicted.
(They took the case to the Privy Council which acquitted the accused, ruling that Special Act of 1962 ultra vires of the Ceylon constitution and that the Act had denied a fair trial.)
Richard Udugama was the first Buddhist to be appointed the commander of the army, whose appointment, in fact, overlooked Brigadier Heyn, who was tipped to be the next commander, but was ignored due to ethnic and religious bias in the early 60s.
My objective in the related news article was not to discuss the history of the military coups in this country. My article deals specifically with the recent uproar over a possible military coup and subsequent compulsory retirement of 14 senior military officers.
It is my contention that the politicization of the military in the past or not so recent past should not be an excuse for the politicization of the military at the present.