Oliver Ernest Goonetilleke

Goonetilleke was the first Ceylonese to be appointed as Colonial Auditor of the crown colony of Ceylon on 25 June 1931. With the implementation of the Donoughmore Constitution, the title of the head of the Audit Department was changed to Auditor General of Ceylon and Goonetilleke became the first to hold the new appointment on 7 July 1931 and hold it till February 1946.[2]

As the Colonial Auditor he was an ex-officio member of the Executive Council of Ceylon in 1931. He took on additional duties as Chairman of the Salaries and Cadres Commission, Civil Defense Commissioner and Food Commissioner.

With the onset of World War II in the Far East and the likelihood that Ceylon would face a military threat from Japan, Goonetilleke was given the additional duty as Civil Defence Commissioner in the War Cabinet of Ceylon, heading the newly formed Civil Defence Department to undertake civil defense preparations. Some civil defence works such as knocking down buildings to create fire breaks in Colombo proved unpopular, but proved to be justified when the Imperial Japanese Navy carried out air raids on Colombo and other cities in the spring of 1942. In this capacity, Ivor Jennings, Principle of the Ceylon University College, served as Goonetilleke's deputy, and the two worked closely with D. S. Senanayake, the Minister of Agriculture and Lands. This group was known as "the Breakdown Gang" as they began to talk about much besides civil defence, including the steps that might be taken to move Ceylon to complete independence after the war.[3][4] He was knighted in 1944 with a KBE for his services as the Civil Defense Commissioner in the New Year Honours. However, on 18 December 1946, questions were raised in the House of Commons by Douglas Dodds-Parker on irregularities in the Auditor-General's Report on Civil Defence Expenditure for 1943–44 and 1944–45.[5]

In 1943, a declaration was made for grant of government for all the matters of civil administration in Ceylon. The Senanayake, Goonetilleke and Jennings drafted a constitution, known as the "Ministers' Draft", and submitted it to British Government in February 1944. At this time Goonetilleke who was appointed the Commissioner of Food went to Britain to discuss an urgent food supplies. There he met Lord Soulbury who had been appointed to lead a Commission to Ceylon, pressing his case for self-rule. Goonetilleke was thereafter advised Senanayake on approaching the members of the Soulbury Commission when they arrived in Ceylon in December 1944. Goonetilleke became an "unofficial secretary" to the commission and significantly influenced it.[3]

With the war drawing to a close and the closure of the Civil Defence Department, Goonetilleke left his post of Colonial Auditor which he held since 1931 to take up appointment as Financial Secretary of Ceylon in February 1946. The Financial Secretary was head of the Treasury and responsible for all financial policy of the colony. As the Financial Secretary, Goonetilleke sat in both the Board of Ministers and the Executive Council. He was the first Ceylonese to hold the post of Financial Secretary. He held the position until his resignation in September 1947.[3] He was awarded KCMG in the 1948 New Year Honours for his service as Financial Secretary, Ceylon.

With Ceylon gaining dominion status within the British Commonwealth, in 1947 the first cabinet of ministers was formed with Senanayake as Prime Minister after the 1947 general elections. Goonetilleke was appointed as the Minister of Home Affairs and Rural Development on 26 September 1947. He had been appointed to the newly formed upper house of parliament, the Senate of Ceylon and became the Leader of the Senate when both houses were ceremonially opened by the Duke of Gloucester, marking the independence of Ceylon on 4 February 1948.[6]

His term as a Cabinet Minister did not last long as he resigned on 22 July 1948 and was appointed the first Ceylonese High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.[7] He served as High Commissioner till 1952 in London.

