Sir John Kotalawala is/was no copycat

Sir John Kotalawala is/was no copycat.

Our Buruwas of the Old Left, now dead but moribund under Majhinda Chintanaya called Sir John Kotalawala 'Bandung Buruwa'(Ass of the Bandung Conference).

There are three old Buruwas (three asses of the past regime coming to parliament by free tickets not by people consent) of the old Left trying to cajole the current President Maithree Sirisena.

Beware of these old cronies and please treat them like Pests of the Nation.

It is prudent for President Maithree Sirisena to take a leaf out of Sir John's charismatic approach in foreign policy (Dayan and Mohan are the last vestiges of the old Dead Left trying to hoodwink the illiterate masses)

Reproduction and read Wikipedia, too.

During the sixty years after we received our Independence, our foreign policy has undergone many changes. As stated earlier the foreign policy at the beginning had a strong pro western bias; we also opted to become members of the Commonwealth but it should not be forgotten that we also valued our Asian identity, this was evidenced by the catalytic role the country played in Asian affairs. Colombo was the venue of the Asian Foreign Minister’s conference in 1950. 
The Colombo Plan, as the name itself suggests, was conceived in Colombo. The ‘Look Asia’ policy of the period also included reaching out to China despite incurring the wrath of the United States, bringing upon the country sanctions under the Hickenlooper Amendment. 

Prime Minister John Kotelawela it was who gave the country greater diplomatic prominence; he realized that the country’s long term interests were bound up with the interests of the countries of the region. He believed that small countries in particular could play a significant role by joining others, uninhibited by the constraints that attended the bigger powers.


John Kotelawala was the architect of the ‘Colombo Powers Conference’ held in April of 1954 which was the precursor to the famous 29 nation Afro-Asian Conference held in Bandung in 1955. 

Bandung was also the place, in many respects where the Non Aligned Movement began. 

It should here be recalled that it was the courageous Sir John, who was a fervent anti Communist that dropped the bombshell, for which the Conference is best remembered. 

Speaking at the Conference on the subject of Colonialism he warned the newly independent nations of Asia and Africa of the threat from a new form of imperialism.


Sir John it was who called for the dissolution of the Comintern (which only happened with the end of the Cold War) and referred to the imperialism of the Soviet Union and its ‘empire’ in Eastern Europe. 

To him the slogan of the times ‘Co-existence’ meant freedom for all and each and every country. 

He had incurred the wrath of Shri Nehru and Chou En Lai in the process. 
The Conference condemned ‘Colonialism in all its forms’ which was a vindication of Sir John’s position. 

It was 25 years later that Sir John was truly vindicated, when the Berlin wall fell and the countries of Eastern Europe claimed that they had been released from bondage.

I recall that when I accompanied the late Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar for the 40th anniversary celebrations of Bandung a number of leaders of Eastern European countries came across and shook his hand and recalled how Sir John had espoused their cause in 1955 and been ridiculed by the so called Socialist sympathizers and the ‘Quislings’ in the Soviet Block countries.