Following the Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake's resignation after the Hartal 1953, Sir John Kotelawala succeeded him. Goonetilleke was appointed by Kotelawala to his cabinet as Ministry of Finance and the Treasury on 14 October 1953, while holding the post of Leader of the Senate. Once again his ministerial tenure was brief, lasting only till June 1954.[8]

On 24 May 1958 Communal riots erupted, Prime Minister Bandaranaike did not make a formal response. With violence spreading throughout the island, Goonetilleke declared a state of emergency on 27 May 1958 and deployed the armed forces to quell the rioting, while Bandaranaike allowed Goonetilleke to take control of the situation and issue orders to the armed forces to suppress the rioting with force. Goonetilleke authorized the armed forces to shoot rioters, and the armed forces restored order in a few days.[9]

Goonetilleke once again was forced to take decisive action, on 25 September 1959 when Prime Minister Bandaranaike was shot at his home at Rosmead Place while meeting the public. Goonetilleke was at Queens House accepting letters of credence of the Italian Ambassador Count Paolo di Michelis di Sloughhello, when he was informed about the assassination attempt he stopped the ceremony and rushed to Rosmead Place. He informed parliament to continue and at 11 AM declared a state of emergency, bringing the military to full readiness and mobilizing reservists. Bandaranaike, who was rushed to hospital and into emergency surgery, died twenty-two hours after he was shot.

Bandaranaike had been scheduled to go to New York to attend the UN General Assembly in late September 1959. The Leader of the House C. P. de Silva was in London undergoing treatment and Bandaranaike had sent a letter to the Governor General recommending that he appoint Wijeyananda Dahanayake, Minister of Education as acting Prime Minister during his absence. With this letter present, Goonetilleke appointed Dahanayake as Prime Minister on September 26, 1959 and was later confirmed by Parliament.[10]

Following the assassination of Bandaranaike, the country faced a period of political instability. The Premiership of Dahanayake lasted one year, with many changes to his cabinet. Fresh elections were called, but the elections in March 1960 were in-divisive as Dudley Senanayake formed a government for a brief period. Goonetilleke had a difficult decision when faced with the classic difficulty for a Governor-General, whether to dissolve Parliament, causing a new election, or call on a different faction to form a government when the Prime Minister (in this case Dudley Senanayake, son of his old friend) lost Parliament's confidence. He dissolved the parliament and called for fresh elections. He briefly held the portfolio of Minister of Finance from 21 March 1960 to 23 April 1960.

Bandaranaike's widow Sirima Bandaranaike was selected by his party, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party as its leader and won elections in July 1960. Goonetilleke called on Sirima Bandaranaike to form a government and she became the world's first female Prime Minister.

In January 1962, the information surfaced of attempted military coup against the government of Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike, with the suspected leaders. Prime Minister's nephew Felix Dias Bandaranaike, Parliamentary Secretary for Defence and External Affairs stated in Parliament on 18 February 1962 that Sir Oliver's name had come up in the investigations. Goonetilleke indicated he had no objection to be questioned by the police, however Bandaranaikes wanted to replace the Governor-General. Bradman Weerakoon, secretary to the prime minister was dispatched London to present the Prime Minister's request to the Queen to replace her Governor-General in Ceylon. On 26 February 1962, Radio Ceylon announced that the Queen had accepted the request of the Government of Ceylon to appoint William Gopallawa as Governor-General of Ceylon succeeding Sir Oliver Goonetilleke with effect from 20 March 1962. William Gopallawa was the Prime Minister's uncle. Goonetilleke quietly left Queen's House on 2 March and left the country.[11] His tenor lasted eight years and five prime ministers.

In 1972, he was tried in absentia and sentenced to four years rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 950,000 ($125,000) for exchange control offences by the Criminal Justice Commission. He was not extradited, his daughter Sheila Sathananthan was given a two‐year suspended sentence and fined $72,000 and her husband Coomaraswany Sathananthan was jailed for two years and fined $35,000.[12]

Following the defeat of Bandaranaike in the 1977 general election, the newly elected Prime Minister J. R. Jayewardene, repealed the Criminal Justice Commissions Act and released all who were jailed under the provisions of the Act with an amnesty declared. This allowed Goonetilleke to return to Sri Lanka, where he died after a brief illness in 1978.[13]